New Player - Which Premium Pack

kgun78

Hi, I just started playing late last week and I am up to 300 mana crystals.  Which premium pack should I get, Origins, Amonkhet, or Kadesh and why?

Marrhault

I always looked at which I have the LEAST cards of.  Best chance of non dupes.  That's what I did to start with.  Haven't bought a non ahk pack in a while though

Azerack

The latest pack was/is Amonkhet and it has the new featured abilities. I would recommend that or Origins since they both will serve well in both story and events.

NiftyC

Amonkhet will probably be more helpful in fulfilling event objectives.

Welcome, and good luck!

Dodecapod

Short answer - Planeswalkers (PWs) will likely be a better use of crystals overall, but if you want to start off with some premium packs to jump-start your collection, save up and go for the 600-crystal weekly bundles featuring 2 Amonkhet (AKH) premium packs and an extra colored single pack (this week it's green; the specific color rotates every week).

Long answer -

The question of how to use crystals optimally isn't a trivial one, and experienced players will disagree on most points, so it's probably safe to expect a variety of answers all with their own merits, and ultimately make the decision for yourself.

Personally, my recommendation would be to get the base 5 PWs first (Chandra 1, Jace 1, Liliana 1, Nissa 1, and Gideon 1), because they're substantially cheaper than later PWs and can help initially with unlocking story mode rewards and PvP event progression rewards.  Level one or two of them to 60 for PvE purposes as soon as you have the opportunity, and leave the rest around levels 6-10 as PvP holdovers for better options (Gideon 1 is a popular choice for a go-to, though my favorite among them is Chandra 1).  After obtaining the base 5 PWs, start saving for better PWs as they rotate in; this is a whole subject unto itself, so feel free to ask again as questions arise pertaining to it.

The specifics of whether and when to prefer premium packs over more PWs will largely depend on how often you find yourself short on runes and how often you find yourself feeling like there's no solution in your collection to a given problem card or combo you encounter during a game, but if and when you do feel inclined to pick up premium packs, Amonkhet (AKH) is vastly stronger than any other set in the game.

This is primarily because the best cards save one or two exceptions are non-mythic, making them reasonably accessible (I'm excluding masterpieces from that count by the way, because they're often overwhelmingly powerful but also rare enough to make the odds of obtaining one negligible), and because the nature of one of the set-specific mechanics (cycling) is such that you can essentially reduce your effective deck size to only the best 3-5 cards you actually intend to cast.  On a scale of 1-10, with 10 being highest priority and 1 being lowest, this is how I'd rate the premium packs for all current sets in terms of competitive power level:

AKH - 10
Origins - 5
KLD/AER - 3
SOI/EMN - 2.5 (this is the 2nd most powerful block for solo PvE, but isn't Standard-legal)
BFZ/OGW - 2 (this is still better than KLD block for solo PvE, but again, isn't Standard-legal)

The only caveat with AKH is that while the vast majority of its power comes from cycling, you may find yourself wanting to branch out to other approaches sooner rather than later, and in that case AKH could easily drop from a 10 to a 1 if you don't mind sacrificing in-game efficiency for personal enjoyment; at higher levels of competition, some players have been known to find the approach tedious enough avoid the strategy or even the game altogether, and even to experience serious pain in their arms as a result of using it extensively (this might sound ridiculous as a new player, but it's not an exaggeration).

Finally, if you're going to purchase AKH premium packs, there's no reason not to take advantage of the weekly 600-crystal deal to get an extra booster thrown in for free, instead of getting 2 300-crystal packs separately.

At any rate, best of luck starting out, and feel free to ask if you have any other questions; hope you enjoy the game!

bk1234

Amonkhet'a abilities will add the most strength to your collection right now. 

Ohboy

Always buy the newest set. 

Allows you to participate in events more competitively which snowballs into better rewards to be used to do even better in the next event. 

rafalele

Origins, you will receive Amonkhet cards as rewards.

You could use Origins cards always.

TheDragonHermit

Look at the cards you want for you PWs and try for that set, might not be the best strategy, but it is what I did until I started using all my crystals on getting more PWs.

babar3355

I agree that you are better off using your crystals to buy a dual colored planeswalker first.  Preferably, Kiora, Dovin Bane, Nissa 3, or Nahiri. 

Good luck and welcome to the fold

Brigby

Hi @kgun78. Welcome to MtGPQ! I'm glad to hear that the community is so willing to help you out. A lot of the players on our forum are veterans of the game, and the best of the best, so you know you're in good hands

If you have any other questions, or need help figuring out how to get started, you can also check out our Tips & Guides section for more info. Enjoy!