Unfortunately, even in the dream world, I'm too goody-goody and I ended up going back to the store to give the box back... Nonetheless, the dream put the idea in my head that I really needed to open more packs. So today on the way home from work, I acquired myself a Fat Pack.
Fat Packs are now the semi-ridiculous price of $40.00, but I've been buying them since ever since Ravnica, and I kinda like having the D20, the box it comes in, and especially the little booklet with a laughable "Top 10 coolest cards" list that is almost always WAY off the mark... perhaps if they defined their criteria for "coolness" it might make more sense, but whatever...
Mostly, I just like to have the nice, glossy visual spoiler contained within, but the various flavor-centric parts are pretty cool, too. This one talks all about the Praetors of Phyrexia... ooh, ominous! How much you want to bet Phyrexia wins in the next set? Anyone?
So anyway, most would argue that the fat pack is rather bloated and overpriced, and you'd be better off just buying $40.00 worth of packs... and I'd agree, if the cards were the only thing I cared about, but I actually LIKE most of the frivolous material in these things. I was fine with them doing away with the novels, because those usually sucked anyway. The booklet seems to be shedding page count, but as long as it has a complete visual spoiler, it's worth having.
The newest inclusion is the two card-board deck boxes... yeah these are WORTHLESS to me. They won't hold a sleeved deck, so they're pretty much junk. Fortunately, I'm pretty sure these are added-value, and don't really contribute to the sticker price much, and I think there's a good chance their meant to be unique to MBS and it's faction-based war theme. I hope so, at least.
Enough chatter, though. As much as I like the spin-down die, we all know even I wouldn't buy the damn things if they didn't come with packs to rip open, and in this particular instance that aspect is really all I cared about, and I'd been craving the new-card-smell all damn day.
So Pack 1... rip, flip from the back (because who cares about commons anyway?), and it's a foil! Uh... Peace Strider. Meh, oh well... The rare: Shimmer Myr... not bad - I have a potential use for this if I get a few more.
Pack 2... Hero of Oxid Ridge. Nice. Nothing too exciting but it's a Mythic and one that I have a potential idea for. I'm happy to pull it, but kinda hope it's not the only Mythic... (Into the Core makes a fine EDH-playable Uncommon pull, too).
Pack 3... Psychosis Crawler. On one hand, it's pretty much worthless monetarily speaking. On the other hand, it's a poo rare that I happen to like and even though I haven't quite worked out the best use for it, I am sure to put it to good use somewhere. Go for the Throat in an uncommon slot is pretty good, though.
Pack 4...Phyrexian Revoker! Nice. a card with some monetary value that is worthless in EDH, which means I should be able to trade this to a Type 2 player relatively easily, and will probably come out ahead. Goblin Wardriver is the star uncommon of the pack.
Pack 5... Foil Leonin Relic Warden is lame, but looks kinda cool. Rare is Myr Turbine, a great casual card, and one that I'll happily put to use in a Myr Tribal deck. Viridian Corrupter is a nice uncommon pull. Kinda weak pack, overall...
Pack 6... Inkmoth Nexus! Score! Now we're talking - a rare of significant value, and somewhat playable in EDH. If I can trade this up for something sweet, I wouldn't mind doing so, but I'll be just as happy to hang on to this for later use... nothing else of note in the pack, but that's okay, the rare was great.
Pack 7... Magnetic Mine. Ouch, this fat pack is starting to hurt a bit... I'm going to have to REALLY appreciate the book and the spindown at this point. There isn't even a good uncommon in this pack.
Pack 8... Foil Spread the Sickness. Not really EDH playable, but cool art, and someone might want to trade for it... oh well. Three foils and none of them all that good... The Rare adds insult to injury: Bonehoard. Yikes, this has zero value - I am fairly certain I will never use this in any deck ever, and now I have THREE of them.
Pack 9... I'm so glad there is one last pack... if these things were still 8 packs, I'd have just gotten screwed. But here's the lightning round, all or nothing:
...
It's a Planeswalker.
Now all I have to do is decide: Do I trade him off now before his value nose-dives? Or do I keep it until it reaches lofty heights a la the Mind Sculptor? Or do I just keep it for personal use, never minding the street value?
Because, I just began dismantling my Sharuum EDH, which was basically my only likely use for him... however I have been pondering a 60-card list for multiplayer involving Master Transmuter...
What to you prognosticators out there think? Is this guy's street value going to skyrocket like gold or crash like the housing market?
Anyway, pulling a $45 card from a $40 fat pack makes all the $1 rares that I admittedly was happy to open rather painless... I can safely say this was a worthwhile investment, and it satisfied my craving to open packs... for now!
Wow, I guess Hero of Oxid Ridge is around $6 to $8... a bit more than I expected.
ReplyDeleteWait, you're playing EDH, and you SERIOUSLY consider Bonehoard a worthless card you're nevver going to play?
ReplyDelete... Do yourself a favor and read the card, think about the EDH format, then read it again. Heck, even Standard players are considering this a gem over here.
Yeah, it's going to be worthless to me for two main reasons:
ReplyDeleteOne, I have never gotten good use out of Equipment that just pumps but does't give some sort of evasion - Flying, Trample, Protection... it needs something.
Lord of Extinction and Lhurgoyf have been TERRIBLE in my metagame, as they never connect for damage when it matters.
Bonehoard IS considerably better in that it's an Equipment, but there are just too many other Equipments that I would rather play.
Finally, the prevelance of graveyard hate in my meta makes this especially unlikely to do anything significant. Bojuka Bog and Relic absolutely WRECK this card, as does Primal Command and several other spells that see MAJOR play within my group.
Not to mention that many of my strategies focus on stealing shit from graveyards, which also is anti-synergistic with this card.
So yeah, I'm aware that many people can and will get use out of this card, but in my metagame it's going to be a dud 90% of the time.