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MTG Zendikar Box!

dragonmantek

dragonmantek

macrumors regular
Original poster
Oct 16, 2007
234
0
New York
I just bought a Zendikar Booster Box, these are flying off of shelves, so I figure I get the last one in the store.

Are they worth that much money really?

Has anyone gotten anything good out of it?

MTG players unite!
 
dragonmantek said:
I just bought a Zendikar Booster Box, these are flying off of shelves, so I figure I get the last one in the store.

Are they worth that much money really?

Has anyone gotten anything good out of it?

MTG players unite!
Click to expand...

I bought 4 on release day. My local shop was selling them for $109 inclusive. How much was yours? The online stores had them for as much as $125 at one point when they usually go for $80, mostly fueled by the priceless treasure garbage.

I've managed to put together a playset of the new fetchlands, including foils of the u/g and u/r ones. Still no Lotus Cobras, though. That makes me sad.
 
honestly, if i pulled a lotus, i'd be crapping my brains out. those are worth so much now, it's ridiculous.

i'm debating on whether opening it or not. did you get anything amazing in yours? people tell me that you usually make a profit by buying one.

i got the pack for 110.
 
Yeah, Zendikar boxes are becoming harder and harder to buy. Packs at the local shop are going for upwards of 8$ apiece! It's not that the set has a ton of good stuff; it's just that the production run was sliced in half. Therefore, demand is really high.

The two huge reasons people are snatching them up are because:
A) The new fetchlands are in high demand.
B) The "Priceless Treasures" campaign where Wizards of the Coast are randomly throwing old cards from the first few sets into packs. Some people have opened signed Alpha Lightning Bolts and some others have pulled pieces of Power 9. The thing is, I think the rarity is 1:78 boxes.
 
dragonmantek said:
honestly, if i pulled a lotus, i'd be crapping my brains out. those are worth so much now, it's ridiculous.

i'm debating on whether opening it or not. did you get anything amazing in yours? people tell me that you usually make a profit by buying one.

i got the pack for 110.
Click to expand...

What really gets me is how bonkers everyone went over the treasures bit without stopping to read the fine print. The ratio is, on average, one card per twenty *boxes*. That's one per 720 packs. My mindset all along has been if I hit one, then great, if not, then I'm no worse off and I've still got some good stuff for my Standard deck. Out of the 11 cases our store ordered, so far we've had one - a buddy of mine popped an Unlimited Time Walk, which works out really good for him as he and his wife just had twins. A Time Walk will buy an awful lot of Pampers.

If I were you, I'd crack it. The hype is pretty much over with (the treasures bit was confined to the first print run only), and you'll get more utility out of the cards then trying to eBay the box as supply is less of an issue now than it was 2 weeks ago. Online prices, which are probably the best indicator, have already fallen 25% off the high-water mark and will probably drop to normal levels in a month or so. The best time to arbitrage is up to about a week or so after the release; after that everyone has piles of cards and the only things that are hard to get a hold of are the chase rares.

Alternatively, you could round up 7 of your friends and do a box draft. Charge $15 a head and pay out 6-4-2 or something like that with the rest.
 
haha, i had the idea running in my mind that i could keep the box for 15 years later, and sell it for 15000 dollars or something.

i went onto a site, i forget but you can google it. they were selling alpha / beta box's for 20000 bucks.
 
Is Zendikar a good set? For anyone who played during Urza's block and the Rath Cycle, how does Zendikar measure up? Should I buy a box, or just singles?
 
i just opened the box and i got some very good cards. i pulled a lotus cobra which i'm very happy about.

i also got the black planeswalker that controls someones turn.

i would recommend getting into standard, there are some very dangerous cards.

i'm pretty happy with what i pulled, no beta's though.
 
dragonmantek said:
haha, i had the idea running in my mind that i could keep the box for 15 years later, and sell it for 15000 dollars or something.

i went onto a site, i forget but you can google it. they were selling alpha / beta box's for 20000 bucks.
Click to expand...

Most sealed boxes of Beta are in the $15k-$20k range. Because it's Beta. Zendikar will never be Beta.

dragonmantek said:
i just opened the box and i got some very good cards. i pulled a lotus cobra which i'm very happy about.

i also got the black planeswalker that controls someones turn.

i would recommend getting into standard, there are some very dangerous cards.

i'm pretty happy with what i pulled, no beta's though.
Click to expand...

Lotus Cobra - it's good, but not Tarmogoyf good. You're still probably going to see it in just about any deck that can reasonably produce 1G early.

Sorin Markhov - good in Limited if you're already committed to black, otherwise average at best. There are better things to do on turn 6 in Standard.

thejadedmonkey said:
Is Zendikar a good set? For anyone who played during Urza's block and the Rath Cycle, how does Zendikar measure up? Should I buy a box, or just singles?
Click to expand...
Yes, better, and buy a box.

Shotgun OS said:
Yeah, Zendikar boxes are becoming harder and harder to buy. Packs at the local shop are going for upwards of 8$ apiece! It's not that the set has a ton of good stuff; it's just that the production run was sliced in half. Therefore, demand is really high.

The two huge reasons people are snatching them up are because:
A) The new fetchlands are in high demand.
B) The "Priceless Treasures" campaign where Wizards of the Coast are randomly throwing old cards from the first few sets into packs. Some people have opened signed Alpha Lightning Bolts and some others have pulled pieces of Power 9. The thing is, I think the rarity is 1:78 boxes.
Click to expand...
$8 a pack is insane. Go to Walmart or Target and get them for $4. If product was becoming increasingly harder to get, then why is the price on a box going down instead of up? They peaked at $125 a week prior to the release, now they're at $100.
A) Yes.
B) It's 1 per 20 boxes. Star City Games in VA has been quietly raising their buy prices on Vintage/Legacy cards for the past year or so. the current theory is that WotC quietly bought them from SCG, which is how they got around the reserve list policy.
 
CorvusCamenarum said:
B) It's 1 per 20 boxes. Star City Games in VA has been quietly raising their buy prices on Vintage/Legacy cards for the past year or so. the current theory is that WotC quietly bought them from SCG, which is how they got around the reserve list policy.
Click to expand...

So these vintage pulls... aren't mint?

And sweet, now where do I find $100 while at college....
 
thejadedmonkey said:
So these vintage pulls... aren't mint?

And sweet, now where do I find $100 while at college....
Click to expand...

Correct. WotC's policy precludes them from reprinting any card on the Reserved List as a nod to collectors. You might recall that Psionic Blast was taken off the list shortly before Time Spiral went live, as it was included in the 121 card subset of timeshifted reprints. Its value summarily plummeted from $25 to about $10. Now imagine what that would do to a $2000 Black Lotus. There are also reports of some cards showing up autographed by the artist. I'd be just as happy to crack open a signed Lightning Bolt as I would a Mox or whatever else.

As for what to do about raising money, have you thought about selling some cards? Some online vendors will even offer you a trade bonus if you take store credit over cash as compensation. Star City Games and CoolStuffInc both do this - they're the ones with whom I do the most business. SCG looks to currently be the best option - they have boxes for $100 and a 25% trade bonus. Alternatively, if you have anything particularly rare or in demand, you can always go the eBay route; you'll normally do better even after paying eBay's fees.
 
Ah, reading all this brings back memories... wish I hadn't given away all my cards years ago. :(
 
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