The boys and I have for many years bought a booster box when a new Magic set comes out. We split it three ways and open the box together. We each take turns choosing one pack at a time. Once we each have our pile of packs, we open them together, one at a time. A few rules have emerged over time, namely that we must show our Rare and Mythic pulls (someone loved to tease their brother by making various claims and not showing what they had) and that whoever ends with fewest Mythics gets the Buy-a-Box promo (think of it as a consolation prize).

With the new Set Booster boxes, we typically all end up with a few Mythics and generally all come out with a few cards that make us happy. Every once in a while, one of us will pull more than their fair share or someone will end up with less than they were hoping for. The boys and I know that this is all down to luck and we normally just say “Better luck with the next box.” But most cruel is when someone pulls a card that you really want, especially when it’s an expensive card.

Noah has had his eye on Ragavan, Nimble Pilferer, since it was first revealed in Modern Horizons 2. I think it has less to do with Ragavan’s abilities (although Noah would certainly put them to good use) and more to do with the fact that Ragavan is a cute monkey. Unfortunately, the card quickly became pricey enough to be out of his league (without incurring the wrath of his mother but that’s another story).

Ragavan was spoiled in March of the Machine, Noah was excited when  Nimble Pilferer. Here was a chance to pull one perhaps at prerelease or in our box. Asked what he wanted to pull, Ragavan was pretty much it.

Prerelease took place last Saturday and Noah did not find the monkey in his pool of cards. None of us did sadly. On a side note, we also had a dismal event where Noah went 1-2 and Christian and I went 0-3. I’m now at an embarrassing 0-9 at the last three events.

I did pull a Sheoldred and a Kroxa, Titan of Death’s Hunger in my prelease as well as both an Elesh Norn and Vorinclex from March of the Machine in the prize packs. As Christian pointed out, when I do poorly at a prerelease, I tend to do well with the prize packs!

Needless to say, we were looking forward to cracking open our box when we got home.

Christian pulled the first Mythic and then pulled a second. Meanwhile, nothing for me or Noah. By the time we were more than halfway through our packs, Noah still had no Mythics while I began to catch up to Christian. And then came the God Pack, at least in the eyes of one of us.

Christian gasped when he pulled a Ragavan in his second last pack. And then an even bigger gasp when he pulled a second one, right after. Two Ragavans next to each other in a single pack! The first deflated Noah but the second was a big blow. We’ve all been disappointed at one point or another by our box pulls but this was the worst I’ve seen Noah. He dejectedly opened his last pack, no Mythic again.

My pulls included a Rashmi and Ragavan and I offered it to him but he turned it down. It’s not the monkey he wanted and I knew that even before giving it to him. I just hated seeing him like that.

“I’m not doing the box again,” he said dejectedly, grabbed his cards and left. He did not even take the Omnath, Locus of All, that was rightfully his.

Along with his two Ragavan monkeys, Christian also pulled Niv-Mizzet Reborn, Sword of Once and Future, and one of the partner cards (I’ll update once I remember the name of it). On my side, I pulled 5 Mythics: Invasion of Shandalar, Rashmi and Ragavan, Yarok the Desecrated, Aurelia, the Warleader and Urabrask the Hidden.