So Rudy at Alpha Investments (ugh, yeah I know, but hear me out) opened a couple of boxes on video, and they had the exact same non-foil mythics and rares with one exception: one box had a Mikokoro, Center of the Sea while the other had Jace, the Mind Sculptor. It was certainly interesting, if not a bit eyebrow-raising.
Anyone have any thoughts? Is something nefarious afoot? Is it just a massive coincidence? Is it a hoax on Rudy's part? Is it a blatant lapse in quality control on WotC's part? Can we expect to see the same when we crack boxes at our LGS's?
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Words can not describe how sarcastic my slow clap is or how lethal my death glare is. People can buy 2 boxes, check the first for good rares, then sell the dud packs from the second if the boxes are identical...
Let me know if this makes the single packs drop below $5, I'd be tempted to get a few packs at that price, even if it's only junk rares.
Edit: Oh, and I love that Tree of Redemption and Triskaidekaphobia are in the same box. It helps highlight how bad everything with the set is.
Edit 2: After a lack of proof afterward my death glare is now redirected towards Rudy for not adding anything to the video to clarify that it was a coincidence.
Alpha Investments doesn't have the best reputation on these things. Would like a secondary confirmation.
I think Rudy is a toxic blowhard myself, but the reddit's show lots of confirmation, including more photos and videos of it happening. Rudy's packs also appear to be sealed and legit.
This is it for me: no more ever buying Masters boxes. If they let boxes or even whole cases be mappable, I'm sticking to singles. No packs, no boxes, no way.
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Cards are game pieces, and should be treated as such, easily replaceable.
Cards are not money, investments, or a retirement fund, and should never have been treated as such.
Wizards made a mistake caving to speculators once, and we still pay for that mistake 2 decades later.
"Entitled:" the entire ad hominem fallacy condensed into a single word. It doesn't strengthen your argument to attack motivations, it just makes you look like you don't understand the argument.
I mapped Fate Reforged in my head. That’s how I got my Ugin. I knew he’d be in the last few packs because I’d seen so many opened. Sometimes they don’t do that great of a job at mixing it all up.
Alpha Investments doesn't have the best reputation on these things. Would like a secondary confirmation.
Why? When has he manipulated box openings?
I think people just don't like him. I dont know why. Personally I think he's entertaining and talks business pretty well. Whether or not you listen to his advice and think it works is up to the viewer. I don't think he's ever altered anything he opens though unless it's something he's trying to make fun of.
As a fan of the scientific method, I must really point out that, when it comes to determining the probabilities of a phenomenon occurring, a single experiment conducted on two samples (I.E. the barest minimum) is not NEARLY enough to reach a definitive conclusions. Buy 50 packs, determine a specific pattern among all those (or most of those), and then we'll talk. Two packs prove nothing.
He opened two full sealed boxes, i.e., 48 packs. The two boxes had totally identical rares and mythics bar one pack in each having something different. The different cards were Mikokoro and Jace.
They were also in exactly the same order, albeit slightly jumbled during removing the packs from the box. The probability of that happening nears impossible.
Wow I watched the video and it's pretty crazy if true. It looks really bad for anyone who sells loose boosters, it has concertedly put me off buying any. I was considering buying some to have at least one draft with friends and possibly come out with something sweet but it will be hard to shake the fears I'm buying rejects from mapped boxes.
It seems like it could be true, apparently Wizards are deleting any mention of it from their social media. I guess if it wasn't true they would take it down as well, but if it was a lie I would think they would be actively saying Rudy was incorrect to help confidence rather than just deleting any mention of it.
Also, why do people hate Rudy? Always seems like an ok guy, he doesn't spew toxic garbage like Jeremy or get involved in drama week-to-week. I get some people mightn't like him because he is a ex-walstreet (?) guy and has a unique personality, but it seems good to a perspective like his since he knows how businesses act better than most other youtube personalities. It's also nice to have someone who isn't a complete troll that calls Wizards out on nonsence before clearing it with Wizards PR team. Am I missing something? Is it because he so openly hoards A/B/U cards?
Also, why do people hate Rudy? Always seems like an ok guy, he doesn't spew toxic garbage like Jeremy or get involved in drama week-to-week. I get some people mightn't like him because he is a ex-walstreet (?) guy and has a unique personality, but it seems good to a perspective like his since he knows how businesses act better than most other youtube personalities. It's also nice to have someone who isn't a complete troll that calls Wizards out on nonsence before clearing it with Wizards PR team. Am I missing something? Is it because he so openly hoards A/B/U cards?
Not vouching for anyone else. My dislike for him formed when he openly manipulated the price of Bazaar of Baghdad simply to prove a point. The only saving grace from that dislike turning into seething hatred is because he openly manipulated the price of Bazaar of Baghdadsimply to prove a point.
Also, why do people hate Rudy? Always seems like an ok guy, he doesn't spew toxic garbage like Jeremy or get involved in drama week-to-week. I get some people mightn't like him because he is a ex-walstreet (?) guy and has a unique personality, but it seems good to a perspective like his since he knows how businesses act better than most other youtube personalities. It's also nice to have someone who isn't a complete troll that calls Wizards out on nonsence before clearing it with Wizards PR team. Am I missing something? Is it because he so openly hoards A/B/U cards?
Not vouching for anyone else. My dislike for him formed when he openly manipulated the price of Bazaar of Baghdad simply to prove a point. The only saving grace from that dislike turning into seething hatred is because he openly manipulated the price of Bazaar of Baghdadsimply to prove a point.
Isn't it good that someone deep in the MTG finance world is proving that a single seller can manipulate the price, and posting the evidence to back it up? It teaches people to be more careful and research card prices rather than going my the currently visible market price.
I found it pretty interesting that it was possible and it brought a lot of attention to the topic.
first of all: the problem with things like printing errors and manufacture mistakes is that people think they are much more common than they really are. nobody makes a youtube video or a reddit post when they open a completely normal pack of magic cards, so looking online will give you the impression that these occurrences are much more frequent than they really are.
that having been said this specific occurrence is very strange. it could be random chance. the only way to find out is to open more boxes in this manner. it's kind of strange to me that after opening two identical boxes he didn't decide to open a third. that seems like the natural thing to do, especially considering rudy isn't the sort of person who is likely to be drafting with these cards.
the reality is that magic cards aren't truly randomized. true randomization in a production process is hard to create. the order of cards in packs and boxes has some amount of predetermination. in addition to being sorted by rarity, packs have a measured mix of creatures and spells as well. the amount of each color which appears in a pack is also probably somewhat moderated. (i've certainly never seen somebody open a pack that only contained cards of a single color and with true randomization that unlikely occurrence would eventually happen) this degree of predetermination doesn't completely account for opening 24 packs with the same rares but it does give some insight in to how this could have happened. perhaps there are only ~10,000 possible rare combinations per box? that would be enough combinations that you could safely assume nobody would ever buy two boxes and get the same set but still make it statistically possible.
if each box contained 21 rares (mythics are about 1/8) and they were 100% randomized the number of possible combinations would be ~300,000,000,000,000.
1. (Ravnica Allegiance): You can't keep a good esper control deck down... Or Wilderness Reclamation... or Gates...
2. (War of the Spark): Guys, I know what we need! We need a cycle of really idiotic flavor text victory cards! Jace's Triumph...
3. (War of the Spark): Lets make the format with control have even more control!
Dominaria is almost the sole reason (Unstable has also restored my faith in the game a bit) I'm not taking a break from Magic thanks to Masters 25.
Keep in mind that Dominaria, quite possibly more than any set before it, will be a heavily sequenced set. Guaranteeing a Legendary Creature in every booster, where the numbers don't allow for a dedicated slot a-la Innistrad DFCs or Conspiracy draft-matters, means they're making deliberate use of their nonrandom pack predictability to seed pack contents. They can't just shove a random rare/mythic and three random uncommons in every pack and still guarantee a Legendary Creature.
So Rudy at Alpha Investments (ugh, yeah I know, but hear me out) opened a couple of boxes on video, and they had the exact same non-foil mythics and rares with one exception: one box had a Mikokoro, Center of the Sea while the other had Jace, the Mind Sculptor. It was certainly interesting, if not a bit eyebrow-raising.
Anyone have any thoughts? Is something nefarious afoot? Is it just a massive coincidence? Is it a hoax on Rudy's part? Is it a blatant lapse in quality control on WotC's part? Can we expect to see the same when we crack boxes at our LGS's?
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Let me know if this makes the single packs drop below $5, I'd be tempted to get a few packs at that price, even if it's only junk rares.
Edit: Oh, and I love that Tree of Redemption and Triskaidekaphobia are in the same box. It helps highlight how bad everything with the set is.
Edit 2: After a lack of proof afterward my death glare is now redirected towards Rudy for not adding anything to the video to clarify that it was a coincidence.
The
Necromancer (or Noob)
Cat.
Don't ask, I don't know why ether...
Do they even care?
This is why I just buy the singles
Atleast the filter lands are int he push
But not completely in random a different rare per pack.
I guess Ill find out how random the three packs from retail will be on Friday
https://www.reddit.com/r/magicTCG/comments/848jg8/randomization_is_not_the_only_issue_affecting/
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Standard Deck:
BUPirates
Modern Deck:
B8-Rack
I think Rudy is a toxic blowhard myself, but the reddit's show lots of confirmation, including more photos and videos of it happening. Rudy's packs also appear to be sealed and legit.
https://www.mtgsalvation.com/forums/magic-fundamentals/magic-general/772706-duplicate-boxes-of-mm2017
This is it for me: no more ever buying Masters boxes. If they let boxes or even whole cases be mappable, I'm sticking to singles. No packs, no boxes, no way.
Cards are not money, investments, or a retirement fund, and should never have been treated as such.
Wizards made a mistake caving to speculators once, and we still pay for that mistake 2 decades later.
"Entitled:" the entire ad hominem fallacy condensed into a single word. It doesn't strengthen your argument to attack motivations, it just makes you look like you don't understand the argument.
EDH is a CASUAL format. Get with the program, or GTFO.
I think people just don't like him. I dont know why. Personally I think he's entertaining and talks business pretty well. Whether or not you listen to his advice and think it works is up to the viewer. I don't think he's ever altered anything he opens though unless it's something he's trying to make fun of.
Dunes of Zairo
SHANDALAR
Innistrad - The Darkest Night
~THE RAVNICAN CONSORTIUM~
A Community Set
Commander: Allies & Adversaries
He opened two full sealed boxes, i.e., 48 packs. The two boxes had totally identical rares and mythics bar one pack in each having something different. The different cards were Mikokoro and Jace.
They were also in exactly the same order, albeit slightly jumbled during removing the packs from the box. The probability of that happening nears impossible.
It seems like it could be true, apparently Wizards are deleting any mention of it from their social media. I guess if it wasn't true they would take it down as well, but if it was a lie I would think they would be actively saying Rudy was incorrect to help confidence rather than just deleting any mention of it.
Also, why do people hate Rudy? Always seems like an ok guy, he doesn't spew toxic garbage like Jeremy or get involved in drama week-to-week. I get some people mightn't like him because he is a ex-walstreet (?) guy and has a unique personality, but it seems good to a perspective like his since he knows how businesses act better than most other youtube personalities. It's also nice to have someone who isn't a complete troll that calls Wizards out on nonsence before clearing it with Wizards PR team. Am I missing something? Is it because he so openly hoards A/B/U cards?
Not vouching for anyone else. My dislike for him formed when he openly manipulated the price of Bazaar of Baghdad simply to prove a point. The only saving grace from that dislike turning into seething hatred is because he openly manipulated the price of Bazaar of Baghdad simply to prove a point.
Isn't it good that someone deep in the MTG finance world is proving that a single seller can manipulate the price, and posting the evidence to back it up? It teaches people to be more careful and research card prices rather than going my the currently visible market price.
I found it pretty interesting that it was possible and it brought a lot of attention to the topic.
that having been said this specific occurrence is very strange. it could be random chance. the only way to find out is to open more boxes in this manner. it's kind of strange to me that after opening two identical boxes he didn't decide to open a third. that seems like the natural thing to do, especially considering rudy isn't the sort of person who is likely to be drafting with these cards.
the reality is that magic cards aren't truly randomized. true randomization in a production process is hard to create. the order of cards in packs and boxes has some amount of predetermination. in addition to being sorted by rarity, packs have a measured mix of creatures and spells as well. the amount of each color which appears in a pack is also probably somewhat moderated. (i've certainly never seen somebody open a pack that only contained cards of a single color and with true randomization that unlikely occurrence would eventually happen) this degree of predetermination doesn't completely account for opening 24 packs with the same rares but it does give some insight in to how this could have happened. perhaps there are only ~10,000 possible rare combinations per box? that would be enough combinations that you could safely assume nobody would ever buy two boxes and get the same set but still make it statistically possible.
if each box contained 21 rares (mythics are about 1/8) and they were 100% randomized the number of possible combinations would be ~300,000,000,000,000.
1. (Ravnica Allegiance): You can't keep a good esper control deck down... Or Wilderness Reclamation... or Gates...
2. (War of the Spark): Guys, I know what we need! We need a cycle of really idiotic flavor text victory cards! Jace's Triumph...
3. (War of the Spark): Lets make the format with control have even more control!
Dominaria is almost the sole reason (Unstable has also restored my faith in the game a bit) I'm not taking a break from Magic thanks to Masters 25.
Keep in mind that Dominaria, quite possibly more than any set before it, will be a heavily sequenced set. Guaranteeing a Legendary Creature in every booster, where the numbers don't allow for a dedicated slot a-la Innistrad DFCs or Conspiracy draft-matters, means they're making deliberate use of their nonrandom pack predictability to seed pack contents. They can't just shove a random rare/mythic and three random uncommons in every pack and still guarantee a Legendary Creature.
EDH is a CASUAL format. Get with the program, or GTFO.
Lol. "Damn, this guy shipped me 13 white cards. That's the clearest signal I've ever seen that he's not playing White. D'oh!"