this post was submitted on 10 Jul 2024
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At select retailers, you may see a new kind of booster available. While Collector Boosters are perfect for fans who want all the coolest cards, and Play Boosters are built to bolster collections by being opened to play Magic, Value Boosters are a smaller, lighter booster that contain a handful of new cards any fan can enjoy—a budget-friendly way to experience Bloomburrow. Each Value Booster contains 3 commons, 2 uncommons, 1 wildcard of any rarity, and 1 card that may be a land, a traditional foil, or a Special Guests card.

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[–] [email protected] 13 points 1 month ago (1 children)

October 2023: "Having too many types of booster is hurting sales, so we're consolidating them."

July 2024: "Hey check out this new type of booster we came up with."

[–] [email protected] 7 points 1 month ago

Something something pendulum swinging

[–] [email protected] 8 points 1 month ago (2 children)

WotC exec is schizophrenic. They will never give up trying to give players less while charging them more. The never-ending cancer of "line must got up every year".

You can just create a sustainable business model guys... one where costs are recovered and a modest return is made. You don't need to give in to the squeeze from Hasbro to milk your product into the ground... and become like every other empty shell of a product they own.

[–] [email protected] 7 points 1 month ago

Not just line go up. Line must go up more than it has previously gone up. A slightly lesser growth is apparently lethal

[–] [email protected] 4 points 1 month ago (1 children)

@Fluid @mike no, a non growing company is illegal and a failure.

Private ownership has up sides.

[–] [email protected] 5 points 1 month ago (1 children)

It'll never happen, but the only way to make Magic better for the players is if Hasbro sold off WoTC. I can't even come up with a scenario that would cause them to sell, it seems to be the only thing keeping them alive.

[–] [email protected] 5 points 1 month ago (1 children)

@mike and it's too big to be brough by anyone who would act noticbly better.

Unlessit has already 'died'

[–] [email protected] 3 points 1 month ago

Yeah that's a very good point. If WoTC starts getting their lunch eaten by a rival game (cough Sorcery Contested Realm cough) or if anything else happens that starts tanking demand then I could definitely see them selling it off for the short term gain while they "regroup on traditional games in their product lineup".

[–] [email protected] 7 points 1 month ago (1 children)

Are these for vending machines or something?

[–] [email protected] 5 points 1 month ago

@fubo @mike essentially, but probably big retailers too.

Sadly I'm sure some stores will use them as prize packs.

[–] [email protected] 6 points 1 month ago (1 children)

I fail to see where is the "value" in a booster full of commons and uncommons

[–] [email protected] 7 points 1 month ago

Saw this on the reddit thread and did a real lol:

It's a value booster for their shareholders

[–] [email protected] 3 points 1 month ago

Not more boosters again...

[–] [email protected] 2 points 1 month ago (2 children)

These feel really bad for any enfranchised players, but my guess is that these are meant to be for complete newbies who don't care about resale value or playability. The idea is that kids can drop a buck on some cards that look cool, and be a gateway into wanting more cards later on, or people can use them as stocking stuffers or Halloween treats.

No established player should spend money on this. I know it feels predatory to offer "low value" boosters like this to the uninformed, but the uninformed were never going to sell their cards to a shop.

At the size of half a pack, and without a guaranteed rare, I really hope they don't retail for more than $0.99-$1.50. If they hit $2 then they're truly a failed product.

As a side theory, these could just exist to drive people to more willingly spend on Play Boosters. It's like the small soda at fast food restaurants; it's a small price jump to get considerably more value, so the Play Boosters looks way better in comparison to this cheap product.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 1 month ago (1 children)

I honestly think they're going to try selling these for $3, which is absolutely bonkers nuts but I think their plan was to raise the "normal" booster price and then sell this garbage for around the original booster price.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 1 month ago

If these hit $3, I don't see anyone going for them.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 1 month ago (1 children)

@meant2live218 @mike aren't the essentially half of a regular pack? So half the price would be reasonable.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 1 month ago (1 children)

Half the size of a regular pack, but without a guaranteed rare. Play Boosters will have a guaranteed rare, and with the wildcard slot may have a second rare. Even if WotC doesn't want to acknowledge the secondary market, they know that a lot of the "value" of a pack comes from the rare/mythic hits.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 1 month ago (1 children)

@meant2live218 my head is still regular = draft. So ~ a third of a play booster, price should match.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 1 month ago

1/3 is a close enough ratio that I'm okay with that. If a Play booster is $4.50, this being at $1.50 feels reasonable. If a Play booster is $6, then this being $2 feels like it may lose the "so cheap" feel that makes it enticing as a random pickup for a non-player.