Are the creature-only packs worth it?

iSmartMan

I'm a relatively new player (started last month) with a fairly small card pool (only 5 unique rares in my entire collection and no mythics at all). For this week only, there is a special Creatures Set that contains only creature cards, is more expensive than regular sets, and has a guaranteed rare with fat packs instead of big boxes, which now have a guaranteed mythic. I'm a committed F2P player, but before the set goes away, I will have 700 crystals available to spend. There are a ton of uncommons I would like to get, and most of them are creatures (Somberwald Alpha, Ringwarden Owl, Serene Steward, Valakut Invoker, etc), but there are also a few uncommon supports and spells I have my eye on (Brawler's Plate, Knightly Valor, Cruel Revival, Foundry of the Consuls, etc). Would it be worth it to spend my crystals on two of the Creature Set fat packs (two guaranteed rares, but only 8 packs of cards) or should I go ahead and buy a Big Box of Origins (only one guaranteed rare, but 12 packs of cards)?

Also, has anyone tried crunching the numbers on the Creatures Set yet?

buffbeardo

My advice is to purchase a big box of Origins. You'll get 14 packs plus a guaranteed rare. A majority of the cards you listed as wanting are from Origins. IMO, Origins is a better set for players with a limited card library. Plus, all the cards from Zendikar have yet to be released. I haven't tried a creature-only pack and I have yet to see any data on those packs, so I can't give any advice on their usefullness. However, I think you'll have more fun and deck building will be easier with a balance of creatures/spells/supports as opposed to having mostly creatures. Whatever you decide, I wish you luck opening your packs!

span_argoman

I would say spend 500 crystals to get Ob Nixilis and Gideon or save them up for the upcoming planeswalkers (Koth, Garruk, Kiora, Tezzeret) but that's just me.

iSmartMan

@buffbeardo Thanks for the advice! First, don't worry about me spending crystals on BfZ packs, I'm relying on the daily rewards to do most of the filling out of that part of my collection. Second, don't put too much stock in the cards I listed there, that was just a small sampling of the cards that would improve my decks. What is important there is that I have very few rares, and I desire a lot of uncommons, most of which are creatures (but not all), which is why I was considering the creature-only packs in the first place (two guaranteed rares vs. one, and a guarantee that all the uncommons I get would be creatures). Basically, it all boils down to a question of quality vs quantity in my next purchase.

@span_argoman I'm willing to wait for the new planeswalkers, but the creature set won't be around forever.

Ultimately, though, I think I'll wait until just before the sale ends in the hopes that someone will crunch the data. After all, I have no idea what my 3-card boosters will reward me between now and then, and if I get some of the non-creature uncommons I'd like, then I'd probably end up buying the creature set to prevent duplicate uncommons.

EDHdad

They are absolutely not worth it. It would cost an average of $910 cash to get a specific Mythic Rare in one of those packs, buying crystals $100 worth at a time.

One piece of advice I would give is - don't think in terms of completing sets with this game. Think in terms of doing the best you can with the limited card pool you have available. In this game, as well as paper Magic, you are far better off piloting a tier 2 deck which you know very well, vs piloting a tier 1 deck which you don't.

Instead of looking at the percentage of rares and mythics you own, look at the number of ribbons per hour you can win in PvP mode, or the number of levels you can defeat in Story Mode.

If you spend $0, you can probably grind about 60 ribbons per hour.

If you spend $100,000,000 on crystals and fat packs, you can probably grind about 60 ribbons per hour.

If you spend $0, you can defeat every single story mode.

If you spend $100,000,000 you can defeat every single story mode.

Until they start charging sane prices for your pick of a specific card, it's not really worth spending that kind of money for random packs. For $35 cash, you can build an actual tier-1 Pauper deck in paper Magic and play it for the rest of your life.

span_argoman

@iSmartMan
Fair enough point.
By brief counting, there are approximately:
20 Mythics
41 Rares
92 Uncommons
99 Commons

We don't know if the drop rates for the creature packs are the same but previous drop rates were approximated to:
0.5% ~ 1% Mythic
4% Rare
38% Uncommon
57% Common

So for your 40 cards from 2 creature fat packs, you'll approximately get 23C/15UC/1.5R/0.5M + 2 guaranteed rares. This includes potential duplicates and cards you already have. So you've to see how much of the card list from the creature set you want to get. Select the circled i on the right side to access the list.

With the same drop rates, an Origins BB gives you 140 cards with approximately 80C/53UC/6R/1M + 1 guaranteed rare. You could be equally lucky or unlucky and get a totally different result but bulk looks better for you considering your limited card pool.

Once again these numbers are assuming the drop rates are about the same. And the numbers are estimates and not official figures.

iSmartMan

@EDHdad Don't worry, I don't plan on spending any money on this app in the near future, and I'm not looking to complete any sets. I just will have 700 crystals from daily rewards and story mode by the time the Creature Set goes away, and I'm trying to figure out the best way to EXPAND (not complete) my collection.

@span_argoman Now THAT'S what I've been looking for! I'd been under the impression that the average number of rares and mythics in a BB was lower than that since I've opened two Origins BBs so far and gotten only 5 unique rares and no mythics. If those are the community's numbers, then I'll almost certainly go with the BB over the Creature Set.

EDHdad

Got it. They're charging a substantial premium for these "Creatures Only" packs, and one problem is they don't contain anything other than creatures. You can only put 3 creatures out at a time (less if you have creatures which spawn tokens), so you really don't want an all-creature deck.

700 crystals will get you 8 packs (2 fat packs) of creature only cards, or 14 packs (big box) of regular cards (with 100 crystals left over). 2 creature fat packs is guaranteed to have at least 2 rares. The big box is guaranteed to have at least 1 rare.

I think if you're still trying to build your collection, you go for the regular cards. You're getting 70 cards vs 40, plus you have crystals left over.

This is assuming you're not waiting to see how much Kiora is. Though by the time Kiora is actually released, you might have built up enough crystals to get her anyway.