Why players may struggle to break even with $200

Magic: The Gathering is about to put all of its Avatar products on the market for everyone to grab after a prerelease week from November 14th to November 21st. There will be several things to look forward to, depending on a player's preferred format and collecting habits. While Commander decks for Avatar weren't made by Wizards of the Coast, Commander players will still have their cake and eat it too, thanks to several products supporting the format. The main set is the most obvious, but Avatar will also have an Eternal legal MTG set on the side with Jumpstart boosters, and the Commander's Bundle is the icing on the cake.

Commander decks are usually great because they allow new players to easily enter the format, and veterans can still grab a fully functional deck for cheap, sometimes including powerful and valuable reprints. Without dedicated MTG Commander decks, the Commander's Bundle for Avatar looks like the next best thing. The problem is that, with all crossovers and specials, the game is plagued by scalpers who buy these items in bulk and then resell them for more than their original MSRP. Right now, the Commander's Bundle costs an average of $185-200 on TCGPlayer, and is sold out on official reseller sites. But breaking even is mostly impossible.

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Magic: The Gathering's Avatar Commander's Bundle Value Breakdown

There are many examples of great value or lack thereof in Magic: The Gatherings history of releases. The latest debacle around MTG The Encyclopedia Secret Lair drop is on the affordable end of the spectrum, as it packed much more than the $200 price tag in valuable cards. Instead, while the Commander's Bundle for Avatar isn't bad, it can be incredibly difficult to get enough value out of it to justify its current price. This is due to its contents, which are:

• 15 Foil Base Lands (with 5 full Appa Landings)

• 15 non-foil landings (with 5 full Appa landings)

• 9 Play Boosters from the Avatar set

• 1 Collector Booster from the Avatar set

• 1 click wheel life counter

• 1 storage box

• 5 campaign cards (3 predetermined and 2 random)

The MSRP for each product in the Avatar Commander's Bundle is as follows:

• $6.99 for each Play Booster ($62.93 total)

• $37.99 for Collector Booster

The different ones MTG lands included in the bundle aren't exactly valuable, and the full-foils will likely settle for less than $2 each, while the non-foils are already under $1. Likewise, the life counter and storage box are nice additions, but don't really have much value. What remains are the promotional cards, which are:

• Guaranteed cards:

  • Arcane Signet (about $0.40)

  • Sol Ring (about $1.20)

  • Swiftfoot Boots (about $1.20)

• Randomized cards (2 cards out of 10 per pack):

  • Enlightened Tutor (White, about $30)

  • Flawless Maneuver (White, about $15)

  • Mystical Tutor (blue, about $13)

  • Fierce Guardianship (Blue, about $42)

  • Entomb (Black, about $14)

  • Deadly Rollick (black, about $17)

  • Gamble (red, about $11)

  • Deflecting Swat (red, about $61)

  • Worldly Tutor (Green, about $19)

  • Obscuring Haze (green, about $6)

Why you can't go broke with Avatar's Commander's Bundle

What follows is that the average value from the randomized cards is $22.80 for a single card and $45.60 for two cards. With the original MSRP of $110, this would be a great deal, but as it stands, it's much more likely to get less value out of the package. Since the randomized cards can have a combined value as low as $17 or as high as $103, it boils down to what you get. However, this also applies to Play Boosters and Collector Boosters, which are more likely to not go even (or over) than to include valuable cards.

Even when leaving the value of MTG Play Boosters and Collector Boosters as it is, the breakdown looks a bit bleak. It is as follows:

• $62.93 for Play Boosters

• $37.99 for Collector Booster

• $10 for foil lands and accessories

• $2.80 for the guaranteed promotions (although the specials can bring the total value to $10-15)

• $22.80 on average per randomized campaign (although the special versions can be more expensive)

• Total value: $159.32

Is Avatar Commander's Bundle worth it?

Given the current price of the Commander's Bundle, most players will have a hard time justifying spending $185-200 when the average value is much lower, and at best, meaning the randomized cards are Fierce Guardianship and Deflecting Swat, the total is still around $216, which is barely more than the cost. This can happen with Secret Lairs as well, like the new one MTG Monster Hunter Secret Lair Superdrop, where the value overall is worse.

This doesn't necessarily mean the value isn't there for the new Commander's Bundle, as some fans may simply enjoy the act of opening it to collect the unique cards it offers. But for those looking for an incredible deal, it was only one at its MSRP, rather than its current cost. The hype around MTG Avatar cards like Wan Shi Tong, Librarian, Avatar Aang, and Firebending Student are very real though, and these could very well be part of the Commander's Bundle, with any luck. And with that same bit of luck, you can get the foundation for a powerful Commander deck with cards like Enlightened Tutor, Fierce Guardianship, and Deflecting Swat.

Original release date

August 5, 1993

Designer

Richard Garfield

Number of players

2+

Age recommendation

13+