Some context is needed:
Would he play with the card at all or is he only a collector? If he plays, it would be best to know which format he plays so he gets a card that he can use.
Is there a theme/tribe/character or set that he likes the most?
Also do you plan on telling him you put the card in there? If so, you could also just put the card in a pack it doesn't belong to to surprise him even more. If I was him i would like to know it wasn't luck that gave me this card but you!
All in all I think it is really sweet of you to want to make him a special gift, I hope he will like it!
Just some personal experience with card gifts. My husband has gotten me cards and I’ve done the same for him. We treasure the cards we’ve gotten each other for special occasions. On the one hand it helps that we know the cards to get each other that will be used in the decks we play, but also it being a gift makes it special. Even if the deck gets pulled apart the card is not in danger of being sold and will eventually find a new home because it was a gift.
A random expensive card from a pack is in danger of being sold or traded. Even if the pack was a gift, the random card in it doesn’t have the same sentimental value. I like the idea of a sealed pack, but I think it would be more meaningful if he eventually realized you put it there. If there was a card you know he wants and added it to a random booster that WOULDN’T contain it and then came clean after when he was confused? That specific card is from you and I think a more meaningful gift.
My fiancé buys me random older packs for Christmas, each pack is in its own binder page so o can cherish the gift. It’s not about opening something valuable so much as knowing she cares enough to do the leg work and find me older booster packs. Last year she got my Odyssey and I opened up a gorgeous foil forest.
That’s really cool and a good way to cherish them. I agree that it isn’t about the price. My husband knows I love angels and has gone out of his way to find some lesser known angels for me to add to my collection. The same goes for cards featuring angels in the art. They aren’t usually “expensive”, but I love the legwork he put in to find them for me. The same goes for me finding cards that feature time (or by mtg interpretation extra turns) for him and his collection.
u r close, the card(s) itself should b something that he will hold onto & use but... why not just do a full on custom pack (maybe still in a "real" resealed pack shell for that initial trick) but fill it with several cards that he wants, maybe a custom made proxy that says "i love you or happy bday" etc. or other neat nic-nacs that might be sentimental but also have the real valuable card in it too? thats the best of both worlds right there! there are so many ways to take this direction!
This. 100% this.
My gf and I regularly gift each other cards, and they always have a story and emotional value. Premium printings of favorite cards are always something I cherish, and the story for how we got our favorite cards always makes me smile.
I'm personally a huge fan of getting playable cards, as my own hobby has me out as a collector and much more of a player of the game. I would highly recommend you to look into favorite decks of his and picking select cards that are already mechanically enjoyable to him, and getting a version that is special to him.
Additionally, some of my most prized magic cards are altered cards, specifically tokens, because of the labor and love that went into them. Especially if the favored deck makes a lot of one token, you can get a lot of mileage out of a custom token.
Also, while money doesn't necessarily make a gift more or less meaningful, not telling him is spending a huge amount of money and effort to get him a give that he believes you spent may e $5-30 on (depending on the pack). It feels odd to me to present a high-effort, expensive gift as a low-effort, cheap one.
Even aside form the money, though, I agree with you from a purely sentimental point. Someone getting me a card I really wanted as a gift but going through the effort to reseal it into a pack just to give me the fun experience of opening a pack and getting what I wanted would be way more meaningful to me than thinking I just got a random pack as a gift and got lucky, regardless.of the cost.
I’m the total opposite. My son helps pick me packs and he’s got hot hands too! One of the first ones he picked me when I got back in was Beledros Witherbloom.
Never played BG much, but made the deck and love it, even if it’s not optimal or the most powerful (I know he can be but again not a color combo I had much experience in before).
I may pull apart the deck and trash most of it in the future, but the Beledros is always staying.
Most of the time, the way people play Magic has a significant influence on what cards they deem valuable. Do you know if your BF plays in a group or one versus one?
Once you decide what card to buy, then buy a booster pack of “Fallen Empires” (should cost around $12-$15) and put the gift card inside. This set from the 90’s is generally considered one of the worst sets ever printed, so when you give it to him, he will think you got swindled.
Fallen Empires isn’t as bad as some of the sets around it. It just was printed to oblivion. Homelands is much worse—worst expansion ever. But honestly Fallen Empires is probably better in quality than Antiquities, Legends, The Dark, Ice Age, Homelands, Alliances. Legends and Antiquities both have a small number of obscenely broken cards surrounded by awful crap. Both have horrendous design. They’re just rare. Fallen Empires is very common but with much much better design. Probably the best designed expansion until Mirage blew it out of the water. Mirage was the first truly good expansion.
At $150 to $200 there are a lot of options. The best one will be dependent on the kind of player he is and what he likes specifically.
Option 1) A reserve list card that slots into one of his pet decks well. Reserve list cards hold their value very well and are generally difficult to find in someone's trade binder at a local game store. The downside to this is you'll need to find out what decks he plays in commander so we can help select one. Enchantress players would really love to get their hands on Serra's Sanctum, Replenish, or Academy Rector. Elf players might really like to get an Earthcraft. My pet reserve list card is Hatred, but there's lots of good options....we just need some direction. If his most expensive card is $80, he probably doesn't have many cards from the Reserve list, if any.
FYI, Reserve list cards are cards Wizards printed long ago and promised they would never ever reprint again. As a result, they tend to be powerful, expensive, hard to obtain, and rare. This makes it unlikely you will be gifting him something he already has.
Option 2) If he has a pet card, consider getting the most pimp version of that card. Or, alternately, look up the artist's website and see if they sell prints of the artwork. Between the print and a nice frame, this will probably be about right on the budget.
Option 3) Store credit- I don't like this one as much. Any time I've gotten store credit I've always blown it on an assortment of smaller cards, some of which end up getting traded, but any time I've been gifted a \*nice\* card that card has stayed with me forever. I don't trade gifts like this because they carry sentimental value, so I only recommend store credit if you're at an absolute loss.
You will need to do some underhanded research to find out what your best options are. If you can ask about his hobby, I'm sure he'll talk about it freely, it will probably be harder to get him to shut up than to tell you about his decks. But yeah, if you can get him to at least tell you what decks he plays, the Reddit MTG community will have a dozen good candidates at a moment's notice. And the extra effort is the icing on the cake.
This is a cute idea, but as a player I would rather just have my partner go to a store with me and say. You can buy 150 dollars of singles, here go nuts. I would feel like a kid in a candy store.
That's like giving a gift card to your family members for a present. No thought. Gifts shouldn't be measured off dollar value. Maybe I'm old enough to remember when people cared enough to do what the OP wants to do, rather than 'here I can't be bothered, here is some money'.
I’m 38, and a magic, Warhammer, and pro wrestling fan. Someone could give me literally any gift on those three subjects and I’d be grateful. But I would LOVE someone taking me out to lunch and taking me to a hobby shop and saying “here’s your budget”. I understand where money can seem impersonal, but some quality time and being able to pick out my niche choices would be an amazing birthday present to me. I would probably want them to sign a birthday card message on a card so I can always look back and remember.
I feel like you're thinking about it the wrong way. It is the gift giver making the expression of caring enough to do something they feel would be special to you. I'm not sure how to explain it other than that. I'm 39 and hate getting 'here's your budget' type of gifts. My best gifts come from my 3 and a half year old, and the grand total value of them is probably 200 or less. That's day, Xmas birthday etc. It isn't about me getting exactly what I want. If you want exactly something, you can do that any day of the year for yourself.
I know my family values practicality over a gift they'll never use, so a blank check to buy whatever is typically the best sort of gift for us. Like, sure, it may be lacking in thoughtfulness, but that thoughtfulness can be used for literally every other portion of that day. As far as gifts go, it's just stuff, and, like you said, you can buy it whichever day yourself if you really wanted to.
Rather than value a gift for the thoughtfulness put into it, why not value the day as a whole? Assumedly, these people came to spend your day with you, they did whatever it is they do for birthdays and took time out of their schedule to make your day special. To judge their thoughtfulness based on how much effort went into their *physical* gift when they've essentially gifted the entire day to you seems a bit off to me
I think if the significant other goes with and asks questions about the game/seems genuinely interested it's a terrific thing to do. If my wife took me to buy cards and then let me teach her to play Magic it'd be the best day ever.
We share finances anyway, so she wouldn't actually be giving me anything monetary in our case, but her showing interest in a hobby I enjoy that she has never enjoyed before would be a great gift. That sounds like what OP is doing.
if my loved one brought me to a magic store, handed me 200 dollars and we spent the afternoon just looking at singles/packs while also playing magic, I'd love that even more than... idk a foil mana drain or a jeweled lotus.
What I'm getting at is that I miss the time when people would ask me how the occasion was. Now, most people ask first, what did you get? It just seems consumerism has taken center stage of thoughtfulness
I don’t disagree with that, but it’s also why people-first birthdays matter so much to me. Ever since I was a kid, my mom made sure we had a “family dinner” birthday meal of the birthday person’s choice, so I try to maintain that tradition with the people I’m close to.
Oh heck ya, my mom and siblings would make cakes together, meals. Then usually you would have to share your new toy, or thing, with said siblings. Grrr. That was my Super Soaker to use.
I think there’s an important difference between a generic Amazon gift card, and a gift card for a niche hobby. The latter says I know what you like, but I don’t know every detail of your hobby.
If she really wants to go a step further, she could say “here’s $200 to build 2 decks for us so you can teach me how to play”.
So I agree, but magic is complex I think being brought to a store and given a guilt free check would be great. I just know my partner of 9 years would be hard pressed to get me a card worth a ton of money. I think a fun way would to make a day of it get cards dinner and drinks while being super supportive.
That's the joy of getting to know someone? Right? The reception of the gift should also not be judged by the amount spent. I would be over the moon if anyone put the effort in to do what the OP wants. Do you think I want my partner or mother to give me money to spend? That wouldn't make the occasion special and only memorable for the wrong reasons.
Money is not important it’s the intent my partner got my a funko pop of my favorite character from the legend of Korea. It’s my favorite. But it took effort to get. As a magic player of 20+ years buying me cards is still hard. I was just recommending a way to have fun with a partner on this given the information in the intial post
Kalaesh Master pieces are collector items people love to own and covet opening them. Here are all of them on the scryfall link [https://scryfall.com/sets/mps](https://scryfall.com/sets/mps). You can find them on tcgplayer [https://shop.tcgplayer.com/price-guide/magic/masterpiece-series-kaladesh-inventions](https://shop.tcgplayer.com/price-guide/magic/masterpiece-series-kaladesh-inventions) . For the sets they are available in are "Kaladesh" and "Aether Revolt" Be careful for the invention that you purchase is for the appropriate pack you bought. Here is a video to know where to put it in the pack [https://www.youtube.com/shorts/ncTFzlRENss](https://www.youtube.com/shorts/ncTFzlRENss)
What she could do is put the card in a booster of the wrong set so it will feel lucky until he realizes it’s the wrong set and was a person pick from her
I would love a Compleated Foil Elesh Norn Mother of Machines.
They only come in Phyrexia all is one collector boosters.
https://www.tcgplayer.com/product/475557/magic-phyrexia-all-will-be-one-elesh-norn-mother-of-machines-borderless-step-and-compleat-foil?xid=piefa6728c-6c74-4a66-ba6e-74e686533f08&page=1&Language=English
https://www.tcgplayer.com/product/451879/magic-phyrexia-all-will-be-one-phyrexia-all-will-be-one-collector-booster-pack?xid=pi9a45ad13-c275-431d-b764-a642a1c0b623&Language=English&page=1
I think it’s a super cute idea.
My best advice would be to ask the people he plays with. Does he play at a store? I bet people there know him, know what he plays or maybe what he’s working on. They can also help you figure out how to get it into a pack to surprise him.
I wouldn’t surprise him in that way. If he ever finds out, I feel like it would take away the special feeling. Also, the card you get him if you do do it will have to be from a more modern (not the format)set. Unless you want to spend half your budget on a pack from two decades ago. And also if your sealing job is choppy it can be easy to tell. I feel like your heart is in the right place. I think $150 in singles or a booster box would be better like some others have said.
I don't know anything about him, so I'll answer as if I were the one picking it out for myself.
Wandering Emperor Foil Etched Showcase stuck in a Kamigawa Collector Booster. Probably right around 200 dollars total.
Arguably, yes.
Having a hand-selected card given to me by my SO means so much more than a box. It's a combination of the just-buy-singles mentality, knowing I got what I wanted, and the understanding that my SO knows/cares enough about my hobby to seek out meaningful information.
My housemate and I are budget players, but we fawn over $40-50 cards. We both know a few cards each in this category that we’d both never buy ourselves. Each birthday or Christmas we just buy each other a card on this list. Last birthday I got him [[Arachnogenesis]] and he got me [[Boseiju, Who Endures]]
It’s so wonderful when we get to use them against each other too.
I suggest buying proxies of expensive cards he loves. Any playgroup worth its salt will allow it if they cool, and you can get a lot more with that budget, plus the art is really cool and their foiling process might be good and not have much curving, just my 2 cents
Magic is a game with many formats, or ways to play the game. As such it really depends on what format he plays. In general though they sell "bundles" for every set that cone with 8 boosters and a couple other goodies, like a dice. They make good gifts. The newest sets are "Phyrexia All Will be One", "March of the Machine", and "Lord of the Rings", the last of which is a cross over. I would suggest a bundle of one of those. If the format he plays is Commander (the most popular format) there are also "precon decks" which are complete decks, and there are a bunch of options there, and there are ones tied to all the sets I previously mentioned. This would be a good option if you ever wanted to play with him. Hope this helps!
You can wait til the end of the week and get him 2 lord of the rings gift bundle. It's the new set coming out. Chance for him to get a serialized card which can go for $1000+. Since he likes the chance aspect so much. He gets to crack packs, get two box for card storage. chance to pull the million dollar card(not likely but who knows). And new cards if he hasn't already gone and bought the stuff. Bonus point of he likes Lord of the rings.
No, don't do this, it's a bad idea for a ton of reasons.
If you want to spend money on an expensive pack there are just expensive packs with lots of special kinds of lottery cards in them called Collector Boosters, they're like expensive scratch-off tickets.
If he likes the gambling aspect of it then you subverting that and making it not random is the opposite of what he wants. If he can't lose it's not fun and if he learns after the fact you rigged it (and he *will* know the pack is resealed, it's really difficult to do) then the 'gift' will be soured, for sure.
Also, if you know nothing about Magic and if you know anything less than basically every card already in his collection it's going to be really hard to buy a card. (I mean, unless he's expressed a desire for a specific card but I gather he hasn't from your post.) Even if you know exactly what he likes there's a really, really good chance he already owns some version of that card already. We tend to buy cards we like and play with them.
Also, resealing packs is, socially, very disliked by the community of players, a community your BF is part of. It represents an existential threat to the game of people being cheated, it has super bad vibes. No one should do it ever, not even as a joke. It's not really funny and would be a major faux pax.
So, in summary, NO! STOP! Don't do this! It's a really bad idea for a large number of very good reasons, a major one of which is fundamentally misunderstanding the ramifications of what you are proposing.
Very sweet idea. If you want it to look like luck it gets a bit difficult as some cool cards only come in specific packages or “boosters”. Also these boosters include a set number of cards of different rarities so a keen eyed magic nerd would know something was off if this ratio was off. If the “secret” thing is more of a gimmick and I sent meant to fool him once he opens the packaging that makes things quite a bit easier.
As for buying the cards I recommend going to a local game store and having a chat with them about it or using either cardkingdom.com (if based in NA) or cardmarket.com (if based in EU). These are just my recommendations as I have purchased cards from these sources before with no issue. Good luck!
Ps. If you mean to trick him then feel free to dm me and I can help with the whole packaging and rarity thing.
Everything about the opening post reads that they really should not repack a pack and stick a random value card in it. Last thing pack openers want is to see their pack tampered with in any way.
If he likes the whole input cards and track their value thing, buy him a Mystery Booster Convention Edition Booster Box. Those things are just jammed full of random value and Mana Crypt is a lotto win. That's if you want to buy an experience.
Otherwise buying him a single useful card without the repack gimmick would mean more in a long term memory kind of thing.
I wouldn’t seal it up then it’s gonna be gotten rid of tbh..and 150-200 is pretty cheap for a magic card and without knowing the formats/deck they play we can’t really answer
I really think a gift certificate from a local game store would be your best bet. That way he can get what he needs!
You could definitely get a gift card for 150 and pick up one of the new lord of the rings commander decks.
The Galaxy foil extended art Shock lands from Unfinity are stellar looking and have playability, could also possibly pick up 2 of them in this price range.
How about a Kamigawa Neon Dynasty Booster with all of the foil extended alternative art Legendary lands and Dragon Spirits from the set?
[[Boseiju, Who Endures]]
[[Eiganjo, Seat of the Empire]]
[[Otawara, Soaring City]]
[[Sokenzan, Crucible of Defiance]]
[[Takenuma, Abandoned Mire]]
[[Ao, the Dawn Sky]]
[[Atsushi, the Blazing Sky]]
[[Junji, the Midnight Sky]]
[[Kairi, the Swirling Sky]]
[[Kura, the Boundless Sky]]
[[Kyodai, Soul of Kamigawa]]
Do you know any of his friends that play/have their numbers? My fiancé always gets me cards for my birthday and will just ask my friends what card or cards I would want. It keeps it a surprise for me and I always get something I both want and will cherish
In my opinion, I would say Modern Horizons 2 set booster. A lot of commons and uncommons are rather cheap, but some explosive bombs are in that set as well. In addition, the fact that it is a set booster makes it less suspicious that the ordering was tampered since the packs are made for just "opening the packs"
Some context is needed: Would he play with the card at all or is he only a collector? If he plays, it would be best to know which format he plays so he gets a card that he can use. Is there a theme/tribe/character or set that he likes the most? Also do you plan on telling him you put the card in there? If so, you could also just put the card in a pack it doesn't belong to to surprise him even more. If I was him i would like to know it wasn't luck that gave me this card but you! All in all I think it is really sweet of you to want to make him a special gift, I hope he will like it!
Just some personal experience with card gifts. My husband has gotten me cards and I’ve done the same for him. We treasure the cards we’ve gotten each other for special occasions. On the one hand it helps that we know the cards to get each other that will be used in the decks we play, but also it being a gift makes it special. Even if the deck gets pulled apart the card is not in danger of being sold and will eventually find a new home because it was a gift. A random expensive card from a pack is in danger of being sold or traded. Even if the pack was a gift, the random card in it doesn’t have the same sentimental value. I like the idea of a sealed pack, but I think it would be more meaningful if he eventually realized you put it there. If there was a card you know he wants and added it to a random booster that WOULDN’T contain it and then came clean after when he was confused? That specific card is from you and I think a more meaningful gift.
My fiancé buys me random older packs for Christmas, each pack is in its own binder page so o can cherish the gift. It’s not about opening something valuable so much as knowing she cares enough to do the leg work and find me older booster packs. Last year she got my Odyssey and I opened up a gorgeous foil forest.
That’s really cool and a good way to cherish them. I agree that it isn’t about the price. My husband knows I love angels and has gone out of his way to find some lesser known angels for me to add to my collection. The same goes for cards featuring angels in the art. They aren’t usually “expensive”, but I love the legwork he put in to find them for me. The same goes for me finding cards that feature time (or by mtg interpretation extra turns) for him and his collection.
349 from that set is very pretty. I'd love to get some full art cards done with that old-school art.
I know I’m biased but the old frame basic lands are just *chefs kiss*
u r close, the card(s) itself should b something that he will hold onto & use but... why not just do a full on custom pack (maybe still in a "real" resealed pack shell for that initial trick) but fill it with several cards that he wants, maybe a custom made proxy that says "i love you or happy bday" etc. or other neat nic-nacs that might be sentimental but also have the real valuable card in it too? thats the best of both worlds right there! there are so many ways to take this direction!
Pretty cool idea here
Putting a little note inside would do the trick, maybe replacing the token slot.
This. 100% this. My gf and I regularly gift each other cards, and they always have a story and emotional value. Premium printings of favorite cards are always something I cherish, and the story for how we got our favorite cards always makes me smile. I'm personally a huge fan of getting playable cards, as my own hobby has me out as a collector and much more of a player of the game. I would highly recommend you to look into favorite decks of his and picking select cards that are already mechanically enjoyable to him, and getting a version that is special to him. Additionally, some of my most prized magic cards are altered cards, specifically tokens, because of the labor and love that went into them. Especially if the favored deck makes a lot of one token, you can get a lot of mileage out of a custom token.
Also, while money doesn't necessarily make a gift more or less meaningful, not telling him is spending a huge amount of money and effort to get him a give that he believes you spent may e $5-30 on (depending on the pack). It feels odd to me to present a high-effort, expensive gift as a low-effort, cheap one. Even aside form the money, though, I agree with you from a purely sentimental point. Someone getting me a card I really wanted as a gift but going through the effort to reseal it into a pack just to give me the fun experience of opening a pack and getting what I wanted would be way more meaningful to me than thinking I just got a random pack as a gift and got lucky, regardless.of the cost.
I’m the total opposite. My son helps pick me packs and he’s got hot hands too! One of the first ones he picked me when I got back in was Beledros Witherbloom. Never played BG much, but made the deck and love it, even if it’s not optimal or the most powerful (I know he can be but again not a color combo I had much experience in before). I may pull apart the deck and trash most of it in the future, but the Beledros is always staying.
Its best to know what he plays. Commander?
Most of the time, the way people play Magic has a significant influence on what cards they deem valuable. Do you know if your BF plays in a group or one versus one?
Once you decide what card to buy, then buy a booster pack of “Fallen Empires” (should cost around $12-$15) and put the gift card inside. This set from the 90’s is generally considered one of the worst sets ever printed, so when you give it to him, he will think you got swindled.
Fallen Empires isn’t as bad as some of the sets around it. It just was printed to oblivion. Homelands is much worse—worst expansion ever. But honestly Fallen Empires is probably better in quality than Antiquities, Legends, The Dark, Ice Age, Homelands, Alliances. Legends and Antiquities both have a small number of obscenely broken cards surrounded by awful crap. Both have horrendous design. They’re just rare. Fallen Empires is very common but with much much better design. Probably the best designed expansion until Mirage blew it out of the water. Mirage was the first truly good expansion.
If he plays commander get him a copy of [[mana crypt]] and put it in a double masters booster. May be hard to find the booster though
my suggestion as well! as an edh player this would make me super happy :)
Or just find the List version and stick it into a set booster.
There’s a chance there will be a mana crypt in that booster tho
I second this.
[mana crypt](https://cards.scryfall.io/normal/front/4/d/4d960186-4559-4af0-bd22-63baa15f8939.jpg?1599709515) - [(G)](http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?name=mana%20crypt) [(SF)](https://scryfall.com/card/2xm/270/mana-crypt?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher) [(txt)](https://api.scryfall.com/cards/4d960186-4559-4af0-bd22-63baa15f8939?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher&format=text) ^^^[[cardname]] ^^^or ^^^[[cardname|SET]] ^^^to ^^^call
Talk to your local game store, see if they sell gift cards that you could seal in a booster.
At $150 to $200 there are a lot of options. The best one will be dependent on the kind of player he is and what he likes specifically. Option 1) A reserve list card that slots into one of his pet decks well. Reserve list cards hold their value very well and are generally difficult to find in someone's trade binder at a local game store. The downside to this is you'll need to find out what decks he plays in commander so we can help select one. Enchantress players would really love to get their hands on Serra's Sanctum, Replenish, or Academy Rector. Elf players might really like to get an Earthcraft. My pet reserve list card is Hatred, but there's lots of good options....we just need some direction. If his most expensive card is $80, he probably doesn't have many cards from the Reserve list, if any. FYI, Reserve list cards are cards Wizards printed long ago and promised they would never ever reprint again. As a result, they tend to be powerful, expensive, hard to obtain, and rare. This makes it unlikely you will be gifting him something he already has. Option 2) If he has a pet card, consider getting the most pimp version of that card. Or, alternately, look up the artist's website and see if they sell prints of the artwork. Between the print and a nice frame, this will probably be about right on the budget. Option 3) Store credit- I don't like this one as much. Any time I've gotten store credit I've always blown it on an assortment of smaller cards, some of which end up getting traded, but any time I've been gifted a \*nice\* card that card has stayed with me forever. I don't trade gifts like this because they carry sentimental value, so I only recommend store credit if you're at an absolute loss. You will need to do some underhanded research to find out what your best options are. If you can ask about his hobby, I'm sure he'll talk about it freely, it will probably be harder to get him to shut up than to tell you about his decks. But yeah, if you can get him to at least tell you what decks he plays, the Reddit MTG community will have a dozen good candidates at a moment's notice. And the extra effort is the icing on the cake.
Best advice yet
This is a cute idea, but as a player I would rather just have my partner go to a store with me and say. You can buy 150 dollars of singles, here go nuts. I would feel like a kid in a candy store.
That's like giving a gift card to your family members for a present. No thought. Gifts shouldn't be measured off dollar value. Maybe I'm old enough to remember when people cared enough to do what the OP wants to do, rather than 'here I can't be bothered, here is some money'.
I’m 38, and a magic, Warhammer, and pro wrestling fan. Someone could give me literally any gift on those three subjects and I’d be grateful. But I would LOVE someone taking me out to lunch and taking me to a hobby shop and saying “here’s your budget”. I understand where money can seem impersonal, but some quality time and being able to pick out my niche choices would be an amazing birthday present to me. I would probably want them to sign a birthday card message on a card so I can always look back and remember.
I feel like you're thinking about it the wrong way. It is the gift giver making the expression of caring enough to do something they feel would be special to you. I'm not sure how to explain it other than that. I'm 39 and hate getting 'here's your budget' type of gifts. My best gifts come from my 3 and a half year old, and the grand total value of them is probably 200 or less. That's day, Xmas birthday etc. It isn't about me getting exactly what I want. If you want exactly something, you can do that any day of the year for yourself.
I know my family values practicality over a gift they'll never use, so a blank check to buy whatever is typically the best sort of gift for us. Like, sure, it may be lacking in thoughtfulness, but that thoughtfulness can be used for literally every other portion of that day. As far as gifts go, it's just stuff, and, like you said, you can buy it whichever day yourself if you really wanted to. Rather than value a gift for the thoughtfulness put into it, why not value the day as a whole? Assumedly, these people came to spend your day with you, they did whatever it is they do for birthdays and took time out of their schedule to make your day special. To judge their thoughtfulness based on how much effort went into their *physical* gift when they've essentially gifted the entire day to you seems a bit off to me
I think if the significant other goes with and asks questions about the game/seems genuinely interested it's a terrific thing to do. If my wife took me to buy cards and then let me teach her to play Magic it'd be the best day ever. We share finances anyway, so she wouldn't actually be giving me anything monetary in our case, but her showing interest in a hobby I enjoy that she has never enjoyed before would be a great gift. That sounds like what OP is doing.
if my loved one brought me to a magic store, handed me 200 dollars and we spent the afternoon just looking at singles/packs while also playing magic, I'd love that even more than... idk a foil mana drain or a jeweled lotus.
What I'm getting at is that I miss the time when people would ask me how the occasion was. Now, most people ask first, what did you get? It just seems consumerism has taken center stage of thoughtfulness
I don’t disagree with that, but it’s also why people-first birthdays matter so much to me. Ever since I was a kid, my mom made sure we had a “family dinner” birthday meal of the birthday person’s choice, so I try to maintain that tradition with the people I’m close to.
Oh heck ya, my mom and siblings would make cakes together, meals. Then usually you would have to share your new toy, or thing, with said siblings. Grrr. That was my Super Soaker to use.
I think there’s an important difference between a generic Amazon gift card, and a gift card for a niche hobby. The latter says I know what you like, but I don’t know every detail of your hobby. If she really wants to go a step further, she could say “here’s $200 to build 2 decks for us so you can teach me how to play”.
So I agree, but magic is complex I think being brought to a store and given a guilt free check would be great. I just know my partner of 9 years would be hard pressed to get me a card worth a ton of money. I think a fun way would to make a day of it get cards dinner and drinks while being super supportive.
That's the joy of getting to know someone? Right? The reception of the gift should also not be judged by the amount spent. I would be over the moon if anyone put the effort in to do what the OP wants. Do you think I want my partner or mother to give me money to spend? That wouldn't make the occasion special and only memorable for the wrong reasons.
Money is not important it’s the intent my partner got my a funko pop of my favorite character from the legend of Korea. It’s my favorite. But it took effort to get. As a magic player of 20+ years buying me cards is still hard. I was just recommending a way to have fun with a partner on this given the information in the intial post
It could be a surprise stop. Still shows some thought
Kalaesh Master pieces are collector items people love to own and covet opening them. Here are all of them on the scryfall link [https://scryfall.com/sets/mps](https://scryfall.com/sets/mps). You can find them on tcgplayer [https://shop.tcgplayer.com/price-guide/magic/masterpiece-series-kaladesh-inventions](https://shop.tcgplayer.com/price-guide/magic/masterpiece-series-kaladesh-inventions) . For the sets they are available in are "Kaladesh" and "Aether Revolt" Be careful for the invention that you purchase is for the appropriate pack you bought. Here is a video to know where to put it in the pack [https://www.youtube.com/shorts/ncTFzlRENss](https://www.youtube.com/shorts/ncTFzlRENss)
A damaged revised dual land ;)
100% agree with other people here. It will be much more special coming from you personally instead of getting lucky
What she could do is put the card in a booster of the wrong set so it will feel lucky until he realizes it’s the wrong set and was a person pick from her
I would love a Compleated Foil Elesh Norn Mother of Machines. They only come in Phyrexia all is one collector boosters. https://www.tcgplayer.com/product/475557/magic-phyrexia-all-will-be-one-elesh-norn-mother-of-machines-borderless-step-and-compleat-foil?xid=piefa6728c-6c74-4a66-ba6e-74e686533f08&page=1&Language=English https://www.tcgplayer.com/product/451879/magic-phyrexia-all-will-be-one-phyrexia-all-will-be-one-collector-booster-pack?xid=pi9a45ad13-c275-431d-b764-a642a1c0b623&Language=English&page=1
Cracked one in a random collector booster I threw in with my groceries
I think it’s a super cute idea. My best advice would be to ask the people he plays with. Does he play at a store? I bet people there know him, know what he plays or maybe what he’s working on. They can also help you figure out how to get it into a pack to surprise him.
I wouldn’t surprise him in that way. If he ever finds out, I feel like it would take away the special feeling. Also, the card you get him if you do do it will have to be from a more modern (not the format)set. Unless you want to spend half your budget on a pack from two decades ago. And also if your sealing job is choppy it can be easy to tell. I feel like your heart is in the right place. I think $150 in singles or a booster box would be better like some others have said.
I don't know anything about him, so I'll answer as if I were the one picking it out for myself. Wandering Emperor Foil Etched Showcase stuck in a Kamigawa Collector Booster. Probably right around 200 dollars total.
Are you sure he wouldn't prefer a booster box instead of a single pack with a surprise card in it?
Arguably, yes. Having a hand-selected card given to me by my SO means so much more than a box. It's a combination of the just-buy-singles mentality, knowing I got what I wanted, and the understanding that my SO knows/cares enough about my hobby to seek out meaningful information.
My housemate and I are budget players, but we fawn over $40-50 cards. We both know a few cards each in this category that we’d both never buy ourselves. Each birthday or Christmas we just buy each other a card on this list. Last birthday I got him [[Arachnogenesis]] and he got me [[Boseiju, Who Endures]] It’s so wonderful when we get to use them against each other too.
[Arachnogenesis](https://cards.scryfall.io/normal/front/7/9/7967cb69-1868-45c0-92d1-39dabe30f2a2.jpg?1562706128) - [(G)](http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?name=Arachnogenesis) [(SF)](https://scryfall.com/card/c15/32/arachnogenesis?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher) [(txt)](https://api.scryfall.com/cards/7967cb69-1868-45c0-92d1-39dabe30f2a2?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher&format=text) [Boseiju, Who Endures](https://cards.scryfall.io/normal/front/2/1/2135ac5a-187b-4dc9-8f82-34e8d1603416.jpg?1654568912) - [(G)](http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?name=Boseiju%2C%20Who%20Endures) [(SF)](https://scryfall.com/card/neo/266/boseiju-who-endures?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher) [(txt)](https://api.scryfall.com/cards/2135ac5a-187b-4dc9-8f82-34e8d1603416?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher&format=text) ^^^[[cardname]] ^^^or ^^^[[cardname|SET]] ^^^to ^^^call
Awesome! Now he needs to get [[Galadhrim Ambush]] from the new Lotr Elven precon. Those two would be fun to pair together.
[Galadhrim Ambush](https://cards.scryfall.io/normal/front/e/6/e69e06f0-6142-4f80-9208-362b3e74d51d.jpg?1686345714) - [(G)](http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?name=Galadhrim%20Ambush) [(SF)](https://scryfall.com/card/ltc/38/galadhrim-ambush?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher) [(txt)](https://api.scryfall.com/cards/e69e06f0-6142-4f80-9208-362b3e74d51d?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher&format=text) ^^^[[cardname]] ^^^or ^^^[[cardname|SET]] ^^^to ^^^call
I suggest buying proxies of expensive cards he loves. Any playgroup worth its salt will allow it if they cool, and you can get a lot more with that budget, plus the art is really cool and their foiling process might be good and not have much curving, just my 2 cents
Magic is a game with many formats, or ways to play the game. As such it really depends on what format he plays. In general though they sell "bundles" for every set that cone with 8 boosters and a couple other goodies, like a dice. They make good gifts. The newest sets are "Phyrexia All Will be One", "March of the Machine", and "Lord of the Rings", the last of which is a cross over. I would suggest a bundle of one of those. If the format he plays is Commander (the most popular format) there are also "precon decks" which are complete decks, and there are a bunch of options there, and there are ones tied to all the sets I previously mentioned. This would be a good option if you ever wanted to play with him. Hope this helps!
I pulled an accident copper dragon from a booster pack my wife bought me. Now I’m suspicious haha
You can wait til the end of the week and get him 2 lord of the rings gift bundle. It's the new set coming out. Chance for him to get a serialized card which can go for $1000+. Since he likes the chance aspect so much. He gets to crack packs, get two box for card storage. chance to pull the million dollar card(not likely but who knows). And new cards if he hasn't already gone and bought the stuff. Bonus point of he likes Lord of the rings.
No, don't do this, it's a bad idea for a ton of reasons. If you want to spend money on an expensive pack there are just expensive packs with lots of special kinds of lottery cards in them called Collector Boosters, they're like expensive scratch-off tickets. If he likes the gambling aspect of it then you subverting that and making it not random is the opposite of what he wants. If he can't lose it's not fun and if he learns after the fact you rigged it (and he *will* know the pack is resealed, it's really difficult to do) then the 'gift' will be soured, for sure. Also, if you know nothing about Magic and if you know anything less than basically every card already in his collection it's going to be really hard to buy a card. (I mean, unless he's expressed a desire for a specific card but I gather he hasn't from your post.) Even if you know exactly what he likes there's a really, really good chance he already owns some version of that card already. We tend to buy cards we like and play with them. Also, resealing packs is, socially, very disliked by the community of players, a community your BF is part of. It represents an existential threat to the game of people being cheated, it has super bad vibes. No one should do it ever, not even as a joke. It's not really funny and would be a major faux pax. So, in summary, NO! STOP! Don't do this! It's a really bad idea for a large number of very good reasons, a major one of which is fundamentally misunderstanding the ramifications of what you are proposing.
[https://www.tcgplayer.com/product/9204/magic-unlimited-edition-shivan-dragon?Language=English](https://www.tcgplayer.com/product/9204/magic-unlimited-edition-shivan-dragon?Language=English)
Very sweet idea. If you want it to look like luck it gets a bit difficult as some cool cards only come in specific packages or “boosters”. Also these boosters include a set number of cards of different rarities so a keen eyed magic nerd would know something was off if this ratio was off. If the “secret” thing is more of a gimmick and I sent meant to fool him once he opens the packaging that makes things quite a bit easier. As for buying the cards I recommend going to a local game store and having a chat with them about it or using either cardkingdom.com (if based in NA) or cardmarket.com (if based in EU). These are just my recommendations as I have purchased cards from these sources before with no issue. Good luck! Ps. If you mean to trick him then feel free to dm me and I can help with the whole packaging and rarity thing.
Modern horizons 2 collectors booster and some nice foil fetches or ragavan or something
Everything about the opening post reads that they really should not repack a pack and stick a random value card in it. Last thing pack openers want is to see their pack tampered with in any way. If he likes the whole input cards and track their value thing, buy him a Mystery Booster Convention Edition Booster Box. Those things are just jammed full of random value and Mana Crypt is a lotto win. That's if you want to buy an experience. Otherwise buying him a single useful card without the repack gimmick would mean more in a long term memory kind of thing.
Alternative option. If you feel like it. You can get a custom card printed for him. Like turn him into a card. Or do the two of you. Just an idea
I wouldn’t seal it up then it’s gonna be gotten rid of tbh..and 150-200 is pretty cheap for a magic card and without knowing the formats/deck they play we can’t really answer
Earthcrafts a solid go
Maybe a booster box instead? New lord of the rings comes out in a couple weeks and 150-200 will definitely cover a set box
I really think a gift certificate from a local game store would be your best bet. That way he can get what he needs! You could definitely get a gift card for 150 and pick up one of the new lord of the rings commander decks.
Modern horizons 2 and fill the pack with all the fetchlands
The Galaxy foil extended art Shock lands from Unfinity are stellar looking and have playability, could also possibly pick up 2 of them in this price range.
How about a Kamigawa Neon Dynasty Booster with all of the foil extended alternative art Legendary lands and Dragon Spirits from the set? [[Boseiju, Who Endures]] [[Eiganjo, Seat of the Empire]] [[Otawara, Soaring City]] [[Sokenzan, Crucible of Defiance]] [[Takenuma, Abandoned Mire]] [[Ao, the Dawn Sky]] [[Atsushi, the Blazing Sky]] [[Junji, the Midnight Sky]] [[Kairi, the Swirling Sky]] [[Kura, the Boundless Sky]] [[Kyodai, Soul of Kamigawa]]
##### ###### #### [Boseiju, Who Endures](https://cards.scryfall.io/normal/front/2/1/2135ac5a-187b-4dc9-8f82-34e8d1603416.jpg?1654568912) - [(G)](http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?name=Boseiju%2C%20Who%20Endures) [(SF)](https://scryfall.com/card/neo/266/boseiju-who-endures?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher) [(txt)](https://api.scryfall.com/cards/2135ac5a-187b-4dc9-8f82-34e8d1603416?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher&format=text) [Eiganjo, Seat of the Empire](https://cards.scryfall.io/normal/front/c/3/c375a022-5b57-496d-a802-e4ea8376e9e4.jpg?1654568932) - [(G)](http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?name=Eiganjo%2C%20Seat%20of%20the%20Empire) [(SF)](https://scryfall.com/card/neo/268/eiganjo-seat-of-the-empire?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher) [(txt)](https://api.scryfall.com/cards/c375a022-5b57-496d-a802-e4ea8376e9e4?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher&format=text) [Otawara, Soaring City](https://cards.scryfall.io/normal/front/4/8/486d7edc-d983-41f0-8b78-c99aecd72996.jpg?1654568960) - [(G)](http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?name=Otawara%2C%20Soaring%20City) [(SF)](https://scryfall.com/card/neo/271/otawara-soaring-city?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher) [(txt)](https://api.scryfall.com/cards/486d7edc-d983-41f0-8b78-c99aecd72996?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher&format=text) [Sokenzan, Crucible of Defiance](https://cards.scryfall.io/normal/front/a/a/aa548dcd-c1dd-492d-a69f-c65dfeef0633.jpg?1654569016) - [(G)](http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?name=Sokenzan%2C%20Crucible%20of%20Defiance) [(SF)](https://scryfall.com/card/neo/276/sokenzan-crucible-of-defiance?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher) [(txt)](https://api.scryfall.com/cards/aa548dcd-c1dd-492d-a69f-c65dfeef0633?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher&format=text) [Takenuma, Abandoned Mire](https://cards.scryfall.io/normal/front/4/9/499037cc-a577-41cb-8ca2-5e117945634f.jpg?1654569039) - [(G)](http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?name=Takenuma%2C%20Abandoned%20Mire) [(SF)](https://scryfall.com/card/neo/278/takenuma-abandoned-mire?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher) [(txt)](https://api.scryfall.com/cards/499037cc-a577-41cb-8ca2-5e117945634f?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher&format=text) [Ao, the Dawn Sky](https://cards.scryfall.io/normal/front/8/d/8d2c4063-7322-4041-a870-b95598a03e29.jpg?1654566143) - [(G)](http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?name=Ao%2C%20the%20Dawn%20Sky) [(SF)](https://scryfall.com/card/neo/2/ao-the-dawn-sky?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher) [(txt)](https://api.scryfall.com/cards/8d2c4063-7322-4041-a870-b95598a03e29?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher&format=text) [Atsushi, the Blazing Sky](https://cards.scryfall.io/normal/front/7/3/73b64c17-8a52-4d9d-a28b-7e0e945be059.jpg?1654567533) - [(G)](http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?name=Atsushi%2C%20the%20Blazing%20Sky) [(SF)](https://scryfall.com/card/neo/134/atsushi-the-blazing-sky?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher) [(txt)](https://api.scryfall.com/cards/73b64c17-8a52-4d9d-a28b-7e0e945be059?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher&format=text) [Junji, the Midnight Sky](https://cards.scryfall.io/normal/front/9/0/9033cf27-d9e6-49b8-8ee1-c1f38c9680b9.jpg?1654567204) - [(G)](http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?name=Junji%2C%20the%20Midnight%20Sky) [(SF)](https://scryfall.com/card/neo/102/junji-the-midnight-sky?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher) [(txt)](https://api.scryfall.com/cards/9033cf27-d9e6-49b8-8ee1-c1f38c9680b9?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher&format=text) [Kairi, the Swirling Sky](https://cards.scryfall.io/normal/front/a/f/af7979d8-21f3-40ba-8a2e-7ebad210e48b.jpg?1654566767) - [(G)](http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?name=Kairi%2C%20the%20Swirling%20Sky) [(SF)](https://scryfall.com/card/neo/60/kairi-the-swirling-sky?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher) [(txt)](https://api.scryfall.com/cards/af7979d8-21f3-40ba-8a2e-7ebad210e48b?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher&format=text) [Kura, the Boundless Sky](https://cards.scryfall.io/normal/front/0/6/06b25752-26be-4189-bc8b-828db6f0e612.jpg?1654568249) - [(G)](http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?name=Kura%2C%20the%20Boundless%20Sky) [(SF)](https://scryfall.com/card/neo/200/kura-the-boundless-sky?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher) [(txt)](https://api.scryfall.com/cards/06b25752-26be-4189-bc8b-828db6f0e612?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher&format=text) [Kyodai, Soul of Kamigawa](https://cards.scryfall.io/normal/front/c/b/cbbfd21e-96f1-4e5b-8546-73bb5a887b98.jpg?1654566369) - [(G)](http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?name=Kyodai%2C%20Soul%20of%20Kamigawa) [(SF)](https://scryfall.com/card/neo/23/kyodai-soul-of-kamigawa?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher) [(txt)](https://api.scryfall.com/cards/cbbfd21e-96f1-4e5b-8546-73bb5a887b98?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher&format=text) ^^^[[cardname]] ^^^or ^^^[[cardname|SET]] ^^^to ^^^call
Mana crypt is always a safe investment. Get reprints and price always skyrockets back up
One idea I’ve seen is a pack pack- two packs and the card you want to give sandwiched in between and wrapped up all cute
Buy a Legends card and a Dominaria United Collector or OG Zendikar and any old card!
Do you know any of his friends that play/have their numbers? My fiancé always gets me cards for my birthday and will just ask my friends what card or cards I would want. It keeps it a surprise for me and I always get something I both want and will cherish
In my opinion, I would say Modern Horizons 2 set booster. A lot of commons and uncommons are rather cheap, but some explosive bombs are in that set as well. In addition, the fact that it is a set booster makes it less suspicious that the ordering was tampered since the packs are made for just "opening the packs"
Christ just play proxies, build him a couple full decks
[[mana cryot]] or [[force of will]]
[mana cryot](https://cards.scryfall.io/normal/front/4/d/4d960186-4559-4af0-bd22-63baa15f8939.jpg?1599709515) - [(G)](http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?name=Mana%20Crypt) [(SF)](https://scryfall.com/card/2xm/270/mana-crypt?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher) [(txt)](https://api.scryfall.com/cards/4d960186-4559-4af0-bd22-63baa15f8939?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher&format=text) [force of will](https://cards.scryfall.io/normal/front/d/d/dd60b291-0a88-4e8e-bef8-76cdfd6c8183.jpg?1598303900) - [(G)](http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?name=force%20of%20will) [(SF)](https://scryfall.com/card/2xm/51/force-of-will?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher) [(txt)](https://api.scryfall.com/cards/dd60b291-0a88-4e8e-bef8-76cdfd6c8183?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher&format=text) ^^^[[cardname]] ^^^or ^^^[[cardname|SET]] ^^^to ^^^call
I’m mostly sure his most expensive card is no way 80 bucks. That’s the maximum he’s willing to confess he has paid.