Mystery Booster/Test cards

Mystery Booster/Test cards

 

Test cards

 

Test card

The Convention Edition packs of the Mystery Booster contain a pretend "playtest card". They are referred to as test cards on the cards themselves.

Description

The 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. The card names are pretended funny placeholders, and the cards lack Collector numbers and artist credits (the "temporary" illustrations are created by various R&D members ). 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).

Test cards are not considered to be “real” cards, not even considered silver-bordered. They were more meant as entertainment than as game pieces. The test cards haven't undergone rules scrutiny, and Play Design hasn't tested them rigorously for balance.

Rulings

• Playtest cards aren't legal for play in any tournament format other than Mystery Booster Limited formats.
• Playtest cards use a modified version of game symbols, such as {T} and {W}. These modified symbols should be treated as the standard symbols during play.
• Playtest cards often use "CARDNAME" in place of the card's own name. This follows the same rules as an object referring to itself by name.
• For many playtest cards, you'll need to make a generous assumption that basic game rules will be updated to allow them to work.

Card list

Card name	Color	Notes	Artist
Banding Sliver		Makes fun of the complicated rules for Banding, by filling the card's text box with reminder text.	Alicia Mickes
Baneslayer Aspirant		First non-planeswalker to interact with emblems. Abilities refer to Baneslayer Angel	Taylor Ingvarsson
Enroll in the Coalition		Designates a player as a Flagbearer. Flavored after the Invasion block's Coalition.	Chris Mooney
Five Kids in a Trenchcoat		A pop culture cliche in which some children attempt to fool others into believing they're one adult. First card to use the Citizen creature type, and first card to count as multiple copies of itself when target of an effect.	Emily Teng
Frontier Explorer		A Wish for Plains. A design alternative for a basic land token.	Mary Josberger
Imaginary Friends		Only playable in very specific combo decks, like Aristocrats or wide decks that have anthems. Hence the return of Arcane.	Daniel Holt
Metagamer		Highlighting a new player type, that chooses their cards to counter decks that are popular in the metagame.	Fransico O. Martin
Priority Avenger		Grants the controlling player priority.	Chris Haukap
Ruff, Underdog Champ		References R&D's Dog versus Hound debate. Introduces the Underdog mechanic, which effects overstep the boundary between games in a match.	Seth Conley
Sarah's Wings		A play On Serra's Wings. Grants Flying to a player.	Sarah Keortge
Scaled Destruction		Defines small, medium and large creatures.	Daniel Ketchum
Stack of Paperwork		Revives the pre-Magic 2010 rule that combat damage uses the stack.	Hanspeter Ziegler
Wizened Arbiter		Wishes for white cards. First concepted by Scott Wilson during the Great Designer Search 3.	Kelly Hamilton
You're in Command		Enables a player to change any of their creatures into their Commander (even if it is non-Legendary). First card to reference Commander tax.	Cody Culp
Animate Spell		An animating Aura that specifically targets sorceries and Instant spells on the stack. Effectively a Counterspell that grants a creature. Alternatively, the aura’s enchant clause fails when it moves from the stack to the battlefield, making it an oft-theorized card that can move a spell “up” the stack to resolve earlier.	Allison Medwin
Biting Remark		First card with Scrycast, meaning it can be cast by a special cost (in this case, for free) if you Scry it. A ‘biting remark' is usually intended to hurt the person at whom the words are directed.	Josh Thomas
Command the Chaff		A steal effect that reaches into the opponent's sideboard. Sideboard cards are mostly chaff.	George Fan
Control Win Condition		A whale that grows bigger according to the number of turns its controller has played. Literally, a control win condition.	Sean Mayovsky
Do-over		Restarts a turn, especially useful on an opponents turn.	Madison Mosley
Enchantmentize		An Aura that can turn a creature into an enchantment, but allowing it to keep all its abilities. Essentially a reversal of the Theros Gods.	Rebecca On
Form of the Mulldrifter		A Tribal Enchantment that pokes fun on the other "Form of" cards, like Form of the Dragon, that can change all summoned creatures into a Mulldrifter. Notice that it doesn't describe the characteristics of Mulldriffter.	George Fan
Innocuous Insect		First creature with Buyback. Also has flash and an Enters the battlefield effect. It is an annoying Eldrazi Insect.	Jehan Choo
Khod, Etlan Shiis Envoy		A Lord for several underwater creature types including Homarids, Camarids, Cephalids and Nautilids and Merfolk, that can also change all lands into Islands. Notice that in the current timeline, there's is no room for Homarids in Etlan Shiis.	Dave Humpherys
Learned Learner		A creature that can tap for a card, as long as the player has a maximum hand size different than 7.	Nick Southam
Loopy Lobster		First four-faced card (a Level up variant. First card to feature the Lobster creature type (the Unglued Rock Lobster only featured the type in Oracle).	The Turians
Memory Bank		Introduction of the Bank mechanic. This is a draw Spell that gets exiled after been cast, but can be cast from exile during different games in the same match.	Pete White
Recycla-bird		Introduction of flying counters. A permanent with a keyword counter on it gains that keyword.	Kevin Yee
Squidnapper		Together with Frogkin Kidnapper, introduces the Ransom mechanic. An opponent's creature is taken under control by the kidnapper until a ransom cost has been paid.	Jeff Carpenter
The Grand Tour		This card makes fun of mechanics like transform, where creatures are exiled and then immediately return to the battlefield. Pictured is Fblthp getting lost on Amonkhet, on Innistrad (the Helvault), Tarkir (Tomb of the Spirit Dragon), Rabiah (City of Brass) and on Dominaria (Urborg, Tomb of Yawgmoth).	Ethan Fleischer
Time Sidewalk		A Time Walk spell that, if is in your opening hand, creates four Time Walk tokens and shuffle them into your deck. The cost of the card is four times that of the original card. The use of sorcery tokens bypasses the Reserved List restrictions.	Steve Sunu
Truth or Dare		A modal spell with Anchor words that keywords the Mill mechanic.	Mollie Harms
Visitor from Planet Q		First creature with the Alien type and first Instant Creature, also turning all creatures with Flash into Instants. Loots anytime a card with multiple card types are played.	The Meadens
Blood Poet		First creature with the Spark mechanic.	Marsha Rivera
Bone Rattler		A token creating creature that places the tokens in the graveyard instead of on the battlefield. First time a creature token can actually go to the graveyard. The tokens are Reassembling Skeletons.	Ira Humphrey
Buried Ogre		Poking fun at Reanimator decks, this card may start the game in the graveyard.	Dave Geyer
Celestine Cave Witch		Sacrifices insects to create curse enchantment tokens.	Bonnie Gabriel
Chimney Goyf		A Goyf that can make a target opponent topdeck a card from his hand. A fusion of Tarmogoyf and Chimney Imp with Tarmogoyf's power/toughness and the Imp's mana cost and both creature types.	Glenn Jones
Corrupted Key		An artifact with a tap ability, but no way of tapping itself. Introduces the Key-subtype.	Tom Wänerstrand
Cyclopean Titan		A creature that turns other lands into Swamps, and that can return to its owner's hand. Twice as big as Cyclopean Giant from Time Spiral. Seems to be stickered onto a Cyclopean Giant, as well.	Matt Smith
Everlasting Lich		A 4/0 creature that is indestructible, can't be sacrificed and doesn't go to the graveyard for having zero toughness. The quintessential Lich.	Aaron Forsythe
Frogkin Kidnapper		Together with Squidnapper, introduces the Ransom mechanic. A card from the opponent's hand is exiled until the Ransom cost is paid.	Mark Heggen
Gunk Slug		A creature that, when entering the battlefield, creates three useless Gunk sorcery tokens with expensive Cycling costs and shuffles them into the opponent's deck, clogging it. The gunk mechanic was originally designed by Richard Garfield.	Casey Gustafson
Largepox		A play on both Pox and Smallpox, that does one of every negative effect existent in the game.	Maxx Marshall
One with Death		Poking fun at One with Nothing, on which it is stickered, this card causes the player to immediately lose the game. A challenge for all Johnnies out there.	Robert Schuster
Spellmorph Raise Dead		First card with spellmorph, a variation of Morph that affects Instants and sorceries instead of creatures. A strictly better Raise Dead.	Nelson Brown
Sunimret		An exact mirror of Terminus (including in name), first card with Reverse miracle, that can be cast for an special cost if it is in the bottom of the deck when you search for it.	Kelly McBride
Swarm of Locus		A play on Locust Swarm, this creature gains a bonus for each Locus you control.	Emily Maltby
Underdark Beholder		A D&D crossover that was blocked by Hasbro before, this creature has eyestalk counters that are removed instead of being dealt damage, and can cast a spell for free whenever it attacks.	Chris Tulach
Witty Demon		A creature that gives you a bonus if your deck has 13 cards above the minimum required by the format, and punishes you otherwise, essentially punishing deck optmization.	Brittany Austin
Xyru Specter		Introduces the bluffing mechanic of Challenge. The card uses the "Summon Creature"-template, which is a specter of the past. The tombstone is dedicated to "Fluffy the very hypnotic specter". The card was designed by Richard Garfield for Dominaria.	Jeff Steward
Yawgmoth's Testament		A play on Yawgmoth's Will, that allows you to play cards from exile, but places all cards that would go to the Graveyard or into exile on the bottom of your deck. The testament is written the Phyrexian language and features roughly the same text as the text box.	Eli Shiffrin
Bombardment		Turns every card in your hand into a Red Sorcery named Missile that are essentially Shocks. First concepted by Ryan Siegel-Stechler during the Great Designer Search 3.	James Arnold
Geometric Weird		A Weird whose power and toughness can become equal to the amount of effects on the stack.	Matthew Gregory
High Troller		A Troll in both meanings of the word, that makes spells and abilities cheaper, but random.	Graeme Hopkins
Impatient Iguana		A creature with Haste that is in such a hurry that, if it is on your starting hand, you may become the starting player.	Brandi Reece
Lazier Goblin		Introduces the Motivate keyword ability. A throwback to "Lazy Goblin" (2/1 and can't block) that was considered too good for Standard back in 2003.	Mark Price
Lightning Colt		A colt (i.e. a young horse) that deals Lightning Bolt damage to any target when entering the battlefield. Second Instant Creature.	Christine Lee Risinger
Mana Abundance		A version of Mana Flare that gives mana to everyone on the table whenever any player ads mana to his pool. The first World Enchantment since the release of Visions.	Ken Nagle
Planequake		An X Damage card that introduces the concept of plot boosters. Plot Boosters are very common with Legacy-style board games. Though the plot booster "Uncovered Cavern" is mentioned on the card, that product is actually non-existent.	Chris Kiritz
Problematic Volcano		Forces every player to separate their creatures in two different groups, and the creatures can only face creatures in the same group. This is a throw back to Raging River. Gavin Verhey illustrated his infamous fall down a real volcano.	Gavin Verhey
Queue of Beetles		These creatures invert the order of the Stack, to "first in, first out". It basically turns off counterspells or gives all spells split second.	Brendan Sell
Red Herring		Can be cast from the hand, replacing a spell on the Stack or creature, and changing the target of any effect to itself. A red herring is a false lead or a distraction.	Chris Mooney
Seasoned Weaponsmith		First creature with Tasty (it can be attacked directly). The bird is tasty because it is well seasoned.	Mark Gottlieb
Siege Elemental		Inverts what creatures can or can't block during combat.	Levi Parker
Throat Wolf		The famous Throat Wolf finally printed, even with firstest strike.	Sam Stoddard
Tibalt the Chaotic		This version of Tibalt can cast one spell at random for a list of three for each Loyalty ability. The wording of the spells has to be looked up in Oracle.	Zach Francks
Transcantation		Can transform any Instant or Sorcery in the stack into a Lightning Bolt. Essentially a new form of red counterspell.	Ryan Printz
Trial and Error		A Lightning bolt-like spell that, if countered or fizzled, creates a copy of itself. First time that the fizzle concept is named on a card.	Chris Clay
Whammy Burn		First use of the whammy deck.	Melissa DeTora
Bear with Set's Mechanic		A pun on the fact that each new set features a prototype bear with a new mechanic. In this case, it is Aggressive	Annie Sardelis
Domesticated Mammoth		A fatty that arrives on the battlefield with an enchantment token of Pacifism on it. Only effective if that aura can be removed. Revives the Mammoth creature type.	Jade Granger
Experiment Five		A further development of Experiment One. Reintroduces as a mana cost (previously seen on The Ultimate Nightmare of Wizards of the Coast® Customer Service). is now redefined as a a cost that can be paid with one mana from any source that could produce two or more colors of mana.	Gavin Verhey
Frenemy of the Guildpact		The Frenemy is the first creature with Protection from enemy-colored multicolored. It depicts the enemy colored planeswalkers Ral Zarek and Kaya, and the former Living Guildpact Jace Beleren.	Jacob Nourigat
Generated Horizons		First card to create land tokens. It's similar to Endless Horizons, but with a distinct green flair of actually ramping. Land tokens have earlier been considered to be a failed experiment.	Daniel Holt
Gorilla Tactics		A play on Guerrilla tactics, and a callback to Alliances, which during playtesting had every single card named with the word "Gorilla". Reintroduces the Gorilla type.	Jiachen Tao
Growth Charm		Combines three other cards from the Mystery Booster set into a charm: Rampant Growth, Giant Growth and Regrowth. The wording of the spells has to be looked up in Oracle.	Chris Bellach
Inspirational Antelope		The Legacy keyword, another nod to Legacy-style board games, allows you to permanently change the rules connected to this card.	Mike Demaine
Interplanar Brushwagg		Only the second ever Brushwagg ever printed. Introduces Interplanar, as a keyword and as an extra battlefield.	John Penick
Krosan Adaptation		The first Enchantment (Aura) to feature the Storm mechanic. Flavored in line with the Scourge set.	Zach Franks
Maro's Gone Nuts		References Mark Rosewater by name, by his illustration which is a callback to his art of Look at Me, I'm the DCI, his love for squirrels and his preference for doubling mechanics. The underlying card is Doubling Season.	Mark Rosewater
Patient Turtle		Favors players who don't play first in the game.	Katie Allison
Plane-Merge Elf		Introduces the Landship and Kinfall mechanics, mixups of Kinship and Landfall.	Nataly Scheidt
Soulmates		An Aura that enchants two creatures and connects their fates.	Victoria Cana
Vazal, the Compleat		The first megalegendary creature, making fun of the ill-named megamorph ability. Introduces the Phyrexian creature type, which often has been requested on Blogatog. His name indicates that Vazal has been compleated	Damian Tedrow
A Good Thing		Turns bad in about seven turns, because of too much of a good thing.	Yoni Skolnik
Abian, Luvion Usurper		Abian is another non-humanoid planeswalker. Luvion is a known plane. Mechanically this card messes with life total and loyalty. In a way similar to Garruk the Slayer, Abian literally represents the player, that spends his own life total as loyalty.	James Kooi
Bind // Liberate		A split card that combines the existing cards Bind and Liberate.	Talia Armato-Helle
Bucket List		This Bucket list uses counters to tick the boxes, instead of a Legacy style pen. The card was designed by Jay Treat during the Great Designer Search 3.	Nathan Ian Greene
Evil Boros Charm		An alternate Boros Charm. Eli Shiffrin designed this, because in his opinion black is basically just red plus white.	Mark Purvis
Golgari Death Swarm		Abbreviated name and cost refer to GDS3. In that search, a question asked which multicolor combination a creature with the keywords and stats of Serra Angel would most likely be. Based on modern design standards, it should be , as seen.	Ovidio Cartagena
Graveyard Dig		A card for Graveyard decks that favors green and black creatures. First concepted by Linus Ulyssus Hamilton during the Great Designer Search 3.	Sandra Everingham
How to Keep an Izzet Mage Busy		A challenge for combo players.	Scott Van Essen
Kaya, Ghost Haunter		Revives the haunt mechanic. Second Kaya planeswalker that can recover Loyalty by exiling itself.	Sydney Adams
Louvaq, the Aberrant		First creature with Protection from modified creatures. Defines modified.	Cynthia Sheppard
Personal Decoy		An answer to the call for non-humanoid planeswalkers that is often heard on Blogatog. Duck throws shade on the fate of Dack in the War of the Spark. First Planeswalker to be non- Legendary on purpose. You can have as many of them on the table as you want.	Alison Luhrs
Pick Your Poison		Modal spell, first concepted by Jeremy Geist during the Great Designer Search 3.	Corey Bowen
Seek Bolas's Counsel		A Planechase inspired card, making use of the planeswalk keyword action and the plane card Pools of Becoming.	Matt Warren
Sliv-Mizzet, Hivemind		Rotate the first symbols of the flavor text 180 degrees, then rotate the last ones 90 degrees: ^17S becomes SLIv, Z-> becomes NIv. Sliv = Niv.	Jeff Stewart
Smelt // Herd // Saw		A three split card. Smelt was first printed as a standalone card in Magic 2013. Saw creates 1/2 Half creature tokens.	Allison Medwin
Start // Fire		A split card that recombines Start from Start // Finish (Amonkhet) with Fire from Fire // Ice (Apocalypse).	Nelson Brown
Slivdrazi Monstrosity		When Slivers meet Eldrazi. Uses Annihilator.	Justin Cornell
Wrath of Sod		A play on Wrath of God. Introduces manabond counters, which turn any card into a land which can be tapped for mana.	Chad Kanotz
Zyym, Mesmeric Lord		First concepted by Alex Werner during the Great Designer Search 3.	Nick Bartoletti
Chronobot		A thief of time. Switches upkeep steps.	Stephanie Mitchell
Lantern of Undersight		A play on Lantern of Insight.	Trick Jarrett
Mirrored Lotus		Introduces Reflect. A Black Lotus for everyone!	Meris Mullaley
Pithing Spyglass		Similar to Pithing Needle, but chooses a keyword ability or ability word instead of a card name.	Melissa DeTora
Puresteel Angel		A beefed up version of Platinum Angel. Puresteel is the Mirrodin Pure version of Darksteel. The puresteel mechanic is removing colored artifacts from play. Second card after Leeches able to remove Poison counters.	Lukas Litzsinger
Unicycle		Making fun of the Great Unicyle Debate on Blogatog. Is a unicycle an equipment or a vehicle? Answer: it is both.	Ari Nieh
Weaponized Scrap		Introduces the Upgrade mechanic.	Tyler Wright
Aggressive Crag		A new dual land that taps before each combat phase, spoofing certain aggro players.	Demitrios Feredinos
Barry's Land		Barry's Land finally printed.	Matt Tabak
Domesticated Watercourse		A Dimir dual land. First land with Equip	Joe Torra
Enchanted Prairie		First enchantment land, an often requested feature for a Theros set, but considered to be too dangerous by R&D because their experience with artifact lands	James Arnold
Gold Mine		Another card with Legacy. A finite source of colored mana. It can only be used 5 times for that purpose.	Max McCall
Jasconian Isle		A Land creature that, like many giant blue creatures, do not untap unless you pay Mana. A jab at Island Fish Jasconius from Arabian Nights which was also printed as Island Fish.	Aaron Reed
Noxious Bayou		A Poison land, as first designed for Unglued 2: The Obligatory Sequel. Also considered for Future Sight.	James Rose
Rift		Allows you to just start with this land in your opening hand, even after all Mulligans. You do draw one less card if you choose to, so it does not give Card advantage.	Zach Francks
Taiga Stadium		A Gruul Check land that checks for permanents from the three other colors.	Tara Rueping
Waste Land		Can transform any nonbasic land into Wastes tokens.	Patrick Kuhlman
Ral's Vanguard		A new Vanguard card with the requirement that a deck only contains Instants, Sorceries and Lands.	David McDarby