Cost basis is more toward the $200 mark based on all the $5 Rewards Point certificates.
So, if you go on eBay right now for around $740. That is $60 a box less that what I paid for at my LGS. Here we explain again, that paying more at an LGS (Mead Hall Games) keeps them in business where online stores could care less if you buy from them or not, and it is a race to the lowest price. But yes I know I could get another box with the money I saved if I just bought online, but my LGS would not be there and I would not have a place to gather.
With that being said, after the release I do plan on picking up another case, and will most likely pick them up online. I am somewhat hopeful that Rudy from Alpha Investments does a special sale for his Patreons, but either way I will be picking up another case.
Considering what I bought for Eternal Masters, I just know I will be picking up more later in the year. I might as well just do better planning for it. Of course I will be just collecting 1 single set, and will not go for the playset since I have all the first print cards as playsets.
I have no faith in this product with the price point of $9.99 per pack. I also have no faith in the reprinting of cards in a single set. Modern Masters was a good idea and Eternal Masters was a good idea, but the money grab by WoTC is just crazy. If they did a new reprint set every 5 years, that would be more worth it than every other year.
And considering that they are coming out with other sets that are not Standard legal with reprints, it is getting to be too much. I am pretty sure they are coming to the end of releasing so many sets, and can feel the pain of people saving up money for higher valued sets, and the income for Standard sets is going down, but MTG players really only have so much to spend on new product. And if WoTC releases sets that are going to have already proven reprints then the players will just wait for those sets to come out, and just pick up singles rather than buy sealed product.
Now, all these releases are really cutting into the investor of MTG product, which is a good thing, but the only side effect that they were not expecting is that the regular MTG player, or casual player is just not going to shell out cash on packs and boxes to open only to lose half the value right after opening the product.
I can really smell an over saturation of the MTG market with way too much product, and now players are just moving on to other games because it is too hard to keep up. You can also tell that people that do get higher end cards and are happy, but get really sad because WoTC comes out with a reprint and that high value card now loses it's value. So they are just getting burned all around. They get the cards they always wanted only to see the value of that card drop once WoTC tries to make the game to available to newer players.
Most of these players are way too short term to actually see the value the do have, and they sell out once the price drops, and try to move on to the next habit. Only those players that just stock the cards away and wait 10+ years will see some return on the game they used to play. You hear it time and time again, "If I only kept those cards I used to play with back in the day." It is happening all over again, and the long view players that keep their cards around will be the only ones that see a great return over what they invested in.
In the cycle of life for MTG, this will be an over saturation period and people will leave the game. WoTC will not be able to show strong enough profits, and there will be cuts. The sets will slow down and less will get printed and released. I don't think lines will be cut, but paper sets will slow down. I do think there will be an increase in the online games they put out, but they will still try and sell paper Magic more into full sets like Commander. I do think the player base will increase, but more from the online side of things.
I do see a larger casual market coming into focus, without a need to make it to the ProTour. Those players will move online and the casual market will be for the paper folks. Where casual gaming is more of a social event and holding up in your office playing on a computer is where the competition will shift to. LGS's will move to a more social arena providing cocktails and food, keeping areas up to standards where people can come and gather in a social manner. It will not just be catered to MTG, but all sorts of games.
I do see it now with the successful LGS's, but they still cater to the selling of games rather than the social aspect of it. Large amounts of space is used for marketing to sell, and that will change to playing the game actually being the marketing tool to sell the product, or even getting the game with the meal to enjoy.
I am most likely wrong, but I guess I just like to write down what I would like to see because that is where I would go on a Friday night.
***Edit***
Yeah spoilers are all out there, and I broke down and just picked up 4 more boxes for pre-order from my LGS. Left see what happens when I get to open 6 boxes!
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