Breaking even.

I finally remembered exactly WHY I hate buying YGO packs: It's nearly impossible for one to break even.

What do I mean? Well, when I get a Pokemon 3-pack, the cards I pull (as well as, often, the promo card) allow me to pay for the pack, if not make a small profit from it. This is because Pokemon has great character value; sticking in a Darkrai, Dialga, Cresselia (the new Arceus one is GORGEOUS) as a guaranteed promo sells very well on both the first and secondary markets, and depending on your pack luck, it's possible for one to earn back what one paid for. If nothing else, the promos and collector coins will retain their value; besides making one's own deck, one can customize their Pokemon game rather easily with mats, sleeves, etc.

YGO doesn't have that level of character value going for it. Or, well, maybe it does, but Konami certainly isn't utilizing it to its fullest potential. The promo Il Blud from my Crossroads of Chaos 3-pack doesn't sell as nearly as well as the Cresselia could (sorry, I'm keeping the Cress), despite its playability. This has been a consistent problem with Konami for as long as I can remember.

There is no doubt a way that they could make things like this pay for themselves. You could always stick in something like Crush Card Virus, a card that was withheld from places besides Japan for over 5 years. Do not BS me with "that card is broken and should not have been released anyways;" you do not have enough character value to make your customers break even from your product.

Trust me, Konami, you want to do this. A happy player base = more money for you. Letting the customer win now and then (meaning on a roughly 50-50 basis) makes them want to buy your cards.