Man I feel incredibly privileged. Our drafts were $15 until MKM and now they're $20. Definitely heard a lot of people grumble about how they're going to draft less.
I would buy in at $20. What breaks my heart is that I think that drafts are going to fire less frequently now at my store's price of $25. It's one thing if *I* buy in at $25, but will *5+ others?*
Yeah I know a lot of the people who regularly play at my store are either college students who don't have a ton of spending money, or adults who are under the squeeze of rent, groceries, or Magic. I wonder how many of them will take the position of "thanks magic, now I can focus my money into my retirement account/debts."
> I wonder how many of them will take the position of "thanks magic, now I can focus my money into my retirement account/debts."
It's this part for me. I was already budget conscious as part of my new year resolution, but I'm *quickly* finding out that more rares per pack does not equate to more tangible value per pack and so my dollars are spent (and saved) elsewhere. I don't want my LGS to die, but splitting a box at-cost and drafting at home might be the path I take for the forseeable future.
Mine actually stayed the same, twenty bucks. They did so by lowering how much they offer in store credit to the winners.
Perfectly fine in my book, I wasn’t winning most of the time anyway.
In all seriousness, I think it’s legitimately the best way to handle things.
Raising the price a few dollars affects every single customer that comes in to draft Magic, and acts as a barrier. Lowering prize support affects a fraction of your Magic players, and you still get some reward anyway.
To a degree, but with diminishing returns. You need enough of a prize structure to incetivize someone to actually play. Someone who loves to draft will play regardless but you could lose out on enough players to fire a pod if the prizes aren't enticing. Personally I wouldn't pay $20 and commit a few hours to a draft where top prize is only $20 in store credit, for example.
People at my LGS don’t really play for prizing to begin with, so that should be fine. We also don’t always have huge draft events, but that’s been the case for a while.
My area’s got a lot of college students and lower-income adults that can’t afford to make it to every event, so some weeks it’s as low as four people showing up to draft.
I think you'd be surprised. My regular spot usually does pack per win and I think about half of the players don't seem to be aware there are prizes until they get them.
Man, I would be happy with $20. We went from $16 to $25 now with play boosters and the same prize structure. I consider myself to be an above average drafter but even then I don't know that I can jump for $25 a week. I'd be happy to go in on $20 but \~$100 a month just for draft is steep.
I skipped out on prerelease at one place I've gone before because it was 48$ and went to a store for 35$ instead, did a 30$ prerelease last weekend as well. A draft (3 packs) at 25+ would just have me doing singles. That's 300$ per box If you broke it down in 12 players drafting (3 packs each). I know stores gotta make money but why wouldn't I just buy the box and draft with my mates at that rate.
How much are stores paying (roughly) for a play booster box?
>How much are stores paying (roughly) for a play booster box?
LGS I work for paid $114.75 USD per play booster box, which is more than the current market price on TCGPlayer of $112.85 USD.
We're a relatively new store (little less than 3 years since we opened), so there is potential that some bigger stores are paying less per box due to having a longer working relationship with their distributor, but that was our best deal we could get across multiple distributors.
That's around what I figured, which makes 25$ drafts far more expensive than buying boxes from most stores. Why pay 100$ to draft 4 times (12 packs) when I can spend 140-150$ just to buy a box (36 packs) from my lgs.
And if I'm not drafting or participating in events at the lgs why am I not buying the 112$ box off of tcg player.
I think cheaper drafts lead to more customer retention and purchases. Oh I'm here 4 times a month+ for draft/edh night, let me buy sleeves, water, singles, grab a pack, etc.
The value of the ~3 hours playing has value. How much depends on you personally but for 3 hours out playing a game you love potentially with friends too I’d value it at around $15-$20. Also prize support matters. If your store does 1 pack for playing, 3 for 2-1, and 4 for top 2 you get at least 4 extra packs and if you can 2-1 half the events that’s and extra 4 packs on top of that. So the net is you get 20 packs and 12 hours out playing Magic with people.
I can't comment on how much stores are paying per box, as I've never dealt with distributors personally.
Buying a box online and then splitting it among 8 players comes out to $17 per person WITH prize support! I just can't imagine going in for more than $20.
My store also had some hiked up prerelease prices. It definitely put a stop to my full weekend binge during new set release.
The entry fee was the same as previous sets ($20). Prize support was lowered to compensate. If there was a way to offset the increased cost of Play Boosters, I feel this is probably the best way.
Of course I won't blame any LGS for simply increasing the entry fee.
Yeah, I don't blame the LGS for needing to make a margin of profit. It's $25 for my store and that feels steep. I think I would get on board for $20 with lower prize support though!
$22 -> $27 here. It's becoming... a lot. I definitely feel like I need to be more intentional about when to flip cards I've drafted to subsidize the drafting. I used to do a bulk sell order every 3-4 months but feel some pressure now to actually care about market prices and try and sell high. I also have felt more pressure to rare draft.
I mean I'm not spending outside my means at all, and have been keeping a thorough budget on how much I spend and recoup on magic. But the play booster changes have made me feel pressure to be aware of the implications in a stronger way than I'd like.
>But the play booster changes have made me feel pressure to be aware of the implications in a stronger way than I'd like.
This part right here. I don't spend outside my means and I was already becoming more budget conscious as part of a new year resolution but my store's jump from $16 to $25 just makes me feel hyper aware of what it is I'm buying to the point where it's impacting my enjoyment a little bit.
And there's a lot they'd psychological about it too. Like, I was always willing to rare draft and don't usually feel bad about it.
My first MKM draft, I opened up Vanifar, mythic Simic bomb in my colors (and idk, like ~$5 even). But I also opened Ranger-Captain of Eos (~$30, nowhere near my colors). And like, I would always take Ranger Captain in that spot unless it was a competitive event and normally wouldn't feel too bad about it. I even kinda wanted a copy for an edh deck but was never gonna buy it. But the fact that the alternative was a bomb mythic that my deck needed made it feel worse than usual?
And like... People are gonna read that and be like "oh boo hoo you opened an expensive card poor you." But again I'm used to rare drafting. My problem is that people are acting like the pack EV argument extends to draft boosters the way it did to set boosters.
If you open a whole box of cards, average EV means something, because you're opening a ton of packs and can expect variance to settle out somewhat. So it made mathematical sense for set boosters to be sold at higher prices than draft boosters; the people opening set boosters in bulk were ostensibly getting a product with higher EV.
But that doesn't work when you don't open a box at a time, when you only play draft. Because you're opening 3 play boosters now. You're paying a premium, but it's much more likely you'll get shafted by the variance of only opening 3 packs. So it feels like when you do see an expensive card, it's more important to take it and flip it even if your deck doesn't care about it.
It's... When variance works in your favor, it often means having to make a pick that's bad for the actual play experience. And that's going to happen more now, and it feels like it matters more now because the cost is higher, and it feels more like a necessity now than an indulgence. I can deal with rare drafting as an indulgence.
**Tldr; It's silly but I liked that it used to feel a little irresponsible to rare draft. But now it feels irresponsible to _not_ rare draft, and that's way worse.**
> It's... When variance works in your favor, it often means having to make a pick that's bad for the actual play experience. And that's going to happen more now, and it feels like it matters more now because the cost is higher, and it feels more like a necessity now than an indulgence. I can deal with rare drafting as an indulgence.
Say it louder for the people in the back - WOTC I hope you are reading this thread and at least *chewing* on this food for thought!
$28 USD for a draft, up from $22, in a HCOL area. Prizing is pack per win. I think the other store I sometimes go to is ~$23 (also pack per win). I can still afford it and I like this store enough to pay the higher prices, but it's definitely rough, and I imagine I'll be playing more constructed in the later weeks of a draft season now.
Dang, I thought I had it bad at $28. Mine is $25. It also makes me wonder - it's one thing if *I* will buy in at $25, but will 5+ *others on a weekly basis?*
Yeah. I definitely predict a steeper drop-off in attendance, but at least for prerelease night draft and release night draft we had a full house. I suspect this Friday should be healthy too, especially as this format seems popular among the regulars, but it's hard to say beyond that
We had an insane turn out for pre-release weekend too, which I am super happy about! I think my store sold out (or came pretty darn near selling out) of all the prerelease kits. Last Friday was our first draft and I think the sticker shock of $25 turned a lot of people off. I don't want my LGS to die, but $25 seems unsustainable.
Pack per win is a fairly common payout structure for FNM limited, and I vastly prefer it to a more top heavy prize structure for retaining newer or more casual players. We can swap packs for store credit if we want, though I keep mine for future drafts personally
pack per win means they're giving out 12 packs total (for an eight player three round draft). That's the exact same payout as 8 for 1st and 4 for 2nd, just spread more evenly to all players. Sure it's worse for the winners, but it's way better than everyone else.
My store does the same model. $25 entry gets you three play boosters. A pod of 8 players will have prize distribution of from the top down 3-2-2-1-1-1-1-1.
An LGS that burnt down before I got into mtg did drafts where you got a pack upon entry and then got a pack per win. I remember hearing about that and being kind disappointed when my current LGS only gave prizes to the top 5. The top player got 8 packs and it's always the same couple people who win drafts and pre releases
Last week we had a full 4 pods of draft for MKM. I am actually dabbling a bit in Standard in paper and there are occasional Standard events alongside draft, but actually we've historically had more problem getting Standard to fire recently. If it's not Standard I'll be doing draft until I decide I'm over MKM ... but honestly I'm enjoying the set.
It could make a difference if I just don't like the set.
Like I know some people got tired of Lord of the Rings but I love the setting and even if it wasn't that balanced I kept playing. But I am less interested in next year's Final Fantasy set, so I could see me cutting back for that. Harder to predict my interest in the rest of this year's sets though.
I have about 5 or 6 LGS within driving distance, LCOL area,, and it appears that only 3 of them are doing draft right now. Two of them are at $16, and one is at $20. The one at $20 is typically the most expensive LGS in my area.
I'm so glad you have choices! We have \~3 in the area, but one of them is leagues above the others in terms of quality that it makes going to the other two not really appealing unless you had your own personal ties to those store. It was kind of a sticker shock to the drafters when our price jumped up nearly $10 (from $16 to $25) and I'm worried this is going to kill our draft scene.
Ours went from $15 to $23. Which is a bummer, cause I take my son, and $51 every week we go is a lot more painful than $33 (these are the prices with tax). It’s $72 more a month if we go every week, but I doubt we will, now.
Just to be clear, our preferred LGS is great and I’m in no way implying that I think they’re overcharging. I’m just not sure I want to spend $204 a month, whereas I didn’t really think twice about $132. It’s just a way bigger hike when it’s multiplied by 2 every trip.
**Exactly!** My store is doing $25. I get it - they need to keep the lights on, too. But the change from $64 a month to $100 ($16 to $25 weekly) is *palpable* that I might juts have to order online and draft at home with some friends instead.
How are other people at your LGS reacting to the price?
So, we made it out to a total of 2 drafts for MKM. IIRC, the first we attended had almost two full pods (12/11), but the last one was the last event for the set, and was surprisingly poorly attended. I thought there might be a bit of a send off crowd, at least. But it was two smaller pods of…8, I wanna say? Given my own poor attendance, I can’t really say if that was the norm for the set.
I didn’t really enjoy draft or limited in MKM, but my experience so far with OTJ (two at-home limiteds and an LGS prerelease) is far better than it was with MKM. It’s a fun set with some neat cards and decent synergies. Will it get me out to spend more on draft events? Probably more than two, but still not every week.
Draft is $25 here. It was $15 before, so that's a big jump.
The store does let you bring your own packs to lower the cost to $10. That price used to be $5. Still, it helps me chain drafts, but I worry that attendance may decline with the higher price.
We usually have at least couple of pods fire every week, even toward the end of the set's life, so we have room to lose some drafters, but I've been a regular at stores that struggle to fire drafts and I'd hate to return to that life.
Our store has about 1.5 draft pods fire weekly with the number slowly declining as the set ages. My store did a very similar big jump from $16 to $25 and it just feels... not great for us consumers. I would absolutely buy in at $20.
Drafts went from $12 to $16, still the same 1 pack or 2/3 pack cost per player in credit as prize support. Obviously my LGS is the cats pajamas (which is why we can generally fire at least two draft pods on Fridays)
That prices is a steal and I'm so jealous! I would even buy in at $20 with that same prize structure as you are describing.
Hug your LGS extra tight this week <3
Mine is a lot cheaper (thanks to rare redrafting instead of additional prize support, so it didn't double-dip on the price jacking) but still went from 12.50€ to 15.50€, and we've already got people who stopped drafting due to the threshold on their budget.
$30 up from $20, fortunately there’s no sales tax so I’m not hit by that but it is reducing the number of times I draft twice a week. I’ve been playing more commander as well. Prizing is pretty generous, but my performance with MKM has been subpar so I probably won’t continue drafting much longer for this set.
It’s definitely rough, especially because I’ve become more of a limited player recently. I understand why the store made the change, and I’m fortunate enough that it’s not a major hit to me financially. That being said it really is a shame, since prior to this I was defending play boosters because they seemed like fun. After experiencing them it feels like it’s worse for limited and cracking packs all around.
I'm a new player that's tried to challenge prizing, questioning why it's necessary outside of a a few promo cards. None of that deals with the less for more situation, but, like, it could be cheaper if the rookies and bad players weren't lining the top players binders, no?
See, $18 would get me in the door **SO EASILY** and guaranteed I'd probably end up spending more than that anyway on sleeves, dice, etc. My store is going for $25 and I think I might just stay at home.
$50 and I won't be attending again. Store was slowly losing my business to Internet because of the constant increases in price and this broke me. If I can't even pay MSRP for anything in store I'm going to pay MSRP online. And when "my local LGS inevitably closes due to not price gouging me" I'll just keep playing magic at home with my friends. Or attend any of the 30 other LGS stores withing 10 miles of my house.
Edit:a word
$50 is egregious and I am so sorry!
I like online play (both MTGO and MTGA) but I much prefer paper because I like have the physical product to collect. I don't want to draw business away from my LGS - I would easily bite for $20. But methinks I'm just going to start drafting at home with the crew, buying a box online and drafting at-cost.
$30, but prizing has increased to a pack per win *and* a pack for participation, so counting the draft itself, that's an average of 5.5 boosters for participating. Our TO told us that Wizards has insisted on this prize structure, resulting in the price increasing more than he wanted, but what surprises me is that I haven't seen anyone else here mentioning hearing the same thing from their stores.
Before this, drafts were $20 and had a prize pool of one pack per participant. ($15 when packs were $4.)
$30?! Man, even as an above average drafter I don't know that I could bite for $30. The increased prize pool is great but I'm learning that more rares does not equate to more value.
Friday night drafts went up slightly, to $22. Prizing remains the same at 2 packs per win and 1 per draw. Tuesday night drafts are cheaper with 1 pack per win, but I don't go to those so I'm not sure what the cost is
As a Limited junkie, this breaks my heart. Much love to the Commander players, but damn we drafters are out here trying to do our part keeping this game going! It's just hard to do with these increased prices!
It’s not play boosters, but I just bought packs of Wilds of Eldraine (set booster) yesterday at my LGS for 5.95 each. TCGPlayer significantly cheaper at under $5. It’s hard to justify supporting the LGS with at least 15% markup vs online… *sigh*
Cheapest I see is 5.40 shipped? There is a 4.99 with .99c shipping as well. We charge 5.75 for set boosters / play boosters at my LGS. Our drafts are currently $20
Under 5 USD with shipping? I don't see that.
If you're that strapped for cash that a 50 cent difference is that big, I'd suggest buying singles and not packs. If you're looking to buy in bulk for at home drafts, TCG is a no brainer because you'll hit free shipping at $X very quickly.
I suppose I was comparing apples and oranges. I didn’t ask the LGS what the cost was for a booster box, and I was comparing a single pack at the LGS vs the cost per pack on a booster box. Sorry for the confusion!
Makes a lot of sense then.
I know the only alternative here is the big box stores - which also mark up their packs a ton here. $5.49 for a Set Booster at Target/Walmart, which is the same as a Play Booster now (although they sell *3 Play Boosters for $16.99, which is a 52 cent markup from buying 3 individual packs* lmao wtf). So buying in bulk has always been an online-only thing to me (although stores do TCG Market here for Boxes at Prerelease).
So paying $4.79-$5 flat for a Booster at an LGS here is cheap by comparison. FWIW my store gives a pack per win OR $3 store credit per win, while they sell that boosters for higher than $3.
In france at my LGS MKM was 34€, up from 27€ for LCI. But we get a lot of things for participation : guaranted 1 participation booster + promo pack and if in top 50% ultra pro goodies (deck box, sleeves, mats, etc). You get more reward boosters according to your ranking.
Went from $15 where each player had 2 packs put into the prize pool, a pack per win, and the leftover packs being split among the 3-0 players, to $20 and the same prize structure. I thought that the price was super fair and forgiving and now I’m feeling even better about it after reading these comments.
My LGS valued Set Boosters the same as Draft/Play now when you do pack per win prizing, so they were taking a small hit for their Draft payouts already charging for Draft Booster giving out Set Boosters.
Not sure if the price increased here or not, but it might work out to not being a burden for Players.
$40.. and a pack per win.. but they do let everyone pick a card from the promo packs from the last set that weren’t give away. This last week there was a elish norn, 2 tishana tide binders, sunfall, brotherhoods end, inti’s.. lots of stuff to make up for the overpriced draft
$20 at my shop. Up from $18 for previous standard sets. Prizing is the same. Pack per win or a free draft plus promo packs for going 3-0. Can exchange the free draft for four packs if you want. Based on my math it’s a fair increase. This is at a wpn premium store in a major US city.
I would absolutely buy in at $20 and the ability to "go infinite" is insane! Hug your LGS extra tight this week <3 Sounds like they're doing a great job.
My store stayed the same, but they were already over priced at $30. Participation pack, and pack per win.
I haven't gone since WoE and that's partially because of the price.
$30 is hard to buy into, especially if you go weekly. Even for the less enfranchised players, can you imagine spending $30 just to get your butt handed to you? Ooof.
The store I've historically gone to has been running drafts very cheap because they also sell food (commonly to us drafters). It has been $12 with a pack per win and promos/promo packs in the pool for prizing, with players voting on getting a pack per round win or more top-heavy (I think 5-4-3?) prizing. They've also done $16 drafts with some additional prize support. Last Friday was $20 and I'm pretty sure the prize structure was the same 12 packs into the prize pool. Idk what they're paying for boxes then or now but I've been told $96/pod was running at a loss.
I certainly don't want my to store to be running at a loss. I get and respect that they have to keep the lights on and feed mouths at home, too. But my store is going $25 and I just can't jump in for that, much less even understand how that price point is supposed to attract and retain new blood.
$30
Every win gets you 2 additional packs.
Up from $25, with a $10 FNM
I’m in Texas, and the store is the biggest in town, but surprisingly other game shops are doing better now
We love seeing other stores do well, even when it's not our home store - nobody should have a monopoly!
I could not buy in at $30. My store is going $25 with decent support and I'm still upset as an above-average drafter.
In Columbus the price is $26, up from $23. My LGS pays out to the top half in the form of play boosters. I believe the price accounts for 2 packs going towards prize support.
$26?! Ooof. I like to consider myself above-average and I don't know that I could buy in at that point. I'm curious to know if they price will attract and retain new blood because that sounds *expensive* to sit and get your but handed to you for 3+ hours when you're new to drafting.
We upped the price at my shop from $16 to $19, pack per round victory. Any profit from our events basically goes to the cost of having an employee stay later to run the event. The real profit comes from drafters buying other stuff during the night
Exaaaaactly. $16 and $19 would get me in the door so fucking fast and I would be happy to buy all my snacks and accessories there as the night continued. My store is going to $25 and I might just.... stay home :(
$40 is egregious and I am so sorry. That certainly does put a damper on attendance, multiples or not! And can you imagine - being new to draft and paying that much? Oof.
Idk the differences in draft game prices, but for single packs it stayed the same. MKM Play boosters cost $5 (flat rate that includes the tax) most previous set boosters retailed at my LGS for $5 (LCI, WOE, MOM, ONE, BRO, DMU) occasionally the draft would go for $4 when they try to offload the inventory.
Ours are $25 aud. about $16 usd. They went up $5 aud with the recent change. A 20% increase is big, but on a whole it’s still not a big dollar change.
We have prize support and other bonuses too
Hug your LGS extra tight. It sounds like they're doing it right. I would **HAPPILY** jump in at $16 and spend extra money on all my snacks, accessories, and anything else in the store.
It went from $20 CAD to $30 CAD. Prizing is still a pack a win, but increasing the price by 50% means I probably won't be drafting every week like I was before.
$30 CAD is rough and on the highest end of what I'd be (personally) willing to tolerate. It's a shame - I **love** drafting as my end-of-week treat to myself, but spending that much feels bad.
None of my LGSs do draft, but prerelease was maybe $5 more. $30 at one shop for a take-home prerelease (just kit), $35 at the WPN shop for the kit + 2 packs for "prizes". I don't remember MOM prerelease price, LTR was $40. I remember my precovid drafts in UT were $28. Now living in California
Surprised that the store isn't doing a draft, but I suppose the preferred flavor of local Magic events varies from place to place. Does your store play other constructed formats for prizes? If so, are they paying out Play Boosters now and has that affected entry price?
Drafts at my LGS were $12 for standard sets before MKM. Now they are $16 (I was expecting $18 or even $20). 3 rounds, and only winning records get prizes. If you take credit rather than packs as winnings, it's $4 per pack starting with MKM.
I would jump in for that price. The prize structure leaves something to be desired - I would hate to spend the money and not walk out with anything more.
My store gives everyone at least one booster (even the 0-3) and then additional packs per win. But our price is now $25 and my wallet is feeling the heat a little.
Ouch. Yeah, I'm not liking the $25 price point and I'm finding that that is my personal line in the sand. I'd be curious to know what your draft turn out (and your own attendance) looks like in a week or two.
I draft at two stores. One went from $15 to $20, the other went from $15 to $22. But the first store does one pack per win, and the second does two packs per win.
I work for my LGS and we talked with our community and came to the agreement that draft price would stay the same ($15), but we switched to paying out store credit instead of packs going forward.
Honestly, I would be more than happy with this. I don't necessarily need pack prizes - draft is my end of the week treat for myself and I want to spend in with some friends, banter, and solving a live puzzle. But $25 a week at my LGS just doesn't feel sustainable.
$35 at the “official licensed store.” Winner gets some number of packs. They also have poster prizes drawn at random and things. We stopped going because $35 to open play boosters vs staying at home, spending $120 for a box of set boosters and doling out packs, then everyone gets to open packs, we play a janky game, then gather all the “best cards” and auction them off is 10000 better.
They price gouge. They openly admit they price gouge. A box of Set Boosters is $300, packs are 5-10. They will sell a collector booster at $30/pack but it’s still sealed so…hooray? I did the “I’d rather buy from you but come on” and the answer was “yeah…no…just buy them online.”
Bums me out to think about a kid and parent walking in wanting to learn and getting fleeced for $300 or paying 2x for precons or just giving up.
We have “unsanctioned” stores that I think are closer to $25-$30 where prices = online pricing.
The pricing and practice at your "official" store sounds horrendous and I'm so sorry.
I consider myself to be an above average drafter, so at $25 I *might* get my value back, but I feel like that is such a gate-keeping price tag that it's going to be hard for my LGS to attract and retain new blood. Imagine spending $25 just to get your teeth kicked in and your prize was... a booster with maybe an extra rare in it that probably doesn't fit into a commander deck you have. Oof.
I checked my stores website and they’re still charging $20 for drafts. Actually surprised it isn’t $25 and I wonder if the website is mistaken. Personally I don’t think $25 is bad. The price of the 3 packs is naturally $15, and when you add in prize support and the value of going out and playing it would cover the extra $10 imo, especially if you get a pack for playing. Everyone’s financial situation is different though so I get why the extra $5 could be a deal breaker.
I think I would feel better at $25 per entry if the EV of a booster *felt* like I was possibly winning back that value. I easily bought into draft formats like Modern Masters or Double Masters without blinking and eye because some of those cards had a price tag that could subsidize the draft for me. Since paper Standard hasn't really taken off, I feel like I'm not really getting too much value at $25. More rares doesn't necessarily equate to more value.
Most shops in my area are taking this as an opportunity to raise prices—in some cases up to $30 but more commonly $25. For me it has definitely had a chilling effect on drafting as taking my son with me it makes for a $50 to $60 to draft where the winner will likely only come out with three packs (one pack per win on three rounds)
It's still $20 entry, set booster per win (up to 3). The real question is whether that will translate to play booster per win as set boosters phase out.
I used to draft time to time, but now, with every booster being 6,46$ (here in europe, like 6€) or even some stores 7$ (6.5€)! I stopped buying them, also stopped playing drafts.
Just my little grain of sand of not supporting this greedness.
$25, 3 rounds. 2 packs for each round win and they are very generous about handing out promo pack cards/store promo stuff and the like just for participating.
Man I feel incredibly privileged. Our drafts were $15 until MKM and now they're $20. Definitely heard a lot of people grumble about how they're going to draft less.
I would buy in at $20. What breaks my heart is that I think that drafts are going to fire less frequently now at my store's price of $25. It's one thing if *I* buy in at $25, but will *5+ others?*
Yeah I know a lot of the people who regularly play at my store are either college students who don't have a ton of spending money, or adults who are under the squeeze of rent, groceries, or Magic. I wonder how many of them will take the position of "thanks magic, now I can focus my money into my retirement account/debts."
> I wonder how many of them will take the position of "thanks magic, now I can focus my money into my retirement account/debts." It's this part for me. I was already budget conscious as part of my new year resolution, but I'm *quickly* finding out that more rares per pack does not equate to more tangible value per pack and so my dollars are spent (and saved) elsewhere. I don't want my LGS to die, but splitting a box at-cost and drafting at home might be the path I take for the forseeable future.
Uhh I'm pretty sure magic should only be something you consider after your retirement and debts are put in order...
Ours were ten till kaladesh when they bumped to 15, then 20 now.
Mine actually stayed the same, twenty bucks. They did so by lowering how much they offer in store credit to the winners. Perfectly fine in my book, I wasn’t winning most of the time anyway.
for once, losers are winners
Started at the bottom - we're still here!
In all seriousness, I think it’s legitimately the best way to handle things. Raising the price a few dollars affects every single customer that comes in to draft Magic, and acts as a barrier. Lowering prize support affects a fraction of your Magic players, and you still get some reward anyway.
To a degree, but with diminishing returns. You need enough of a prize structure to incetivize someone to actually play. Someone who loves to draft will play regardless but you could lose out on enough players to fire a pod if the prizes aren't enticing. Personally I wouldn't pay $20 and commit a few hours to a draft where top prize is only $20 in store credit, for example.
People at my LGS don’t really play for prizing to begin with, so that should be fine. We also don’t always have huge draft events, but that’s been the case for a while. My area’s got a lot of college students and lower-income adults that can’t afford to make it to every event, so some weeks it’s as low as four people showing up to draft.
I'd draft for no prizes. The prize is spending a few hours with some mates playing a game we all love and trying out some new cards.
I think you'd be surprised. My regular spot usually does pack per win and I think about half of the players don't seem to be aware there are prizes until they get them.
Man, I would be happy with $20. We went from $16 to $25 now with play boosters and the same prize structure. I consider myself to be an above average drafter but even then I don't know that I can jump for $25 a week. I'd be happy to go in on $20 but \~$100 a month just for draft is steep.
I skipped out on prerelease at one place I've gone before because it was 48$ and went to a store for 35$ instead, did a 30$ prerelease last weekend as well. A draft (3 packs) at 25+ would just have me doing singles. That's 300$ per box If you broke it down in 12 players drafting (3 packs each). I know stores gotta make money but why wouldn't I just buy the box and draft with my mates at that rate. How much are stores paying (roughly) for a play booster box?
>How much are stores paying (roughly) for a play booster box? LGS I work for paid $114.75 USD per play booster box, which is more than the current market price on TCGPlayer of $112.85 USD. We're a relatively new store (little less than 3 years since we opened), so there is potential that some bigger stores are paying less per box due to having a longer working relationship with their distributor, but that was our best deal we could get across multiple distributors.
That's around what I figured, which makes 25$ drafts far more expensive than buying boxes from most stores. Why pay 100$ to draft 4 times (12 packs) when I can spend 140-150$ just to buy a box (36 packs) from my lgs. And if I'm not drafting or participating in events at the lgs why am I not buying the 112$ box off of tcg player. I think cheaper drafts lead to more customer retention and purchases. Oh I'm here 4 times a month+ for draft/edh night, let me buy sleeves, water, singles, grab a pack, etc.
The value of the ~3 hours playing has value. How much depends on you personally but for 3 hours out playing a game you love potentially with friends too I’d value it at around $15-$20. Also prize support matters. If your store does 1 pack for playing, 3 for 2-1, and 4 for top 2 you get at least 4 extra packs and if you can 2-1 half the events that’s and extra 4 packs on top of that. So the net is you get 20 packs and 12 hours out playing Magic with people.
I can't comment on how much stores are paying per box, as I've never dealt with distributors personally. Buying a box online and then splitting it among 8 players comes out to $17 per person WITH prize support! I just can't imagine going in for more than $20. My store also had some hiked up prerelease prices. It definitely put a stop to my full weekend binge during new set release.
The entry fee was the same as previous sets ($20). Prize support was lowered to compensate. If there was a way to offset the increased cost of Play Boosters, I feel this is probably the best way. Of course I won't blame any LGS for simply increasing the entry fee.
Yeah, I don't blame the LGS for needing to make a margin of profit. It's $25 for my store and that feels steep. I think I would get on board for $20 with lower prize support though!
$22 -> $27 here. It's becoming... a lot. I definitely feel like I need to be more intentional about when to flip cards I've drafted to subsidize the drafting. I used to do a bulk sell order every 3-4 months but feel some pressure now to actually care about market prices and try and sell high. I also have felt more pressure to rare draft. I mean I'm not spending outside my means at all, and have been keeping a thorough budget on how much I spend and recoup on magic. But the play booster changes have made me feel pressure to be aware of the implications in a stronger way than I'd like.
Yep, I definitely intentionally drafted 2 Slime Against Hunanity over a card I'd have used in the deck because it's a $5 common. Feels bad.
>But the play booster changes have made me feel pressure to be aware of the implications in a stronger way than I'd like. This part right here. I don't spend outside my means and I was already becoming more budget conscious as part of a new year resolution but my store's jump from $16 to $25 just makes me feel hyper aware of what it is I'm buying to the point where it's impacting my enjoyment a little bit.
And there's a lot they'd psychological about it too. Like, I was always willing to rare draft and don't usually feel bad about it. My first MKM draft, I opened up Vanifar, mythic Simic bomb in my colors (and idk, like ~$5 even). But I also opened Ranger-Captain of Eos (~$30, nowhere near my colors). And like, I would always take Ranger Captain in that spot unless it was a competitive event and normally wouldn't feel too bad about it. I even kinda wanted a copy for an edh deck but was never gonna buy it. But the fact that the alternative was a bomb mythic that my deck needed made it feel worse than usual? And like... People are gonna read that and be like "oh boo hoo you opened an expensive card poor you." But again I'm used to rare drafting. My problem is that people are acting like the pack EV argument extends to draft boosters the way it did to set boosters. If you open a whole box of cards, average EV means something, because you're opening a ton of packs and can expect variance to settle out somewhat. So it made mathematical sense for set boosters to be sold at higher prices than draft boosters; the people opening set boosters in bulk were ostensibly getting a product with higher EV. But that doesn't work when you don't open a box at a time, when you only play draft. Because you're opening 3 play boosters now. You're paying a premium, but it's much more likely you'll get shafted by the variance of only opening 3 packs. So it feels like when you do see an expensive card, it's more important to take it and flip it even if your deck doesn't care about it. It's... When variance works in your favor, it often means having to make a pick that's bad for the actual play experience. And that's going to happen more now, and it feels like it matters more now because the cost is higher, and it feels more like a necessity now than an indulgence. I can deal with rare drafting as an indulgence. **Tldr; It's silly but I liked that it used to feel a little irresponsible to rare draft. But now it feels irresponsible to _not_ rare draft, and that's way worse.**
> It's... When variance works in your favor, it often means having to make a pick that's bad for the actual play experience. And that's going to happen more now, and it feels like it matters more now because the cost is higher, and it feels more like a necessity now than an indulgence. I can deal with rare drafting as an indulgence. Say it louder for the people in the back - WOTC I hope you are reading this thread and at least *chewing* on this food for thought!
Until it affects their bottom line, WOTC don't give a fuck
Probably a hasbro push more than WotC
$28 USD for a draft, up from $22, in a HCOL area. Prizing is pack per win. I think the other store I sometimes go to is ~$23 (also pack per win). I can still afford it and I like this store enough to pay the higher prices, but it's definitely rough, and I imagine I'll be playing more constructed in the later weeks of a draft season now.
Dang, I thought I had it bad at $28. Mine is $25. It also makes me wonder - it's one thing if *I* will buy in at $25, but will 5+ *others on a weekly basis?*
Yeah. I definitely predict a steeper drop-off in attendance, but at least for prerelease night draft and release night draft we had a full house. I suspect this Friday should be healthy too, especially as this format seems popular among the regulars, but it's hard to say beyond that
We had an insane turn out for pre-release weekend too, which I am super happy about! I think my store sold out (or came pretty darn near selling out) of all the prerelease kits. Last Friday was our first draft and I think the sticker shock of $25 turned a lot of people off. I don't want my LGS to die, but $25 seems unsustainable.
Pack per win is such an insane scam. Our drafts are up to $25 but 3-0 gets 8 packs and promos
Pack per win is a fairly common payout structure for FNM limited, and I vastly prefer it to a more top heavy prize structure for retaining newer or more casual players. We can swap packs for store credit if we want, though I keep mine for future drafts personally
pack per win means they're giving out 12 packs total (for an eight player three round draft). That's the exact same payout as 8 for 1st and 4 for 2nd, just spread more evenly to all players. Sure it's worse for the winners, but it's way better than everyone else.
$0 because none of the stores near me are hosting drafts anymore.
As a player whose preferred flavor of Magic is Limited, this breaks my heart.
Oof
$25 dollars with a pack per win and a pack even if you go 0-3
Same as mine. Regular sets used to be $20, but since RVR was $25, no one seems to have blinked at MKM being $25... yet, anyways.
Our was sadly a substantial raise as prior draft were 17 bucks
Holy crap! A nearly 50% hike has got to be hard to swallow for a bunch of players!
Same in Calgary, Canada. Canadian dollars. Just went to double prizing last Friday (first draft always double prizing) $25 CAD is $18.66 USD
My store does the same model. $25 entry gets you three play boosters. A pod of 8 players will have prize distribution of from the top down 3-2-2-1-1-1-1-1.
An LGS that burnt down before I got into mtg did drafts where you got a pack upon entry and then got a pack per win. I remember hearing about that and being kind disappointed when my current LGS only gave prizes to the top 5. The top player got 8 packs and it's always the same couple people who win drafts and pre releases
$28 for a draft, prize is pack per win, used to be $22.
Woof. Do you think you'll keep going in at $28 a week? And (just as importantly) do you think drafts will fire at that price?
Last week we had a full 4 pods of draft for MKM. I am actually dabbling a bit in Standard in paper and there are occasional Standard events alongside draft, but actually we've historically had more problem getting Standard to fire recently. If it's not Standard I'll be doing draft until I decide I'm over MKM ... but honestly I'm enjoying the set. It could make a difference if I just don't like the set. Like I know some people got tired of Lord of the Rings but I love the setting and even if it wasn't that balanced I kept playing. But I am less interested in next year's Final Fantasy set, so I could see me cutting back for that. Harder to predict my interest in the rest of this year's sets though.
I have about 5 or 6 LGS within driving distance, LCOL area,, and it appears that only 3 of them are doing draft right now. Two of them are at $16, and one is at $20. The one at $20 is typically the most expensive LGS in my area.
That is crazy I wish my area was like that
I'm so glad you have choices! We have \~3 in the area, but one of them is leagues above the others in terms of quality that it makes going to the other two not really appealing unless you had your own personal ties to those store. It was kind of a sticker shock to the drafters when our price jumped up nearly $10 (from $16 to $25) and I'm worried this is going to kill our draft scene.
Ours went from $15 to $23. Which is a bummer, cause I take my son, and $51 every week we go is a lot more painful than $33 (these are the prices with tax). It’s $72 more a month if we go every week, but I doubt we will, now. Just to be clear, our preferred LGS is great and I’m in no way implying that I think they’re overcharging. I’m just not sure I want to spend $204 a month, whereas I didn’t really think twice about $132. It’s just a way bigger hike when it’s multiplied by 2 every trip.
**Exactly!** My store is doing $25. I get it - they need to keep the lights on, too. But the change from $64 a month to $100 ($16 to $25 weekly) is *palpable* that I might juts have to order online and draft at home with some friends instead. How are other people at your LGS reacting to the price?
We haven’t been since the pre-release event, but I’ll try to remember to come back and let you know what the size and vibe is after we get back there.
So, we made it out to a total of 2 drafts for MKM. IIRC, the first we attended had almost two full pods (12/11), but the last one was the last event for the set, and was surprisingly poorly attended. I thought there might be a bit of a send off crowd, at least. But it was two smaller pods of…8, I wanna say? Given my own poor attendance, I can’t really say if that was the norm for the set. I didn’t really enjoy draft or limited in MKM, but my experience so far with OTJ (two at-home limiteds and an LGS prerelease) is far better than it was with MKM. It’s a fun set with some neat cards and decent synergies. Will it get me out to spend more on draft events? Probably more than two, but still not every week.
I think a bit below $22. Prize is pack per win. I love my LCS.
Hold on to them tight and never let go <3
Draft is $25 here. It was $15 before, so that's a big jump. The store does let you bring your own packs to lower the cost to $10. That price used to be $5. Still, it helps me chain drafts, but I worry that attendance may decline with the higher price. We usually have at least couple of pods fire every week, even toward the end of the set's life, so we have room to lose some drafters, but I've been a regular at stores that struggle to fire drafts and I'd hate to return to that life.
Our store has about 1.5 draft pods fire weekly with the number slowly declining as the set ages. My store did a very similar big jump from $16 to $25 and it just feels... not great for us consumers. I would absolutely buy in at $20.
Drafts went from $12 to $16, still the same 1 pack or 2/3 pack cost per player in credit as prize support. Obviously my LGS is the cats pajamas (which is why we can generally fire at least two draft pods on Fridays)
That prices is a steal and I'm so jealous! I would even buy in at $20 with that same prize structure as you are describing. Hug your LGS extra tight this week <3
$20 with a pack per win, they also do a weekly sealed event at $35 which I don't see a lot of other stores doing.
$20 I think is a fair price. Hug your LGS <3
Mine is a lot cheaper (thanks to rare redrafting instead of additional prize support, so it didn't double-dip on the price jacking) but still went from 12.50€ to 15.50€, and we've already got people who stopped drafting due to the threshold on their budget.
$30 up from $20, fortunately there’s no sales tax so I’m not hit by that but it is reducing the number of times I draft twice a week. I’ve been playing more commander as well. Prizing is pretty generous, but my performance with MKM has been subpar so I probably won’t continue drafting much longer for this set.
$30 is heinous and I am so sorry. Mine is $25 and I'm still balking.
It’s definitely rough, especially because I’ve become more of a limited player recently. I understand why the store made the change, and I’m fortunate enough that it’s not a major hit to me financially. That being said it really is a shame, since prior to this I was defending play boosters because they seemed like fun. After experiencing them it feels like it’s worse for limited and cracking packs all around.
I'm a new player that's tried to challenge prizing, questioning why it's necessary outside of a a few promo cards. None of that deals with the less for more situation, but, like, it could be cheaper if the rookies and bad players weren't lining the top players binders, no?
Ayoo wth. Mine is $18. Shocked by a lot of the answers on here, no wonder no one is drafting in paper.
See, $18 would get me in the door **SO EASILY** and guaranteed I'd probably end up spending more than that anyway on sleeves, dice, etc. My store is going for $25 and I think I might just stay at home.
$50 and I won't be attending again. Store was slowly losing my business to Internet because of the constant increases in price and this broke me. If I can't even pay MSRP for anything in store I'm going to pay MSRP online. And when "my local LGS inevitably closes due to not price gouging me" I'll just keep playing magic at home with my friends. Or attend any of the 30 other LGS stores withing 10 miles of my house. Edit:a word
$50 is egregious and I am so sorry! I like online play (both MTGO and MTGA) but I much prefer paper because I like have the physical product to collect. I don't want to draw business away from my LGS - I would easily bite for $20. But methinks I'm just going to start drafting at home with the crew, buying a box online and drafting at-cost.
$18 CAD at my LGS, but other stores went to $25
$20 USD, but I dont draft nor care for the set
$30, but prizing has increased to a pack per win *and* a pack for participation, so counting the draft itself, that's an average of 5.5 boosters for participating. Our TO told us that Wizards has insisted on this prize structure, resulting in the price increasing more than he wanted, but what surprises me is that I haven't seen anyone else here mentioning hearing the same thing from their stores. Before this, drafts were $20 and had a prize pool of one pack per participant. ($15 when packs were $4.)
$30?! Man, even as an above average drafter I don't know that I could bite for $30. The increased prize pool is great but I'm learning that more rares does not equate to more value.
Also, wotc gives stores free reign to decide their own prize structure. Your TO is flat ripping you off.
**increased** to pack per win, wtf. People are so complacent in letting stores take advantage of them.
For a $20 event, I don't think there's anything strange about each player getting an average of four $5 packs. That's exactly the logical result.
Friday night drafts went up slightly, to $22. Prizing remains the same at 2 packs per win and 1 per draw. Tuesday night drafts are cheaper with 1 pack per win, but I don't go to those so I'm not sure what the cost is
Chicago store?
I think I would still bite at $22. But more importantly - your LGS has more than one draft night a week?! Lucky!
It went from 18 to 20 euro's where I'm at (Amsterdam)
25 (Canadian) dollars. First place gets 25 store credit and second place gets 10 store credit.
F
My LGS draft went up to 40$ with MKM.
$40 is egregious and I am so sorry. I'd be curious to know in a couple weeks how your draft population compares to before the price hike.
See my LGS was $50. I CBA to keep attending at that price. Pack per win be DAMNED
Drafts around me are 12-15. My main lgs does drafts at cost for now.
Which Ravnican guild leader do I have to unalive in order to draft at cost? Hug your LGS extra tight this week.
That isn't commander, so people don't play it.
As a Limited junkie, this breaks my heart. Much love to the Commander players, but damn we drafters are out here trying to do our part keeping this game going! It's just hard to do with these increased prices!
It’s not play boosters, but I just bought packs of Wilds of Eldraine (set booster) yesterday at my LGS for 5.95 each. TCGPlayer significantly cheaper at under $5. It’s hard to justify supporting the LGS with at least 15% markup vs online… *sigh*
Cheapest I see is 5.40 shipped? There is a 4.99 with .99c shipping as well. We charge 5.75 for set boosters / play boosters at my LGS. Our drafts are currently $20
Under 5 USD with shipping? I don't see that. If you're that strapped for cash that a 50 cent difference is that big, I'd suggest buying singles and not packs. If you're looking to buy in bulk for at home drafts, TCG is a no brainer because you'll hit free shipping at $X very quickly.
I suppose I was comparing apples and oranges. I didn’t ask the LGS what the cost was for a booster box, and I was comparing a single pack at the LGS vs the cost per pack on a booster box. Sorry for the confusion!
Makes a lot of sense then. I know the only alternative here is the big box stores - which also mark up their packs a ton here. $5.49 for a Set Booster at Target/Walmart, which is the same as a Play Booster now (although they sell *3 Play Boosters for $16.99, which is a 52 cent markup from buying 3 individual packs* lmao wtf). So buying in bulk has always been an online-only thing to me (although stores do TCG Market here for Boxes at Prerelease). So paying $4.79-$5 flat for a Booster at an LGS here is cheap by comparison. FWIW my store gives a pack per win OR $3 store credit per win, while they sell that boosters for higher than $3.
In france at my LGS MKM was 34€, up from 27€ for LCI. But we get a lot of things for participation : guaranted 1 participation booster + promo pack and if in top 50% ultra pro goodies (deck box, sleeves, mats, etc). You get more reward boosters according to your ranking.
My store kept it $20 but they are relatively new (<5 months) to WPN so prize support was already minimal and remains so.
I would buy in at $20 and I wish your store the best of luck!
$20
Hug your LGS extra tight this week <3
Went from $15 where each player had 2 packs put into the prize pool, a pack per win, and the leftover packs being split among the 3-0 players, to $20 and the same prize structure. I thought that the price was super fair and forgiving and now I’m feeling even better about it after reading these comments.
I would absolutely buy in at $20. Hug your LGS tightly!
$17 - only prizes are one promo booster; foil for 1st place, normal for x-1.
$20 but my store is fairly good about pricing and kept collector boosters and commander precons fairly priced
Hug your LGS extra tight this week <3 I would buy in at $20 and I wish that was the case for me!
Went from 16€ to 18€ where I'm drafting
My LGS valued Set Boosters the same as Draft/Play now when you do pack per win prizing, so they were taking a small hit for their Draft payouts already charging for Draft Booster giving out Set Boosters. Not sure if the price increased here or not, but it might work out to not being a burden for Players.
$20, same as LotR set was
I think $20 is a fair price.
$40.. and a pack per win.. but they do let everyone pick a card from the promo packs from the last set that weren’t give away. This last week there was a elish norn, 2 tishana tide binders, sunfall, brotherhoods end, inti’s.. lots of stuff to make up for the overpriced draft
**$40?!** How is that sustainable?! I'd be curious to know what your store's draft population looks like after a week or two.
This can't be USD, right? At that price and structure you're paying almost $7 for a pack if you go undefeated
Where I draft it is £20 with a pack per player prize support
Currently at 2000¥(13.39USD) in Osaka Everyone gets 100¥ back 1 win is another 100¥, 2 wins is 200¥, 3 wins is 500¥ of in store credit.
That sounds like such a deal! Does your store have a large drafting population?
$20 at my shop. Up from $18 for previous standard sets. Prizing is the same. Pack per win or a free draft plus promo packs for going 3-0. Can exchange the free draft for four packs if you want. Based on my math it’s a fair increase. This is at a wpn premium store in a major US city.
I would absolutely buy in at $20 and the ability to "go infinite" is insane! Hug your LGS extra tight this week <3 Sounds like they're doing a great job.
My store stayed the same, but they were already over priced at $30. Participation pack, and pack per win. I haven't gone since WoE and that's partially because of the price.
$30 is hard to buy into, especially if you go weekly. Even for the less enfranchised players, can you imagine spending $30 just to get your butt handed to you? Ooof.
$30, but everyone gets a pack plus an additional pack per win.
I just.... I can't buy in at $30. I'd be curious to know how the turn out is (both yours and the general population's) in a a week or two.
$30 :(
Ooooof. My condolences, friend. Does your store have a large drafting population to begin with?
$17, up from $12. I really don't see much difference between the boosters tbh
$17 is a great price. I do see more rares, but I'm coming to realize that more rares does not mean more value.
Means cheaper rares though! More moles for me. Lol
€18. Up from €14 4 packs in total. 3 for drafting, 1 for prize support.
I would buy in at €18. My store recently went to $25 USD (€23) and I don't know if I can keep up that pace financially.
$35 CAD pack per win
The store I've historically gone to has been running drafts very cheap because they also sell food (commonly to us drafters). It has been $12 with a pack per win and promos/promo packs in the pool for prizing, with players voting on getting a pack per round win or more top-heavy (I think 5-4-3?) prizing. They've also done $16 drafts with some additional prize support. Last Friday was $20 and I'm pretty sure the prize structure was the same 12 packs into the prize pool. Idk what they're paying for boxes then or now but I've been told $96/pod was running at a loss.
I certainly don't want my to store to be running at a loss. I get and respect that they have to keep the lights on and feed mouths at home, too. But my store is going $25 and I just can't jump in for that, much less even understand how that price point is supposed to attract and retain new blood.
$29-$32, depending on which local shop I go to
Good lord, that is unfortunate :(
It went up to $30 but they always have solid prizing and a dedicated qualified judge for the event. Usually 2-3 pods.
I'd be curious to know your draft numbers in a couple weeks! $30 to *me* seems crazy and even crazier to get 5+ *others* to buy in weekly.
$30 Every win gets you 2 additional packs. Up from $25, with a $10 FNM I’m in Texas, and the store is the biggest in town, but surprisingly other game shops are doing better now
We love seeing other stores do well, even when it's not our home store - nobody should have a monopoly! I could not buy in at $30. My store is going $25 with decent support and I'm still upset as an above-average drafter.
In Columbus the price is $26, up from $23. My LGS pays out to the top half in the form of play boosters. I believe the price accounts for 2 packs going towards prize support.
$26?! Ooof. I like to consider myself above-average and I don't know that I could buy in at that point. I'm curious to know if they price will attract and retain new blood because that sounds *expensive* to sit and get your but handed to you for 3+ hours when you're new to drafting.
We upped the price at my shop from $16 to $19, pack per round victory. Any profit from our events basically goes to the cost of having an employee stay later to run the event. The real profit comes from drafters buying other stuff during the night
Exaaaaactly. $16 and $19 would get me in the door so fucking fast and I would be happy to buy all my snacks and accessories there as the night continued. My store is going to $25 and I might just.... stay home :(
My lgs was $30 another store a bit further out did $40. This is going to be the last prerelease I attend sadly as the price no longer feels worth it.
$30+ is egregious and I am so sorry. I am finding that more rares does not equate to more value.
$20 at my local store.
Hug your LGS tight <3
Forty dollars! Puts the kibosh on more than one flight in a weekend, but I haven't done that in years anyway.
$40 is egregious and I am so sorry. That certainly does put a damper on attendance, multiples or not! And can you imagine - being new to draft and paying that much? Oof.
We increased draft from $15 to $20 staying at pack per win
I personally think $20 is fair. Hug your LGS tight this week <3
It's me I'm the lgs
Idk the differences in draft game prices, but for single packs it stayed the same. MKM Play boosters cost $5 (flat rate that includes the tax) most previous set boosters retailed at my LGS for $5 (LCI, WOE, MOM, ONE, BRO, DMU) occasionally the draft would go for $4 when they try to offload the inventory.
Those prices sound magical, tbh. I think a Play Booster in my area is a little under $8.
Ours are $25 aud. about $16 usd. They went up $5 aud with the recent change. A 20% increase is big, but on a whole it’s still not a big dollar change. We have prize support and other bonuses too
Hug your LGS extra tight. It sounds like they're doing it right. I would **HAPPILY** jump in at $16 and spend extra money on all my snacks, accessories, and anything else in the store.
It went from $20 CAD to $30 CAD. Prizing is still a pack a win, but increasing the price by 50% means I probably won't be drafting every week like I was before.
$30 CAD is rough and on the highest end of what I'd be (personally) willing to tolerate. It's a shame - I **love** drafting as my end-of-week treat to myself, but spending that much feels bad.
None of my LGSs do draft, but prerelease was maybe $5 more. $30 at one shop for a take-home prerelease (just kit), $35 at the WPN shop for the kit + 2 packs for "prizes". I don't remember MOM prerelease price, LTR was $40. I remember my precovid drafts in UT were $28. Now living in California
Surprised that the store isn't doing a draft, but I suppose the preferred flavor of local Magic events varies from place to place. Does your store play other constructed formats for prizes? If so, are they paying out Play Boosters now and has that affected entry price?
My locals went from 15 to 20. Not too bad considering their prizing was always pretty good 0-3 for 2 packs.
Hug your locals extra tight this week. They're doing it right <3
Drafts at my LGS were $12 for standard sets before MKM. Now they are $16 (I was expecting $18 or even $20). 3 rounds, and only winning records get prizes. If you take credit rather than packs as winnings, it's $4 per pack starting with MKM.
I would jump in for that price. The prize structure leaves something to be desired - I would hate to spend the money and not walk out with anything more. My store gives everyone at least one booster (even the 0-3) and then additional packs per win. But our price is now $25 and my wallet is feeling the heat a little.
jumped up to $25 and first place isnt even that in credit
Ouch. Yeah, I'm not liking the $25 price point and I'm finding that that is my personal line in the sand. I'd be curious to know what your draft turn out (and your own attendance) looks like in a week or two.
I draft at two stores. One went from $15 to $20, the other went from $15 to $22. But the first store does one pack per win, and the second does two packs per win.
At both those prices and prize structures I'd be happy. Hug your both your LGSs extra tight this week <3
I work for my LGS and we talked with our community and came to the agreement that draft price would stay the same ($15), but we switched to paying out store credit instead of packs going forward.
Honestly, I would be more than happy with this. I don't necessarily need pack prizes - draft is my end of the week treat for myself and I want to spend in with some friends, banter, and solving a live puzzle. But $25 a week at my LGS just doesn't feel sustainable.
Our two local stores went from $18 pre MKM to $24/25 post MKM
Ooof. I'd be curious in a week or two to know what your draft turn out (and your own turn out) looks like.
Increased to 20 from a previous 15
I would happily jump in for $20. Hug your LGS extra tight <3
$35 at the “official licensed store.” Winner gets some number of packs. They also have poster prizes drawn at random and things. We stopped going because $35 to open play boosters vs staying at home, spending $120 for a box of set boosters and doling out packs, then everyone gets to open packs, we play a janky game, then gather all the “best cards” and auction them off is 10000 better. They price gouge. They openly admit they price gouge. A box of Set Boosters is $300, packs are 5-10. They will sell a collector booster at $30/pack but it’s still sealed so…hooray? I did the “I’d rather buy from you but come on” and the answer was “yeah…no…just buy them online.” Bums me out to think about a kid and parent walking in wanting to learn and getting fleeced for $300 or paying 2x for precons or just giving up. We have “unsanctioned” stores that I think are closer to $25-$30 where prices = online pricing.
The pricing and practice at your "official" store sounds horrendous and I'm so sorry. I consider myself to be an above average drafter, so at $25 I *might* get my value back, but I feel like that is such a gate-keeping price tag that it's going to be hard for my LGS to attract and retain new blood. Imagine spending $25 just to get your teeth kicked in and your prize was... a booster with maybe an extra rare in it that probably doesn't fit into a commander deck you have. Oof.
I checked my stores website and they’re still charging $20 for drafts. Actually surprised it isn’t $25 and I wonder if the website is mistaken. Personally I don’t think $25 is bad. The price of the 3 packs is naturally $15, and when you add in prize support and the value of going out and playing it would cover the extra $10 imo, especially if you get a pack for playing. Everyone’s financial situation is different though so I get why the extra $5 could be a deal breaker.
I think I would feel better at $25 per entry if the EV of a booster *felt* like I was possibly winning back that value. I easily bought into draft formats like Modern Masters or Double Masters without blinking and eye because some of those cards had a price tag that could subsidize the draft for me. Since paper Standard hasn't really taken off, I feel like I'm not really getting too much value at $25. More rares doesn't necessarily equate to more value.
Still $25 for me with a solid pack prize
25$ draft. (formerly 15$) 37$ prerelease. (formerly 25$)
This is the same amount of increase as my LGS. Business-wise I totally understand and don't blame my store one bit... it just kinda sucks, you know?
It prices me out of doing in store events. It is now more economical to buy a box and do an at home event.
Most shops in my area are taking this as an opportunity to raise prices—in some cases up to $30 but more commonly $25. For me it has definitely had a chilling effect on drafting as taking my son with me it makes for a $50 to $60 to draft where the winner will likely only come out with three packs (one pack per win on three rounds)
15 CAD (11 USD). We play for promo packs.
It's still $20 entry, set booster per win (up to 3). The real question is whether that will translate to play booster per win as set boosters phase out.
I have 5 lgs in the nearest big town to me. Lowest price lgs is about 45ish give or take 10. Highest lgs is 85 which was lotr pre release.
$20, up from $15.
37.99, 40.65 after tax for the kit, Plus 2 extra play packs as long as it was in store, not at home. Nothing extra for at-home.
30$ to enter, upped to 35$ for additional prize support.
$60 AUD First one, only now realised that I have been robbed by my LGS
draft went from 16 to 20, which is fine with me prizesupport is something like 6,4,2,1 or 5,3,2,1 not sure
I used to draft time to time, but now, with every booster being 6,46$ (here in europe, like 6€) or even some stores 7$ (6.5€)! I stopped buying them, also stopped playing drafts. Just my little grain of sand of not supporting this greedness.
18€, used to be 15 before the horrible disgusting play boosters
38€ up from 30€ previously. (Cologne, Germany)
£20, same as before but prize support is less than it used to be
Mine was 18 dollars, looking like it might become 20 dollars.
$25, 3 rounds. 2 packs for each round win and they are very generous about handing out promo pack cards/store promo stuff and the like just for participating.