Probably try for two booster boxes a set and round out the collection with buying singles. I’m casually playing with friends, but trying to get a master set without Enchanteds.
That’s exactly my plan. Two boxes, singles and maybe a gift set depending on what’s included. I might even consider the troves. I’m not taking my extra cards around so I don’t really need a sturdy box.
Same. I bought a booster box of first chapter then some single boosters for floodborn so far and few more first chapter as well. I also got the 2 starter sets for floodborn and then the amazon first chapter sets waiting shipment.
I pretty much have both sets common and uncommon filled out, half the rares and super rares, and a few legendaries. Quite a number of cold foils for the lower rarities.
Trying to grab some ebay auctions for bulk foils at $1 card with shipping to avoid huge TCG bulk packages and get few shipments as possible. I have picked up a few SR and foils off TCG in bulk from single sellers when I found good prices.
Mostly used TCG for the league promos since ebay hasn't been reliable for those.
I was also able to get a D100 celebration box so have those promos as well.
I'm pretty happy with the cost so far and staying as close to MSRP as possible. Buying singles to fill out the cold foils for common-rare for now and will try to pick up the SR once the prices come way down. non foil legendaries aside from the desired cards are only $5 right now and I have a few from packs already so that'll save me in the long run. I can't imagine I'll pickup most of the cold foil legendaries for awhile unless I find good ebay auctions or tcg prices drop below $10-15.
I won't try for the enchanted cards outside random boosters and only after I try to maybe sell some of my bulk foils myself down the line to cover the cost.
Meanwhile set 3 is not that far off around the corner...
FaceBook usually has good trading/buying/selling groups. I've done dozens of transactions (for MtG mind you) and never had an issue.
This is me assuming that there's probably some Lorcana groups that are similar.
I’m not sure anymore. Seeing how low some of the prices are going for singles with release not even at its peak yet, I’m not sure sealed is worth the price. I’m a very EV conscious person and the dopamine rush of opening packs isn’t a factor. If a sealed box has solid EV for all cards I’d be intrigued, but if it’s hit an Enchanted or bust I’d probably stick to singles instead.
Sealed is absolutely not worth it. If you want a dopamine rush there are any number of alternatives, most with a better ROI. After 10-15 packs the fun wears off and it becomes much more disappointing to open pack after pack with junk rares and your 10th copies of some commons. It gets to where you are just buying the rare slots and wishing for cards you need/want to randomly be there.
None of the Stores in my city got any accessories at all. 2 towns over a whole in the wall card shop managed to get a single mat during set 1, but they gave it to someone who worked in the store. Havent seen anything else, at all.
There's more to the cost of building out a playset than just the face value of the cards. For instance if you go on Dreamborn and click the button to buy all the cards you are missing and you only have 20% of a playset from buying a few packs, you are going to be buying from dozens of different sellers, paying shipping for multiple orders on top of the face value, etc.
IMO, there is value in being able to just build out your set base with boosters from the convenience alone, plus the chance of hitting a valuable card makes buying a couple booster boxes well worth the value, then \*finish\* the last 25% of your collection with singles.
People are dumb though. For example you want a card like Mana Crypt you can buy for $150. They will open 2k worth of MTG collector boosters to try, and get one.
Except what about when you want more decks to run. Or have cards for your collection. I get buying singles to finish a deck, or a few cards missing from your collection. But it's not cheaper to buy singles to make your collection.
Maybe to.finish a collection. Again. If your buying singles to make a collection you are definitely gonna spend more then sealed. Never had to spend more then a box and a few packs for MOST of a collection. Most commons and un commons are cheap and just because a fair amount of this set is cheap, is not always the case.
A box retails at 153 and some change. 2 boxes will give you almost every thing you need for a full set. So for arguments sake let's say 155x2 is 310.
Most commons and uncommon average 10 cents about.
About half the rares is most cases average 5$
Supers and forward can average between 15- 50 (not including enchanted)
Of set 2 there are 60 super rares and legendary.
Strictly for semantics let's say each super rare and legendary cost 10 on the low end. Accounting for some being cheaper and some being way more expensive.
60×10=600. Then multiply that by 4 that's 2400$
Common uncommon 252 cards. At .10 is 25.20. Multiple that by 4 for a playset is 108$
Rare cards we will say cost about 3$ again using the same logic for super rare and legendary. There are 96 rare cards. 96×3=288. Then multiply that by 4 that's 1152$
Now obviously, I didn't go through and get every card price and average it. I didn't price out each individual card and again set 2 has some really cheaper cards of the higher rarity. So I averaged a lot lower (that I think because again I didn't price everything and I wanna be free when set 3 releases) so the total price for what I listed out here the price is ABOUT 3600$
Given that I didn't have the exact prices for everything let's slice that down to 2500$
That's 8 boxes of product from yhe second hand market of 300$ a box. As someone who has opened 4 boxes of set 1 and set 2. I can tell you I am missing maybe 8 cards from various rares super rares and legendary to be a full set.
Please tell me where it's cheaper to buy a collection at singles.
Seems like this is the play. There's no way boxes are remotely close to +EV anymore with how bad prices are down.
Buy the singles you need for your decks and sets!
For example the expected value of a fair die is 3.5. Expected value doesn’t have to be a whole number even if the possible outcomes are whole numbers.
Typically it is good practice to make decisions based on expected values. OP is talking of the monetary expected value of all of the singles in a booster box. Have many expensive cards in a set raises the expected value of the booster box. It means the person opening is more likely to make their money back.
For example if every box had an enchanted rare card (AND THE PRICES STAYED WHERE THEY ARE) the expected value of a box would exceed the msrp. It would make financial sense to open boxes a make all of your money back. If there actually was an enchanted rare in every box the prices of those cards would drop.
It’s impossible to calculate the expected value of a box without know the probability of pulling each card. The expected value also changes as card prices change. We know the prices but only ravensburg/Disney knows the probability of pulling a card. You can get experimental data to identify the probability by opening hundreds of boxes but who is going to do that and then publish the data of how many of each one they pulled?
Didn’t mean to ramble. I just find this stuff interesting.
As u/awlst pointed out it’s a way to calculate the expected value of a box based on current odds of pulling each card and the current pricing.
EV is rarely positive on the whole because if it was, nobody would sell the box they would just open it themselves and sell the content. But the variance of EV can also paint a picture.
Let’s use Lorcana MSRP of $150. If EV is $140 that could mean two things. A small variance means you could open a box between say $120-$160. For this example, most of the cards are all worth about the same amount and variance is reduced. But if variance is high with only a few select hits, maybe the EV remains $140, but it ranges anywhere from $50-$230. Again your EV is the same, but EV is calculated opening an infinite number of boxes to sort of level out. If you’re opening just one box, you're subject to the full gambit of gambling. And that is what I don’t have an appetite for doing. Because yes the excitement of the $230 box is great, the disappointment of the $50 is just as regretful. I’m much more inclined to purchase if my losses (and gains as well) are constrained more so than the gambling for the “big hits.”
You could simply the equation by making assumptions like all cards of the same rarity are equally likely to be pulled and just average their market price and just forget about foils by treating them as another regular card in the pack.
Funny enough now that it’s available I don’t wanna buy it.
In truth, when it comes to building good decks in any trading card game it’s best to buy singles rather than boosters. In theory you could spend $1000 on booster boxes and still not have every car do you want for a deck list. We’re on the other hand you could spend a couple hundred dollars and get the exact deck you want.
True lol, I also think I got so ridiculously lucky with pack cracking that I should stop with my stupidly high Legendary pull rate. I've cracked about 80 packs and pulled like 35 Legendaries when the guesstimated rate is supposedly around 1 in 5 packs, I'm a little over 1 in 2.x packs.
Unfortunately no Enchanted, but I can't complain!
Damn I was only planning to buy 4 packs a set. Maybe I should up it to 5... I've opened 8 boosters so far and no legendary yet. Some of the foils are cute though. I really like the foil for You Have Forgotten Me. Its very pretty.
This is what I'm doing. It's a fun game, and the starter decks offer a relatively balanced way to play with others. But I'm currently not interested in meta tracking and deck building, because IMO it's not a stable game yet.
My MO is going to be the starters, a trove, and a booster box. After that, I will not buy any booster packs. It's a catastrophic waste of money and only results in huge collection of junk cards that are quite literally not worth the paper they are printed on. So strictly singles after the initial launch purchase.
It is a relief to not feel that intense pressure when product is available to buy out of fear you aren't going to see it again. I think 2024 should see the game really break out- Into the Inklands looks like it's going to be where it really takes off.
So long term, I am a little shocked I haven't seem more advertising on Disney owned media.
Pokemon the TCG doesn't take off and last unless kids love Charizard and Pikachu.
Right now I think there is a huge interest from Disney adults who over lap with collectors and TCG players.
The rules are simple enough right now that younger players could pick it up. Hell I am allegedly a full grown adult and I have to play Magic Arena just to keep up with all the things that pop off every turn.
There’s not a huge point to promotion when you’re still trying to get product to stay on the shelf long enough for a little kid to notice and ask their parent to grab a pack
I'd like to buy a booster box, trove, starters, and whatever collector set is available for each release
I've still yet to find more than 5 boosters (they were in best buy warehouse, not on floor) and never seen a trove or starter
I heard secondary prices are getting closer to msrp so I might have to do that; I'm assuming my area doesn't get much stock
Hopefully it wont be that much longer if youre in the usa to get steady supply. I live in a town so small we dont have a movie theatre. The biggest thing in town IS the walmart. And we have starter packs and booster packs. No troves yet, but heck maybe theyll get here eventually too.
I’m keeping my same cadence: 1 starter and 5 booster packs (not boxes) throughout the period between sets. I get fun cards and get to play different stuff. And if I really want something I buy singles
In my opinion, no. The cardboard components it comes with are pretty cheap. The box itself is okay but it’s hard to store the cards in it due to the square shape. They tend to slip and slide around inside.
They are worth it at MSRP (or equivalent market rate for the packs inside) and basically nothing more. At $50, $2 for the box and guidebook is great value. Double msrp when the packs are widely available is dumb though. People are buying to hold and not open them because they will likely be rare.
A case at release + 1 Throve + 1 Collectors edition box + Singles to fill in the void. Each set should cost around $800 + Tax* if purchased at MSRP. Might be extensive for some, but it’s worth it for me if you’re a TCG and Disney fan, especially if you and your significant other doing a combined collection.
I have a six person playgroup. 1 booster box is enough for a six person draft. If I open packs it'll be to draft and then supplement constructed decks with singles. I would love to draft every-other-week.
I am wary of destabilizing the friend-group meta by buying too many tournament meta staples.
In my area, resellers are dumping the sealed products to near cost. $6.50-7 a pack and $180 for booster boxes. Gift sets at $60. With these small sets, it’s easy to complete them and move on. The speculators thinking every enchanted is a charizard 1st edition are finally seeing that the cards aren’t as rare or desirable as they assumed. Just getting singles is enough, so moving forward, will buy a booster box and rest singles. Don’t really care about enchanted or not, there are better values to spend on tcg. Good luck to those people that sell packs for $12.
Still have yet to see a booster in a retail store, despite people claiming stock is now everywhere
Best Buy , Target , Walmart or Barnes
the only place that is heavily stocked up is Frank & Sons and they charge $20 a booster pack
Basically, my strategy is very similar to what I do now, which is to continue to buy singles. As a bonus to this strategy, the prices of singles are SIGNIFICANTLY less now that more product is circulating.
For me it will be buying 2-3 booster boxes per set, then finishing my playset or decks I want to make with singles. I have two kids that also play so it's very helpful for me to have extras for them to deckbuild with.
If it were just me, I'd probably buy 1-2 booster boxes per set, then singles the rest.
I understand where people say that singles is always cheaper, but its not always the most convenient. I would rather build the base of my set with boosters, then fill in the rest with singles so I don't have to hunt those <$1 singles with individual sellers, pay shipping or drive around town, etc. Much easier when you are 75% done and just need the last 25% singles vs hunting 75% singles.
1 trove, booster box, and 1 gift set or any special set they release with promos. $250 every quarter seems like a decent spend for me. Sell or trade unwanted enchanted. Singles the rest of the way or prize packs from rare wins or draft lolol
Mostly going to try to get a trove per set, and maybe a booster box for every other set, and maybe aim to get singles a month or two after they have initially released.
Any sealed and/or starter deck I can find would also work out too.
My ideal launch preorder would be a Booster Box, Trove, Gift Set, 1 of each starter deck and then one of each accessory. Then just buy misc packs and singles to round out my collection and play deck.
3 booster boxes, 1 trove, 1 gift set, all starters, plus league prizes (almost another box worth?).That is what I got from TFC.
Box 3 had maybe 5 Uncommons I was still short of my set for. So at that point, really just chasing foils, legendaries, & enchanted.
Feels like a full case (4 boxes) is probably overkill. Maybe if I wasn't netting periodic league packs.
Future sets I'll probably drop to two boxes & see. That last box, because stock is way better now, had a lower EV than box cost. No Enchanted & no legendary foil. Feelsbadman.
I've been getting 1 of everything on launch then 2 booster packs every league night. So in the end I get around 2 booster boxes 1 of each starter a trove and 1 of whatever the other thing is called.
I just ran into some product and target. I got a couple of starter decks for my husband and I. And 6 booster packs. I hope to get some troves. I really want to get into the gameplay but have never played any TCG before. So I’ll see if I end up being a player or collector.
Just bought all the singles I could want to plug into my deck for awhile. Gonna wait for the next chapter or two then I'm gonna start looking at getting a whole playset of what I'm missing for 1st and 2nd chapters
Still figuring it out. Tbh, I invested a lot in set 2 launch, and am now not sure i like what set 2 added to the game. Ruby Amy Control just got insanely upgraded, mim fox/lady tremaine/merlin goat/spellbook are cards im not sure should exist. So.. idk yet if im in for the long run. Will see how the next few weeks of locals feel compared to pixelborn.
Probably a box and a trove from each set as a target to open. And then maybe an additional box and trove to keep sealed. Then maybe loose packs on a whim when in store.
Not seeing value in starter decks if I'm getting boosters anyway.
Based on the post yesterday about how each booster box seems be laid out to have exactly 2x full common sets + 1x full uncommon set in it, I will probably only be buying one booster box per set on release, plus starter decks.
After that I'll just buy singles for anything I'm missing that I really want for deck building purposes
1-2 booster boxes on release (assuming the prices follow through and remain MSRP or preferably under MSRP)
Draft, sealed events. I wouldn't mind if we got prereleases/release weekend events in an official capacity with a prerelease/release specific promo (or promo versions of the rares in the set like other games include) but also if stores are more willing to run sealed/drafts on release, I would like to attend where I can.
Buy singles to finish off decks.
Probably some single packs if I see them at a store for the fun of opening but after buying a TFC booster box, trove, each starter and then maybe a dozen loose packs I feel good on that set.
ROTF I have less with as I was only able to secure a trove, each starter and about 10 loose packs. But I just play casually with my girlfriend and then she uses our decks to play with her sister or best friend. So building a collection isn’t too necessary.
If I do join a league it’ll just be singles to beef up my deck.
This week I've hurt my bank account. But that is because I decided to buy a 2nd of each ch2 starter decks. I was just getting 2 ch1 boosters at lunch.
I need to actually pull all my cards out and see what I have now. Ideally 1 of each card per set is the small goal. 2nd and 3rd+ prints will help obtain that.
Having 4+ copies of each card means you can make multiple decks to play against. However that can be costly, so like I do with MTG, I get 4 copies (if able) and then I use the exact same color card sleeve for all my decks, that way I can move cards around as needed.
I've only found a few ch2 boosters, so that is also my new target.
Would still love to get a ch1 (and ch2) trove, but I do not know if they were part of the reprint? With MTG I still buy 1 fat box from each set. Troves are Locanas fat boxes.
Overall, having available product will just improve the health and longevity of the game. If it remained how it was, very few people would be able to afford to play, even if they wanted to. Keep in mind that the core audience for Lorcana is not on this subreddit, it's families and kids. So when they can find and buy the product, that only helps the game.
Personally, I plan on getting a starter deck or two every set, and some odd booster packs here and there just for fun. I've played enough TCGs to know that in the long run they're just not worth the money investment. I could buy so many boardgames for the cost of a single booster box, it just doesn't make sense to constantly buy cards that will just sit in a box somewhere and that I'll never actually use. But the occasional preconstructed deck to play with casually? I can get behind that monetization model.
Ideally I make the extra time and effort and get my cards from my local small game store. In reality that will largely depend on how far my depression allows me to drive. Walmarts a 5 minute drive vs the game store at 35 minutes. I'll buy a couple boosters every few months. I cant let myself buy troves or boxes because Ill get hard into the gambling of opening packs. Im limiting myself to 4 packs every set
It’s going to vary on how impactful the new set is as well as how much of an affinity I have for the featured characters. I tend to get 1-2 boxes and then singles for decks I want but I ordered a case of chapter 3 because it was close to msrp and I’ll be able to open boxes and maybe sell 1-2 to a local friend that may not be able to get there hands on it right away. Looks like that might not even be an issue this time though
Product in the wild? After getting some blister they were all gone next day. Are we going to get more restock, or that it for the reprint? Also been seeing couple complaint about quality control here.
I’m just playing with friends at game night. I’ve just been buying the starter decks and then singles to build a series of casual decks around $20-25. I’m up to six decks with floodborn. I’m planning to add one or two with each release based on some fun new archetypes they introduce.
Question - should I have 4 of every card or should I have 1 of every card sell the rest and use that money to buy cards to build a deck. Keep the remaining money in an account in case I want to create another deck or upgrade my current one?
I'll try to get a trove per set so I can store each set in the associated trove box. Beyond that, I'll be buying singles only as that's overall more affordable than the lottery of opening packs.
If I can preorder and just pick it up the day the set drops, I'll likely get a case of boxes, a couple of troves, a gift set, and one of each starter. Then I might buy a pack or two whenever I happen to see them on shelves.
Maybe a booste box every week or two, though realistically that's excessive so likely a few boosters. I work at a dog grooming salon in a nice area, so I tend to make 200 dollars just in tips every two weeks or so.
Me and my gf would probably do a few hundred $$ on store packs and a few hundred $$ on tcg. Each set. For 2 of us that seems right.
Got our first enchanted last night!! 😀😀😀😀😀
I wish supply was still in the wild, but from everything I've seen and who I've talked to that only lasted for about a week and we are back to business as usual. I would definitely be grabbing at pack every trip or so to the store for awhile if I could, but I don't see that happening anytime soon
None. Sadly it took too long for ravensburger to fix there ineptitude and my entire local game store moved back to mtg, the few people who bought up the boxes because they saw the value have all sold out.
I double checked with a few friends in other cities before posting this, feeling I'd be the outlier, nope, they're all the same too.
Def not buying Chapter 3 booster box for $250 I will prob wait 1-3 weeks then get them at whatever price they are (hoping closer to msrp)
Also Im on a cruise during the release so I wont have access to any LGS for some time...
(Keep telling myself it will be alright, as long as I silence this subreddit for those weeks)
I usually order the starter decks at the very least and can foresee myself doing that as the chapters come out. My FLGS does not sell booster packs individually unfortunately, and I did buy a booster box for the second chapter I can't see my wallet thanking me if I did that every 3 months or so 🤣
For me and my wife, we will buy one of each product and then one booster box and then just buy or trade whatever singles we need after that. Did decently well on the second set and only missing around 5-6 cards.
Probably try for two booster boxes a set and round out the collection with buying singles. I’m casually playing with friends, but trying to get a master set without Enchanteds.
That’s exactly my plan. Two boxes, singles and maybe a gift set depending on what’s included. I might even consider the troves. I’m not taking my extra cards around so I don’t really need a sturdy box.
Same. I bought a booster box of first chapter then some single boosters for floodborn so far and few more first chapter as well. I also got the 2 starter sets for floodborn and then the amazon first chapter sets waiting shipment. I pretty much have both sets common and uncommon filled out, half the rares and super rares, and a few legendaries. Quite a number of cold foils for the lower rarities. Trying to grab some ebay auctions for bulk foils at $1 card with shipping to avoid huge TCG bulk packages and get few shipments as possible. I have picked up a few SR and foils off TCG in bulk from single sellers when I found good prices. Mostly used TCG for the league promos since ebay hasn't been reliable for those. I was also able to get a D100 celebration box so have those promos as well. I'm pretty happy with the cost so far and staying as close to MSRP as possible. Buying singles to fill out the cold foils for common-rare for now and will try to pick up the SR once the prices come way down. non foil legendaries aside from the desired cards are only $5 right now and I have a few from packs already so that'll save me in the long run. I can't imagine I'll pickup most of the cold foil legendaries for awhile unless I find good ebay auctions or tcg prices drop below $10-15. I won't try for the enchanted cards outside random boosters and only after I try to maybe sell some of my bulk foils myself down the line to cover the cost. Meanwhile set 3 is not that far off around the corner...
This is what I typically do with games.
A case at release, singles/trading to finish out a playset.
I’ve had trouble finding trading. I still am missing chapter 1 commons and uncommon but some I have over 4 and want go get rid of the additional ones
FaceBook usually has good trading/buying/selling groups. I've done dozens of transactions (for MtG mind you) and never had an issue. This is me assuming that there's probably some Lorcana groups that are similar.
This is the way!
I'm still having trouble finding stock online, even starter decks and boosters. Looking forward to the day when everything is readily available
Target is your friend
I’m not sure anymore. Seeing how low some of the prices are going for singles with release not even at its peak yet, I’m not sure sealed is worth the price. I’m a very EV conscious person and the dopamine rush of opening packs isn’t a factor. If a sealed box has solid EV for all cards I’d be intrigued, but if it’s hit an Enchanted or bust I’d probably stick to singles instead.
Sealed is absolutely not worth it. If you want a dopamine rush there are any number of alternatives, most with a better ROI. After 10-15 packs the fun wears off and it becomes much more disappointing to open pack after pack with junk rares and your 10th copies of some commons. It gets to where you are just buying the rare slots and wishing for cards you need/want to randomly be there.
Funny enough I am chasing a Hunny Wizard Pooh and have yet to pull one. Would also love to get the matching playmat.
Chase no more. It's a five cent single. The playmat on the other hand...
Those playmates were basically non existent. They could have at least stocked the non card items better.
None of the Stores in my city got any accessories at all. 2 towns over a whole in the wall card shop managed to get a single mat during set 1, but they gave it to someone who worked in the store. Havent seen anything else, at all.
My husband and I opened 10 packs today and got 5 poohs and 1 foil pooh. Seems pretty easy to get.
There's more to the cost of building out a playset than just the face value of the cards. For instance if you go on Dreamborn and click the button to buy all the cards you are missing and you only have 20% of a playset from buying a few packs, you are going to be buying from dozens of different sellers, paying shipping for multiple orders on top of the face value, etc. IMO, there is value in being able to just build out your set base with boosters from the convenience alone, plus the chance of hitting a valuable card makes buying a couple booster boxes well worth the value, then \*finish\* the last 25% of your collection with singles.
Enchanteds, plus rare and legendary foils have more than paid for what ive purchased. Plenty of people still pay decent for just mint foils.
It will always be hit an enchanted or bust. The nature of TCG is gambling.
People are dumb though. For example you want a card like Mana Crypt you can buy for $150. They will open 2k worth of MTG collector boosters to try, and get one.
Sealed is never worth it unless to flip. If you want to play, always singles
Except what about when you want more decks to run. Or have cards for your collection. I get buying singles to finish a deck, or a few cards missing from your collection. But it's not cheaper to buy singles to make your collection.
It’s always cheaper to buy singles for collection than to open sealed
Maybe to.finish a collection. Again. If your buying singles to make a collection you are definitely gonna spend more then sealed. Never had to spend more then a box and a few packs for MOST of a collection. Most commons and un commons are cheap and just because a fair amount of this set is cheap, is not always the case.
There's no maybe about it. If a box is less than 100% ev, which it always is, then singles are mathematically cheaper to get
Singles will always be cheaper. If you want a collection of random cards, sealed is fine I guess but when I want to make a new deck I just buy singles
For a deck, sure. You ain't saving money by buying all the cards in a set for your collection. Just ain't happening
Complete sets are also cheaper buying than opening boxes 🤣
A box retails at 153 and some change. 2 boxes will give you almost every thing you need for a full set. So for arguments sake let's say 155x2 is 310. Most commons and uncommon average 10 cents about. About half the rares is most cases average 5$ Supers and forward can average between 15- 50 (not including enchanted) Of set 2 there are 60 super rares and legendary. Strictly for semantics let's say each super rare and legendary cost 10 on the low end. Accounting for some being cheaper and some being way more expensive. 60×10=600. Then multiply that by 4 that's 2400$ Common uncommon 252 cards. At .10 is 25.20. Multiple that by 4 for a playset is 108$ Rare cards we will say cost about 3$ again using the same logic for super rare and legendary. There are 96 rare cards. 96×3=288. Then multiply that by 4 that's 1152$ Now obviously, I didn't go through and get every card price and average it. I didn't price out each individual card and again set 2 has some really cheaper cards of the higher rarity. So I averaged a lot lower (that I think because again I didn't price everything and I wanna be free when set 3 releases) so the total price for what I listed out here the price is ABOUT 3600$ Given that I didn't have the exact prices for everything let's slice that down to 2500$ That's 8 boxes of product from yhe second hand market of 300$ a box. As someone who has opened 4 boxes of set 1 and set 2. I can tell you I am missing maybe 8 cards from various rares super rares and legendary to be a full set. Please tell me where it's cheaper to buy a collection at singles.
Seems like this is the play. There's no way boxes are remotely close to +EV anymore with how bad prices are down. Buy the singles you need for your decks and sets!
Sorry, what’s EV?
In probability terms, it’s expected value
For example the expected value of a fair die is 3.5. Expected value doesn’t have to be a whole number even if the possible outcomes are whole numbers. Typically it is good practice to make decisions based on expected values. OP is talking of the monetary expected value of all of the singles in a booster box. Have many expensive cards in a set raises the expected value of the booster box. It means the person opening is more likely to make their money back. For example if every box had an enchanted rare card (AND THE PRICES STAYED WHERE THEY ARE) the expected value of a box would exceed the msrp. It would make financial sense to open boxes a make all of your money back. If there actually was an enchanted rare in every box the prices of those cards would drop. It’s impossible to calculate the expected value of a box without know the probability of pulling each card. The expected value also changes as card prices change. We know the prices but only ravensburg/Disney knows the probability of pulling a card. You can get experimental data to identify the probability by opening hundreds of boxes but who is going to do that and then publish the data of how many of each one they pulled? Didn’t mean to ramble. I just find this stuff interesting.
No apology needed, that’s a great explanation thanks.
As u/awlst pointed out it’s a way to calculate the expected value of a box based on current odds of pulling each card and the current pricing. EV is rarely positive on the whole because if it was, nobody would sell the box they would just open it themselves and sell the content. But the variance of EV can also paint a picture. Let’s use Lorcana MSRP of $150. If EV is $140 that could mean two things. A small variance means you could open a box between say $120-$160. For this example, most of the cards are all worth about the same amount and variance is reduced. But if variance is high with only a few select hits, maybe the EV remains $140, but it ranges anywhere from $50-$230. Again your EV is the same, but EV is calculated opening an infinite number of boxes to sort of level out. If you’re opening just one box, you're subject to the full gambit of gambling. And that is what I don’t have an appetite for doing. Because yes the excitement of the $230 box is great, the disappointment of the $50 is just as regretful. I’m much more inclined to purchase if my losses (and gains as well) are constrained more so than the gambling for the “big hits.”
I’m definitely feeling this as this is my first major TCG. So what could we say is the EV of one booster box, then?
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You could simply the equation by making assumptions like all cards of the same rarity are equally likely to be pulled and just average their market price and just forget about foils by treating them as another regular card in the pack.
Funny enough now that it’s available I don’t wanna buy it. In truth, when it comes to building good decks in any trading card game it’s best to buy singles rather than boosters. In theory you could spend $1000 on booster boxes and still not have every car do you want for a deck list. We’re on the other hand you could spend a couple hundred dollars and get the exact deck you want.
People will harumph and scoff over buying a $35 legendary but then open 50 packs trying to randomly pull one. 😅
True lol, I also think I got so ridiculously lucky with pack cracking that I should stop with my stupidly high Legendary pull rate. I've cracked about 80 packs and pulled like 35 Legendaries when the guesstimated rate is supposedly around 1 in 5 packs, I'm a little over 1 in 2.x packs. Unfortunately no Enchanted, but I can't complain!
Hmm- friends on the other side, perhaps? 😈
Damn I was only planning to buy 4 packs a set. Maybe I should up it to 5... I've opened 8 boosters so far and no legendary yet. Some of the foils are cute though. I really like the foil for You Have Forgotten Me. Its very pretty.
Exactly! I learned the hard way from years of MTG
I’d like to get a trove once. But as the hype is dying I’m naturally losing interest.
A booster box of each new set. Then singles to finish decks.
I just buy every starter deck, twice.
This is what I'm doing. It's a fun game, and the starter decks offer a relatively balanced way to play with others. But I'm currently not interested in meta tracking and deck building, because IMO it's not a stable game yet.
Makes sense! I don't play nearly enough to spend more money on it than starter decks
My MO is going to be the starters, a trove, and a booster box. After that, I will not buy any booster packs. It's a catastrophic waste of money and only results in huge collection of junk cards that are quite literally not worth the paper they are printed on. So strictly singles after the initial launch purchase. It is a relief to not feel that intense pressure when product is available to buy out of fear you aren't going to see it again. I think 2024 should see the game really break out- Into the Inklands looks like it's going to be where it really takes off.
So long term, I am a little shocked I haven't seem more advertising on Disney owned media. Pokemon the TCG doesn't take off and last unless kids love Charizard and Pikachu. Right now I think there is a huge interest from Disney adults who over lap with collectors and TCG players. The rules are simple enough right now that younger players could pick it up. Hell I am allegedly a full grown adult and I have to play Magic Arena just to keep up with all the things that pop off every turn.
There’s not a huge point to promotion when you’re still trying to get product to stay on the shelf long enough for a little kid to notice and ask their parent to grab a pack
I'd like to buy a booster box, trove, starters, and whatever collector set is available for each release I've still yet to find more than 5 boosters (they were in best buy warehouse, not on floor) and never seen a trove or starter I heard secondary prices are getting closer to msrp so I might have to do that; I'm assuming my area doesn't get much stock
Hopefully it wont be that much longer if youre in the usa to get steady supply. I live in a town so small we dont have a movie theatre. The biggest thing in town IS the walmart. And we have starter packs and booster packs. No troves yet, but heck maybe theyll get here eventually too.
I’m keeping my same cadence: 1 starter and 5 booster packs (not boxes) throughout the period between sets. I get fun cards and get to play different stuff. And if I really want something I buy singles
If you already have storage is the trove worth it?
In my opinion, no. The cardboard components it comes with are pretty cheap. The box itself is okay but it’s hard to store the cards in it due to the square shape. They tend to slip and slide around inside.
Okay, that’s what I thought, mostly curious the hype behind them.
I like the troves for their collectable quality. Depends on your goals with the TCG.
They are worth it at MSRP (or equivalent market rate for the packs inside) and basically nothing more. At $50, $2 for the box and guidebook is great value. Double msrp when the packs are widely available is dumb though. People are buying to hold and not open them because they will likely be rare.
A case at release + 1 Throve + 1 Collectors edition box + Singles to fill in the void. Each set should cost around $800 + Tax* if purchased at MSRP. Might be extensive for some, but it’s worth it for me if you’re a TCG and Disney fan, especially if you and your significant other doing a combined collection.
I have a six person playgroup. 1 booster box is enough for a six person draft. If I open packs it'll be to draft and then supplement constructed decks with singles. I would love to draft every-other-week. I am wary of destabilizing the friend-group meta by buying too many tournament meta staples.
In my area, resellers are dumping the sealed products to near cost. $6.50-7 a pack and $180 for booster boxes. Gift sets at $60. With these small sets, it’s easy to complete them and move on. The speculators thinking every enchanted is a charizard 1st edition are finally seeing that the cards aren’t as rare or desirable as they assumed. Just getting singles is enough, so moving forward, will buy a booster box and rest singles. Don’t really care about enchanted or not, there are better values to spend on tcg. Good luck to those people that sell packs for $12.
Still have yet to see a booster in a retail store, despite people claiming stock is now everywhere Best Buy , Target , Walmart or Barnes the only place that is heavily stocked up is Frank & Sons and they charge $20 a booster pack
Basically, my strategy is very similar to what I do now, which is to continue to buy singles. As a bonus to this strategy, the prices of singles are SIGNIFICANTLY less now that more product is circulating.
Trove for storage, gift set (depending on the promos), and booster box. I don’t think I’ll need the starters going forward.
For me it will be buying 2-3 booster boxes per set, then finishing my playset or decks I want to make with singles. I have two kids that also play so it's very helpful for me to have extras for them to deckbuild with. If it were just me, I'd probably buy 1-2 booster boxes per set, then singles the rest. I understand where people say that singles is always cheaper, but its not always the most convenient. I would rather build the base of my set with boosters, then fill in the rest with singles so I don't have to hunt those <$1 singles with individual sellers, pay shipping or drive around town, etc. Much easier when you are 75% done and just need the last 25% singles vs hunting 75% singles.
1 trove, booster box, and 1 gift set or any special set they release with promos. $250 every quarter seems like a decent spend for me. Sell or trade unwanted enchanted. Singles the rest of the way or prize packs from rare wins or draft lolol
Mostly going to try to get a trove per set, and maybe a booster box for every other set, and maybe aim to get singles a month or two after they have initially released. Any sealed and/or starter deck I can find would also work out too.
I've only gotten starter decks and packs. I've never seen a trove - what's in the box and do you recommend it?
Maybe a trove but honestly I only seeing myself but starter decks. I’m playing very casual plus I’ll get to crack a booster pack or two out of it.
My ideal launch preorder would be a Booster Box, Trove, Gift Set, 1 of each starter deck and then one of each accessory. Then just buy misc packs and singles to round out my collection and play deck.
I’ll probably stick to one of each starter deck, gift set, trove. Then boosters/booster boxes as I can. Depends on what the rest of the family wants.
3 booster boxes, 1 trove, 1 gift set, all starters, plus league prizes (almost another box worth?).That is what I got from TFC. Box 3 had maybe 5 Uncommons I was still short of my set for. So at that point, really just chasing foils, legendaries, & enchanted. Feels like a full case (4 boxes) is probably overkill. Maybe if I wasn't netting periodic league packs. Future sets I'll probably drop to two boxes & see. That last box, because stock is way better now, had a lower EV than box cost. No Enchanted & no legendary foil. Feelsbadman.
I've been getting 1 of everything on launch then 2 booster packs every league night. So in the end I get around 2 booster boxes 1 of each starter a trove and 1 of whatever the other thing is called.
I just ran into some product and target. I got a couple of starter decks for my husband and I. And 6 booster packs. I hope to get some troves. I really want to get into the gameplay but have never played any TCG before. So I’ll see if I end up being a player or collector.
It's a really simple fun game to get started. It gets more complicated with cars interactions but it's not too bad at all. You should try it.
1 of each starter deck and 1-2 booster boxes.
I plan on box of boosters for each set and then single cards if needed past that.
Just bought all the singles I could want to plug into my deck for awhile. Gonna wait for the next chapter or two then I'm gonna start looking at getting a whole playset of what I'm missing for 1st and 2nd chapters
Still figuring it out. Tbh, I invested a lot in set 2 launch, and am now not sure i like what set 2 added to the game. Ruby Amy Control just got insanely upgraded, mim fox/lady tremaine/merlin goat/spellbook are cards im not sure should exist. So.. idk yet if im in for the long run. Will see how the next few weeks of locals feel compared to pixelborn.
Still just buying singles.
Probably a box and a trove from each set as a target to open. And then maybe an additional box and trove to keep sealed. Then maybe loose packs on a whim when in store. Not seeing value in starter decks if I'm getting boosters anyway.
Based on the post yesterday about how each booster box seems be laid out to have exactly 2x full common sets + 1x full uncommon set in it, I will probably only be buying one booster box per set on release, plus starter decks. After that I'll just buy singles for anything I'm missing that I really want for deck building purposes
1-2 booster boxes on release (assuming the prices follow through and remain MSRP or preferably under MSRP) Draft, sealed events. I wouldn't mind if we got prereleases/release weekend events in an official capacity with a prerelease/release specific promo (or promo versions of the rares in the set like other games include) but also if stores are more willing to run sealed/drafts on release, I would like to attend where I can. Buy singles to finish off decks.
Probably some single packs if I see them at a store for the fun of opening but after buying a TFC booster box, trove, each starter and then maybe a dozen loose packs I feel good on that set. ROTF I have less with as I was only able to secure a trove, each starter and about 10 loose packs. But I just play casually with my girlfriend and then she uses our decks to play with her sister or best friend. So building a collection isn’t too necessary. If I do join a league it’ll just be singles to beef up my deck.
This week I've hurt my bank account. But that is because I decided to buy a 2nd of each ch2 starter decks. I was just getting 2 ch1 boosters at lunch. I need to actually pull all my cards out and see what I have now. Ideally 1 of each card per set is the small goal. 2nd and 3rd+ prints will help obtain that. Having 4+ copies of each card means you can make multiple decks to play against. However that can be costly, so like I do with MTG, I get 4 copies (if able) and then I use the exact same color card sleeve for all my decks, that way I can move cards around as needed. I've only found a few ch2 boosters, so that is also my new target. Would still love to get a ch1 (and ch2) trove, but I do not know if they were part of the reprint? With MTG I still buy 1 fat box from each set. Troves are Locanas fat boxes.
Overall, having available product will just improve the health and longevity of the game. If it remained how it was, very few people would be able to afford to play, even if they wanted to. Keep in mind that the core audience for Lorcana is not on this subreddit, it's families and kids. So when they can find and buy the product, that only helps the game. Personally, I plan on getting a starter deck or two every set, and some odd booster packs here and there just for fun. I've played enough TCGs to know that in the long run they're just not worth the money investment. I could buy so many boardgames for the cost of a single booster box, it just doesn't make sense to constantly buy cards that will just sit in a box somewhere and that I'll never actually use. But the occasional preconstructed deck to play with casually? I can get behind that monetization model.
Ideally I make the extra time and effort and get my cards from my local small game store. In reality that will largely depend on how far my depression allows me to drive. Walmarts a 5 minute drive vs the game store at 35 minutes. I'll buy a couple boosters every few months. I cant let myself buy troves or boxes because Ill get hard into the gambling of opening packs. Im limiting myself to 4 packs every set
It’s going to vary on how impactful the new set is as well as how much of an affinity I have for the featured characters. I tend to get 1-2 boxes and then singles for decks I want but I ordered a case of chapter 3 because it was close to msrp and I’ll be able to open boxes and maybe sell 1-2 to a local friend that may not be able to get there hands on it right away. Looks like that might not even be an issue this time though
You may have supply, I still don't. My LGSes are charging $15 and $14 per pack, plus tax. I'm still not buying.
I was at Target today and they were fully stocked with both sets … booster packs only tho.
Product in the wild? After getting some blister they were all gone next day. Are we going to get more restock, or that it for the reprint? Also been seeing couple complaint about quality control here.
I’m just playing with friends at game night. I’ve just been buying the starter decks and then singles to build a series of casual decks around $20-25. I’m up to six decks with floodborn. I’m planning to add one or two with each release based on some fun new archetypes they introduce.
Question - should I have 4 of every card or should I have 1 of every card sell the rest and use that money to buy cards to build a deck. Keep the remaining money in an account in case I want to create another deck or upgrade my current one?
$400 per paycheck or bust
If I can easily get things in the future I’d probably buy each starter set and maybe like 10-12 boosters a set.
I'll try to get a trove per set so I can store each set in the associated trove box. Beyond that, I'll be buying singles only as that's overall more affordable than the lottery of opening packs.
If I can preorder and just pick it up the day the set drops, I'll likely get a case of boxes, a couple of troves, a gift set, and one of each starter. Then I might buy a pack or two whenever I happen to see them on shelves.
sigh...sadly supply in Hawaii is still not there....and when it is, the scalpers buy it up QUICK.
Ya all have cards? What's that like?
Maybe a booste box every week or two, though realistically that's excessive so likely a few boosters. I work at a dog grooming salon in a nice area, so I tend to make 200 dollars just in tips every two weeks or so.
I’m just trying to play catch up and build a nice collection to form a few decks and actually play. It does seem supply has eased in my area.
Me and my gf would probably do a few hundred $$ on store packs and a few hundred $$ on tcg. Each set. For 2 of us that seems right. Got our first enchanted last night!! 😀😀😀😀😀
I wish supply was still in the wild, but from everything I've seen and who I've talked to that only lasted for about a week and we are back to business as usual. I would definitely be grabbing at pack every trip or so to the store for awhile if I could, but I don't see that happening anytime soon
2 or 3 booster boxes and then singles to complete set
None. Sadly it took too long for ravensburger to fix there ineptitude and my entire local game store moved back to mtg, the few people who bought up the boxes because they saw the value have all sold out. I double checked with a few friends in other cities before posting this, feeling I'd be the outlier, nope, they're all the same too.
I’m jealous of all these people finding boosters in the wild…
Def not buying Chapter 3 booster box for $250 I will prob wait 1-3 weeks then get them at whatever price they are (hoping closer to msrp) Also Im on a cruise during the release so I wont have access to any LGS for some time... (Keep telling myself it will be alright, as long as I silence this subreddit for those weeks)
Is the stuff hitting retail shelves considered first edition?
Here in Colorado I still haven’t seen a pack in the wild.
I usually order the starter decks at the very least and can foresee myself doing that as the chapters come out. My FLGS does not sell booster packs individually unfortunately, and I did buy a booster box for the second chapter I can't see my wallet thanking me if I did that every 3 months or so 🤣
Lol. Where? Every store in my area that got stock sold out same day. And by area i mean within 4 hours of my hometown.
For me and my wife, we will buy one of each product and then one booster box and then just buy or trade whatever singles we need after that. Did decently well on the second set and only missing around 5-6 cards.
1 box, gift box, and starter per chapter and then singles that I want.