Its because they're more sought after, since you can have 9 in your deck. The card breaks one of magics fundamental rules. Anyone building around it will obviously want as many as possible.
@@pointyheadYT They're also weirdly really rare? between a collector booster box, a set booster box, and the bundle, I got a grand total of one. A single copy of an uncommon in 50 boosters. This has been the experience of everyone I know who's opened packs so far. I don't know if it's because they don't have a borderless or scene variant, and set/collector boosters have dedicated slots for those.
@@TolarianCommunityCollege nothing like micro manipulation through series of frames. start stop, start stop, okay let me turn off the sound because I'm starting to get dizzy.
They are apps to check prices - you just scan the card with them and they tell you the price. Dragon Shield works really well for me - even able to use it to check Cardmarket prices here in EU is great. My box opening was much easier with that tool. If only something so simple existed for editing 😂
I find the fact that currently a bunch of foils are cheaper than the not foils because so many collectors booster are being opened both hilarious and sad
na man i love it! Thats how it's suposed to be and who the cares about these whales with to much money. As long as i can buy cheap singles and play the cards i want to play
if this becomes a pattern for every set and the future of mtg, it's the best thing that can happen for the game and it's normal players. Just some greedballs sufering from their own demise and everybody around them can play the game as free as ever! No money walls on cards and no elite gameplay. Everybody can do everything. Cool artworks for few bucks and a lot of artworks for few bucks. That is great!
@@keldone3186 It means I can actually support WOTC instead of just proxying the otherwise expensive cards - sucks about my handful of actually valuable cards but I wasn't going to sell them anyway
@@tiobridge841 thats exactly what i always tell people if they say i made + in the prerelease xD. I don't sell the cards anyway so it does not matter. I always lose money. But most people just don't get it xD
Imagine the Prof playing 'The Booster Box Game' with Collector Boosterboxes and pulling the One Ring and having to unbox 2 million worth of boxes in one recording.
Assuming that the bounty isn't bs to artificially push up hype. I think it's an offer put out by someone within the company, and they will not release that ring until they get a ton of money first, then plant it in a palet going to one of their selected. This whole thing reeks of wotc shenanigans and market manipulation.
I went to my LGS to get a box, I didn’t know the price, the cards effects, prices of said cards, near nothing. Once I heard 190… my wallet sank a little and reminded me why I dont play much magic anymore.
The price of each box is infuriating. I had such a good time at prerelease that I wanted to get a box for some limited events with friends, but $200 for draft booster boxes is bull crap!
Lol, that is usually my boxes (though I admittedly don't check prices but you can tell at opening) That's why I don't open for value, we just open for fun, art treatments (set boosters run the midline fairly well) and just grabbing some new cards.
Instead of investing in LotR FOMO, I bought a recently de-FOMO'd double masters 2022 draft box. Seems there was absolutely no reason to worry about quantity on that set.
Appreciate you tons, Prof! Your dedication to keeping the MTG community informed because of WotC's lack of doing so is tremendously helpful. I hope you dont feel like this is a thankless job. You help so many players out and we love and appreciate you so much man!!
I actually got a solid box kinda similar to your first one you opened so I was happy! But honestly the main reason I got it was because I’m a big lotr fan and just enjoyed all the cards regardless of value or playability. It was a fun time opening them all and seeing the artwork! Thanks for the video!
Hey Prof, just wanted to give props for you crediting the composers of your music. Stock music composers don't get enough credit for the value they add to #content. Also want to commend the show for helping people (especially new or impulsive players!) keep it real about booster packs and boxes, while letting those of us with terrible impulse control vicariously crack packs with you.
@@aznsbd yeah, it is a big gamble product. I wonder what the average is for what you can expect to pull from these, I'm sure someone somewhere already did the math.
Cracking packs is not a very cost effective way to start a collection. My advice is learn how to draft and go to as many events as you can at your LGS. You will get more quality cards that fit your play style. I am just saying this because, when I started, I bought at least a couple boxes every set and now I’m saddled with tons of unplayable garbage that just sits in boxes.
In collectors boxes the only way to cover the box is by either hitting a valuable surge foil or by hitting one of the 29001 rings, I believe the math works out to about 1 box in every other case being able to cover itself
It would be interesting to see the same game played one month after the release to see the differences in prices. I would love the prices here in Australia to be US$180 a box over AU$300 per box.
I know that the Nazgûl prices are ridiculously inflated right now, but it's really funny that they're worth more than half of the mythics and all but three or four of the rares in the set. Especially because they were preselling for roughly $3 a piece
It's even funnier now, because I was in such shock at the price as a late viewer, that I went to Cardmarket to verify and now none of the variants crack the 10€ margain. 6€ on average for a playset of 9 ain't pennies either, but it does beat 10€ a pop.
Your limited guide was super helpful for prerelease! I opened decent GW food deck and managed to 3-0 the event! (I usually do awful at prerelease, but every once in a while the stars align and I kick ass lol!) Also, for this vid, I 100% expected the outcome as soon as I found out the fancy box toppers exist. Box 1 was the indicator of why these sell for $180... The other boxes are why it's not worth that, haha!
@@wizardexemplar5240 That’s been the experience for quite a while at least for me. The non-set specific cards they throw in have always been where my value is at when I get a booster box. Shockingly the set box I opened of Tales of Middle-Earth my value came from actual set cards. First time I’ve had that happen since Kaldheim. Also Balin’s Tomb is from this set
So, essentially whether or not you cover your costs comes down to three things: 1. The box Topper. 2. The list set cards. 3. How many Nazguls you get...one would hope that the mythics would determine the fate of the box and while some are definitely worth something, as it turns out, this is not so important.
Have you seen 8th Place Dave's video where he's opened a collector booster box and then done the maths and worked out that unless you pull a serialised card there's basically zero chance of breaking even.
The first box actually had a considerable amount of overflow that could have gone towards the second. It would be cool if in the future of booster box games if you included a counter to show the total value of the value cards compared to the total value of the boxes you bought to see how much profit or loss you ended up with at the end of the day. Also since you've already included the prices of the $2 or less cards it would be cool to also see the total value of those cards and all cards open throughout the game to get a good gauge on the value of the boxes
@@3ndlessL00p I know I just want to see the total value of all of the cards in the Box. Not wanting to change the rules of the booster box game by any mean just provide more info on screen you can see the total profit or loss of the game and how much you get for selling the bulk as well
Started playing MtG in 2003., Mirrodin block. It was not a fun draf experience. Then came Kamigawa block, and i love it so much. I would die for those boxes and the draft experience. On every set you got a Tournament pack and 3 boosters, so even we had a prerelease of Betrayers and Saviours, we always had Champions to play with. Thanks for the video. May Azami rest in peace ❤
Been watching the Shuffle up and Play from the Prof for a while. I really enjoy his videos. making even "cracking packs" as satisfying as "crackin backs" :P
It would be hilarious if prof got the one ring not only because of his criticism of it (I agree with it) but because the price would make it the largest outlier for booster box game
Fun fact I ALSO got a Blightsteel Colossus in my set box, and it was the most expensive card I got in the whole thing. My box topper sucked unfortunately.
Can confirm, sealed is good. Played a pile of legendaries and having 2 Great Hall of the Citadel basically meant I could go ham and include whatever I wanted.
I got two box toppers in my box. One being the foil tomb. I made my money back. It was fun to open them. I don't resell that Tomb goes to my commander deck🎉
It’s really tough because Wizards jacked the prices up to distribution, and each level of the supply chain is trying to make just a bit of profit along the way. Sealed booster boxes of MTG have been very low-margin for retailers for a long time, with all the racing to the bottom online.
Hi Prof! Thank you and TCC for always making thoughtful, fun, and interesting videos, especially shuffle up and play! I’m sure this video was filmed a while ago, so I’m not sure if you’re aware now, but it’s recently become clear that working conditions for employees at Hello Fresh packing facilities are extremely dangerous and exploitative. The workers there are pushing to unionize to fight for better conditions and pay, and I think that one way to show them solidarity is to cut sponsorship ties with Hello Fresh, especially since the company’s cozy “relatable” image is really laundered through sponsorship testimonials like yours. I hope this doesn’t come across as judgmental or dismissive at all- I only recently became aware of this news myself and wanted to spread the information since I’ve bought from Hello Fresh in the past. You and your channel have been an awesome example of solidarity with the union workers at Card Kingdom, and unflinching criticism of our cardboard overlords at WOTC/hasbro. I have no doubt that you’ll do the right thing (and maybe you already have! I can only imagine how busy filming is), and I hope that when you do you also publicly encourage your fellow MtG creators to do the same. A collective refusal to work with Hello Fresh really has a chance to make an impact, especially coming from a respected voice like yours. If you’ve read this incredibly long comment, thank you so much!
I remember buying booster boxes in the late 90s for about $90-100. Adjusted for inflation, that's about $170-185 today. Edit: turns out WotC found a way to raise prices back up to inflation, by turning boosters into lotto tickets.
I'll admit I'm running off a small sample size, by which I mean Just This Video, but I hate that I was apparently right about the Nazgul Much like Shadowborn Apostle in 2X2, it looks like Nazgul are at 2 per (set) box with the potential for a bonus foil. I sincerely hope they aren't spread that way in Draft boxes because it feels like that'd make for a terrible draft experience. Also seems kinda weird that they were all exclusively in the Wildcard slots.
I bought 2 collector boxes of the lotr set, was gunna keep one of them sealed... But then opened up both lol. I just wanna collect all the cards and love lotr in general so no regrets! Have 2 gift bundles coming and I'm definitely keeping one of those sealed
Imagine getting the Barrow Downs as a boxtopper on your set box... I did :) and i did it spending $250 at a lgs. Well, $65 more than prof paid but oh well, gotta support my lgs!
I still feel like I'm totally new to MTG (my first foray into MTG was the Theros Beyond Death prerelease) but seeing prices for packs and boxes nearly double is so painful. From the price of entry to product fatigue I find myself incentivized less and less. I love opening packs and playing "the cardboard lotto" to see if I'll get something interesting or exciting to build around or put into an existing deck. Not when prices are getting higher and higher with each release. It takes something fun and turns it into instant buyer's remorse. Soon the average player will have to take out a bank loan for a box! (Hyperbole of course)
I understand buying singles. But what if I want to collect the set? Should I buy a box and then singles I didn’t get? Or what about a bundle so I can get that cool die and the special cards only in it?
Waiting for the review of the jump start for Middle Earth. Been thinking of getting a jump start box for awhile and hoping this is a good , fun, relatively balanced set for that :)
Boy considering the Nazgul are gonna tank and the box topper was one of the best ones you could get, the median EV of these boxes is gonna be wildly below $180 lol.
My speculation is for those to increase while most everything else plummets. Up, down, or sideways, I really want a set of 9. I managed to get 3 from a box and a set bundle (2 duplicate arts).
I saved up my Arena gold to get as much LotR as possible. I just made a Historic Brawl deck today with Merry, Esquire of Rohan. I'm missing a lot of things that would make it better (such as the awesome anthem tree), but it's been a good change of pace from the control decks the format seems to favor. Win within 5 turns or don't. 😂
I hope so it's the only set I've considered buying a set booster box after getting my bundle because the art looks great, foil showcase cards in this set are fun and just little details about lord of the rings like calling legolas and Gimli counter of kills.
I really enjoy the variety of jams while you crack the packs. That last tune was especially catchy. 🎶 180 dollars is too much for a set booster box…especially this set. 🎶 🕺
Fun fact: buying 3x common sets, 2x uncommon sets and 20-30 of the lower value rares and mythics for a set cube of LOTR costs about the same as all the packs of sleeves you need for them. Just a food token for thought.
Come on! give us the collector edition box game! If you can give them away then you clearly can afford to open one! That's the booster box game we have all been waiting for!
This probably the best booster box game to see😂 and with the prices keep going up. I got a bundle for 80$ and now I see them being sold for 100$ it’s still weird seeing the uncommon nazgul selling for 10$ the same price of mount doom. Hope you had fun opening the boxes and looking forward to the next video
@@TonyMariani you’re absolutely right just got play the waiting game for everything to go down in price plus the set’s getting a reprint set around the holidays.
I prefer when yelly mcgee opens every pack and slowly shakes every card/comments on the art and screams like every 2 dollar rare was a million dollar hit
I'd love if whoever (assuming it isn't someone designated by WotC to pull it) pulls the 1/1 The One Ring skipped the bounty and just sold it to Post Malone (assuming he even is interested in it). At least he's into the Magic for the hobby and not the money.
This set couldn't be more up my alley. I'd love to open a box, but there's absolutely no way I'm paying $180 for this. I've been feeling Magic fatigue for a while, and the more products that go by without me playing, the more I'm starting to feel like this game just isn't for me anymore.
cool video! Hellofresh is NOTORIOUS for union busting practices, food that shows up expired, and they had one of the largest covid breakouts in a workplace!
What!?! "A booster box Sisyphus"? Well said. I can picture Sisyphus at the top of the mountain only to trudge back down to his local LGS to buy & try again and again....
For 16 free meals with HelloFresh PLUS free shipping, use code TOLARIANCOMMUNITY16 at bit.ly/43DyGMl!
he's a magician.. this comment was posted 10 minutes ago, with the video being posted 8 minutes ago.. tell me how you do it
Magic
the Gathering
The nazguls being worth more as uncommons than 90% of all the rares and mythics..
Its because they're more sought after, since you can have 9 in your deck. The card breaks one of magics fundamental rules. Anyone building around it will obviously want as many as possible.
@@pointyheadYT They're also weirdly really rare? between a collector booster box, a set booster box, and the bundle, I got a grand total of one. A single copy of an uncommon in 50 boosters. This has been the experience of everyone I know who's opened packs so far. I don't know if it's because they don't have a borderless or scene variant, and set/collector boosters have dedicated slots for those.
@@theabrandt6177 I opened a set box a bundle and a pre-release and only got 1 as well.
@@theabrandt6177weird, i got two between my prerelease kit and 2 set boosters. Didn’t realize they were rare
People also want ALL 9 of them for collecting. They want each art which makes each individual art valuable.
I commend you for the amount of editing and annoying price checking this must have required.
You have no idea
@@TolarianCommunityCollege Isn't that what Pleasentkenobi is for?
Good job to the person that edited this video 👍
I would assume these videos are a group effort but still.
@@TolarianCommunityCollege nothing like micro manipulation through series of frames. start stop, start stop, okay let me turn off the sound because I'm starting to get dizzy.
They are apps to check prices - you just scan the card with them and they tell you the price. Dragon Shield works really well for me - even able to use it to check Cardmarket prices here in EU is great.
My box opening was much easier with that tool.
If only something so simple existed for editing 😂
I find the fact that currently a bunch of foils are cheaper than the not foils because so many collectors booster are being opened both hilarious and sad
na man i love it!
Thats how it's suposed to be and who the cares about these whales with to much money.
As long as i can buy cheap singles and play the cards i want to play
As a certified singles buyer, I totally agree that I like the low prices. I just find the whole situation around WHY the prices are cheap a little sad
if this becomes a pattern for every set and the future of mtg, it's the best thing that can happen for the game and it's normal players.
Just some greedballs sufering from their own demise and everybody around them can play the game as free as ever!
No money walls on cards and no elite gameplay. Everybody can do everything.
Cool artworks for few bucks and a lot of artworks for few bucks. That is great!
@@keldone3186 It means I can actually support WOTC instead of just proxying the otherwise expensive cards - sucks about my handful of actually valuable cards but I wasn't going to sell them anyway
@@tiobridge841 thats exactly what i always tell people if they say i made + in the prerelease xD.
I don't sell the cards anyway so it does not matter. I always lose money.
But most people just don't get it xD
Imagine the Prof playing 'The Booster Box Game' with Collector Boosterboxes and pulling the One Ring and having to unbox 2 million worth of boxes in one recording.
Assuming that the bounty isn't bs to artificially push up hype.
I think it's an offer put out by someone within the company, and they will not release that ring until they get a ton of money first, then plant it in a palet going to one of their selected.
This whole thing reeks of wotc shenanigans and market manipulation.
I love how LotR's setting fits Magic's setting, but... these prices.
Premium man, wotc and premium
Yeah mtg sealed is getting too expensive :/
I went to my LGS to get a box, I didn’t know the price, the cards effects, prices of said cards, near nothing. Once I heard 190… my wallet sank a little and reminded me why I dont play much magic anymore.
Stop buying that shit then
Just like dungeons and dragons. And yet one of these two things was standard and one wasn't...
The price of each box is infuriating. I had such a good time at prerelease that I wanted to get a box for some limited events with friends, but $200 for draft booster boxes is bull crap!
Yeah my store is charging 250... I'll just buy singles lol, or wait to the prices to tank
Same thing, prerelease was fun, but not even bothering looking at boxes until at least a couple weeks later.
Most stores are giving set boosters as prize packs! It's garbage how I can't even draft my winnings.
$200 is wild for draft. My lgs had them for $160
My lgs has them for 150 and I thought that was a lot but I gotta say I feel better about buying one now.
Your 2nd box of 30% value is every magic product I've ever opened lol
Fucking felt that in my heart. Literally anything I open
Same...
That's me nine times out of ten. Which is why I keep trying... and why Magic hasn't died yet.
that's the rule, not the exception
Lol, that is usually my boxes (though I admittedly don't check prices but you can tell at opening) That's why I don't open for value, we just open for fun, art treatments (set boosters run the midline fairly well) and just grabbing some new cards.
Two cards in and i think we can say hes going to at least a second box this time around.
Instead of investing in LotR FOMO, I bought a recently de-FOMO'd double masters 2022 draft box. Seems there was absolutely no reason to worry about quantity on that set.
I think they might still be printing some master sets
Appreciate you tons, Prof! Your dedication to keeping the MTG community informed because of WotC's lack of doing so is tremendously helpful. I hope you dont feel like this is a thankless job. You help so many players out and we love and appreciate you so much man!!
This snapped me out of buying a box tomorrow, thanks Prof
I actually got a solid box kinda similar to your first one you opened so I was happy! But honestly the main reason I got it was because I’m a big lotr fan and just enjoyed all the cards regardless of value or playability. It was a fun time opening them all and seeing the artwork! Thanks for the video!
It sickens me how we all watch him suffer for our entertainment. Great video🎉
Hey Prof, just wanted to give props for you crediting the composers of your music. Stock music composers don't get enough credit for the value they add to #content.
Also want to commend the show for helping people (especially new or impulsive players!) keep it real about booster packs and boxes, while letting those of us with terrible impulse control vicariously crack packs with you.
Really good start with Balin's Tomb and a Blightsteel Colossus.
One of which is a box topper, the other being a card from the list.
RNGesus literally pulled that one out of a dimensional tophat to make even
Was gonna comment on that as well, pack 1 literally paid for half the box there (03:30).
@@sephyrias883 None of the other boxes got anything remotely good for the boxtopper or listcards and so they didn't exceed the price of the box.
*Blightsteel
@@aznsbd yeah, it is a big gamble product. I wonder what the average is for what you can expect to pull from these, I'm sure someone somewhere already did the math.
The Collector Box tempts you.
The Collector Box tempts you.
The Collector Box tempts you.
Its yours, it came to you, its your...
Prescious.
There is something retro about Prof's editing and scripts that is so lovely
I just got into magic recently. Pretty expensive time to start im thinking. This channel has been super helpful so far
Cracking packs is not a very cost effective way to start a collection. My advice is learn how to draft and go to as many events as you can at your LGS. You will get more quality cards that fit your play style. I am just saying this because, when I started, I bought at least a couple boxes every set and now I’m saddled with tons of unplayable garbage that just sits in boxes.
I want to see him do the collectors booster box game and get the 1of1 ring.
That would be so funny!!
That would invalidate the point of the booster box game sadly
@@omartoro9578 agreed.
@@booey316 I do agree with you though I'd love to see the prof pull it I feel like if anybody should pull it it should be him
I feel like he would also enjoy that
Honestly this set was just a lot of fun to open as a fan of LoTR. I plan on getting the full set of art cards.
In collectors boxes the only way to cover the box is by either hitting a valuable surge foil or by hitting one of the 29001 rings,
I believe the math works out to about 1 box in every other case being able to cover itself
Brutal
This is the Russian roulette of booster boxes, you know most of the chambers are loaded with instant financial death...
The dedication of the Prof. to the Booster Box Game is amazing!
Can we all just sit back and enjoy the cinematic nuance that is the the thumbnail for this video.
under rated comment
It would be interesting to see the same game played one month after the release to see the differences in prices. I would love the prices here in Australia to be US$180 a box over AU$300 per box.
That's unplayable
I know that the Nazgûl prices are ridiculously inflated right now, but it's really funny that they're worth more than half of the mythics and all but three or four of the rares in the set. Especially because they were preselling for roughly $3 a piece
Yeah, and between the market going to be flooded due to them being uncommon and after this set rotates, those guys aren't going to be worth much.
It's even funnier now, because I was in such shock at the price as a late viewer, that I went to Cardmarket to verify and now none of the variants crack the 10€ margain. 6€ on average for a playset of 9 ain't pennies either, but it does beat 10€ a pop.
Your limited guide was super helpful for prerelease! I opened decent GW food deck and managed to 3-0 the event! (I usually do awful at prerelease, but every once in a while the stars align and I kick ass lol!)
Also, for this vid, I 100% expected the outcome as soon as I found out the fancy box toppers exist. Box 1 was the indicator of why these sell for $180... The other boxes are why it's not worth that, haha!
the list pulls just in this video are better than the list pulls I have EVER gotten in a set booster. insane.
I love how in your previous video you mentioned Balin's Tomb being the no 1 box topper to get and the first one you opened is Balin's Tomb :D
I went to pre release for this set and it was the most fun ive had playing MTG in a long time. This set is so hume fun.
wow those first two cards were crazy
Having half the price of the box in only 2 cards help for this game :x
Neither of those cards were from LotR either. The Prof is getting value from non-LotR cards in a LotR set. Surreal!
@@wizardexemplar5240
That’s been the experience for quite a while at least for me. The non-set specific cards they throw in have always been where my value is at when I get a booster box. Shockingly the set box I opened of Tales of Middle-Earth my value came from actual set cards. First time I’ve had that happen since Kaldheim. Also Balin’s Tomb is from this set
@@121Xander121Balin's Tomb is just alternate art Ancient Tomb which is on The List. I think that's the case for all the box toppers.
So, essentially whether or not you cover your costs comes down to three things: 1. The box Topper. 2. The list set cards. 3. How many Nazguls you get...one would hope that the mythics would determine the fate of the box and while some are definitely worth something, as it turns out, this is not so important.
Well also the bowmaster, which is up to $30
@@DDDHunter Yup, true, it's the top rare by far.
@@luciencloutier3035 funniest thing is that everyone at my local game store that brought a box cracked at least one
Have you seen 8th Place Dave's video where he's opened a collector booster box and then done the maths and worked out that unless you pull a serialised card there's basically zero chance of breaking even.
The first box actually had a considerable amount of overflow that could have gone towards the second. It would be cool if in the future of booster box games if you included a counter to show the total value of the value cards compared to the total value of the boxes you bought to see how much profit or loss you ended up with at the end of the day. Also since you've already included the prices of the $2 or less cards it would be cool to also see the total value of those cards and all cards open throughout the game to get a good gauge on the value of the boxes
The whole point is if the individual booster boxes has enough value to justify their price tho
@@3ndlessL00p I know I just want to see the total value of all of the cards in the Box. Not wanting to change the rules of the booster box game by any mean just provide more info on screen you can see the total profit or loss of the game and how much you get for selling the bulk as well
The first had an extra value of $54. The 2nd and the 3rd were both missing about $100 :(.
Started playing MtG in 2003., Mirrodin block. It was not a fun draf experience. Then came Kamigawa block, and i love it so much.
I would die for those boxes and the draft experience.
On every set you got a Tournament pack and 3 boosters, so even we had a prerelease of Betrayers and Saviours, we always had Champions to play with. Thanks for the video. May Azami rest in peace ❤
Been watching the Shuffle up and Play from the Prof for a while. I really enjoy his videos. making even "cracking packs" as satisfying as "crackin backs" :P
Building a deck with my singles, perfect video to listen to!
It would be hilarious if prof got the one ring not only because of his criticism of it (I agree with it) but because the price would make it the largest outlier for booster box game
Dang… was actually looking forward to the collector boosted box game, even if it would only be a 10 minute video lol
Maybe. Given the resale value of the surge foil cards right now, it might have just kept going.
For collectors, its been shown that unless you get a serial card or a good surge foil theeres no chance of breakng even at current prices
@@Littlewh0 ah, yeah, but I was just imagining that he pulls a surge foil from every box and has to keep playing the booster box game forever.
Maybe it's not your vibe anymore(and it's fine), but I'm nostalgic for when you used to lay in the wrappers after the fact, despite it being spoilery.
I really like the look of the Full art lands of these sets
Fun fact I ALSO got a Blightsteel Colossus in my set box, and it was the most expensive card I got in the whole thing. My box topper sucked unfortunately.
Can confirm, sealed is good. Played a pile of legendaries and having 2 Great Hall of the Citadel basically meant I could go ham and include whatever I wanted.
I got two box toppers in my box. One being the foil tomb. I made my money back. It was fun to open them. I don't resell that Tomb goes to my commander deck🎉
You can always count on the professor to have tunes that go this hard
Got my setdisplay today. Next time my friend comes over to play magic we open it together and play some limited. Love the artwork in this set so much.
Boy, I love how this dude presents it like a 90's show XD
It’s really tough because Wizards jacked the prices up to distribution, and each level of the supply chain is trying to make just a bit of profit along the way.
Sealed booster boxes of MTG have been very low-margin for retailers for a long time, with all the racing to the bottom online.
Hi Prof! Thank you and TCC for always making thoughtful, fun, and interesting videos, especially shuffle up and play! I’m sure this video was filmed a while ago, so I’m not sure if you’re aware now, but it’s recently become clear that working conditions for employees at Hello Fresh packing facilities are extremely dangerous and exploitative. The workers there are pushing to unionize to fight for better conditions and pay, and I think that one way to show them solidarity is to cut sponsorship ties with Hello Fresh, especially since the company’s cozy “relatable” image is really laundered through sponsorship testimonials like yours. I hope this doesn’t come across as judgmental or dismissive at all- I only recently became aware of this news myself and wanted to spread the information since I’ve bought from Hello Fresh in the past. You and your channel have been an awesome example of solidarity with the union workers at Card Kingdom, and unflinching criticism of our cardboard overlords at WOTC/hasbro. I have no doubt that you’ll do the right thing (and maybe you already have! I can only imagine how busy filming is), and I hope that when you do you also publicly encourage your fellow MtG creators to do the same. A collective refusal to work with Hello Fresh really has a chance to make an impact, especially coming from a respected voice like yours. If you’ve read this incredibly long comment, thank you so much!
I remember buying booster boxes in the late 90s for about $90-100. Adjusted for inflation, that's about $170-185 today.
Edit: turns out WotC found a way to raise prices back up to inflation, by turning boosters into lotto tickets.
Prof just casually giving away $1000+ of value on a stream is just wild lol
Props from a non-Magic player
I'll admit I'm running off a small sample size, by which I mean Just This Video, but I hate that I was apparently right about the Nazgul
Much like Shadowborn Apostle in 2X2, it looks like Nazgul are at 2 per (set) box with the potential for a bonus foil. I sincerely hope they aren't spread that way in Draft boxes because it feels like that'd make for a terrible draft experience. Also seems kinda weird that they were all exclusively in the Wildcard slots.
I bought 2 collector boxes of the lotr set, was gunna keep one of them sealed... But then opened up both lol. I just wanna collect all the cards and love lotr in general so no regrets! Have 2 gift bundles coming and I'm definitely keeping one of those sealed
Those box toppers really do swing the cost of the box quite a bit.
I also lucked out and got Balin's Tomb... and a One Ring :) Bowmasters too!
Imagine getting the Barrow Downs as a boxtopper on your set box... I did :) and i did it spending $250 at a lgs. Well, $65 more than prof paid but oh well, gotta support my lgs!
Wow the list hits for that first box…. Insane they even jacked out the reserve list for this product
I think I have never seen a better box concerning the the list slots..
Hey Crew - definitely check the prices on those signed art cards, they’re worth more than most actual cards in the set!
the prices on TCG player are high buy very few actual sales.
I still feel like I'm totally new to MTG (my first foray into MTG was the Theros Beyond Death prerelease) but seeing prices for packs and boxes nearly double is so painful.
From the price of entry to product fatigue I find myself incentivized less and less. I love opening packs and playing "the cardboard lotto" to see if I'll get something interesting or exciting to build around or put into an existing deck. Not when prices are getting higher and higher with each release. It takes something fun and turns it into instant buyer's remorse.
Soon the average player will have to take out a bank loan for a box! (Hyperbole of course)
I dig the jazz over the traditional music you use. Great video
Not great when you need two of the best reprints you could ask for to stay out of the red. But boy were they some spicy pulls.
Bilbo Retired Burglar has my favorite book and movie quote. I actully want the regular version of that card over the borderless just because of that.
Your first box is probably the best box possible. Big hits off the topper and the list spot. Most box aren't anything near this strong.
I can only imagine the Prof's swearing at those first two cards lol
Okay "Booster Box Sisyphus" made me lol 😂
I understand buying singles. But what if I want to collect the set? Should I buy a box and then singles I didn’t get? Or what about a bundle so I can get that cool die and the special cards only in it?
Waiting for the review of the jump start for Middle Earth. Been thinking of getting a jump start box for awhile and hoping this is a good , fun, relatively balanced set for that :)
Boy considering the Nazgul are gonna tank and the box topper was one of the best ones you could get, the median EV of these boxes is gonna be wildly below $180 lol.
The nazgul are not easy to pull. Doubt they will tank
And people want all nine, so prob not gonna tank all that hard
My speculation is for those to increase while most everything else plummets. Up, down, or sideways, I really want a set of 9. I managed to get 3 from a box and a set bundle (2 duplicate arts).
I saved up my Arena gold to get as much LotR as possible. I just made a Historic Brawl deck today with Merry, Esquire of Rohan. I'm missing a lot of things that would make it better (such as the awesome anthem tree), but it's been a good change of pace from the control decks the format seems to favor. Win within 5 turns or don't. 😂
I can’t wait until the one ring is found. Maybe the price will finally come back down to earth for this product after all the hype has died down
I hope so it's the only set I've considered buying a set booster box after getting my bundle because the art looks great, foil showcase cards in this set are fun and just little details about lord of the rings like calling legolas and Gimli counter of kills.
I really enjoy the variety of jams while you crack the packs. That last tune was especially catchy.
🎶 180 dollars is too much for a set booster box…especially this set. 🎶
🕺
Professor's dramatic ads are the only ads I do not skip
That first box value was the best I've seen of any boxes getting cracked.
this set's list cards are absurd, ive seen multiple contaminations pulled too
Me and some friends are going to a CommandFest this weekend and they're doing LOTR drafts on demand. We can't wait to do a few drafts of this set!
Fun fact: buying 3x common sets, 2x uncommon sets and 20-30 of the lower value rares and mythics for a set cube of LOTR costs about the same as all the packs of sleeves you need for them. Just a food token for thought.
you made more in your first four packs and topper than i did in my entire booster box with my pillar of the paruns box topper
I must admit I shouldn't be surprised at how the nazgúl are so expensive even for uncommons.
Now Playing is a great addition to this series
those god tier pulls box topper + blightsteel first pack. Professor that's the best pull rate I seen on a set box so far.
These prices are outrageous. I cannot justify this kind of pricing here in Canada.
As much as you joke before starting, Prof, that was quite the start!
Come on! give us the collector edition box game! If you can give them away then you clearly can afford to open one! That's the booster box game we have all been waiting for!
This probably the best booster box game to see😂 and with the prices keep going up. I got a bundle for 80$ and now I see them being sold for 100$ it’s still weird seeing the uncommon nazgul selling for 10$ the same price of mount doom. Hope you had fun opening the boxes and looking forward to the next video
As soon as regular people get to list on TCG player, prices are gonna crash hard
@@TonyMariani you’re absolutely right just got play the waiting game for everything to go down in price plus the set’s getting a reprint set around the holidays.
I prefer when yelly mcgee opens every pack and slowly shakes every card/comments on the art and screams like every 2 dollar rare was a million dollar hit
I'd love if whoever (assuming it isn't someone designated by WotC to pull it) pulls the 1/1 The One Ring skipped the bounty and just sold it to Post Malone (assuming he even is interested in it). At least he's into the Magic for the hobby and not the money.
This set couldn't be more up my alley. I'd love to open a box, but there's absolutely no way I'm paying $180 for this. I've been feeling Magic fatigue for a while, and the more products that go by without me playing, the more I'm starting to feel like this game just isn't for me anymore.
Love your content Prof! Thank you for what you do!
lol that thumbnail is perfect, Mr. Frodo.
cool video! Hellofresh is NOTORIOUS for union busting practices, food that shows up expired, and they had one of the largest covid breakouts in a workplace!
With your box topper and first pack alone you did better than I did with my entire set booster. Ugh, I need to stop this game 😩
This is a good showing of the main reason i dont buy boxes of cards anymore. Let us all chsnt together, " just buy singles"!
Thanks professor for cracking packs so I don't feel tempted to do likewise.
Without getting one of the most pricey box toppers the first box would have also lost right? This is way overpriced.
Sisyphean shout outs for the win, Theros would be proud.
That hello fresh ad was hilarious. I love it
*sitting in a pile of wrappers watching the booster box game*
We all have a problem….
THEN A BLIGHTSTEELE that first box was gas holy smokes
What!?! "A booster box Sisyphus"? Well said. I can picture Sisyphus at the top of the mountain only to trudge back down to his local LGS to buy & try again and again....