Tips before buying Legends Antiquities booster

[ryO!]

i am just about to buy one of them (legends or antiquities)
but i have a few questions

*which one have the highest potential to get a nice loot ? or is it just more or less the same. (i do feel that legends have more nice rares but MUCH MORE crappy ones !)
*can i rely on ebay shops? i mean on the "sealed" condition. i dont wanna buy smth already opened and simply glued back ...

well thanks for your help.

[andrew77]

The wrappers of old packs were basically see thru so they don't even have to be opened to be searched. I personally would never buy old packs because of this even from reputable sellers as I don't really trust anyone on ebay.

[socialite]

The wrappers of old packs were basically see thru so they don't even have to be opened to be searched. I personally would never buy old packs because of this even from reputable sellers as I don't really trust anyone on ebay.

^ This.

Plus for the cost of buying a "non-searched" pack of the aforementioned sets, you might as well just put the money torwards the cards you want.

[Otter]

(Going off a quick search through, with motl prices)

Stuff from antiquities:
Strip mine - 7
Hurkyl's - 10
Factory - 15
Candelabra - 30
Workshop - 200

Stuff from Legends:
Land Tax - 6
Sylvan Library - 7
Dakkon Blackblade - 7
Chain Lightning - 9
Nicol Bolas - 10
Reset - 12
Crossroads - 12
In the Eye of Chaos - 14
Eureka - 20
Chains - 40
Nether Void - 40
The Abyss - 50
Mana Drain - 85
Moat - 110
Tabernacle - 130

There's a ton more stuff in legends. Granted, not all of it is playable anymore, but just based on what's worth at least a couple of bucks, Legends is a lot more likely to give you something decent. At the very worst, at least Chain Lightning is chilling out at common. If you buy Antiquities, you're basically just praying that you're a lucky bastard and will hit the Workshop.

[nicolasbol]

The wrappers of old packs were basically see thru so they don't even have to be opened to be searched. I personally would never buy old packs because of this even from reputable sellers as I don't really trust anyone on ebay.

I always wondered if this is an urban legend or fact. I saw a couple ofAntiquities boosters and it's true that the first card can be seen through the wrap (Legend are a lot harder). But it's not the rare here or even the uncommon.

I don't see how the cards behind the first can be scanned, even by moving cards one by one and try to read the title, it seems impossible to me.

Anybody ever performed it ?

[ryO!]

u ve forgotten all the factories @ antiquities !

so well it s pretty much worthless? :s

it wasn't really for the cards, just for the rush of opening such old things, but if you are all saying that those are easily "looking through-able" well .... but on the other hand i tend to agree on nicolas statement, i mean except the first one u rly can see something like even the card cost or so?

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[MattH]

I always wondered if this is an urban legend or fact. I saw a couple ofAntiquities boosters and it's true that the first card can be seen through the wrap (Legend are a lot harder). But it's not the rare here or even the uncommon.

I don't see how the cards behind the first can be scanned, even by moving cards one by one and try to read the title, it seems impossible to me.

Anybody ever performed it ?

I've done this to Fallen Empires packs. I had to stretch the wrapping material pretty far on some of them (enough so that it wouldn't snap back into place and you could see the top of the wrapper would be loose) but there may be less-abusive methods.

[Phoenix Ignition]

u ve forgotten all the factories @ antiquities !

so well it s pretty much worthless? :s

it wasn't really for the cards, just for the rush of opening such old things, but if you are all saying that those easily "looking through-able" well .... but on the other hand i tend to agree on nicolas statement, i mean except the first one u rly can see something like even the card cost or so?

Dear Lord....


You've forgotten all the Mishra's Factories in Antiquities !

So, it's pretty much a worthless endeavor? :cry:

My intention was not really to open the packs for the sole purpose of obtaining the cards, instead, I was excited for the rush of opening such old things. However, if you are all saying that those packs are all relatively transparent then I will most likely abstain from buying one. On the other hand I tend to agree with Nicolas' statement, where he iterates that except the first card it would be hard to see farther into the pack. Wouldn't you only be able to see something like the casting cost?
Fixed.

[ryO!]

Dear Lord....


Fixed.

My name isn't Lord nor is Fixed.


I've done this to Fallen Empires packs. I had to stretch the wrapping material pretty far on some of them (enough so that it wouldn't snap back into place and you could see the top of the wrapper would be loose) but there may be less-abusive methods.

yes but that would be a way too obvious to bust it out, wouldn't it?

[grahf]

Mana Drain, Reset, Sylvan Library, Land Tax, and Underworld Dreams are all U1 uncommons in Legends, too, so you'd have a decent chance of getting something interesting. But with single packs going for (checks ebay) ~$50 a pop, I don't see how it's worthwhile.

[sunshine]

I've done this to Fallen Empires packs. I had to stretch the wrapping material pretty far on some of them (enough so that it wouldn't snap back into place and you could see the top of the wrapper would be loose) but there may be less-abusive methods.

If you know the first card it may be possible (especially for older sets) to determine what cards have a chance of being in the back based off of print run pattens.

[TheBirdMan]

I bought an antiquities pack once and the best card was a 3.00 urza's tower. Old sets aren't really worth the money for the packs imo. There is too much of a statistical chance to pull absolute crap unless i suppose you got some a/b/u or summer magic packs.

[nicolasbol]

If you know the first card it may be possible (especially for older sets) to determine what cards have a chance of being in the back based off of print run pattens.

I would love to read more about this. Can you elaborate ?

[Aleksandr]

My Fallen Empires booster hides Fecal Thallid. Awesome typo. ~NC

http://magiccards.info/scans/en/fe/78.jpg

I believe that it is also possible to search through Legends.

[Ectoplasm]

I just noticed how much that image looks like (old) force of nature... :eek:

[frogboy]

I've searched packs of Italian Legends without opening them.

[dahcmai]

I would go with Legends.

2 Reasons

1. The rares in Legends generally are worth more out of that set. Moat, Abyss, Mirror, and the random gold legends in some cases are worth it. Typically, you can get a few money uncommons and commons. Mana Drain is an uncommon, Chain Lightning fetches a nice price still for a common.

2. The best reason is in Legends even if you search the pack it's rough to see the uncommons. Especially in boxes that had Drains in them. It can be done, but it's a bitch to do. Trust me I've done it, but it's not worth the time to do it and have the pack still look good. It's possible to get a Mana Drain out of packs even searched because it's so hard to do.



Lastly, drafting Legends is hilarious. Not so much with Antiquities. Legends tends to draft with other horrid sets like Ice Age and Mirage well just because you get utter and complete crap for commons to try and make a deck out of. It's funny to end up playing crap cards no one in their right mind would normally draft.

Creatures in those sets were tricky to pack sometimes as it was a lot more random without drafting in mind when they designed the pack layouts. Sometimes you can get a pack without creatures at all!

Antiquities tends to have things that are just flat useless even mixed with a couple other sets. It might work if you used Mirrodin or something, but it's so artifact orientated, it just isn't fun to try and play with out of the pack.



So sure buying searched packs happens. It's hard to avoid. I wouldn't count on getting a Moat or something spectacular anyway. Even unsearched that was a hard card to pack and I packed my share of Legends when it was new. Even searched you still have a chance of breaking even as people will keep together ones that don't have the cards that are worth more than keeping it sealed. That's not much. Tabernacle, Moat, and well yeah, that's about it. So searching doesn't yeild much nowadays.

[Kangaxx]

The wrappers of old packs were basically see thru so they don't even have to be opened to be searched. I personally would never buy old packs because of this even from reputable sellers as I don't really trust anyone on ebay.

Is the rare usually the third card down making the chase card undetectable?

[Dilettante]

Is the rare usually the third card down making the chase card undetectable?

My memory is foggy. I remember the rares/uncommons being in the MIDDLE of the pack of Legends. Alpha-Fallen Empires packs are all searchable. There's too much space where the white border goes before the colored part (I would just laugh at the prospect of seeing someone search a pack of Fallen Empires). 4th Ed/Ice Age went over the top with the gold/silver foil. Just buy singles :)

[dahcmai]

The rare was the 3rd to the last card and then the two uncommons in Legends. Though I guess that's even speculative since they weren't real consistent anyway. Remember how half the boxes that went out only had one set of uncommons and the other half of the boxes had the other half of them. So you could feasibly get a box with like 15 Mana Drains in it and then another with none.

[Adan]

I always wondered if this is an urban legend or fact. I saw a couple ofAntiquities boosters and it's true that the first card can be seen through the wrap (Legend are a lot harder). But it's not the rare here or even the uncommon.

I don't see how the cards behind the first can be scanned, even by moving cards one by one and try to read the title, it seems impossible to me.

Anybody ever performed it ?

I once bought a italian Legends booster from a friend for 10 bucks just to see whether it's really possible.

It's really annoying and you need dexterous hands, but you basically push the 15 cards up so that the cardname would be visible through the white part of the booster. You need a very bright lamp for that. Then you can carefully push the top card down with your fingernail (or something similar that won't leave traces on the wrapping) so you can "x-ray" the name of the 2nd top card.

You can repat this until you know the content of your booster. It's annoying as hell, but it's pretty profitable when you know which boosters you have to crack for the profit.

Some people also remember how the rarities are arranged in these boosters (like.. the 3rd or 4th card from the back is the rare or something?) so they could spare some time.

edit:


The rare was the 3rd to the last card and then the two uncommons in Legends.

But it's really something everyone can do and therefore you should not buy these boosters because all the good stuff will most likely be filtered anyway.

[pi4meterftw]

My name isn't Lord nor is Fixed.


Nice troll-lose.

[Finn]

Don't buy the packs. Especially don't buy Legends. The set was the size of a base set. So for every Moat you get 10 packs with crap like Chromium, Dakkon Blackblade, Carrion Ants, Sword of the Ages, or Time Elemental. All of these were highly sought-after at the time too, which was amazing to me. And still is. Sword of the Ages actually spent time on the restricted list. I have oodles of worthless Legends rares gotten from packs back when.

That said, I bought a single pack in 2006 or 2007. It cost me $49.99 + tax. Got 14 forgettable cards and a Tabernacle at Pendrell Vale. No kidding.

[IsThisACatInAHat?]

What about sealed booster boxes? I'm looking to buy a couple boxes of Alliances, but don't know how to tell if they're searched (or fake)? New sealed boxes are supposed to have the little Wizards logo all over the plastic, but does this apply to older sets, or are they wrapped in regular plastic?

[Dazed]

Our local store still retains a sealed Legends booster box (itialian). They´re selling it for the equivalent of $ 1,200 USD. What would you say? Buy this rare item or spend that money on 40 unlimited duals (more or less $1,400)?


I mean, it would be grat to open some (uncommon!) Mana Drain, Moat, Tabernacle, elder dragons, etc. Even some commons like force spike or chain lightning are attractive. But it would be a nightmare if only crappy things show up...


Thanks for the advice.