As promised folks, here it is. Both a Khans of Tarkir Booster Box and a Dragons of Tarkir Fat Pack, both ready to be reviewed, criticised and just generally assessed overall by the Nerdling. But first, I owe some of you an explanation.
Why Khans? Why Dragons? After all, Battle for Zendikar is the new hot thing that's currently all the rage in MtG, so what am I doing opening a booster box from a set due to rotate out in January? Well my lovelies, or not lovelies as some of you may well be...the reason is simple. A nod to both the beginning and end of the Block that brought me back into playing Magic the Gathering.
Now, where to start. First, let's have a look at our sealed product that we shall be opening today. I was going to do a video but as I have only a crappy phone, a video was right out - trust me, the quality was terrible.
Here we see both our sealed products waiting to be opened. Ignore the random Eldar and Tyranid in the background trying to sneak in and get attention. Now, if you're a MtG player you may well understand the oddly satisfying emotions associated with cracking open a pack. Sure, it's a lottery and the more fiscal minded will tell you that sealed isn't worth the money, will never break even and leaves you with a lot of waste...but it's just that feeling of awe and wonder you get opening a pack, like you had when you were younger and first started playing. What's inside? Is it something good? Is it something you want or need?
It's here that I want to give a nod to Magic Madhouse whom I purchased the Booster Box from. Their prices are fair, they can deliver it quick and they have decent stock. Furthermore they have a rather neat loyalty scheme where you end up getting store credit for buying from them - meaning that your next order costs even less!
It's really no different from a scratchcard or unwrapping presents on Christmas morning. You win some, you lose some, it's the feeling that's important. Now I'm going to experience this...42 times over.
Rather than take a photo of each individual pack being opened I've decided to be smart. Look at the box. Just look at it.
36 Boosters, neatly stacked into three piles of twelve. So what I'm going to do is take each pile, open them and photograph the results. Simples! Now, generally, when opening sealed you kind of want to be able to make your money back - you want to net some quality rares and uncommons that you can possibly sell back to make back some money. Or you want cards that have value beyond Standard rotation and are quality for Modern or Legacy.
In the case of Khans the big money cards are as follows: Fetchlands (averaging about $20 each), the Planeswalkers, Anafenza, Wingmate Rocs, Dig Through Time and our favourite, the Siege Rhino. If I can crack a few of these I could be well on the way to making money back.
Furthermore, the Fetchlands are incredibly valuable and desired because they work so well in Modern as well. And with the current Standard's dual lands - well, Fetches are only going to go up in price for the few months this interaction is allowed to continue.
First twelve packs. Mmm. New box. New packs. Let's get cracking shall we?
Woah! Right off the bat we get some serious, serious value. Three Fetchlands and a foil Sarkhan. Those four cards alone have a $77 value. Personally for me, the foothills are great. They will happily slide into my Modern deck but best of all...foil. Mythic. Rare. This is my first ever foil Mythic. So to pull it in my first review....well. That bodes well. It may not be worth a bomb but hey, I'm happy with it.
Other noteworthies - the Ascendancies and the Hardened Scales. Great in their own right, just not super value.
Note - No Siege Rhinos yet.
Right. Middle pile time. Twelve more packs. Twelve more chances of great pulls.
Hmmm? Well. So-so. Ok, so not as fantastic as the first twelve. But still, another Fetchland, a Wingmate Roc and a Dig Through Time. About $40 worth of value here. Not bad, but not amazing. Some of these cards are interesting but no real value to most. Still, a fourth fetchland.
And still no Siege Rhinos. It's like I am destined to be Rhinoless.
See this? The final 12 packs in the box. What joy shall we get from these?
The answer? None. Sure, some of these are neat in their own way...but none of these are value. Still, considering the insanity of the first twelve...I can't say it's all that bad. All in all I've managed to net over $115 of value from this box, added to my stock and hey...
Not one damn Siege Rhino.
I'm laughing here. Not a single damn Siege Rhino. Not one. I can get duplicate Fetchlands...I can get foil Mythics...but not a single Siege Rhino. Guess Abzan is not for me.
But wait! There's more! We still have the Dragons fat pack to crack open yet.
Uh oh. Something's missing. I can see my boosters, the crappy little deck boxes, I can see the lands...even the little dice....but not the Player's Guide booklet. Now you might be thinking - who cares, it's just a damn booklet. It's just pictures of the cards! But I don't. I like these booklets. They're great random things to flick through when you get random ideas. They have some of the lore and fluff in them. So....
I was a sad Nerdling. I've emailed WotC's customer support explaining what has come and I know they're normally quite good with this...so here's to hoping I get a good outcome from this. Some people may wonder why I don't just take it back and exchange it...that's the thing. I can't. Fat Packs are limited runs so to spot one out in the wild...well, it's a rare occurance. The store won't have any more left in stock.
Now, I'm going to be honest here. Something was off about these packs. They were incredibly snug on the cards. They felt dry...almost crumbly. They didn't open cleanly and it almost certainly wasn't like foil. Maybe this batch was buggered up?
This...combined with the missing part of the product made my rare find feel a bit...disappointing. I'll come out and say I really didn't get the same value with the Fat Pack - the box paid for itself but this?
Nope. Nothing really. Foil Radiant Purge, a Secure the Wastes...but no real value.
Ah well.
A least I got a funky pink dice.
Until next time folks.
Thinking I should catch up on some TV... Flash, Arrow or Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.?
Let me know in the comments!
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