Yeah, I am finding that the "middle way" is working best. That is, the "new pack" opening combined with the "manual buy". In fact, yesterday I realized there is ANOTHER option also, as I got one Untamed pack in my quest rewards, plus a 248 DEC loot chest, and so I figured, "Hey, I can open this as an Untamed pack ad get ZERO more packs added to my airdrop pack count, or I can pay a few hundred more DEC (out of my daily earnings), switch the Untamed pack for a new Dice pack, get an extra pack added to my airdrop count, and roll the dice. Well, turns out that was a good move -->

I think that going forward I will ALWAYS have a reserve of fresh packs (of WHATEVER edition) to maintain my "one pack per day" protocol. This allows me to continue using potions (as if I had no packs to open no potions would get used (including the ones I get in quests), as well as have the "roll the dice" factor in my daily activity. Also, when I hit higher-octane cards which I will not use I can continue converting those to DEC to top-up my reserve of "daily packs". I think this is a winning formula overall.