When I decided to start collecting Magic cards again I was quickly shocked at how expensive the booster packs had become.  Ten years ago, when I stopped playing / collecting, I could get a 15 card booster for about $2.00 which wasn't too shabby.  Obviously investing in a draft pack or just grabbing a booster was an easy impulse buy.

That's no longer the case.  With booster packs now selling for $3.99 it's much harder to justify picking one up three or four.  Even Tournament Packs jumped to a whopping $12.00-ish (previously about $8.50.)

I still wanted to collect but I was going to have to find a way to make it a bit more economical.

Thank goodness for the internet.  AFter some hard work I've managed to find several sources that have cut my booster cost back down to around $2.00 give or take.

If you're looking to buy some cheap boosters, tournament packs or theme decks here are some of the things you can try:

1. Buy Bulk: While it may be a bit more expensive up front buying booster boxes (rather than packs) can cut down your cost dramatically.  At retail 36 booster packs comes to around $144.00 - buying a booster box on eBay can cost under $100 shipped.  One seller I use frequently, Baseball Card Collectibles, offers current set booster boxes for $91 shipped via UPS - that's $2.53 per booster or me $50 per box.  Savy buyers can easily turn this around selling the boosters at $3- $4 each for a decent profit!
2. Amazon: Amazon is a tricky place to buy Magic boosters mostly because there are a lot of sellers who tack on hidden charges.  While you can easily find a booster listed for $1 when you go to get it shipped you might get hit with a $4 shipping charge.  What's worse is that many sellers don't discount large purchases.  Buy 10 booster packs that are listed at $1 each and you may get stuck paying 10 separate shipping charges.  That doesn't mean you can't get cheap boosters on Amazon though.  When buying on Amazon use your shopping cart before making a purchase.  Check to see if extra shipping charges are added and always confirm your total before checking out.  There are a couple of good sellers that offer boosters for under $3 and who only charge you one shipping charge regardless of the order size.  I've found one seller who has cheap Morningtide boosters ($1.75 / booster) who doesn't add up hike shipping charges as an example.
3. Buy Tournament Packs: This is a 50/50 and really depends on your goals.  If you're looking to just boost your collection than a Tournament Pack can be a good buy - but only if you're not paying full price.  A Tournament Pack has the same number of rares, uncommons and commons as three booster packs - but it's priced slightly higher at retail.  On both eBay and Amazon you can find Tournament Packs for a discount though.  With a little work I've found several Tournament Packs for around $8 each which is a good deal considering the extra land pack that comes with it.

The trick in all of these cases is to be smart about your buying.  Generally I've found that buying boosters is a great way to kick start collecting a set but it fails miserably at finishing one.  The after market on individual cards (or even playsets) is so strong that you can often buy the last 20 or so cards you need very cheaply at your local comic shop.  Depending on the strength of the card in the current state of the game you can even buy playsets of individual cards for under $2.00 on eBay.

I've recently started collecting Magic cards again solely out of nostalgia (thought I am considering hitting up one of the local Friday Night Magic meetings.)

One thing that has me shocked is the general absence of any Magic the Gathering related blogs. It seems the majority of search results for the terms "Magic the Gathering" and "MtG" lead solely to official pages or card dealers.

A quick search on Technorati reveals less activity for the term than I expected. There are apparently a slew of Youtube videos (many appear to be straight from Wizards of the Coast) but other than that information is scarce.

Major bummer - I was hoping to locate a blog for beginners or "newbs." It's been so long since I last played, and the game has changed so immensely, that I'm pretty much starting fresh. With the exception of a few boosters and theme decks I've picked up solely on a whim when at the bookstore I haven't seriously collected since 5th edition.

Maybe I found a niche, maybe I'm just missing something. Either way I figured this would be a good opportunity to restart this blog. If you're interested in Magic the Gathering keep your eyes peeled for some more posts.