Many Magic the Gathering players truly appreciate the work you put into everything. Thanks professor.

It really can't be reiterated enough that if you're looking for specific cards, just buy $279 worth of singles rather than gamble on a box. that said, it's possible (as evidenced by the boost box game) to open above EV, and you can open cards you didn't know you wanted. but as the professor states, it's still a gamble. unless what you're looking for is a playset of a multiple valuable mythics (which you're statistically unlikely to randomly open, virtually 0%), more than likely you can buy the singles you want and have money to spare. save that for buying more singles from the next set, or splurge and spend it on interesting cards that don't have a home in your decks just yet.

It's just as you said in Game Knights' ad: BUY SINGLES!!!! xD

I got a draft booster to play with my friends this afternoon at my LGS, I hope I pull some goodies, but the draft experience is what drives me to getting this set.

"So, what kind of cards can I expect to see if I open a booster?" "Yes."

my sister opened a prerelease kit....an arid mesa, and a foil arid mesa.....I was so freaking jealous let me tell you cause we had switched boxes before we opened (2-headed event)

Considering the conversion rate of dollar to my own currency, I could probably buy a house with that price haha

The prices here in Australia are kind of nuts. A LGS owner told me he had to take $50 off the collector boxes just because they cost so much, and he felt bad charging that

I love how the singles have plummeted in price 😁

This product is amazing in respect to the cards included. However, as someone who lives in a small country and earns a couple hundred dollars a month, it's only going to be "opened" on my screen :)

You should do these a week after the general public has access to collector packs and get a chance to put their stuff on the secondary market to normalize. Prices atm are still free falling and have not stabilized yet.

I found an alpha llanowar elves in a random lot and traded it for my set box. Pulled a foil borderless coffers, borderless chatterfang, And a retro arid Mesa so I'm pleased with my free box lol

I think it's really important to note that if you're cash-strapped and debating buying a box, and need fetches, they will inevitably rise in price, whereas many of the other singles that seem snazzy and needed in this set will go back down, so make sure you get your fetches first! Cheers

5:31 This is actually really simple. Wizards wants players to blame LGS's for price increases and not Wizards themselves.

Your videos are wonderful and your personality is very pleasant. I just came back to Magic after a 10 year hiatus (had not bought cards since 2003, onslaught/judgement) and just wanted to say thanks for the infotainment!

Fooled by the seemingly white sketch jade avenger!

I disagree. If it's too expensive to actually play anymore, nobody wins. I can buy some singles, but I can't enjoy opening a box and drafting for fun because I can't afford the box anymore. If this is setting a "what people are willing to pay" precedence that carries forward into their more regular offerings, it's going to push me and many other players out of Magic. Magic may be becoming for the rich for real now.

This is the 1st set where I am definitely just going after singles. As much as I love cracking packs with friends in a draft or sealed this is just out of our budget.

Looking sharp and cutting to the quick with great discussion as usual. Loved the review, thanks for the hard work on this.

Prof you are awesome, keep up the great work! Btw I watched you on Take off your shoes, it made me appreciate and like you even more than I already did. I truly hope you realize what an amazing human being you are and how many of us would love to be your friend.

Support your local LGS, but just FYI Amazon is selling a box of draft boosters right now for $236, for an average pack cost of $6.55.

I got a pre-realase kit that was worth it monetarily but its also an expensive gamble. I was waiting for this video!

Thanks Proff! Another great video. Crazy to see the prices already get cut like ~40-50% since prerelease weekend, but you can't have so many cards in the set over $40. I'll be saving any booster boxes I get for eventual draft, but I do, in general, enjoy opening set boosters for value. It also makes me feel less like I'm losing value, from not drafting with the cards, plus I think I've usually got more than 36 rares and less draft chaff. I do want to try making a commander deck out of a set box, I think LRR did that for strixhaven, and it worked out fairly well.

A well designed and informative video, as always. I look forward to your content more than most. Thank you. My favorite super hero? I have to say I am a big fan of Iron Man. I love his origin story and some of the arcs in his story are epic. My favorite being the extremis story. The struggle he has with himself about the harm he's caused and the difference he is or isn't making is enthralling to me.

I thought it was important to mention that some-and possibly all-local game stores are not getting prize support from WOTC for some reason. My lgs gave out a promo from a previous set because he didn’t know what else to do. It was still a fun event to do the prerelease, and I opened an esper sentinel which was amazing. I just wish WOTC would recognize it costs the exact same to print these cards as it does any other.

Hey Prof! Hope you're having a good day!

Love your videos. I bought two boxes. One draft and one set. I will crack open the set box and will keep the draft box sealed for my collection. I do buy singles when I want certain things, but the fun of cracking packs with my kids is too fun to pass up. Even if we don't get our value back, the fun is part of the value in my opinion. Good luck to everyone cracking packs this weekend!

Hi Prof! Long time fan. You have helped me so much through the years. When I was a new player I had no idea what to do and I appreciate and value your opinion so much! Thank you for all that you do

Hey, Prof! Are you going to do a review of the new “All-Natural, Totally Refreshing” Secret Lair? Jen Bartel is my favorite comic artist and I’m sorely tempted by her artwork, but there’s also the Praetors… I’d love to hear your take on whether the release is worth shelling out for. Should I keep an eye out for that before ordering?

I need to start compiling my wish list from this set. For once, I think I'll take you're advice and just buy the singles I want.

Thanks for the review, Prof! Can't wait to get my set booster box tomorrow and open it with my friends!

Excellent evaluation. I am frequently frustrated by reviews (of all sorts of products) which fail to separate cost from quality and treat the entirety of the review as a cost/benefit analysis, rather than a review of the product, on its own, and then, separately, of the cost in relation. It’s impossible for a reviewer to ascertain the relative impact of the cost of a product on a prospective buyer (everyone’s financial situation is different), so having the two in isolation is crucial for a consumer to make an informed decision. Well done as always, Prof.

Confusion, The greatest ally to Hasbro

So… sets are good when Wizards doesn’t design them 😂😂😂

I played Magic from 1997 - 2003. I’m just now starting to get back into it. I appreciate your videos because It’s so overwhelming! Magic feels like an entirely new game from when I used to play. Thank you for helping me get back into it.

Glad to see your evaluation =) I did buy a Set Booster ($265) and I bought; honestly, purely for trade value down the road. I am almost done rebuilding a good binder of tradable cards and view MH2 as the end point of that journey. Outside of a set here or there MH2 is likely the end of me building a trade binder through sets. If I buy a Draft or Set box in the future it will be because I like a lot of what I see in terms of design or style (Kaldheim as the most recent example). Thanks for your quality videos... always watch them =)

"Everybody wins" Except limited players. I'm glad singles prices are decreasing for constructed players, but drafts that cost double or more what they normally cost drive people away. We don't draft to gamble, we draft to play, and the cost of play for these sets are prohibitive. It feels like a case of identity crisis. Why design the set to be drafted and then price it so high that it drives limited players away? I personally feel it would be better to either lower the price or just do away with the attempt to make these reprint sets draftable.

As someone from the US, I'm offended at how much math is in this video!

Thank you for the video Prof! I'm looking forward to upgrading my Merfolk commander deck with some cards from here!

I really appreciate the support you give to local stores. Thanks for the evaluation, professor.

I'm just going to buy singles. As a commander player, i want at most 15 cards, fetches don't count 🤣

Professor: Sorts Road to Ruin into green card pile. Me: Dies a little inside.

Lovely set, I myself picked up a draft booster display to play draft with some friends

Thanks for another great video. I’m getting singles the rest of the time and glad I watched your video on card sleeves. I to wish they would have done comic versions of the dc characters. I’ll be thinking like a winner.

I will be buying about 3 singles. the box is completely out of my price range.

Miss MSRP. Hate the Sketch cards. It’s like “Here, have the unfinished version of the final art!” I would much rather have the Japanese woodblock print cards. Didn’t buy a Collector’s booster because of it.

Superb review. I bought some singles already & will continue to do so!!!

Damn. I just got into magic your page has helped me a ton. I went to my local and pre ordered forgotten realms and now I feel like I shouldn’t have

this is really a modern masters set in disguise. also, thank you for all your work prof. with a lot of doom and gloom in my life right now, it's nice to get away from it with a neutral discussion.

You know, I wouldn't take the box even if I won it. I'm kinda to that point. I'll buy singles. Even though that kind of contributes to the issues. There's not much an individual buyer can do because so many suppliers are overbuying to such degrees. Just feeling blah about the game right now.

I pre-ordered a box of draft boosters from my LGS. I had to wait until Friday to set it, but I was NOT disappointed! I got 4 fetchlands, including an old-border Misty Rainforest (plus another regular MR, a Scalding Tarn, and a Marsh Flats), 7 mythics, and lots of good rares with value. I'm super happy with it, even if I didn't get the opportunity to draft.

Thank you so much for all the work you put into your channel.

I feel like the value in the singles of this set comes from the fact that the product is so expensive. Imagine if Eldraine was priced at $8-$10 a pack, it would probably have similar singles prices to this set. There is no legitimate reason why it has to be this expensive other than WotC saying “we can get away with it, so why not?” Its also very disappointing that their response to people saying they are priced out of the game is “maybe this game isn’t for you.” I’d say its time to attack these types of business moves with our wallets, but after seeing how effective that was with TWD i’ve honestly lost all hope. I’ve played this game for more than half my life and seeing the company that made my favorite escape from reality turning it into a product only the whales get to play is heartbreaking.

Buy singles, but admittedly this is probably the best sealed product of the year.

I just recently started getting back into Magic but your videos have been incredibly helpful with all of the new sets and mechanics. Even more so when starting to get into Commander! I've been subscribed for awhile now but decided to finally switch to my old account so I could have the chance to interact with you and all my fellow students! That being said, my favorite hero would have to be Black Panther. Wakanda Forever!

I was having a hangover because I but the set booster (haven't arrived) and now I'm feel a little bit better with my buy! Thanks Prof!

My local has 40 man modern events on fridays. Standard cant fire. Commander does get 60ish people. But modern is hot in atlanta.

"Can *NOT* play draft/sealed" Not with *that* attitude

Loved you on Glassman’s podcast, really related to your conversation

You've done it again Prof! Great review & thank you! 💪

Kind of weird to me that Set Boosters in America are cheaper than Draft, they’re significantly more here in the UK.

Buy the singles people!

Love the content and contests ;)

I'm so jealous of your pulls! Old frame Arid Mesa followed by Raghavan?... must... resist... cracking... packs...

10 bucks a pack. Bought 3 packs that was it.

Yup I got that box with only -one- fetch. Buy singles.

Again Professor... Keep up the stellar content.. MUCH LOVE FROM COLORADO!!

100% agree with your analysis. I did end up buying a booster box and a set box, just to have one for draft and the other to crack packs, but originally I had several more on order. I canceled those and bought the singles I needed, which ended up being less than the overall cost of the set booster box where I guarantee I wouldn't have gotten the singles I needed for my decks (I already have a set for fetch lands). As much fun as cracking packs are, buying singles is the way to go when the price creeps up this high. Also the set is super nice in terms of design. Lots of cards to upgrade my decks. I think Kaldheim is the best set in terms of new commander decks (I've built so many after that set came out), but there are a lot of good cards being printed here.

I may have fallen out of the loop. Commander legends was really my last time caring about these "special sets".

Let's all chant in monotone: Buy singles!

Took a gamble and opened my first collector booster box last night.. and got 5 fetches (2 retro foil, 2 retro etched foil, 1 extended non-foil) plus a few notables like Ragavan borderless, Cabal Coffers etched foil, Urza's Saga sketch foil, Esper Sentinel sketch, and the new Sword borderless foil. The 3 fetches alone paid back for the $380 box cash. I totaled just all the rares/mythics using TCGPlayer (lowest price) and total was $1122. So happy! :D

Thank you Prof for being open and honest with your thoughts.

Modern horizon 2 is a great set to have whales. Cheapens the cards for regular folks like us.

I bought the missing two Verdant Catacombs and Arid Mesas because paying 100 bucks for all of them is great! Buy singles!!!

I had a lot of fun at my LGS prerelease of MH2 and I pulled a Grist! I didn't place in the tournament but can attest this is a really fun set to play sealed or draft with as there are so many archetypes you can build.

Thanks, Professor, I bought the singles I wanted, I didn't bet on the chance of getting a special treatment art, but I'm happy, those singles will make my commander decks way better

Almost paid 12dollars for a borderless Thrasta, waited until today and paid 5 lmao

This set is just so expensive.

Great video as usual professor . I love your content and honest assessment

Great evaluation! I got two fetch lands out of my pre-release. The rest of the cards i want i'm gonna buy the singles.

Despite the economic it's still wise to invest in cryptocurrency

I'm glad that people had a chance to re-evaluate the cards in the set because I felt that the preorder prices were far too high for some cards. As both an EDH and modern player, it was really frustrating to see cards that I wanted be way too high when I saw that they weren't worth almost $50. It's great that cards that my friends and I want to play with and build decks around are now more affordable, which should lead to more fun games between our play group.

Great video as always, Prof😊

The transition graphic at about :38 is cool!

Thanks for helping me get into magic professor 👍🏾😁

Very entertaining, informative, and professional as always prof. I grapple with the price of MH2 a bit too much to want to draft this, but I probably will end up picking up singles for pauper at some point. B)

thanks for the vid professor. Happy release everyone!

Love the advice in this video, I only bought 6 packs, the boxes are so expensive I hope the MSRP comes back. I'll probably buy a few singles

I pulled Arid Mesa, Scaling Tarn, Flatland Marsh, Esper Sentinel, Ragavan, Urza’s Saga. The Arid Mesa was foil and the Marsh Flat was retroborder and I practically pulled every card I wanted so I got really lucky and I had fun opening packs from my set booster.

I love your videos, always very informative! I do not agree with the buy singles mantra though but maybe that is just me ;) I have a habit of buying exactly one display and one bundle of each set (well almost each set, I might have missed one or two over the years) and to build decks with those. I do fully agree though that MSRP should return and that WotC should stop making the product artificially scarce. Currently my LGS (in Belgium) has no draft boxes anymore, no collectors edition anymore. So the only boxes available are set boxes. Personally I still don't know where I stand on set boxes by the way ... on one hand: only 12 cards and 1 is a useless art card (yeah yeah its pretty ... careface, I want playing pieces), less boosters per box. On the other hand though: less common crap in comparison, more rares/mythics than regular boosters, more bling

Just saw the TCC A+ logo on the Ultimate guard products. Awesome!

For the same price as a box of MH2, I was able to buy an entire new deck for EDH. That deck included All three Pieces of Kaldra; an extended art Embercleave; a Showcase Halvar, God of Battle; and all basics in snow versions.

This set really made me _fetch_ my wallet. My dream singles for this set are Cabal Coffers and Misty Rainforest, both reprints. It felt like a dream seeing those new prices even if they are still expensive.

Great video as always, professor! In truth, I don't even know why I follow MTG-related stuff anymore. I feel as I have been priced out of MTG for some years now. Nowadays, I just play Pauper and Commander with my friends because it's the only thing we can afford without shelling out a ludicrous and unreasonable amount of money.

I did a sealed event with prerelease kits for MH2 and it was super fun, my deck didn't even have any rare/mythics and it still felt super strong, had some mana issues in some games and only went 2-2 but when it was going it was nuts, I haven't draftes since WAR but this reminded me how fun it could be.

Thanks for all the info professor!!!!

Love your reviews. Makes me feel even better when you break down the product and conclude that yes, it’s worth it.

A set booster box felt like a regular box of a master's set this time, similar price with the same amount of cards. I didn't get any fetches from packs of MM17, but I opened all five plus a foil Arid Mesa from this box. It was pretty insane

Nice review Prof!

Nice, i really do feel the same, great value for great bucks 😁, nice vid as always, have fun