This past weekend I picked up a few decks at A-Kon, a local anime convention. I previously owned the Penny Arcade decks back when they came out, but didn't find anyone else interested and moved on. I've ordered some SF and SNK starters from recent sets, but haven't had any luck finding reviews of sets online to find out which boosters would best benefit me. Any recommendations on which sets in Blocks 3/4 are best to start with for someone building a library of cards, especially before committing to building a deck for a specific character?

First off, buy cards that are tournament-legal. Some people and places do play Legacy Format, but it isn't the standard and is always considered a side-event.

Personally?

I'd start by either getting Astrid, Yi Shan, or Siegfried. They make for playable starters straight out of the box, and work tremendously with their own support.

Packs to buy heavily:

Soul Calibur IV: Tower of Souls
ShadoWar
Darkstalkers: Realm of Midnight
SNK: Flames of Fame
SNK: Cutting Edge
The King of Fighters 2006

Hope it helps =)

I had planned to make my purchases all Standard legal. I believe there's a group in Plano that plays every weekend or so. The starters I picked up include Seigfried and Astrid, and I've ordered booster and starter boxes for both Domination and Cutting Edge. Sounds like I'm on the right path. Thanks!

Visskar said:

Ya Plano has a great group of players they will hook you up for sure talk too nubian god or megageese to get more info.

Yes, there's a local group, they've been around for quite some time as well. I'm visiting in denton currently, so i'll be playing with the group. Megageese and Nubian_God of these forums are also a part of the group, Nubian_God is the scout. If you want some information about it, i could help out a bit. They meet at the Lone Star Comics in Plano, if i recall correctly.

As for what I suggest you look into, the two most recent sets. Soul Calibur 4: Tower of Souls and ShadoWar, mostly, as they'll be around for the next rotation in a year, although Realm of Midnight, the Darkstalkers second installment is a very sought after set as it has a lot of chase rares (SC4 does as well).

I'll look forward to heading over to Lone Star Plano in a few weeks then to get some games in. Good to hear there's an active group in the area.

Since I already have 2 starters for it, the next box of boosters I pick up I'll make sure is SC4.