Is the Pack Bundle in MTG Arena Worth It?

Last updated on March 31, 2026

Jace, the Perfected Mind | Illustration by Chase Stone

When you land a good deal it feels pretty awesome. Discounts, freebies, bundles… anything that gives you more than what you put in. Preorder bundles on Arena try to do this, but are they really worth it?

The Pack bundle is here to throw that into question. The first iteration came with All Will Be One and featured Jace. Secrets of Strixhaven announces Ral as a guest lecturer on the campus bulletin, you have a few minutes between, so check out this pack bundle.

What Is The Pack Bundle in MTGA?

Arena has had a few different Pack Bundles in the past, and it seems like Wizards might have finally settled on a definitive product. ONE’s version was the Jace Pack bundle and the newest version of the Pack Bundle comes with a slick Ral sleeve. A bundle like this pretty much only appeals to you if you’re a hardcore collector who wants a head start on the set.

The Pack bundle is one of two preorder bundles you can buy about three weeks before their set drops. These bundles are in the Arena store up until a few days before the paper release when the set is released on Arena.

The Secrets of Strixhaven Pack Bundle goes for $49.99 and is only available with real world money.

What Comes in a Pack Bundle?

The MTG Arena Pack bundle comes with:

• 1 legendary character card sleeve
• 1 legendary character depth card art style
• 1 legendary character's card
• 5 Secrets of Strixhaven Mythic packs
• 45 Arena packs (the combined packs earn you 5 Golden packs)

Ral Zarek, Guest Lecturer is a surveil machine, a discard enforcer, and small-time reanimation, with a very mean -7 ability. Last time we saw a new planeswalker with the Ral subtype, it was imagined as a Courageous Critter, but this is certainly the first time it appears in monoblack and it has a ton of applications.

Pack Bundle vs. Play Bundle

These are the preorder bundles for the set. The Pack bundle is clearly meant to cater to players who want to collect the set but maybe aren’t as interested in grinding for their collection. If you're someone who orders a box of boosters from your LGS, that's what this bundle emulates on Arena. The amount of cards you get is similar, with a box of play boosters totaling 420 cards (30 x 14 cards per pack), the Pack bundle gets you 430 cards (50 x 8 cards per pack + 5 x 6 cards per Golden pack).

The Play bundle offers special event tokens for Draft and Sealed as well as Play-In points.

Why Do They Exist?

The Play and Pack bundles clearly exist as Wizards’ attempt to score a little extra money by offering more niche products. They’re great if your playstyle is as specific as the preorder bundles. However, if you have a well-rounded approach to Arena you are likely to overspend money in the long run if you buy both of them.

The Pack bundle is what it sounds like: just a bunch of packs. Which may seem great on the surface, except there’s not really a lot of substance to just buying a bunch of packs that come with a few exclusive cosmetics that you may or may not actually want. Not to mention that you could use gems or gold to buy regular Arena packs in groups of up to 90 packs from the Arena Store, so there’s nothing all that interesting or unique here.

The Play bundle is best for those interested in Limited and competitive MTGA.

Can You Buy More Than One?

While you can’t buy multiples of any individual preorder bundle, you can buy both if you want a full range of what WotC has to offer.

Are Pack Bundles Worth Buying?

Technically yes, the Pack bundle is worth the buy in the sense that you get a little bit more than what you pay for. Mythic packs are worth 260 gems or 1,300 gold, whereas regular packs are worth 200 gems each at about $1 for 200 gems, meaning 50 packs equals just over $50 worth of stuff. Then you also get five Golden packs, so technically you get more than you pay for. That’s also not counting the legendary cards and cosmetics if you’re into that.

Alternatives to Pack Bundles

Gather the Pack | Illustration by Igor Kieryluk

Buy Codes at MTGACodes

You might be able to get a decent deal on packs from MTGACodes if you want as many as you can get your hands on. Sometimes they go for a little more than you’d pay in Arena, and sometimes a little less.

You can also peruse the cosmetics section if you really want the card sleeve and art style. There’s no official word on whether these will remain exclusive to the Pack bundles, so it’s entirely possible you’ll be able to get them here sometime in the future. It’s worth a look at least.

Buy Packs in the Arena Store

If you’re not interested in that particular bundle's character face or Golden packs, you can just buy regular packs from the MTGA Store. Your cost per pack is the same regardless of the amount of packs, if you get one at a time at 200 gems or 1,000 gold through the 90-pack bundle, which goes for 18,000 gems or 90,000 gold, and earns you 9 Golden Packs.

You are better off if you save your gems for event entries and use gold to get packs instead, but I won’t tell you what to do with your hard-earned currency.

Draft

If you’re halfway decent at Magic and have the time, your best bet to get cards and packs (and plenty of other goodies, too) is to enter Arena Drafts. Your event entry can turn a profit in gems and earn you additional packs if you win enough games, at least six wins in Quick Draft, three in Traditional, and five in Premier.

Rewards and Mastery Track

You can still earn packs and gold to buy packs even if Limited isn’t your thing. Daily and weekly rewards net you gold and Mastery XP, and you earn packs and more gold as you advance on the Mastery Track.

Should the Price for Pack Bundles Be Lowered?

Yes, the price for the Pack bundle should be lowered. While the Pack bundle gives you a little bit more than you’d otherwise pay for the contents, you don't really get a whole lot of bang for your buck. It’s only just worth it, which makes it not a great bundle.

It seems like Wizards wants to see how little value they can offer and still get away with calling it a “deal,” and I’m not particularly impressed with this offer. Try again, please.

Wrap Up

Duelist of the Mind (Outlaws of Thunder Junction) | Illustration by Darren Tan

WotC’s greed is starting to show a little, don’t you think? I like the concept of these preorder bundles; offering something that caters to a specific kind of player instead of a broad collection of different things. But that only works when the bundle isn’t consistently tweaked to be worth less to those who pay for it and more for those who profit.

But maybe I judge the Pack bundle too harshly, and it's better than dealing with card storage. What do you think of this latest Pack Bundle? What do you think about the legendary card as a bundle-topper? It might be worth the price, but is it worth the price? Is Wizards trying to pull some sort of weird mind trick on us? Probably. Let me know your thoughts in the comments or @Draftsim on Twitter. It’ll be the highlight of my day, I swear.

Anyway, remember to stretch and get some sunlight if you can, and may you always open that new card for your collection.

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