Booster boxes vs. single cards

[azzyakbar]

My friend runs a Blue-Eyes deck, and the upcoming Shining Victories contains a lot of great new support cards for the deck. Usually, I tend to buy single cards after a while when price reduces but he'd quite like to build his deck up quickly. He doesn't care too much for the others cards in the set, and is willing to sell them at locals and stuff.

 

Do you guys think its better to buy a Booster Box and hope you get the cards you want, or is it sometimes worth waiting for singles to drop in price? We're going to the London Comic Con at the end of the month and we thought we might try and see if there's anything we can get there. 

[Slinky]

Singles. Buying a set is only really worth it if there is a lot of trade fodder in it (SHVI doesn't fit this), and whether you want the majority of the cards in the set (Doesn't fit your friends bill).

 

So yeah, stick with singles.

[Trebuchet MS]

I personally am more comfortable with hunting singles once the hype depletes and prices stabilize. I'm not fond of rolling for the off-chance in getting the few cards you desperately need.

 

Of course, a possibility lies in getting the box, picking out the copies of everything you need, selling the rest, and then using the resulting money to buy the rest of the singles but there's a lot of variance involved regarding what you pull.

[♪ ♪Aria ♪ ♪]

Purchasing single specific card can be taxing on the money, especially for a rare card, but the chances of getting that card is 100% (minus delivery errors), I suggest purchasing one on e-bay.....

Purchasing boosters has it's own advantage, getting other and/or valuable rares, but the chances of getting the desired card is diminished, so as everyone suggests, stick with Singles.....

[vla1ne]

went to the sneak peak today and I got practically everything i wanted from SHVI, but i pulled nothing of the highest rarity cards.

 

if you don't have much from the set yet, (and actually want a lot of stuff from the set) i'd suggest getting the box, but if all you want are the higher rarity cards, or already have a lot of cards from the set, then singles is the way to go.

[LordCowCowCowCowCowCowCowCow]

Most of the time just getting singles is the better choice, money-wise.

Boxes are fun though. Especially for new things. Personally I don't buy much of either but that's because I don't play anything irl except rare instances. But to answer your question, most likely just singles.

[~British Soul~]

I'd also go for singles, better than only having a chance of pulling what you want in a box because you might not get it.

[Flash Flyer - Sakura]

I generally buy singular booster packs as my budget does not permit me to buy booster boxes (I don't have $60 to spend on every new set, but I do have $3-4 on packs). That, and singles are generally cheaper to get anyway (well, depending on what you want anyway). Depending on what they are, I'd usually wait until they drop down (I generally wait a while for some cards to drop, as opposed to taking the pre-order prices)

[宇佐見 蓮子@C94]

I only ever buy boxes after first checking individual single prices. If the cards in said set are expensive and sought-after enough to guarantee a 100% return with only the Supers and above, then buying a box or two is probably your best bet, then you can sell the rest of the cards in bundles for extra profit. It also helps to have a network of friends who are looking for stuff in that set. Also it's a good idea to learn box ratios.

 

Well, in the end, buying boxes is only really good if the set contains expensive cards and has high demand. Or when you're an importer and you get free boxes after conversion + shipping fees. (Which is what I'm doing right now)

[evilfusion]

I buy single cards, because I've found that after buying packs for so long, the majority of the cards just end up in storage, never to actually be used or played, and I rarely get uber lucky enough to pull cards I'm looking for, so I prefer the guarantee of getting what I want without the side effect of having too many worthless copies of different cards.

 

This CAN be pricier in the long run, but for specific card hunts, particularly if not much of the set has value to me, it's usually more than worthwhile.