Have Play Booster Packs Made It Worse? | A Magic: The Gathering Limited Analysis

[@TolarianCommunityCollege]

Did you miss the new Shuffle Up & Play with Iffy from Dropout and Ben Ulhmer from Loading Ready Run? Watch us play Commander here: kzbin.info/www/bejne/oaa2XmOLdq97oKs

[@BenjaminKlahn]

No, I saw it. It was pretty good. 👍👍 Keep em coming. Also, Ben's last name is Ulmer, without the h. 😅

[@Greg501-]

The only complaint of these that is a problem with the boosters structure itself and I agree with is a lack of ensuring each pack has cards in every color. Why would they stop that?

[@HauntedCorpseGaming]

WotC should do another Deckbuilders Tookit product.

[@-HASH]

Remember $80 boxes?

[@papki9157]

pepperidge farm remembers

[@finmat95]

Good old times....

[@Bored_Barbarian]

Never lol

[@SirPream]

I member

[@734leaf]

You’re telling me they were $80??

[@executor45]

Shoutout to your video editor. The animated graphics and presentation for the booster packs + cards is top notch.

[@TolarianCommunityCollege]

Thanks!

[@UpgradeBob]

Hey prof, you probably won’t read this, but your content is good and informative that even though I dont buy magic product anymore I can’t help but watch your videos. Thats a sign of an engaging video if I’ve ever heard one.

[@HaggisDruid]

​@@UpgradeBobI'm not even actively in the hobby and I still watch his videos lol. I'm just a curious person, and he just makes great videos that are highly informative and entertaining. I do plan on getting into Magic in the near future, so there's some incentive there, I want to know what's going on before going in blindly.

[@Darkice1011]

​@@HaggisDruid Same here. I binge the Profs vids once a year, buy some cards, get fed up with the State of the game and quit, rinse and repeat.

[@laboratorymaniac7324]

MKM did something with their wildcard slot that I actually liked, but they haven't repeated it since. The 10 surveil lands were just as rare as any other rare in the set, but they never put them in the regular rare slot - they only appeared in the wildcard slots at an increased rate. This meant you were guaranteed a rare or mythic spell in every pack, and couldn't get a land as your only rare in a draft.

[@MrRcn23]

Cheaper drafts and msrp is the only real way to save draft. The problem is the constant need to increase profits, as always.

[@fartface8918]

Aye

[@Vok250]

Yeah no way I'm paying $50 Canadian to draft. At that point it's encroaching rich dude hobbies like golf and yatching.

[@MrRcn23]

@@Vok250 It's totally becoming a rich dude hobby, and it's intentional. Remember the 30th Anniversary set?

[@JasonOshinko]

The 30th Anniversary set is irrelevant to this discussion. It was never meant to draft.

[@TheDestroya88]

⁠​⁠​⁠​⁠@@JasonOshinkothey are speaking of the hobby as a whole becoming too rich oriented, seeing as the anniversary set is part of the hobby it should apply.

[@docseamonster3491]

I feel bad for the designers. Especially the ones with public presences. Hasbro corporate is stripping the copper out of the walls and they have to act like everything is great.

[@spamtonto]

Everything is great, Magic is selling better than ever. Have you considered simply being less toxic?

[@robotclaw22]

@@spamtonto The old limited format is gone and the limited designers have been constrained. Have you considered being empathetic to others opinions?

[@KarmicXRestrictions]

​@@spamtonto>Have you considered being less toxic Nice try NFT avatar

[@docseamonster3491]

​@@spamtonto "Selling" is a pretty lousy metric to use if the actual game itself is suffering. How do you feel about this now that half of all magic cards released are going to be universes beyond? And that's without bringing up things like cedh taking over the commander community and the destruction of the rules committee. Or the absurd power creep. Or the wildly inflating prices of product.

[@eltonwebb5530]

Set boosters were made because so many players are priced out of collector boosters. They were WOTC’s way of capitalizing on people with a regular budget who just wanted to crack packs. If collector boosters were a reasonably priced product, we never would have gotten set boosters and therefore no play boosters, either

[@earthpond8043]

Yes this! Drop prices down of collectors, make em slightly worse and bring back draft packs as cheap and collectors no more than $15 and maybe $25 for premium sets like mh3.

[@Blenji_]

Nailed it

[@Mirthful_Midori]

​@earthpond8043 How could they make collector's packs worse? Would the foils curl faster and harder? They already tend to be a bum deal if you don't pull one of the chase cards.

[@Freddisred]

​@@Mirthful_MidoriI sure do love my completely cylindrical shiny cards

[@buddyWalrus]

@@Mirthful_Midorimake them 6 card packs/8 pack boxes 🤑

[@rinmathews9337]

I love it how I do a prerelease and get 5-6 rares in a two-color combination only to get 6 playable commons/uncommons in one of those colors, making it impossible to play that color.

[@jessevandez]

@rinmathews9337 I got a full otter tribal deck in my prerelease.

[@mizzlchieizzl]

prerelease is always kinda like that though

[@rinmathews9337]

@@jessevandez My condolences.

[@nated1952]

All this, thank you for posting this.

[@CanadianBaconPwnage]

​@@jessevandezMe too. Even had a Ral. Went 0-3 because I didn't have enough common cheap instants/sorceries to trigger my otter abilities. The rest of the packs didn't have enough support for a playable 3 color deck.

[@robertneilson2780]

Every draft streamer and podcast I’ve listened to agrees that play boosters make a more luck based experience, especially in sealed.

[@CoL_Drake]

Yes but they are all playing a ton. People who play few times a year I don't see mind in fact overall love this

[@stanislav328]

@@CoL_Drake people that don't play a lot famously never get unlucky at the few events they do go to. When I go to prerelease now, the less experienced players have even worse decks on average, because they don't know how to salvage some of the pools these new boosters can give you.

[@robertneilson2780]

@@CoL_DrakeI mean people can enjoy what they want, but less skilled players are even more screwed when they don’t pull 9-10 rares in their pool like the other players in the sealed tournament did.

[@markbrierley6367]

Limited Resources podcast dropped this morning and said it doesn't change anything.

[@vc.moser.ferrier]

The added variance makes it just even more exciting. Also, remember how many commons you had when opening a few boxes, feeling bad for wasting ressources?

[@levirynearson5800]

I'm glad I'm not the only one who felt like their sealed pool was weird and there were definitely people in events that had some stacked decks.

[@MiscSpud]

I love the alternation between “Karlov” and “Markov” multiple times in the video 😂

[@Fenen24]

Something else you forgot about play boosters in what happens to them in bloomburrow. Mainly the price of them went up again while the odds getting the extra rares went down. While some may think less rares is good for balance, I would argue it’s worse. In sealed it’s now even more a crap shoot that you may only pull six rares while it’s still possible that your opponent pulled 12+. And in draft imagine you open the packs with 2-3 bombs while those around you only open 1. You get punished while your opponents get more.

[@billdoetsch]

Very important point that not many people realize. The rationale for the increase in price was specifically maintaining a higher # of rares - and of course now WOTC dropping rare count but maintaining price.

[@pigfish99]

Play boosters feel like more of the worst of both worlds. Set boosters were nice because they always felt like you got 2 rares a pack, with a chance of a list card. For the casual cracking of packs, it felt nice to do. The semi "theming"of them felt off though, seemed like i never got certain commons because of straight up lock. And draft boosters provided a nice, stable option meant for drafting. You always had the one mythic or rare, the commons, the uncommons, and whatever gimmick/ bonus card they included. Nowadays, it feels that you're getting more chaff in play, with a lesser chance of rares. Also, the way it's described makes it so confusing, meaning it's an even more of a crapshoot.

[@GambitsEnd]

Draft boosters were a stable, consistent pack of cards to serve in events. Set boosters offered exciting variance for players that simply enjoy the experience of opening packs. Play boosters do neither, ending up as a product that is just worse for everyone (and somehow being more expensive for fewer cards).

[@xeper9458]

That's exactly what they are. They actually made a great product in set boosters and realized they were way too good and provided way too much value opportunity, so naturally those greedy assholes had to put a stop to that asap. Arbitrage boxes were actually possible, and I absolutely loved the List cards being a firmly entrenched player since 1996. Watch next up it will be "People didn't like the Play boosters so were gonna combine Play boosters with Collectors (name tmd) for the low low price of $15 a piece!

[@estellairon9448]

And then make the bloomburrow pack type with fewer cards and no guaranteed rares a new mainstay for draft

[@hokey9175]

Draft has basically died at my store. It used to be a Friday night thing that would happen. Now most people don't want to spend the money on it at all

[@Volkbrecht]

For me it's a spite thing. It's not even that I don't have the money for it, but with that one decision they spoilt the whole thing so much for me that now I just don't want it any more. WotC is the only company I know that will take a successful product away from its customers.

[@waltp4855]

makes me sad. Loved FNM draft.

[@ForeverDayGreen]

I mean you can still get many sets with Draft Boosters at a reasonable price. No reason to let the tradition die now. Unfortunately this is not a longterm solution tho.

[@Treps1]

Yup it's awful here in Vancouver. Commander taking all the table space. And it's gotta suck for my local stores sales

[@iggberthumperdink]

​@@ForeverDayGreenor you can stop throwing money at WOTC.

[@benkesallai]

Murders at Markov Manor keeps twitching my right eye :D

[@Itatchi1771]

I try not to have an aneurysm too. It's not just Prof, can't blame him. But God does it hurt every time I hear it lol

[@CuteLittleLily]

prof tactic working. even i got annoyed by it. but from how much i hate that set to. i think its justified.

[@benkesallai]

@@Itatchi1771 will try my best not to get one ;) :D

[@RedPandaStan]

@@CuteLittleLily The set gave me leyline scion which is still my fav thing to do in modern that set is my bbg

[@OGdadpool]

He's screwed me up. I say it myself, even if I'm trying not to

[@elisabeth5111]

I returned to Magic after a long hiatus to play Bloomburrow. I played sealed and it felt.....off. Glad to finally get a possible explanation of the issue as I couldn't quite put my finger on at the time.

[@DarknessBubbles]

Me too. I was able to help my friend build a really good bats deck, splashing red for cruelclaw and other value. Meanwhile I had to put together a pile of commons and uncommons cause all my rares were in colours I had no support for. I'm glad I was able to help him put together something good for his first prerelease, but it was the worst experience I've had at any magic event.

[@Kokuswolf]

For me Bloomburrow was okay, besides one Sword of Fire and Ice occurrence, exactly as the prof mentioned. But Wilds of Eldraine was/is broken. The Enchanting Tales card "Season of Growth" for example is way to good.

[@olipod5470]

This intrigues me because Bloomburrow, of all 4 sets that use play boosters, has the closest content to a draft booster, the odds of opening a second rare are much lower than OTJ for example, and BLB has no bonus sheet in play boosters. Maybe it’s the cards themselves and the gameplay, because the power creep of limited environments is real. But that isn’t related to the pack itself.

[@gadget2622]

@@olipod5470the removal of the 15th card and the lack of color collation is a big problem.

[@FugueNation]

Love how you 100% just called it Murders at Markov Manor at 0:40, just like everyone does at my LGS

[@skylerking1679]

(prof started it)

[@themoops4006]

marklars at marklar marklar

[@durttheelder4035]

That's not the name?

[@corysabourin7054]

​@@durttheelder4035that's the name... don't let anyone tell you otherwise

[@Aqua-nautical]

"I don't have enough cards of any two colors to make a two color deck" was incredibly common at my prerelease. only 2 or 3 people ran two colors, and most of us went into it expecting to

[@billdoetsch]

It makes a big deal in things like Sealed Opens and Qualifiers - there's a lot more luck to it which pushes players needing to pull the lever more often to get a viable and powerful pool.

[@vengerofthelight]

16:12 -- The real issue is that they changed something, but that change wasn't an IMPROVEMENT. I'm fine with change; frankly, there's a LOT about MTG that should change. However, if those changes aren't a net positive -- even by a small margin -- they should be reverted\iterated on, not left to fester.

[@CentaurionArcher]

In my Bloomborrow prerelease, of my 90(?) cards I had 35 black cards and 3 green cards. Was such a weird disparity to what I was used to.

[@Tuturial464]

On the other hand, at least you have a good color and removal

[@JivanPal]

> 90(?) cards 78 cards from packs, excluding non-foil basic lands. Total is 79 spells if you include your prerelease promo, though you may have slightly less than this if you open any foil basics. With draft boosters, the total was 84 excluding non-foil basics, or 90 including all basics, plus a prerelease promo to make the total 91 cards.

[@Heavy_Play]

Yup, this succinctly captures my primary issues with play boosters. Increased price, worse experiences in both draft and especially sealed, and only exists because of an issue WOTC created for themselves. No notes. A+

[@gab3963]

Personal anecdote of mine: Partner and I played in bloomburrow pre-release with little to no hits. Mean while, another player pulled THREE Ral Zareks and multiple good otters. It was frustrating to even attempt to play against the deck when we got few things to retaliate.

[@christian-gu8zx]

So it’s worse for limited players and worse for people who just like opening packs? Another great idea from wotc

[@thatonegregkid]

Felt the same when it was first announced. I used to LOVE popping open Draft packs and occasionally set boosters, but the "play" boosters really killed thay desire, I've only gotten a handful from some of the sets that featured them. A farcry from the large amount of draft packs I got in previous sets (2017-2021 cores, ravnica, innistrad, etc)

[@thor82ak]

Yes, playboosters have made Limited much harder, draft feels really bad when you start getting cut off, not because someone is taking your colors, but just because the colors were never present in the packs. I think this makes for a worse draft experience for newer players.

[@ethanglaeser9239]

I didn't know that Play Boosters had effected the signals and pivoting side of drafting so much, but I have had that experience now that I think about it. I have frequently found myself feeling like I just don't see any cards that my deck needs, regardless of what colors I choose or pivot into. Almost all my recent drafts have felt like I had the leftovers and not the proper selections.

[@bduddy55555]

I mean that's the overall experience of playing any format other than Commander so it tracks

[@ethanglaeser9239]

@@bduddy55555 I've heard good things about some other formats, like Standard, recently. I think it is maybe unfair to say that everything in the game sucks, but my perspective about spending money and going to events is also altered by the fact that I do not have much available income for the game. I would go to more things and buy more product if I was able to afford it.

[@goldcreeper7376]

​@@bduddy55555What? Are you sure you're not mixing commander with "every constructed format"? I don't understand what you're trying to say

[@Lil_Noot]

The only draft experience that was somewhat enjoyable was Modern Horizons III, and that was because I had good pulls. Drafting it was hell

[@mopanda81]

@@ethanglaeser9239 consider finding proxy friendly events in your area

[@TheSkullPanda]

WOTC policy has been frequently reminding me that capitalism encourages companies, benevolent or monopolist alike, to digest or destroy the markets and products they create that become stable, as a stable market is one in which profit cannot keep increasing and thus viewed as stagnation. In short, given no competition, they'll eat themselves to keep expanding.

[@TheSkullPanda]

If this behavior sounds eerily familiar to you, it is the way of the cancer cell.

[@Coyote1911]

Get out commie.

[@matthewtaylor-h6q]

Late stage capitalism for the win baby

[@nelus7276]

Under capitalism, you're free to do better.

[@parkerjensen7384]

@@nelus7276 With what resources, time, or money? Sure, this person could go to a print shop, make a game, and market it as better than MTG, but that costs money, time, talent, a lot of work, that they most likely don't have the time to do. And even if all of that happened, WOTC has already sent the Pinkertons to raid someone's house, they would absolutely engage in espionage or foul business practices to deal with a competitor that actually threatens them. Also, this person most likely wants to just play Magic, not any other game. The design team behind magic is filled with talented and passionate artists and designers, but the need for ever increasing quarterly profit forces them to constantly have to shovel out new products for greatly inflated prices. This idea that we aren't allowed to complain or be upset when something we like has become worst over time because a soulless corporation wants to see a line go up instead of producing something that is both useful and makes people happy is absurd.

[@theboi5617]

Wotc makes me sad but professor makes me happy.

[@twolf7448]

as one who used to love sealed play, i do agree with all these points. Drafts are insanely rough to play, and the pre-release I rarely stay to the end anymore due to the decks not being actually playable. Outlaws i remember my pre-release kit being so bad I didn't even bother playing the 1st match, bloomburrow, i played 1 match, then bailed. Since the change to play boosters, Karlov manor is only pre-release that i stuck around to end of as it was only one that gave me a playable deck (came in 2nd for the event). Prior to play boosters it was rare I would drop early, like maybe 1 out of 6 pre-releases i might leave after 1 or 2 matches due to just a lot of bad pulls. Drafts, I just don't want to anymore. Someone gets a special guest it's usually over and they take the whole thing. Ya sealed just isn't the fun level playing field it used to be since the change.

[@_mrcrypt]

Astute observations, as usual. You’re like the Tron of Magic the Gathering. Who’s that? That’s The Professor. He fights for the Users.

[@melr.5492]

I dont know if I agree with the conclusion that we didnt need 3 kinds of boosters; this sounds like set boosters provided the solution. Having collector, set, and draft allowed there to be different products for the higher end and lower end for collecting, and a separate one balanced for drafting. Now we just have a worse booster for both lower end collecting and drafting that leaves nobody happy.

[@themoops4006]

wotc just wanted to hike prices so they dropped set boosters and raised the price on draft boosters while calling them play boosters. play boosters are just $6 draft boosters.

[@melr.5492]

@@themoops4006 They aren't though, as this video shows. They provide a different experience than draft boosters for draft and sealed, one that many aren't viewing as positive.

[@themoops4006]

@@melr.5492 i don't draft often so i can't speak to how the card distribution has changed with this newest set i'm just talking value. this change was 100% made to hike prices first and foremost, wotc wanted to eliminate the current draft booster price point and couldn't just say 'okay draft packs are $6.50 now' they had to obfuscate it with this whole song and dance about there being too many kinds of boosters.

[@xeper9458]

@@themoops4006 Precisel. They killed their best product ever when all they had to do was keep them and add commons to make them draft friendly. They didn't do that because they are greedy clowns who wanted to raise prices while decreasing the value contained so you have to buy more. They also want to try to force people into buynig collector booster so that factors in. They think we are all stupid sheep that cant see what they are doing

[@xeper9458]

@@themoops4006 Everyone loved set boosters so they realized they had made too good of a product that offered too much opportunity value. Arbitrage was often attainable with the List and increased Rare/Mythic rates, and as we all know they don't want anyone making money off the secondary market that they deny they acknowledge mind you except themselves. Plus they want to force the people that buy set booster to collectors, all while increasing prices in general. Hasbro driven greed I say

[@MSDGAMEZ]

I just got into magic..... i am blown away by some of the prices in general. It feels like they don't really care about making the game more accessible, but trying to get peoole addicted to gambling

[@bencheevers6693]

You nailed it, I'm an average player, not new, but not spikey and draft got a lot harder and sealed used to be my favourite format, it gets you into a new set, you don't need to draft a new set, you see everybody coming out for a big event. I usually spent the weekend of a prerelease and a couple days after playing up to 5 sealed events, in the past year since this change, I've hit both amazingly lucky decks and I won a 5 round bloomburrow prerelease and I've opened total trash, one in MH3 and that really stung because the price of that was high where I just couldn't play my good cards. I've had a lot of experience with the exact issues you mentioned, they aren't as rare as you think and I don't think it was very fun for my opponents when I played tribal Mice with a disgusting deck

[@Jhary7]

I want to thank you, Professor, for advocating for local game stores over the big box stores. When you buy from a small chain or single store, more of what you spend goes back into the community. The big box stores send most of their money back to wherever their corporate headquarters are located.

[@khristian625]

I liked the idea of Set boosters: a pack for constructed players to find legal game pieces in the new set. They just botched it, or more likely, turned up the IV drip only so slightly, to the point that the only way to acquire the game pieces via set boosters was to bulk buy like with draft boosters before them. So the players WotC actually cares about, whales, are the costs and bought up set boosters instead, resulting in draft boxes seeing a decline in sales because the only reason to buy a draft box was to play a draft and you need a play group and multiple hours for that

[@dhalden93]

It's funny to me that it actually would've been strictly better to *increase* the number of cards in a draft pack for play boosters to improve the draft experience, because 8x2 = 16 = everyone gets 2 cards from each pack. Also, I'm realizing the person I thought was cheating with their sealed pool having so many rares/mythics that I just got demolished by, was actually just really lucky in their pulls...

[@Chrisco2oo2]

As a mostly set booster buyer, play boosters feel terrible to open. I feel like I'm opening a draft booster, which I don't like at all, but to top it off, I've done a sealed event (prerelease) for 2 sets with play boosters and it felt awful. My friend's blue cards were all instants/sorceries, and I somehow pulled from blue, only creatures. It blew my mind. It was a horrible experience! The 2nd one wasn't as extreme, but really wasn't fun at all. I have no plans to bother with drafts/sealed events again unless they improve these boosters.

[@Beckola44]

Draft Boosters were $89.99 a box. I usually bought the Set Booster boxes over Draft. Though only 30 packs, the Set Booster boxes ($99.99) gave me more mythics, rares, and cards from the list. The Play Booster boxes are $130.00 gave me less mythics and rares. Thata way to go Wizards! Charging more and giving us less and cheap card quality is your MOTTO. Play Booster boxes are overpriced like so many other products from Wizards. We do play a lot of Commander. Once in a while we will have a draft using take home kits from our LGS. I am buying more singles and not buying Play Booster boxes. Magic is a great game but our group is buying a lot less now because of the price increases. Expect more increases in 2025. Thank you for the video Professor.

[@Ubik_Fresh]

It's the price hikes by stealth that I object to most.

[@GambitsEnd]

Draft boosters were for draft event players. Set boosters were for players that have fun opening packs. Play boosters are the worst of both, not serving either player. It's an objectively bad product made worse by replacing better products.

[@Cassapphic]

I would add an asterisk onto the end comment that set boosters were inherently a problem that shouldn't have happened, and that is that these packs, while designed primarily for draft, are also the way to get cards out of the printing press and into the hands of constructed players, if collector boosters are meant to be the premium high price fancy pretty looking packs full of all the alternate prints and the like, then whatever alternative there is needs to do a good job at getting the main set into the hands of constructed players while also being good for draft, which is a genuine problem and one that is difficult to solve. Set boosters were an attempt at that but it stretched the market too thin, now play boosters are just worse set boosters for people who want constructed cards without the secondary market, and pricer draft boosters for sealed/draft enjoyers.

[@Xanathar_Drill_De_L_Ouest]

Hi, set booster were very cool to people who didnt want to play but just collect cards because they look great, I personnaly play in a more competitive way but set booster helped me to introduice many friends to magic so i was glad they were here. (I'm french sorry for bad english). keep the good work prof.

[@isaacthek]

I've been saying this for a while... The change to pack designs are resulting in common cards having technically rarer supply than uncommon cards. Rarity has zero meaning anymore.

[@TimmytheSorcerer]

Cool to learn all these terms. I’ve been “wheeling” for over a decade but never knew it 😂

[@JesseCarver]

I have to point out: there are now 10 signposts per pair, rather than five, one payoff and one enabler. So you're more likely to be passed one, not less.

[@time.5942]

The comment on common cards in arena draft, to the fade in of "Gossip's Talent" is just pure gold! (Or silver I guess, as it's uncommon)

[@bradensorensen966]

Play Boosters are basically just more expensive Draft Boosters.

[@brendanbuck2814]

Mythic/Rare multiball is just something I think we have to live with when it comes to sealed, but I think the main improvement WoTC could make is give us the 7th common. I get it, cutting a card was a really great cost saving measure that you got to do at the same time as raising the rent because you could say you were raising from the number in set boosters...but that last card is important for sealed and would help minimize the chance of getting completely color hosed in a pack. Also, 15 cards packs has a lineage going back to alpha. It's a number that should never have been lowered.

[@nathanielleon4163]

I got back into Arena, basically for Bloomburrow. I decided to lean hard into sealed and I'll be honest, I had a miserable time. Once quick draft opened up I started playing that, and the difference really was night and day. It was the most fun drafting I've had in a long time. So my take is just that draft is doing fine, for me at least, but sealed was really rough. If that disparity remains, I wouldn't be surprised if pre-releases stop being six play boosters and are like, specifically tuned "Sealed Boosters", or even just "Sealed Kits", to reduce any major sources of variance without having to think to hard about changing play boosters. I don't know how I would feel about that, I guess that would depend on implementation, like whether they would turn sealed events into a "premium" event with a higher price tag... But if I'm being honest, sealed has been too rich for my blood for a long time now. Especially with the risk of just having a nothing pool and having a bad time for more money than I'd spend on a nice night out for me AND someone else.

[@jasonwild7395]

Not sure how this allegory slots into the analysis but I opened FOUR boxes of Bloomburrow and didn't get a SINGLE special guest card. Wild

[@xeper9458]

Greed is real. That would make me want to quit. That is unacceptable you work hard for your money and decide to spend it on that trash..... Damn im sorry

[@hanzolo7687]

If you want special guest, go for collector boosters. They have higher chances of expensive cards and have guaranteed special guests.

[@alexhamilton3522]

​@hanzolo7687 It's not guaranteed though right? And it's $30 PER pack. Just buy the card.

[@hanzolo7687]

@@alexhamilton3522 it's guaranteed 1 special guest. And one collector box is around 4 play boxes anyway and prob better overalll

[@falconJB]

@@alexhamilton3522 Or just proxy it.

[@Byteside546]

RIP set boosters. Want any commander cards? Sorry those are collector pack only now.

[@xeper9458]

Seriously?! Wow just when you thought they couldn't get any greedier. Honestly i'm not all that surprised though considering the trajectory they;ve been on for awhile now

[@Iceykitsune]

Good. Fuck commander.

[@tegel619]

Thank you for professor for doing this video. As a limited player this has destroyed the limited environment and people that are new to the system are ignorant to what it used to be. Thank you for touching on forcing players that play limited the increased price they did not ask for. There should be two types of boosters draft boosters and collector boosters that's it. Imagine you're trying to buy a car because you want to go somewhere and you just need something cheap and economical. The only car company sold cheap an economical cars that would get you to your location. All of a sudden they stop making cheap and economical cars and started making sports cars. The only way to get your destination now was to buy a sports car. You didn't need all the fancy stuff and you need to spend all the extra money but that's the only way now to get to your destination.

[@dragonfeets2032]

My bloomburrow prerelease resulted in me having a dog awful pool of blue and black cards, yet my best bomb was Vern, the dimir rats legendary. I took one game due to my opponent getting unlucky with their land drops, but got outclassed for the rest of the experience.

[@chibiacer]

This sounds about right. Even with years of draft experience, I have much more trouble identifying my available color lanes now. And while I've gotten lucky a few times in Sealed, winning by having more playable rares than my opponents doesn't actually feel good. And obviously having less feels even worse.

[@modernkiwi6447]

Sometimes I look at Magic and wonder if I should get into paper play for it, then I remember it’s owned by fucking Hasbro and decide against it

[@pavma7]

I never thought I would say this but I miss Set Boosters. The pulling experience was so much better

[@BlueGriffin20]

All I remember about play boosters is WotC saying since they are going to have more rares in packs, they are going to make more removal/interaction to deal with them…

[@Volkbrecht]

Which to me is another feel-bad. I liked tricky board states, and having to dose removal carefully, to not waste it on threats you could deal with in other ways. More consistent removal basically means to shift the game more towards luck of the draw.

[@xeper9458]

Yeah they said you should get just as much if not more rares/mythics than before in the set packs, along with being more draft friendly with more cards altogether! Flat out lies

[@terriblefrosting]

After opening a LOT of PlayBoosters vs. Collector boosters, I am 100% convinced that they have a definite "do not put these rares in Playboosters" list somewhere. It's pretty awful.

[@terriblefrosting]

I have also noticed a BIG difference between TJ and BB "play boosters".

[@alexraizman1581]

There's one thing I want to protest, the idea that set boosters weren't needed. Collectors boosters are too damn expensive for people who like to collect but can't afford a $20 pack - I only am playing MTG again *because* of set boosters. I buy one booster box a month, and the old style of boosters felt awful for that because I'd only get a small sample of the rares/mythics and a ton of duplicates, and a single duplicate rare in a box sucked extra hard. That being said, Play boosters are kind of the worst of both worlds for both collectors and sealed players, so I'm hoping WOTC can find a better fix for the needs of both budget collectors and sealed players.

[@spamtonto]

There's a solution for this, it's called buying singles.

[@HeyApples]

One of the main side effects I notice is the pressure on the common slot. Since there are now fewer of them, there is more pressure on the few that exist to be good. So if a color has a run of bad ones (cough blue, cough), the color becomes almost unplayable under these conditions.

[@corysabourin7054]

Draft has died out in my area (which is more rural, but it used to be strong here) everyone just plays commander now. But the singles you want, maybe a precon here and there once they get cheaper

[@karl_boss]

I can't help but feel that Return to Zendikar with the Special Lands was the death knell. Since then, it just keeps spiralling down and down.

[@tikamajere316]

It negatively impacted Winston draft too!

[@thecuriousoutsider]

There was a time when I was a regular draft and sealed player. But play boosters seemed to me like Wizards was saying, "You aren't the type of customer we're looking for." I went with that and have not played in any events that use play boosters. In addition, I have not purchased a single play booster product.

[@salthearted5843]

17:21 Why did collectors boosters need to exist in the first place is a better question. Theres no reason alternative arts and serialized cards couldn't have been in set boosters if only to gouge the player base for 30 dollars a pack. Collector boosters are a scam. I liked cracking packs for fun with friends, but its too expensive anymore. Plus with bloomburrow being stingy with its rares, its not even close to being worth it now to buy a box. Play boosters are the worst of set and draft boosters all crammed together.

[@narayantrex2226]

I recently bought a Bloomburrow Display and played Sealed with a friend of mine. Since we were only two players, neither of us was missing a particular color, but between 18 packs, I only pulled 2-3 signpost uncommons, which I noticed right away

[@TheCariston]

I kinda wish Draft and Set Booster´s back. Playbooster are far more worse than i thought at the beginning with the changes and the monetary worth is horrible. I and a friend got eacht a Display of Bloomburrow we got screwed hard around 40-50 € worth of cards in total , we paid 135€ each.

[@xeper9458]

Well then they accomplished their mission! Now you have to buy more

[@TheCariston]

@@xeper9458 i stick to buying singles from now on and maybe a commander deck here and there if something peaks my interrest

[@TheCariston]

@@xeper9458 don´t know why my response is gone but i stick to buying singles and commander decks if some peaks my interrest from now on

[@xeper9458]

@@TheCariston yeah weird I just had another of my comments on here flagged and removed for supposedly "harassment and cyber bullying" but all I was doing was pointing out how greedy Wotc and Hasbro are. This censorship is becoming tyrannical

[@xeper9458]

@@TheCariston I just responded to you and it was removed immediately and idk why... This censorship is becoming tyrannical

[@kymor365]

The amount that Play Boosters have affected the strength of the card pool in 2 player draft formats is massive. The lack of color consistency in packs is exacerbated when only drafting between 6 packs. It becomes nearly impossible for both players to draft a decent 2 color deck (which was never a problem in 2 Player Winston Draft). Now, one person gets a decent 2 color deck, and the other gets a weak 3 color deck that uses scraps from the 2 color decks color pairing. This doesn't even account for the amount of politicking, trading, and otherwise rule bending to make a play booster draft work. Usually, one color is almost completely absent, with only one pack supporting that color (if you are lucky). I haven't tried a Rochester Draft, but it might be the only way to truly insure two good decks can be drafted along side each other, though I'd imagine there would still have to be direct coordination to not step on each others toes and that feels like it defeats one of the major purposes of the draft. With how much my partner and I have to agree to/not to draft certain cards so the other can play, it feels like we'd be better off just opening the packs and arranging and divvying the pool manually to ensure a good time. All of that to say, Play Boosters are far worse in 2 Player Drafts too.

[@ThisNameIsBanned]

At this point draft got so expensive , nobody in my LGS is drafting anymore. Its simply dead because of it.

[@spamtonto]

Funny that draft boosters are selling better than at any point the last few years.

[@squidmcbumbleberry2766]

My friend group drafts quite often, usually we get a box or two and the four of us draft till all the packs are gone. What I have noticed most significantly are 2 major things: At first I thought I would dislike the lowered number of commons, but I actually really enjoy it. Getting duplicate copies of your commons that help the general strategy of your deck feels really nice in a format that can tend to be all over the place. It helps it feel a little more grounded. Reversely the increased rares and mythics can sometimes make drafts very volatile. Throughout these last sets I'd have to say the best drafts were Bloomburrow and Murders at Karlov manner. Outlaws was really fun but the 2 extra sheets pushed a lot of really crazy cards into the draft which made for some interesting games.

[@werothegreat]

It's interesting comparing this to Lorcana limited. A Lorcana pack only has 12 cards, but two guaranteed rares (or better) and one guaranteed foil of any rarity. To get 40 cards, you need to draft 4 packs - this does make drafting more expensive, and that's definitely a con in Lorcana's tally. However, it does mean you get to look at minimum eight rares before anyone else does, and you're guaranteed to be passed a rare on the first pass. And since Lorcana is only a year old, there's no "special guests" or bonus sheets - all rares are part of the set as designed, and of a similar power level (for the most part). Add to that that in limited, most of the good cards are in uncommon and common anyway - "flyers", "haste", removal, etc - and it makes for a very fun limited environment. In comparison, the play booster drafts I've done in MTG - all four of the sets so far - have been less fun. It has consistently felt like other players got more rares than I did, and better ones, especially in sealed. TLDR: Lorcana limited and MTG Play Booster limited at first seem similar, but Lorcana has a lot less randomness/swinginess, and is a more fun experience, even if it's more expensive.

[@chudleycannonfodder]

Lorcana (at least where I played) also allows you to use any colors in your deck, so every card is useable in a deck (they also guarantee at least one of each color in the common slot). No “white bomb but I only got four other white cards” issues here.

[@werothegreat]

@@chudleycannonfodder yep, there are no color restrictions in limited. There are also no lands, which is the reason I like Lorcana, since there's no such thing as flooding, but it does mean that you need to run at least 40 of your 48 drafted cards, making deckbuilding less of a skill. It's all in the cards you actually pick during the drafting phase.

[@h4xninja971]

I used to buy set boosters because i enjoyed cracking packs occasionaly. I no longer do with play boosters. I used to enjoy pre release but the experience has been much worse with play boosters. In addition i used to buy a bundle box for every set as a bit of fun and was looking forward to trying it with the first bundle to include play boosters. It was the worst experience I've ever had with a bundle box. Wotc has saved me a lot of money. I no longer go to pre release. I no longer buy bundles and i no longer buy boosters for fun. I just buy singles for my casual commander pod. Play boosters feel worse in every way.

[@matthewanderson5073]

It's my opinion that bloomburrow packs have far less multiple rares per pack then any other set before. Which as a guy who loves to Crack packs, it sucks. I really really miss set boosters

[@olipod5470]

And you’re right, WotC has changed the odds of opening a second rare in Bloomburrow

[@billdoetsch]

It's not just your opinion - it's an objective fact. The chance to open a second rare has decreased since OTJ.

[@JoeyDCote]

"Image you draft and awsome Blue-Red deck in Bloomburrow," Oh, the sarcasm is strong with this one.

[@Phe0nix1986]

Remember commander legends had boosters with 20 cards in each? Amazing.

[@muhlor]

Yes and it totally made sense since the set was named and designed for 'commander'. So you had to build 60 card brawl decks for draft, with a commander. Shitty comparison, sorry pal.

[@Phe0nix1986]

The format doesn’t make a difference about what you can and what you deserve from a pack. Nor does it make a difference to the number of cards they could print. My point is they did, recently, print at a good price, packs with 20 cards in. So the LEAST i can expect is the number they used to have. But going higher shouldn’t be viewed as or argued at being impossible.

[@muhlor]

@@Phe0nix1986 the format the set is designed for is the main factor regarding card design, booster and booster Box sizes and prize. Your take does not make much sense imho. You have to put more cards in packs if the limited environment for said set requires you to build decks with 20 cards more than usual. Guess why there were also 20 card packs in commander masters...

[@netanelaker4437]

Great video as always! :) I agree with 99% of your points! I'd like to add a few thoughts as a primarily Limited player: 1. I wish you had focused more on the positive aspects of play boosters-playing with more rares and more powerful commons is genuinely more exciting, especially in terms of the commons. Yes, I understand that weaker commons exist to teach new players, but in my opinion, this is mitigated by the fact that more powerful commons mean more budget-friendly options for those new players. Speaking of budget, although the boosters are more expensive, the cards themselves are cheaper, though this goes beyond the Limited experience. 2. One major negative is that while commons now have the potential to do more, they aren't allowed to be just "fine" or "simple." For example, a common can't just destroy an artifact; it has to do something more. Additionally, vanilla creatures can no longer exist. Interestingly, French vanilla creatures are now uncommon, with Bloomburrow having a healthy number of them. Some common design space is now fully erased, the "keeping creature tapped" blue common, the "P/T altering" blue common, the colored equipment and most importantly, the "anything" slot of each color. This article is very facinating to me - magic.wizards.com/en/news/making-magic/nuts-and-bolts-16-play-boosters 3. I wish you had done a thought experiment on "what if MKM/OTJ/BLB were draft boosters instead of set boosters, and how the format would have looked." That could be a fun video!

[@pleravens]

At PT San Jose, I was in a limited event (Kalidesh / Aether Revolt) and I was against a pro player who happened to also have an Aether Revolt invention - Engineered Explosives. It was a close match until the EE was played and then it was a blow out. And that happened in 2 of the 3 games. It is kind of like this situation mentioned here with special guests. I know getting an invention is probably rarer; but the attempt to fight against a card not in the set made it that much harder. I need to find some more clouds to yell at...

[@crestfallen5638]

Drafting is 24$ at my local. That said, bloomburrow is the first set I've been a part of since "the start" of the set. I just started playing MTG before it released.

[@spamtonto]

If you're new to Magic, it just came off a brutal bear market and the geriatric old heads have a very toxic attitude toward the entire hobby. Enjoy the game and ignore the salt.

[@uvtqs6344]

I have been opening packs for over 15 years, and buying 2 boxes for every single set that has come out, one to open for pulls and the other to draft with friends and I have never regretted buying a box until recently when play booster came out both for pulls and for drafting, for the pulls I get the feeling that now unless you buy a collector you're getting nothing but trash, other than outlaws which had great pulls but awful drafting experience and bloomburrow which completely the other way around, play boosters have been a bad experience for me overall.

[@JohnGamesOfficial]

This is timely video. Yesterday afternoon, as the only undefeated players in a draft, my opponent plays sword of fire and on turn 3 in game 3. I had a absolutely busted hand, but can't beat that! Felt abysmal.

[@Aerix]

Oh yah, i felt the hit to sealed at BB prerelease all right. My pool was scattered brained at best and lacked any synergy at worst. I felt pressed to go 3 color in a set that supports only 2.

[@ArixOdragc]

You said exactly what I've been saying all along - play boosters are an inelegant solution to a problem that never needed to exist in the first place. Although honestly I would not be surprised if play boosters went away in the next couple years and we went back to draft boosters again. The argument was that set boosters drastically outsold draft boosters outside of limited. But I don't think that's because people just absolutely loved set boosters - it's because set boosters were _there_. It was less "OH HELL YEAH NEED TO GET ME SOME SET BOOSTERS", and more "I have a couple bucks to blow on a booster, set boosters are a little extra value so might as well pick one of them up". With that element gone and returning to just the one type of booster, there's no reason to make limited so much worse.

[@themoops4006]

lots of big-box stores just stopped carrying draft boosters too, i haven't had a choice for the last two years the stores only carried individual set boosters

[@jbigs65]

I like that there are less art cards in the boosters I open. I much prefer tokens in that slot!

[@mcbuckets2399]

The token problem is so rough my LGS collects the tokens at the end of each draft and has them available for free

[@Hakaze]

Yeah. I like art, but I'd much rather have a play piece

[@Billchu13]

Art cards would make good tokens for this set, because offspring

[@laboratorymaniac7324]

@@jbigs65 Set boosters often had an art card *and* a token (unless you got a List card, which replaced the token).

[@mcbuckets2399]

@@Billchu13 yes and no. While yes they are pretty the sideways alignment causes some confusion

[@riftworldking]

I think one of the roughest things about any kind of Limited Format has been that the cost has doubled or even gone from $15 to $45, for a normal Set. When the first Premium Set I drafted released, Modern Masters, it was $30 for that, and $15 for anything else. That is no longer the case, and I personally can't justify $30 for one night of fun every week. The Play Boosters offering more chances for bombs is... Mostly neither here nor there. It is at least a little worse because I don't particularly care for getting hit with Path to Exile or Reanimate due to luck of the draw.

[@Cebion91]

I miss the Set Booster box... for me and my group playing commander it was nice having great lookings cards and more rare cards without paying with a kidney....

[@jonathanmcgreevy6806]

As someone that doesn't regularly draft, I've never opened a play booster and went "wow that was a great pack". Combined with the fact every draft centric content creator I've seen hates them id say they fail on everything they tried to achieve 🤷🏼‍♂️

[@CanadianBaconPwnage]

Opening packs for fun has also become worse. Before, I had a choice to open a cheaper draft pack, knowing I will basically only get one rare, versus opening a more expensive Set booster and having a pretty high chance to open multiple rares/chase uncommons. Now, 1 have to open a Play booster that is more expensive than a Draft booster, and almost always getting a disappointing 1 rare pack. Sure, I "might" get more rares, but the odds are far less than Set boosters had. Draft boosters were honest: "buy me, and you get 1 rare". Nothing fancy. Play boosters feel like a scam when opening just 1-3 packs at a time, way more like a lottery than Set boosters did.

[@Topher714]

"Why did Set Boosters even need to exist in the first place?" You answered your own question when you said they cut too much into draft boosters sales: they existed because that was clearly what the customers wanted. I stopped buying draft boxes years ago; I don't draft, and they're terrible for literally everything else. As a wise man once said, "buy singles." Basically the only reason to buy any box was to *experience* a set; get a lot of cards with a lot of variety, and really get a feel for everything the set had to offer. Set Boosters were great for that. I liked them and I bought them. I wanted that same experience for Bloomburrow. Bought a Play Booster Box. Paid more money, got fewer rares, and had like 3 showcase arts in the whole box. Never again. These things suck, but it's Set Boosters I want back.

[@walrider8073]

I rly miss set boosters. Play boosters suck in comparison, unless your play draft.

[@sketcherzero]

I’m not a draft player, and I don’t have the deep pockets necessary for collector boosters. Set Boosters were the perfect product for me - less chaff, more rares, and a generally more enjoyable experience overall. I’d draft boosters were dying out because of the existence of set boosters, then maybe we need to acknowledge that draft boosters were the inferior product overall. Wizards took an awesome product (set boosters) and watered it down to try and salvage the draft booster market. In my opinion, WOTC and play boosters failed. Especially after the last few sets, I see no reason to open packs anymore, as the enjoyment I get from set boosters has been significantly diminished by the current incarnation of play boosters. Which means I’ll be following the professor’s advice and just buying singles.

[@world_of_scrapyard]

It makes no sense to continue buying Play Booster boxes, because the pull rate of special cards has reached the old draft boxes. That's why Bloomburrow had openings worth $40, but paying $150 for a Play Booster box in central Europe. I strongly recommend only buying individual cards and no more Play Booster Boxes! The Collector Boxes are too expensive, so they are only intended for higher earners. Magic the Gathering will only be fun if you have a lot of money and don't mind burning 66% of it. With WOTC's own greed, the company destroys itself

[@spamtonto]

If you think Collector's boxes have been too expensive during one of the worst bear markets in years, you're really going to hate the prices next year.

[@nenadstojiljkovic3664]

I never really played sealed or draft so i wasn't exposed to the problems that play boosters have in that case, the thing i was most bummed about was that if i open a box of cards which is 30 boosters im getting scammed out of 30 cards, sure they're common but as someone who doesnt buy mtg often or puts a lot of money into it its a rather big shame

[@thewonderdoc2999]

Hey Wotc in case youre watching: wanna know why I dont draft more? It‘s because you pump out product like there is no tomorrow with a release event to go with it. „But wait“ you say „that doesnt impact you being able to sign up for a draft?“ Yes it does. Because all of your WPN Premium stores and most of your WPN stores also carry Pokemon,Yugioh, OnePiece etc who all have their events as well. And with you releasing more product you arent magically pushing out the competing product youre cutting the events slots that exist for drafts by forcing WPN stores to have 2 „UB Doctor Who EDH launch parties“. THAT is why I dont get to draft more even though I‘d like to.

[@mopanda81]

I feel like more than just color collation as an issue fewer commons per set means its harder to rely on getting commons to fill out draft decks. Also glad to hear the professor give a more concrete reason for why I feel so confused by the mixed signals I'm getting from my draft partners.

[@jessevandez]

Cracking a play booster box was the worst opening experience I've had to date. Which is impressive.

[@qianbang_]

Same. Never thought that I would hate cracking a box

[@Kokuswolf]

"Imagine you draft an awesome blue red deck in Bloomburrow, but then your first round opponent slams a Sword of Fire and Ice onto the table." I had this on MTG Arena. But it was my second opponent. And I lost despite having a good draw too.

[@captawesome42]

They’ve added a full cycle of common signposts as well

[@Myrgard]

Thanks for covering this, pre-release at markov manor was terrible, i could barely make a two colour deck and was forced to use cards that normally wouldnt make the cut.

[@jenslight6199]

My friend used to take kids from his school to prereleases as their first tournament experience. Due to increased cost, up from AUD$40 to AUD$60, he no longer does. Increased costs have become a new significant barrier to entry for new players. 😢

[@joebobroskie1435]

I'll be devils advocate but I don't think the vast majority of people who do drafts and sealed are players focused on limited. Most of my friends go to drafts are commander players who think a set is cool and use it as a fun way to crack packs and hopefully open some cool cards. I am much MUCH more likely to draft with play boosters since draft boosters felt so bad to open. I have played a lot more drafts since play boosters have come out since now there is a much bigger chance of getting some cards i want.

[@spamtonto]

The Professor here just puts the most positive tone and smile on the most toxic lineup of videos possible.

[@Aldrnari956]

This helps me understand why my experience with Bloomburrow’s prerelease felt so off. I’m admittedly bad at draft, but I’m decent at sealed. My card pool made no sense. I had rares and two mythics that didn’t fit into the majority of the uncommon cards I pulled. I had to splash a third color just to try and pull something functional together, and it still ended up being a dud deck. Looking back over the pool of cards I had, there was a color pairing that would have maybe been slightly more functional by abandoning all but two of the rares I pulled and relying on commons to do the lifting. There were people in attendance that had the opposite experience pulling Maha or Ygra and getting exactly the support in their colors to pull the deck off. Seems like I just had a particularly bad mix of cards that night where no one archetype had enough support. It’s kind of a relief that I didn’t suddenly start sucking at sealed so bad.