Hey there! New player, picked up the 2 player version at Target and enjoyed it a great deal. Planning on picking up some boosters now to give it more flavor. I live in St. Paul so I will be getting them at the FFG event center. My question is regarding shady booster practices. In my perusals online I have noticed a couple of times, warnings about buying single booster packs because apparently it isn't uncommon for stores to open packs until they get the six legendaries then put the box out for sale? Any anecdotal evidence about how common this is or is this more in the vein of "Well I bought 4 boosters and I totally should have gotten a Legendary, THEY must of stolen it?" obviously not a huge issue for me currently but if I am going to start collecting I would like to be smart about it from the very beginning! Thanks!

Could that happen? Yes. Does it? Maybe. Is it more likely that people feel burned and share their anecdotes as you suggested? Probably. Honestly it depends on how much you trust your LGS. And in my experience buying individual packs is random. I know one time I bought ten packs and got all rares. Another time I bought one pack and got a legendary. In fact the other week I picked up two packs, one from EaW and one from Legacies. I got a stun baton (rare) and a Sabine (legendary). If someone doesn’t get any legendaries from a pull, I would suspect bad luck. If someone consistently doesn’t get legendaries from one specific LGS, then I’d behind to suspect foul play. But I’d imagine a LGS wouldn’t harm future business with such a dumb move.

That it sorta what I figured, I am fairly confident in the store given its the FFG flagship. I doubt they would do that to their own game in their own store! Thanks for feedback!

Ha! Probably not.

Enjoy the game! It really is a blast to play.

It's all random, but the boxes are pretty good at being 99.95% 6 legendaries inside. Me personally, I think for the money you're going to spend on loose packs, just buy a box at a discounted price. My friend is an Amazon Prime member, last week they had a sale on Star Wars stuff and got a coupon. He got a box of Legacies for $63 (that inc the free shipping). Can't beat that.

Also to the point above, I traded in some draft rares I gotten, got 6 packs with it, pulled 3 Legendaries out of that box. Told all my friends, buy from the box with caution!

~D

Thanks for the advice! My understanding is the legacies is the current "legal" expansion correct? While it contains my favorite characters I figured if I waited until the new expansion drops in Q3 I could probably get a legacies box even cheaper.

That or I am thinking of just buying the heroes and villains I want individually.

I think in the long run buying singles online would be cheaper but less fun.

Yeah. I think I'll probably hybrid it. If I really get into it. Commit like, enough for one Booster box and then a bit extra for singles I wanted but didn't get.

Yeah the main point of singles is whenever you gather for a game night you grab a handful and rub it in your friends' face that you pulled a Yoda or something lol.

If ordering online, might as well just whole boxes.

Also Legacies is the newest booster pack but theyre all legal atm. Until around January 2019, nothing will be "illegal" or "phased out" (unless you play Trilogy format, then yes its just Legacies and soon to be Ways of the Force)

Games by James has a reward program. You can save money by buying from them. They are in all the main malls in the twin cities area. That is where a go.

I think the issue with opening packs is more that someone may have already gotten some or all of the legendaries out of it, at which point the 'value' of buying from that box is significantly reduced. And potentially, the retailer knows that (e.g. they know someone just bought six packs and boasted about pulling three legendaries), but they probably aren't going to pass that info on because it'll be a straight revenue loss for them if people don't buy from that box. It's not so much shady as a conflict of interest (granted, there might be some stores that are legit doing dodgy stuff, but that's a matter of individual stores I'd say).

This is why buying sealed boxes or singles is usually the preferred way to do it, as there's some level of guarentee.

Just a tip, but if you are going to buy from online sources, buy from "non-gaming" sources and from larger operations.

There are three reasons for this.

1. The non-gaming stores have no vested interest in opening packs, they don't sell individually or get involved in their products beyond making them available.

2. They don't understand the value of products which typically results in them offering sales that make no sense simply to move inventory. I typically buy Star Wars Destiny for 50% discount on average for example, I have bought all of my Lord of the Rings LCG stuff for pennies on the dollar and I have never paid full price for any of my Armada or X-Wing miniatures .. ever.

3. Probably most importantly, as sad as it is, most small brick and mortar shops with online presence have rather spotty services. When you order something from a major online retailer you have a guarantee that your stuff will show up on time, be packaged properly and if something happens they will fix it without dodgy questions. With smaller operations (where these pre-opening scandals originates), cheating customers is actually a far more common practice than one would hope. I have personally witnessed it many times back in the Magic the Gathering days for example with smaller shops. Ebay sellers are particularly shady, strongly advise you avoid buying collectibles on ebay (Only time I ever used ebay I bought some X-Wing stuff and found upgrade cards missing, the guy negative commented me before I even complained about it so it was pre-planned).

Its unfortunate that this kind of thing goes on but as consumers we have to protect ourselves, which unfortunately means in most cases screwing the little guy in favor of the big guy.

8 hours ago, BigKahuna said:

3. Probably most importantly, as sad as it is, most small brick and mortar shops with online presence have rather spotty services. When you order something from a major online retailer you have a guarantee that your stuff will show up on time, be packaged properly and if something happens they will fix it without dodgy questions. With smaller operations (where these pre-opening scandals originates), cheating customers is actually a far more common practice than one would hope. I have personally witnessed it many times back in the Magic the Gathering days for example with smaller shops. Ebay sellers are particularly shady, strongly advise you avoid buying collectibles on ebay (Only time I ever used ebay I bought some X-Wing stuff and found upgrade cards missing, the guy negative commented me before I even complained about it so it was pre-planned).

Though if possible, please support your local brick & mortar stores. I understand not all do the buying/selling of singles (outside of Magic) but for random packs & starters, please buy local!!

Your local gamers who play there (if you don't already) appreciate the support to continue to have a place to play
~D

I actually tried to support my local game store and they had a very random selection of destiny products and not the booster box I was looking for. Then, I even reached trying to support them, by deciding to invest in the GOT LCG and all they had were the expansion boxes but not the core 2nd edition set. All in all very disappointing, I walked in there prepared to dropped 100 dollars or more and was literally unable to spend it. :/

On ‎3‎/‎23‎/‎2018 at 6:48 AM, LionOfwinter said:

Hey there! New player, picked up the 2 player version at Target and enjoyed it a great deal. Planning on picking up some boosters now to give it more flavor. I live in St. Paul so I will be getting them at the FFG event center. My question is regarding shady booster practices. In my perusals online I have noticed a couple of times, warnings about buying single booster packs because apparently it isn't uncommon for stores to open packs until they get the six legendaries then put the box out for sale? Any anecdotal evidence about how common this is or is this more in the vein of "Well I bought 4 boosters and I totally should have gotten a Legendary, THEY must of stolen it?" obviously not a huge issue for me currently but if I am going to start collecting I would like to be smart about it from the very beginning! Thanks!

I've traveled quite a bit and bought packs from a variety of places. My general rule of thumb is to just get a feel for the store and have good judgment. Out of all the stores I've been to, only one gave me a bad vibe on that front. Why? They have multiple open boxes of the same set. That was a big warning that they were digging for the 6 legendaries and leaving the rest of the packs in the box for sale. Most smaller stores just have 1 open box at a time because they are selling that until empty before opening another. I know stores can have stuff hidden in back and such, but usually I just watch for warning signs. Usually, just fine and dandy. I'd also agree - buy local whenever possible. I'd only buy sealed boxes online and would buy by the box if really getting into things. I'm trying to just get stuff via draft/sealed as much as possible, but usually just buy by the box otherwise to ensure those 6 legendaries. But - to each their own. Good luck!

I bought myself a sealed legacy box. Pretty disappointed in the legendaries, (almost all villains which the fiancee likes to play leaving me with a smattering of commons to throw against her elitable Doctor Aphra, Tarkin, and Maul VO. Don't worry my basic Jedi temple guards got this. ) but it was fun and now we have a decent pile of cards to make decks out of. I'll probably just stick to picking up the specific cards I want now versus another box until the next one drops.

On 3/23/2018 at 10:36 AM, LionOfwinter said:

Thanks for the advice! My understanding is the legacies is the current "legal" expansion correct? While it contains my favorite characters I figured if I waited until the new expansion drops in Q3 I could probably get a legacies box even cheaper.

That or I am thinking of just buying the heroes and villains I want individually.

Haven't seen a response to this:

Legacies is the latest set. Currently, in terms of organized play, there are 2 main formats: Standard, and Trilogy. Standard includes all product so far released, and will stay that way until at least the next two sets have been released. So even with the very first line (Awakenings), those cards are legal to play just about everywhere.

Trilogy is a more limited format, and only includes cards from the current cycle, which is Legacies. This format is generally less popular than Standard, but is gaining some traction.

There's also official draft rules now in play, but as the name suggests, your collection doesn't matter in this format (aside from the draft starter kit, which is called Rivals).

Legacies overall, while adding a large dimension to the game, doesn't support the impactful legendary cards that prior sets have. Aside from Yoda and Obi Wan's Lightsaber, you'll still find Legendaries from older sets commanding high prices. Given that, Legacies boxes likely will drop in value in a few more months, if you can stand to wait that long.

When it comes to buying boxes or just boosters, I've done both. But I almost always start off a new set buy getting a box (or 2-3, if I can swing the budget for it). It's the fastest way when a set drops to collect most of the common, uncommon, and rare cards, and generally cheaper to gather legendaries at the same time. But once you have 2 or 3 boxes, it becomes cheaper to start buying singles. I only buy boosters once I have most of lower collection slots filled, and I'm more or less gambling on getting a good rare or legendary to add. But I enjoy the aspect of opening packs (I do so with my kids), so even if it's all dupes, I don't care. But if I was serious about it, I'd avoid getting packs after my 1-2 boxes and focus entirely on trading and buying singles.