An unfortunate incident is sweeping across MTG’s secondary market. Many other sources have done their due diligence to point this out already. The issue is severe enough, however, that if we reach out to even a select few who this dishonest scam would’ve conned, this article was worth its weight. This is even more important considering that we highlighted a recent price drop on Amazon for the affected product. Those who took advantage of this opportunity do not need to worry. These sales posts do not look to be affected by the con we are about to outline. Either way, make sure you don’t fall for this MTG scam!
Here, we have two pictures that look incredibly similar but are very different products. The smaller box at the top is the actual product: a Double Masters 2022 Collector Booster Box with four packs inside. The larger box at the top, while still featuring legitimate WoTC packaging, is a larger box that only contains one Double Masters 2022 Collector Booster. This packaging is mainly used to sell Collector Booster boxes at larger secondary retailers, like Walmart.
One possible need for such an overkill amount of packaging for one premium booster pack came from Walmart’s (and other major secondary retailers, like Target) issue with customers scamming Throne of Eldraine Collector Boosters from under their noses. The strategy was to buy a stack of normal Throne of Eldraine Blister packs while concealing some of the very similar Collector Boosters. Then, the cashier will simply scan the top item multiple times and call it a day. Because full Collector Booster boxes are generally unavailable outside of Local Game Stores, there is a strong possibility that this won’t happen again.
As was highlighted in one of the Professor’s recent videos, eBay sellers are trying to use the similarity of these packaging styles to pass one product off as its more expensive counterpart. While they aren’t breaking any rules by doing this, the practice is unethical.
The most significant tell between these two products is the slanted top that you find with the actual Collector Booster Box as highlighted. The larger of the two boxes (ironically, it only has one pack) looks like a box without any of these slanted sides. While the one Collector Booster goes for somewhere between $80 and $90, the full Collector Booster Box goes for about $300 (or $275 using our best Amazon price found in the alternate pricing section of their page). This can leave potentially scammed buyers out more than $200 simply due to a scummy seller’s ill intent. Not sure whether your box is legit or not? If all the tips in this article and the linked video do not help, buying from a reputable buyer like TCGplayer should help add a layer of protection to your purchase.
Additional identification for the cheaper Double Masters 2022 product is, as stated by the Professor in his video featured below, the single Collector Booster packaging does have text on the top left of the box detailing its contents. These are, however, gray words on a gray background, making it very difficult to see.
Even though this scam has been pointed out to the public for weeks, things have actually gotten worse. There are more posts for these Double Masters 2022 Collector Boosters than ever, trying to masquerade as the more expensive product. When combined with the recent possible printing error that MTG players are concerned with for this product, you get a very perilous situation that hopefully will see some resolution soon. Whatever you do, be sure not to purchase Double Masters 2022 products from an unverified source. You could fall prey to this MTG scam!
The Professor’s video does a fantastic job of outlining this issue while going in-depth about the contents of each product. Suppose you’re in the market to pick some of these up. In that case, we highly recommend watching this video to better equip yourself with information to protect yourself from falling prey to this dubious packing practice.
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