I am a member of several subscription box services and I am usually very pleased with them.
I currently subscribe to Loot Crate and Skoshbox and in the past I have tried Graze and recently I took on The Monthly Magic Box.

Magic: The Gathering is a trading card game that my boyfriend has been playing since his childhood and I thought it would be really neat to get him a monthly subscription box of stuff that he would like that he could add to his card collection and supplies for future decks and such. I originally discovered The Monthly Magic Box from TradeChat on Youtube. I figured, if she gave a video review of it and was used as a testimony on their website, it had to be good.  Without much hesitation, I signed up immediately and surfed the website for a short while. Initially, I didn't take much notice to the quality of the website but when I look back at it, it's very basic and I feel that it could use a little more work. This probably isn't a big deal to most people but I went to college for graphic and web design  and from my inner OCD perspective, it just isn't aesthetically pleasing compared to other subscription box websites/communities.

A 1 month subscription for this is $24.99 per month. Most subscription boxes I've seen have ranged from $12 - $20 dollars after S&H/Tax is in taken into factor. This was a little more expensive than I was anticipating but for only a few bucks more, I wasn't worried because I wanted to get something special for my boyfriend and I figured that what would be in the box would equal up to what I'm paying for.

So before I get into the things that I like and dislike about The Monthly Magic Box, I want to show you want exactly came in the box I just received for August 2014.

As you can see in the picture below I received several things in my box.
First I got some Ultra Pro sleeves - 80 Pack. I've purchased these before and I've loved all of the different designs and colors that they offer. They range from $4.99 - $7.99.

The second item is an Ultra Pro Deck Box - Holds 180 Cards. I've never purchased one of these before but I do own other styles of Ultra Pro Deck Boxes and other types of deck boxes. I'm a little sad that there's no design on it. There aren't even lands, mountains or plains etc.... on it. So that's kind of a bummer, but at least it's neutral enough to go with any deck. These go for about $5.00 - $6.00.

The third set of items are 3 booster packs of assorted cards. I have not opened the booster packs yet so I'm not sure if I received any valuable or powerful cards. From what I understand one booster pack is from the current set and the other two are from previous sets. These go for about $3.00 - $5.00 but the price of a booster pack varies based on the set but these are newer so probably not that valuable.

The last items that I received are these Milkita Strawberry Candies. I have never heard of these candies but I popped one in my mouth and it is a very chewy sweet candy almost like taffy. I actually really enjoyed the candy. I'm not sure what they have in relation to Magic: The Gathering but hey, I won't complain about a free snack.



So if I had to judge the box based on its contents and the overall worth of them, I would have to say that you're generally getting your money's worth. I can find these things on several websites for cheaper especially if they're on a clearance sale but for a subscription box, this wasn't bad.

Was I pleased with the product? No. Why? Well, it's not that the box itself is bad, it's just that I had a terrible customer experience. My experience is the reason why I wanted to do this review. I wanted to start the review off in a positive/neutral way so that if someone is curious about the product, they can judge for themselves without my bias/opinion really clouding their judgement. Not everyone has the same experience as me, I might have just had a bad egg.

As soon as I subscribed to the box I just as quickly unsubscribed. I was looking at my paypal transactions and saw that I was charged $24.99 for July and $24.99 for August. With that in mind, I would assume that I would be receiving 2 subscription boxes in the mail at some point. I have only received one and it's the 2nd week of September. I emailed the company several times on their website, their paypal message area and their facebook and did not receive any piece of feedback, explanation, "sorry" or anything. At that point, I was getting a little irritated because I subscribed in early July and it was now September and I had nothing to show for but was charged twice for nothing. I filed a dispute through paypal to get a refund on the July payment because I did not receive anything from July. The company did make a public statement about the August box being delayed/late upon arrival so that I was already aware of and I just received that. But where is my July box?!?

After being irritated from the long wait the other thing that irritates me is the lack of customer service and feedback that they give you. Their website doesn't offer that much information and if they aren't replying to emails or facebook messages, what good are they? The company is ran out of someones house in Kentucky. The subscription box came in a standard square package. Every other subscription box comes in a specific designed box that the company customized and gives to each member every month. I can understand if the company is small and just starting out but damn, start up a kickstarter or something to get yourself some nice boxes and such. Maybe I just have high standards because Loot Crate is SOOOOO amazing. I just don't feel that paying $24.99 for something that doesn't even compare to other products is worth it.

So if you are considering subscribing to this, I would advise you not to. If you are looking to get a cool variety of items for someone who is into nerdy things or video games or table top games etc... I would definitely recommend Loot Crate. If you specifically want to buy Magic: The Gathering items for someone, it's probably best to just go to a website that offers MTG products and buy them directly there and find your own nifty box to put them in.

I was really disappointed with my whole experience. I'm glad that I received at least one of the two boxes that I paid for but I'm still a little pissed that I didn't receive the first one. I was really hoping to get something nice for my boyfriend and by the time we actually got the item we forgot about it and lost interest. I don't think many people are subscribed to it to begin with, but this just cost them another customer.

If I had to rate it out of 5 stars. I would give it a 1/5.