What Are Play Packs In MTG, and Are They Worth It?

Sidequest: Card Collection | Illustration by Erikas Perl

When you get into the nitty gritty of buying sealed Magic product, it’s easy to get overwhelmed. There are so many different products releasing with each set to appeal to different players who need different things, and that doesn’t factor in unique releases like Secret Lairs.

A lesser-known piece of sealed product is a relatively recent introduction: Play Packs, commonly sold at Wal-Mart as a source of sealed Play Boosters. I’m here with a full breakdown of what you should expect, and if these products are worth your time (spoiler: they aren’t).

What Are MTG Play Packs?

Lord of Atlantis | Illustration by Billy Christian

Play Packs are a type of sealed product commonly found at Wal-Mart with a few booster packs and a promo. These are not the same as Play Boosters, though you'll find those within. These seem to be released on a set-by-set basis; I’ve found Play Packs offered for three sets:

• Final Fantasy
• Avatar: The Last Airbender
• Secrets of Strixhaven

Play Pack Contents

Each Play Pack contains three Play Boosters of their set alongside a bonus foil promo card. The promo differs by set:

• Final Fantasy: Zidane, Tantalus Thief
• Avatar: The Last Airbender: Aang, Air Nomad
• Secrets of Strixhaven: Zetalpa, Primal Dawn

How Much Do Play Packs Cost?

This is a tricky question to answer, but it can be boiled down to “too much”.

At time of writing, Wal-Mart had the FIN Play Pack priced at $95. No, that isn’t a typo. $95 for three Play Boosters and a promo of a forgotten uncommon. TCGplayer’s listed price is less dramatic with a market price of $36, but still—individual FIN Play Boosters go for like $8.

Avatar: The Last Airbender faces a similar price gap between Walmart ($54) and TCGplayer ($25).

It seems that Universes Beyond Play Packs fetch the higher prices. The Secrets of Strixhaven pack doesn’t have a Wal-Mart listing, but TCGplayer has a market price and several listings of $20 or so. That might sound good compared to the others, but again, individual boosters of SOS sell for $5.50.

Are Play Pack Promos Worth Anything?

Based on the three so far, no. Neither Zidane, Tantalus Thief nor that iteration of Aang are worth anything because they see no play, and Zetalpa, Primal Dawn has been reprinted so many times that it’s a meme.

Where Can You Find Play Packs?

In the wild, you’re mostly likely to find Play Packs in Wal-Mart and presumably other big box stores. They can also be found online at Wal-Mart and TCGplayer, though you need to dig through many listings of Play Boosters to find them.

Are Play Packs Worth Buying?

No.

Even if you ignore the egregious price at Wal-Mart to charitably focus on TCGplayer’s lower prices, these face a stiff mark-up over… the promo, I guess? In many cases, you end up paying a few bucks extra to snag a promo worth a couple cents. In FIN’s case, you could buy an entire other booster!

If you bump into this at your local Wal-Mart and find a price similar to three Play Boosters, say $18 or so, then it’s probably a fine deal. But none of these online prices are worth your time.

Play Packs vs. Play Boosters

Play Packs and Play Boosters show up in many of the same searches because the names are so similar, but the products are quite different.

Play Boosters are the current standard Magic booster pack you can buy that contain 14 cards. These are good to open, but they’re also designed for Limited play; Sealed and Draft use Play Boosters to build decks.

Play Packs aren’t a unique sealed product but contain three Play Boosters and a foil promo.

Play Packs vs. Draft Night

The closest product to a Play Pack is Draft Night, presuming the “Play” in Play Pack refers to playing Limited.

Draft Night is a product with 12 Play Boosters and one Collector Booster from a single set such as Marvel Super Heroes and Lorwyn Eclipsed. The idea is that four players get to do a Pick-Two Draft with the Play Boosters and the winner gets a Collector Booster. These go for $75-$100+ on TCGplayer depending on the set. The question here is which one’s worth picking up?

Doing some quick math comparing those prices to 12 individual Play Booster and 1 Collector Booster, Draft Night tends to be comparable to picking up the boosters individually. Some of them actually look like a deal, even—you save a few bucks on a Lorwyn Eclipsed Draft Night compared to 12 Player Boosters and 1 Collector Booster, using TCGplayer market prices.

Given the horrendous markup on Play Packs, Draft Night is the definite choice for a Pick-Two Draft; you end up paying more money and wouldn’t even get a Collector Booster. If you want to arrange a proper Draft Pod or do Sealed for more than two players, you shouldn’t buy either of these products and should just pick up the individual boosters, maybe even a Play Booster Display Box.

Wrap Up

Pack Rat | Illustration by Leonardo Santanna

Reviewing the contents of the Play Packs makes it clear that these are hot garbage. Heck, at least hot garbage warms your fingers, so I need something more derogatory. Unless you find a better deal than these online listings, stay far away from these and pick up individual Play Boosters.

Have you ever picked up a Play Pack? Have you found them at better prices or with different sets? Let me know in the comments below or on the Draftsim Discord! If you want more Draftsim, check out our YouTube channel, The Daily Upkeep!

Stay safe, and thanks for reading!

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