How frequently do you crack packs?

[DirkGently]

Just curious.

Personally I don't think I've purchased a pack just to crack since 2002 when I bought a pack of invasion and got a Teferi's Response. I don't think I ever got over that disappointment. Singles, precons, and draft all the way for me.

[yeti1069]

I sometimes will buy a Set Booster box, but not for every set that comes out, and now that we're moving to Play Boosters, which offer less real value than in Set Boosters, but for a significantly higher price, I'm unlikely to continue that practice at all.

[PrimevalCommander]

Someone gave me 3 packs for my birthday last year. Total realized value ~$1.50. Singles all the way. I have purchased maybe 4 packs in the past 3 years. Still have them unopened. Might use them for a commander night door prize one day.

On the flip side, my buddy bought a pack on a whim to reach a credit card minimum...pulled a Orcish Bowmasters. A few weeks prior he bought a precon deck with one of those collector booster mini-packs... foil Cavern of Souls. I hate him now

[TheAmericanSpirit]

It's like lotto tickets imho. Sometimes I have the money to blow and the desire to gamble, but other times I really don't care. I think it depends on the set for me at least. The more valuable rare-slot lands, the more likely I will be to gamble gamble. I bought a good chunk of Capenna for that reason.

[Cyberium]

I used to pick up one box per set and all the precons, now I cannot keep up with all the new cards so I buy a box selectively, and pick up some or no precons.

[Serenade]

I felt giddy around Thanksgiving and got three packs of LCI. I got a bundle of ONE because I liked the box and the D20. Before that I had a prerelease pack for MH2.

[Avacyn Believer]

I still like cracking them so I buy them almost every time I play at an LGS, seems like a good thing to do to spend some money there. Recently I been shifting to buying one or two collector packs per set instead of more regular packs. It is rare that I buy a whole box.

[duducrash]

Sometimes I get pre release packs whenever I have store credit, even if I cant attend pre release.
Other than that I opened back in kamigawa, before that I think arround shadows over innistrad I got my last box

[Mookie]

'Never' for me. I suppose I arguably crack prize packs from prereleases occasionally, but I don't think that qualifies. Singles are more efficient if I want something specific, and there are better things to do with my money if I'm after entertainment.

[Boros_Blendo]

I had not cracked a booster in something like 15 years, then Dungeons and Dragons and LotR sets came out, and I bought a ton of both. I now have 3 D&D decks, and 14 LotR decks. May make some more D&D decks.

Mostly, I buy singles on the cheap for decks.

[NotARooster]

I get a prerelease kit for sets I like, singles only otherwise

[Treamayne]

I used to buy all of the Commander Precons (2011-2018), stopped when they changed to follow Standard sets.
I also used to buy a fat pack a few times per year, just to support the LGS.

I have not purchased sealed product in any form since WotC Announced SL:TWD.

[pokken]

Not for almost a year and never again.

[Ruiner]

I think the last time I bought a box was probably one of the Time Spiral block sets, or one of the first two sets from Lorwyn block, it's been a very long time.

I basically just buy singles online. I usually play at friend's houses, but on the rare occasion I play at a store I always make sure to buy something, and if the store in question has no singles I am remotely interested in I will buy a few packs just to support them but that's a super rare occurrence the past few years.

I have friends that buy packs because of "the thrill" and the experience of it, one even runs a YouTube channel dedicated to cracking packs. That's never been particularly appealing to me though, I don't get the rush from it hoping I'll open something cool.

[ISBPathfinder]

There are only three reasons I open packs generally speaking:

1) I am playing in a pre release / draft.
2) I am supporting a LGS who doesn't have singles / or something else I want to buy.
3) For some reason someone gives me a heavy discount on a product. (this doesn't happen often but I have had store closure sales before)

I did buy a box of doctor who but part of that was also supporting vendors in a small town college con.

[Boros_Blendo]

I did buy a box of doctor who but part of that was also supporting vendors in a small town college con.

How does that set play? Cool themes/mechanics, or over-hyped rubbish? Looks powerful from what I've seen, though.

[ISBPathfinder]

I did buy a box of doctor who but part of that was also supporting vendors in a small town college con.

How does that set play? Cool themes/mechanics, or over-hyped rubbish? Looks powerful from what I've seen, though.

I think I paid like $250+ for a box of it (don't quote me on that price as its been a while) and opened a bunch of stuff..... If I had ordered singles from the product I would have spent like $40 to obtain the things I actually wanted that were in the set (that I obtained through cracking packs). That isn't to say there was no value in it but a lot of it was in random lands and such. I don't trade or sell singles really so.... yea that is why I don't normally buy packs.

[gsgfdf]

I almost never open packs anymore, I buy all the singles I need on release.
Back when I heavily played Standard, from Innistrad through Theros, after almost every event the whole LGS got together and cracked packs. Highest value card would win them all, in a tie you open another. Talk about gambling

[Hermes_]

The last booster box i bought was fate reforged, but i do pick up a booster pack or collector's box once in a while. I did pick up the Sliver commander deck. Otherwise I just buy singles.

[duducrash]

I still like cracking them so I buy them almost every time I play at an LGS, seems like a good thing to do to spend some money there.

Ive been thinking about this, I think you are right

[krakked]

For me it's much cheaper to just buy singles, and overall more worth it.
With the exception being me cracking a pack once from a commander tournament and getting a Grave Pact from Wilds of Eldraine.
And I also do it when I go to prereleases, but for the past few weeks I've been wondering if it's even worth it.

[RxPhantom]

I buy a handful of packs from most sets, and I keep at least three for a future chaos drafts or -and this is the dream- a Grand Melee Sealed event. Picture this:

At least 25 players sitting in a circle. Players open eight packs to build their decks. Initially, players attack to the left, their spells can only effect themselves and immediately adjacent players. The only thing that can affect the entire event is the ultimate of Karn Liberated. You get a pack each time you knock someone out. One player eventually reigns supreme.

I have more than enough packs to do this and I really really want to.

[cheonice]

I used to crack a pack of every other set just for the sake of it. It gives me some kind of feeling for the set, I guess. To see the flavourful connected cards popping out of the booster. Oh and I buy packs at my LGS, if they don't have some singles or other stuff I want. Without them we wouldn't have an easy access to a place to play.

I never understood people, who buy boxes to get the cards they want. On the other hand my trade binder is really empty compared to others, but yeah. That's not really a problem.

[folding_music]

none since battle for baldur's gate!
i get supporting the local outlets but I honestly think wotc/hasbro are too shady to reward rn
also i really enjoyed opening a whole box of ZNR cos the set boosters were exciting to open, but looking back on it I hardly got any black cards and it still puzzles me to this day, lol. kinda over the experience and starting to think of it as gambling again

[RowanKeltizar]

Extremely rare, if ever. So who is actually opening sealed these days I would love to know....