For Adventures in the Forgotten Realms, I took a new collecting approach. As mentioned a few months ago, there are now many different types of Magic packs, which is confusing. Draft boosters were the staple for decades, but now we have set, theme, and collector boosters as well. How does one approach this?
It depends, of course, on what you want. The idea behind set boosters, as the name implies, is that this type of pack is better for those interested in collecting the set- which is generally my interest. It has (proportionately) more uncommons, rares, and mythic rares than draft boosters. In the past, I'd buy a draft booster box and generally end up with playset (4 copies) of the commons, but ~100 uncommons (about 25% of the way to a playset of those) and ~36 rares & mythics (nowhere near a playset). If you buy more packs, you accumulate so many extra commons. For AFR, I decided to go with a set booster box instead. How did I fare?
Well, it turns out. The set booster is appropriately named. I ended up buying two set booster boxes, and was very pleased with the percentage of playsets I ended up with across commons and uncommons (I have this data somewhere- I think- and will add it to this post when I find it). I got a healthy chunk of rares and mythics, too (even a playset of one mythic card). In short, I'm now on-board with set boosters. Theme and collector boosters, not so much.
Draft boosters will, I suspect, continue to be the mainstay of Magic- and rightfully so. Drafting is a really fun experience. But these set boosters are also a nice option for those uninterested in drafting.
