Fat Pack: Original or BFZ?

tdellaringa

I've got my 600 - which is going to give me a better chance at cards I can use?

Plastic

The best thing for you to do is look through the card lists and decide which set has more of what you want. Hit the encircled "i" when you're in the vault on each set to access the lists.

EDHdad

Approximately 95% of the cards you receive will be common and uncommon.

If you go to "inventory" and then hit "filters", you can see how many common, uncommon, rare and mythic you have, and how many are from which set. If you're on a search, you can also hit "show all cards" and you can see how many there are in total for that set / rarity.

For me, personally, I have all of the commons and uncommons from Origins, and was missing some of the ones from Battle for Zendikar and Oath of the Gatewatch, so I went for Oath. Another player might have more stuff from BFZ than Origins and might go for Origins.

UrbanNinja

Currently BFZ boxes gives 15 packs while Original gives only 14. Unless you're positive that you don't need anything new from the 2 latest collections, I'd go for BFZ

Babydragon

I am stuck on this i have 500 crystles i play once every day so i cant get crystles that fast should i save for fat pack or buy pws.
i was able to get to second to last guy on chapter 2 event then got destroyed alot

Morphis

UrbanNinja wrote:

Currently BFZ boxes gives 15 packs while Original gives only 14. Unless you're positive that you don't need anything new from the 2 latest collections, I'd go for BFZ

The additional pack also has above average card quality, consisting of uncommons or better cards.

It all depends on how many cards that you really want on those sets you are missing.
For example for me a couple more cards from new sets then probably I will go back to buying origins.

tdellaringa

Yeah, I ended up getting the BFZ. For one, I had much less cards in that set, and two, I agree about the bonus pack. I just need usable cards too, so less chance of doubles.

I ended up getting two new mythics:





And a handful of rares I didn't have. I'm thinking this one could be useful removal?



A decent card for white maybe

tdellaringa

Babydragon wrote:

I am stuck on this i have 500 crystles i play once every day so i cant get crystles that fast should i save for fat pack or buy pws.
i was able to get to second to last guy on chapter 2 event then got destroyed alot

Always save for the Fat Pack, it's the best bang for the buck.

PapiLouis4

tdellaringa wrote:

Babydragon wrote:

I am stuck on this i have 500 crystles i play once every day so i cant get crystles that fast should i save for fat pack or buy pws.
i was able to get to second to last guy on chapter 2 event then got destroyed alot

Always save for the Big Box, it's the best bang for the buck.

edited for correctness xD

Sinslayer5

EDHdad wrote:

Approximately 95% of the cards you receive will be common and uncommon.

For me, personally, I have all of the commons and uncommons from Origins, and was missing some of the ones from Battle for Zendikar and Oath of the Gatewatch, so I went for Oath. Another player might have more stuff from BFZ than Origins and might go for Origins.

I agree with EDHdad's statement above: it really depends on what commons and uncommons you're still missing, at least at first. There are a few in each set that really make all the difference for my decks (see the Gideon-1, non-rare-or-mythic decks that are winning in the current events, for example), and the stronger your card base, the more likely you are to win these events, and therefore additional crystals, for more packs, etc...

Now that I'm at the point of owning nearly all C's and U's (except for keys such as Enshrouding Mist and Smite the Monstrous, don't ask, I don't know either, I'm DEFINITELY NOT BITTER AT ALL ), I'm going all-in on Origins Big Boxes, for three reasons:

1. The Eldrazi and Devoid cards make up a significant chunk of the BFZ pool, and I'm just not seeing good synergy with those mechanics, at present. 2. BFZ and OGW cards are currently available as rewards in the Events, Daily Rewards, and in Free Boosters, whereas Origins cards are only in Free Boosters. 3. The BFZ mythics and rares just don't excite me as much as some of the really solid Origins cards.

In case you're new and haven't seen much of the Origins set, take a quick look through these cards (not all are listed, just ones I'd still like):

Origins Supports:

• Rare: Helm of the Gods, Jace's Sanctum, Orbs of Warding, Sigil of the Empty Throne, Suppression Bonds, Sword of the Animist
• Mythic: Demonic Pact, Evolutionary Leap, Pyromancer's Goggles, Starfield of Nyx, Thopter Spy Network

Origins Spells:

• Rare: Animist's Awakening, Displacement Wave, Exquisite Firecraft, Languish, Turn to Frog
• Mythic: Day's Undoing, Nissa's Revelation, The Great Aurora, Tragic Arrogance

Origins Creatures:

• Rare: Embermaw Hellion, Harbinger of the Tides, Managorger Hydra, Sentinel of the Eternal Watch, Willbreaker
• Mythic: Archangel of Tithes, Avaricious Dragon, Disciple of the Ring, Hangarback Walker

TL, DR: First buy packs to collect the key C's and U's, then buy packs based on whatever rares and mythics really excite you.

---

NOTE: All URLs are courtesy of Meto5000's wonderful Decktester.com site, which currently does the best job organizing every MtGPQ card into an easily navigable and searchable database for efficient deck research. Thanks for the great UI, Meto!

tdellaringa

Sinslayer5 wrote:

(see the Gideon-1, non-rare-or-mythic decks that are winning in the current events, for example),

Any decklists for these?

Sinslayer5

tdellaringa wrote:

Sinslayer5 wrote:

(see the Gideon-1, non-rare-or-mythic decks that are winning in the current events, for example),

Any decklists for these?

The decklist below got me through most of the event battles with a Level 20 Gideon, Battle-Forged, so long as I got a decent start (which happened about 33% of the time). Full kudos goes to exmor, whose original post in the "Kozilek" topic inspired the heretofore-mentioned decklist:

exmor wrote:

If you are low on budget, you may want to try it with Gideon, Battle-Forged.

Here is the deck that I used (my card pool is limited):

Uncommon - Iroas's Champion (Core)
Uncommon - War Oracle (Filler)
Uncommon - Angel of Renewal (Filler)
Uncommon - Knightly Valor (Useful)
Uncommon - Serene Steward (Filler)
Uncommon - Consul's Lieutenant (Core)
Uncommon - Patron of the Valiant (Useful)
Common - Lithomancer's Focus (Useful)
Common - Smite the Monstrous (Core)
Common - Enshrouding Mist (Core)

Basically, cards that are core are essential for winning and everything else is optional.

This strategy depends on a good opener. So restart if you dont get one, life is not that important. It is important to get one or two creatures out as quick as possible, ideally Iroas's Champion or Consul's Lieutenant. After that try to fill up the remaining two slots with creatures that have low mana cost and decent stats (i.e. Serene Steward). Then save up enough energy to use Gideon's call to arm ability or Champion so as to counter the 6 damages from Tryant. Use Enshrouding Mist when necessary (i.e. when you are attacking a creature or defending attacks from three creatures). Save Smite the Monstrous for removing early threats in order to grow your creatures or for removing threats that are too hard to kill (i.e. creatures enhanced by Mirrorpool) and then pray that the AI doesnt have Crush of Tentacles. If you are well ahead in board state, you can save up Smite the Monstrous and some creatures in order to come back from the devastating Crush of Tentacles.

What's nice about this deck is its affordability and efficiency, considering it's made up almost entirely out of uncommons and commons. I had even less to work with, as you'll notice below - I elected to remove more creatures and bet it all on one of my two champions:

Creatures:
Consul's Lieutenant (CORE)
Serene Steward (Good)
War Oracle (Good)
Iroas's Champion (CORE)
Supports:
Knightly Valor (CORE)
Brawler's Plate (CORE)
Retreat to Emeria (meh)
Canopy Vista (meh)
Spells:
Iona's Blessing (Good)
Scour from Existence (CORE)

The same essential strategy as above, but I used Gideon's Call to Arms ability every time instead, to continue beefing all three creatures for a faster win. The synergy between Serene Steward and War Oracle is supreme, as they keep your life up and the opponent's life dwindling, while beefing your Consul every turn. The added Brawler's Plate is more beef, and makes certain that any new creatures introduced to the board are immediately eliminated by the Consul before they can swing or be reinforced (any more than Mirrorpool already did, in some cases). Adding Iona's Blessing ensured a guaranteed Vigilance on the Consul, in cases where Knightly Valor is removed from the board.

The obvious alternative swap here would be Smite the Monstrous in for Scour from Existence, but I don't have it yet, despite it being a common. Another alternative swap would be Enshrouding Mist, also if I had it (these are two of the best commons, IMO, and only 2 of the 12 I have yet to pull - shed 1 tear for me). I only have Lithomancer's Focus, which is also nice in cases where your champ isn't beefed enough for a fat creature that drops, but only lasts until end of turn. I took the similarly-costed and less conservative Retreat instead, only because I liked the extra +1/+1 for my other creatures.

tdellaringa

Thanks, this is much appreciated. I'm gonna give it a try, and I think I have leveled Gideon to like 30-ish or something too.