Mystery Booster
| Mystery Booster | |||||
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[[File:{{#setmainimage:Mystery Booster logo.png}}|250px]] | |||||
| Set Information | |||||
| Set symbol | This set has no own expansion symbol. | ||||
| Symbol description | Cards use the symbol of their original expansion. | ||||
| Design |
Gavin Verhey Mark Globus | ||||
| Release date |
November 7, 2019 (Convention Edition) March 13, 2020 (Retail Edition) | ||||
| Themes and mechanics | Multiple | ||||
| Keywords/ability words | Multiple | ||||
| Set size | 1,694 + 121 + 121 | ||||
| Development codename | whirlpool[1] | ||||
| Mystery Booster sets | |||||
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| Magic: The Gathering Chronology | |||||
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Mystery Booster is a Magic booster set, designed for Chaos Draft. It was revealed on November 7, 2019, and contains mostly reprinted cards from earlier sets.[2] Each convention booster also contains a test card which may be used in draft, but not in constructed play. The set is not Standard-legal.[3]
Description
The idea of the Mystery Booster is that it is a product that you don’t know what it is until you open it up; the mystery is a feature of the product.[4] The main set contains 1,694 cards of equal rarity.[5][6] However, 30 card have the mythic rare colored expansion symbol, 152 rare, 452 uncommon and 1060 common. The reprints are from all throughout the game's history, going as far back as Mirage.[1] There are also cards from supplemental sets. In contrast to regular Chaos limited, which has many set-based synergy cards that don’t work in that environment, this curated set maintains the chaos feel but it lets decks actually be functional, good and fun to play. The cards have a white planeswalker symbol in the bottom left, meaning that these are fresh prints designed to look like the original cards. Apart from the added planeswalker symbol, the reprints are "straight pick-ups", meaning that Wizards of the Coast literally used the original card file to print them. That is a different thing than printing a new card, with updated rules text, which is how they normally make cards.[7][8]
Mystery Boosters contain 15 cards. There are two versions, one for GPs/conventions and one for local WPN stores.[9] Each Convention pack has 2 commons/uncommons of each color, 1 multicolored common/uncommon, 1 common/uncommon artifact/land, 1 special slot, 1 rare/mythic rare with the M15 card frame and one pre-M15 card in its original frame.[10] Each of the 14 boosters slots from the main set of 1,694 cards has its own print sheet of 121 possible cards.
Marketing
The Mystery Booster was first teased at WeeklyMTG by Blake Rasmussen on October 10, 2019.[11][12] More info was revealed on November 7 at MagicFest Richmond.[13]
Convention Edition
The convention packs contain a pretend "playtest card" in the special slot that seems more like part of an Un-set. Gavin Verhey described this as "Chaos Draft meets Future Sight".[10] These 121 so-called test cards feature black and white card faces that look like they have been stickered on cards with a regular card frame of the appropriate color. Test cards are not meant for Constructed play, but may be used in Chaos Draft. There is a total of 121 test cards (one print sheet[14]). Test cards don't have a designated rarity.
Retail Edition
The Retail Edition of the Mystery Booster fills the special slot with one of 121 possible foil cards. These foil cards are different cards than those found in the main set.
Themes and mechanics
The test cards explore various themes and mechanics. This is similar to how Future Sight tested out new mechanics that later appeared in regular sets.
Examples of new or revisited themes are turn matters, games matter, hand size matters, quadrupling, card tokens (land tokens, enchantment tokens, sorcery tokens), the plot booster and the Whammy deck.
New mechanics are: Aggressive, Bank, Challenge, Enchantment Land, Firstest strike, Four-faced, Interplanar, Keyword counters, Kinfall, Landship, Legacy, manabond counters, Megalegendary, Motivate, Ransom, Reflect, Requirement, Reverse miracle, Scrycast, Spark, Spellmorph, Tasty, Token cards, Underdog and Upgrade.
Returning
Returning mechanics (some with new twists) are Annihilator, Arcane, Buyback, cards from outside of the game, Flagbearer, Haunt, Land creatures, Planeswalk, Poison, Storm and Vanguard.
Named
Mill and Fizzle are used as terms on cards for the first time.
Card types
Cloud is a new Basic land type. Abian and Duck are new planeswalker types. Locus is used as an creature type, instead of as a land type. Alien, Aven, Beholder, Half and Phyrexian are new creature types. Lobster is used for the first time as a creature type on a printed card. Dog, Gorilla and Mammoth are reintroduced. Key is a new artifact type.
Two cards features an Instant Creature, one of which also can turn other creatures into Instant Creatures as well.
Gallery
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Retail Edition
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Convention Edition
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Test card
References
- ↑ a b Gavin Verhey (November 14, 2019). "Unraveling the Mystery Booster". magicthegathering.com. Wizards of the Coast.
- ↑ David McCoy (November 7, 2019). "Magic’s Mystery Boosters Revealed". Hipsters of the Coast.
- ↑ Mark Rosewater (October 12, 2019). "What about the Mystery booster set?". Blogatog. Tumblr.
- ↑ Mark Rosewater (October 10, 2019). "What’s the “mystery booster product?". Blogatog. Tumblr.
- ↑ Blake Rasmussen (November 11, 2019). "Mystery Booster Revealed". magicthegathering.com. Wizards of the Coast.
- ↑ Eli Shiffrin (November 11, 2019). "Mystery Booster Release Notes". magicthegathering.com. Wizards of the Coast.
- ↑ Mark Rosewater (November 07, 2019). "Does that open up the possibility of printing new cards with the old style frame?". Blogatog. Tumblr.
- ↑ Mark Rosewater (I know a lot of people who had bad takes on the Mystery Boosters and mistook them for repacks.). "I know a lot of people who had bad takes on the...". Blogatog. Tumblr.
- ↑ Mark Rosewater (October 12, 2019). "Is the Mystery Booster product going to be available through local stores?". Blogatog. Tumblr.
- ↑ a b Gavin Verhey (November 7, 2019). "It's Chaos Draft meets Future Sight.". Twitter.
- ↑ Blake Rasmussen (October 10, 2019). "Announcing Mystery Booster". magicthegathering.com. Wizards of the Coast.
- ↑ Mark Rosewater (October 14, 2019). "Is Mystery Booster’s actually named Mystery Booster?". Blogatog. Tumblr.
- ↑ Mystery. CFB Events (October 10, 2019).
- ↑ ChannelFireball (November 8, 2019). "Uncut sheets of the Test cards have been added to the Prize Wall.". Twitter.