A Finite Resource!

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GlobalBoosterHunter
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A Finite Resource!

Post by GlobalBoosterHunter » Thu Dec 25, 2014 1:41 am

Like most of the good things in life, petrol, rainforests etc. Sealed boosters are a finite resource. Once you open them, they are gone forever.

Fortunately more are being produced so we should never run out completely but as they are not reprinting old boosters, we will eventually run out of old boosters to open.

I can't see why people are opening them anyway, at current sealed booster prices it must be cheaper to buy the card you are after, rather than open multiple boosters in the hopes of getting lucky. I can't imagine it is new players chasing the thrill of opening old product, surely they are aware of the contents by now.

It must be for drafting I guess, is that popular enough?

When we run out, either through sealed product collectors or them being opened, what next?

Prices will be high, will they be high enough to tempt the sealed box collectors to split a box?

How many people are collecting boxes to speculate on future high prices? I will admit to having bought five boxes and setting them aside in the hopes of being able to trade them for rare boosters in the future, they might not cover the whole cost of a set of white bordered Japanese Fourth Edition boosters but they might make the transaction less damaging on my finances and marriage (Not sure it was worth buying the Ice Age box though)

Will a sealed box be too expensive to buy in its entirety?

If these sealed boxes get opened, will buyers trust the sellers not to cherry pick the best boosters?

Will you be able to get the box opened by a third party who can guarantee that the box hasn't been mapped before selling the individual boosters, and would people have sufficient trust in any third party when the stakes are so high?

Is it worth buying boxes now when they are going cheap and setting them aside for ten years, hopefully we have seen the last of Fallen Empires and Homelands expansions.

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Alifromcairo
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Post by Alifromcairo » Fri Dec 26, 2014 5:15 pm

I bought only one booster box in my life, it was twelve years ago and yes, it was Fallen Empires... The price was incredibly low, and I sold it back few days after for x4 the price I paid for. It was a one shot, last minute investment for fun and I didn't expected to gain so much money for a box from this expansion.
I can't see why people are opening them anyway, at current sealed booster prices it must be cheaper to buy the card you are after, rather than open multiple boosters in the hopes of getting lucky. I can't imagine it is new players chasing the thrill of opening old product, surely they are aware of the contents by now.
Yes, it is (relatively) easy to get an old card today with Internet and all the events that are organized every year. But I guess that there is a strong nostalgia among old players and collectors, and don't forget the big thrill of opening an piece of this game history.

There's something irrational with this. These days you can buy an Alliances pack for something around $15. There is a lot of crappy cards in Alliances but... Even if the chance to get a FoW is weak, you can get it. Same to get a mox or a sliver queen with Stronghold and so on. A famous slogan here in France from the national lottery is "100% of the winners tried their luck !" In november I ordered a weatherlight booster for fun, I was like the teenager I was at my local store back in 1997, and I pulled a Firestorm, a Gemstone mine and a Veteran explorer in the same pack !

And there is this eternal debate between some players and collectors : opening old booster packs to flood the market with very asked for cards to decrease their current value, and... abolishing the Reserved list.

In fact, this is a reccuring question in collecting old MTG products : if you buy a sealed booster box, someone would tell you to not open it, keep it as an investment or a piece of history. If you open it, someone would tell you to keep the boosters sealed. But finally you chose to open the booster : I'm pretty sure that a friend will tell you something like "wow ! you got Chains of Mephistopheles, put it in a sleeve, don't play with it !" And so what ? What about the game itself ?

So maybe the only good advice would be : do as you want.

You can purchase an item with a speculator point of view, but like me you are above all an enthousiast. The sad thing with the speculative aspect is that an increasing amount of investors have nothing to do with MTG.

Splitting a box could be interesting, but mostly for game purpose IMHO. Some boxes are so expensive that splitting them and selling back the boosters individually will not cover your costs and fees.
If these sealed boxes get opened, will buyers trust the sellers not to cherry pick the best boosters?

Will you be able to get the box opened by a third party who can guarantee that the box hasn't been mapped before selling the individual boosters, and would people have sufficient trust in any third party when the stakes are so high?


Yes this is a big problem with expensive products and even if there is always a part of riskiness while buying, it becomes more and more essential to triple check your supplier and his material although that a good deal will be always done on a confident basis.
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