I got two DEX boxes from Connecticon for $85. What's the most profitable thing to do with them now? I thought I would be playing next season, but now I'm not so sure.
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Dark Explorers Boxes
- Thread starter Paperfairy
- Start date
From DEX, TrollAndToad lists the money cards as; Archeops ($12), Darkrai EX ($28, $44 for fullart), Entei EX ($15, $22 full art), Gardevoir ($15), Groudon EX ($18, $24 full art), Kyogre EX ($12 and $15), Golden Catcher ($43), Raikou EX ($15, $22), and Tornadus EX ($22, $25).
All of these cards are at Ultra Rare level. Out of 111 cards in the set, 15 are worth money. It's usually a 1-in-6 chance of having an ultra rare in place of a regular rare. Thus, you will open about 6 Ultra Rares. The range of money you can make here depends obviously on what you crack, but assuming worst case (6 Kyogre EX) and best case (6 FA Darkrai EX/Golden Catcher), your money range goes from $72 (loss) to $200+. Of course, the probability of both happening are miniscule. In the end, unless you open at least 1 FA Darkrai EX or Golden Catcher (2/15 chance, technically less because "shiny" cards and FA are slightly rarer than your average Ultra Rare), you won't be making money selling them off. Unless you want to build a deck that contains cards primarily from DEX, then cracking the packs and selling individually will not make you much money, and you'll be left with a ton of junk commons to show for it.
In Magic, a very common thing to do with boxes if you're looking to get a return on them is to draft with the packs. If you can find the people who are willing to pay, then you can offer people a lower price. You bought the two boxes for $85 each, meaning you put in $170 and have 72 packs. Thus, you can afford to charge people up to $7.50 for the draft (about $1 more per person if they want a prize pool) and still make a profit; this is significantly cheaper than the drafts where I go to.
You'll have trouble selling the entire box as a sealed product because DEX isn't really the most demanded set (and even less so once DRX happens), and by selling individual packs, people get suspicious if you aren't a proper retailer. You could try selling them onto your LGS for a low markup, but remember that they need to make money too. After all, usually DEX boxes go for $90-95, so you haven't really done that well as it is. At least by offering cheap drafts to people who are interested (if you have a local league), you can get people playing.
All of these cards are at Ultra Rare level. Out of 111 cards in the set, 15 are worth money. It's usually a 1-in-6 chance of having an ultra rare in place of a regular rare. Thus, you will open about 6 Ultra Rares. The range of money you can make here depends obviously on what you crack, but assuming worst case (6 Kyogre EX) and best case (6 FA Darkrai EX/Golden Catcher), your money range goes from $72 (loss) to $200+. Of course, the probability of both happening are miniscule. In the end, unless you open at least 1 FA Darkrai EX or Golden Catcher (2/15 chance, technically less because "shiny" cards and FA are slightly rarer than your average Ultra Rare), you won't be making money selling them off. Unless you want to build a deck that contains cards primarily from DEX, then cracking the packs and selling individually will not make you much money, and you'll be left with a ton of junk commons to show for it.
In Magic, a very common thing to do with boxes if you're looking to get a return on them is to draft with the packs. If you can find the people who are willing to pay, then you can offer people a lower price. You bought the two boxes for $85 each, meaning you put in $170 and have 72 packs. Thus, you can afford to charge people up to $7.50 for the draft (about $1 more per person if they want a prize pool) and still make a profit; this is significantly cheaper than the drafts where I go to.
You'll have trouble selling the entire box as a sealed product because DEX isn't really the most demanded set (and even less so once DRX happens), and by selling individual packs, people get suspicious if you aren't a proper retailer. You could try selling them onto your LGS for a low markup, but remember that they need to make money too. After all, usually DEX boxes go for $90-95, so you haven't really done that well as it is. At least by offering cheap drafts to people who are interested (if you have a local league), you can get people playing.
I've found the EX era gives you about 3 EX's per box, and then maybe a secret rare. Our group has opened a good few of them.
I would say that a draft is probably the easiest way to try and sell your packs off. If you got 6 people paying $35 each for a draft where say... you get 6 packs for the draft + energy, and then everyone opens 4 afterwards for fun, and throw 12 into a pooled pick, that'd be pretty decent. You only need like $28.33 from everyone to break even, so you'd be up about $40. That said, getting people to play for that much is hard, even if it is a decent deal on individual packs. Not many people just want to drop $35.
If you can get more people than that, then you can charge less and give out less packs per person, which is ideal. Just play with the numbers until you find a happy median, talk to friends etc... and get an idea of who would go, and then decide on a final price and your total # of players you can handle.
I would say that a draft is probably the easiest way to try and sell your packs off. If you got 6 people paying $35 each for a draft where say... you get 6 packs for the draft + energy, and then everyone opens 4 afterwards for fun, and throw 12 into a pooled pick, that'd be pretty decent. You only need like $28.33 from everyone to break even, so you'd be up about $40. That said, getting people to play for that much is hard, even if it is a decent deal on individual packs. Not many people just want to drop $35.
If you can get more people than that, then you can charge less and give out less packs per person, which is ideal. Just play with the numbers until you find a happy median, talk to friends etc... and get an idea of who would go, and then decide on a final price and your total # of players you can handle.
How many packs would you be drafting :S Pokemon needs more packs than magic to have a deck function much. Magic drafts settle for 20 card decks, but a Pokemon draft has evolution lines, and probably wants a 40 card deck, with a recommended 6 packs opened as your pool to choose from.
In response to Zystral: I'm not sure how Pokémon works but I know that there a quotas of cards by rarity per box of YuGiOh packs. If they work the same way, (which someone would have to verify,) if you pull a higher rarity card, you could consider not opening the remainder of the packs because you know that they won't contain a card as rare as the pack before. Once again, this is how YGO works, I'm only assuming it works the same for Pokémon
"20 card deck"
Both Magic and Pokemon operate off 3-pack drafts, minimum. You could do a 6-pack draft for Pokemon for consistency reasons, but I've always drafted 3 packs and never found much of a problem.
For the record, Magic's 3-pack drafts also result in 40 card decks.
I don't want to get into this argument, so regardless; charging people for a draft enough that you'll break even is the best thing to do; you'll unlikely make a profit opening the packs and selling singles, and selling individual packs or boxes is even harder.
I don't know anybody that plays IRL who would be interested in drafting, so it sounds like I'm operating at a loss, yes?
If they're 20 card decks that works, I just find drafts to be more fun opening more packs :P It's also sometimes easier to find a smaller group of more dedicated players than it is to advertise and try to get a larger group, so it's fair to look at both options on the table. Also, good to know, thought they were 20 card decks in magic.
And yeah, breaking even is the most important part. But even $30 for 12 packs worth of cards is not too shabby a deal for most people, so it's not the hardest thing to sell, you just need to know people.
Seeing as Magic and Pokemon both operate off VERY similar mechanics (resource cards and action cards), I cannot see how you can build an effective 20 card deck for either.
On topic again;
If you have absolutely nobody to draft with, then trying to sell the boxes sealed on eBay for a low markup (like $90, that way you break even after eBay fees) is probably your best bet at unloading them and making your money back. That said, there's nothing wrong with trying to use the cards for any reason. If your local league supports casual/Unlimited play, then by all means you can use the cards if you want.
Also, while it is unadvised, if you are desperate, cracking the packs in hopes of Golden Catchers and Full-Art Darkrai EXes can be fruitful. In reality you would only need to open 2 in any combination of FA Darkrai EX and Golden Catcher to break even, and while the chances are low, they aren't catching-a-shiny low. It's very possible, and it's likely that even if you open only 1 card that's more than $20, you can come very close to breaking even. Worst case scenario you lose $10 by opening a bunch of Archeops instead of Darkrai.
On topic again;
If you have absolutely nobody to draft with, then trying to sell the boxes sealed on eBay for a low markup (like $90, that way you break even after eBay fees) is probably your best bet at unloading them and making your money back. That said, there's nothing wrong with trying to use the cards for any reason. If your local league supports casual/Unlimited play, then by all means you can use the cards if you want.
Also, while it is unadvised, if you are desperate, cracking the packs in hopes of Golden Catchers and Full-Art Darkrai EXes can be fruitful. In reality you would only need to open 2 in any combination of FA Darkrai EX and Golden Catcher to break even, and while the chances are low, they aren't catching-a-shiny low. It's very possible, and it's likely that even if you open only 1 card that's more than $20, you can come very close to breaking even. Worst case scenario you lose $10 by opening a bunch of Archeops instead of Darkrai.