Sampler

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Samplers are decks or booster packs given away as a free product to advertise Magic: The Gathering. They are handed out at conventions and distributed to stores to potential new players. Starting in 2013, sample decks were also used at the yearly Magic Celebration event. Since 2016, they had been advertised as welcome decks and welcome boosters.

Starter products

Portal

Portal Demogame boosters contained 24 cards, forming two mini-decks ({U}{B} and {R}{G}{W}) only containing lands and creatures. They included a "how to play" information sheet and a tip card. The playing cards are:

^# These six cards were printed with either flavor text or reminder text different than those of their regular booster pack counterparts.

Portal Second Age

Portal Second Age Demo game boosters contained 24 cards and a tip card (same cards in every pack).[1]

Starter 1999

Starter Demo game boosters contained 24 cards, including 8 cards from the Starter Game Box that weren't available in regular boosters. Also included were a tip card, a rebate card, and an instruction sheet. Everything two players needed to play their first Magic game.

^† Game Box card

Starter 2000

The Starter 2000 set came with both 24-card Demo game boosters and 10-card sampler packs.

The 24-card Demo game booster was distributed via the Guru program. All cards in this demo game are from Portal Second Age, and are identical to those of the Portal Second Age Demo Game.[2]

The cards in the 10-card sampler all have the Sixth Edition expansion symbol, except the Spined Wurm, which lacks the symbol and seems to be featured exclusively in this product:

Core sets

Seventh Edition

Each Seventh Edition 10-card sampler contained:

Eighth Edition

Eighth Edition came with both 22-card Demogame boosters and 10-card sampler packs.

The Demogame forms two mini-decks ({B}{R} and {G}{W}) only containing lands and creatures, and includes a "how to play" information sheet:[3]

BR
GW

Ninth Edition

Main article: Ninth Edition/Demo Game

Ninth Edition came with both 22-card Demo game boosters and 10-card sampler packs.

The demo game is identical to the one of Eighth Edition

Player 1
Player 2

Each Ninth Edition 10-card sampler contained:[4]

Tenth Edition

Tenth Edition was the first core set that came with 10 preconstructed theme decks with just thirty basic lands, commons and uncommons.

Magic 2011 until Magic Origins

From Magic 2011 on, each core set came with the preconstructed decks first seen in Tenth Edition.[5] Initially there were ten decklists and from Magic 2013 onwards five. They mostly contain cards from the relevant core set, although there might be a few cards sprinkled in from previous blocks.[6]

Duels of the Planeswalkers

Duels of the Planeswalkers 2013

With each copy of Duels of the Planeswalkers 2013, a six-card sampler (or "promo pack") could be obtained by redeeming a unique code on the official Wizards Duels of the Planeswalkers site. Five cards were random Magic 2013, and the sixth was an Alternate Art promo card (dependent on which system the game was purchased).[7]

Duels of the Planeswalkers 2014

The six-card promo packs for Duels of the Planeswalkers 2014 contained:

Duels of the Planeswalkers 2015

The six-card promo packs for Duels of the Planeswalkers 2015 contained:

Welcome decks

In June 2016, five monocolored 30-card ready-to-play decks became available as free sample decks at Wizards Play Network locations around the world.[9] These were also available in Booster Battle Packs. Welcome decks were distributed for free by Wizards of the Coast, so that game stores could give them away to new or potential Magic players.[10] The Welcome decks are renewed each year.

Other than featuring cards from recent blocks, each welcome deck also contained a selected range of reprinted cards from older sets. Those cards had unique expansion symbols and code, and were considered to be part of the set that is simultaneously released in terms of Standard's rotation.

Going forward in the Three-and-One Model, the welcome decks gained a stronger integration with the revamped core set, planeswalker decks, and the Deck Builder's Toolkit, allowing for an easier transition between the products.[11] They now had the same expansion symbol as the core set, and were numbered in the same system. Note that, due to the changed naming convention, there is no Welcome Deck 2018.

These Welcome Decks traditionally were one color and tended to reduce the number of concepts to learn within any one deck. Each Welcome Deck had one rare, almost always a creature, which was meant for players to see a bigger, more flavorful, and more powerful card. These Welcome Decks were specially designed to be a good "first thing players see."[12]

The revamped Welcome Decks were considered a success and in 2019 were announced to be continued in the foreseeable future.[13] However, they were replaced by Welcome boosters in 2020.[14][15] In 2024, they made a return.[16][17]

Welcome boosters

Welcome Boosters were introduced for Core Set 2021. Each Welcome Booster for a particular set is the same and contains a sample of legendaries, planeswalkers, showcase cards, and more. They also have double-sided helper cards that contain tips on how to get started, find stores, and learn a lot more about the game.[14][18] Initially, Welcome boosters were refreshed with each new Standard set to keep the cards relevant. During the COVID-19 crisis, production was put on hold. With March of the Machine, Welcome Boosters received an evergreen refresh, meaning they were no longer updated with every Standard set.[19][20] After that, they slowly seemed to have been phased out.

Collector Booster Sample Pack

The Streets of New Capenna Commander deck introduced "Collector Booster Sample Packs", featuring two cards from among what you can discover in a Streets of New Capenna Collector Booster.[21][22]

  • A foil common or uncommon
  • A rare or mythic with a Booster Fun treatment.

After that, the Sample Packs became a regular feature of Commander decks.

Gallery

  • Portal demogame
    Portal demogame
  • Portal Second Age demo game
    Portal Second Age demo game
  • Portal Second Age demo game (Dutch)
    Portal Second Age demo game (Dutch)
  • Starter 1999 demo game
    Starter 1999 demo game
  • Starter 2000 demo game
    Starter 2000 demo game
  • Starter 2000 sampler
    Starter 2000 sampler
  • Seventh Edition sampler
    Seventh Edition sampler
  • Eighth Edition demo game
    Eighth Edition demo game
  • Ninth Edition demo game
    Ninth Edition demo game
  • Ninth Edition sampler
    Ninth Edition sampler
  • Magic 2013 Play Station 3 sampler
    Magic 2013 Play Station 3 sampler
  • Magic 2013 Xbox sampler
    Magic 2013 Xbox sampler
  • Magic 2013 Steam sampler
    Magic 2013 Steam sampler
  • Magic 2014 Play Station 3 sampler
    Magic 2014 Play Station 3 sampler
  • Magic 2014 Xbox sampler
    Magic 2014 Xbox sampler
  • Magic 2014 Steam sampler
    Magic 2014 Steam sampler
  • Magic 2014 Android sampler
    Magic 2014 Android sampler
  • Magic 2014 iPad sampler
    Magic 2014 iPad sampler
  • Magic 2015 Xbox sampler
    Magic 2015 Xbox sampler
  • Magic 2015 sampler for other platforms
    Magic 2015 sampler for other platforms
  • SNC Collector Booster Sample Pack
    SNC Collector Booster Sample Pack
  • MOM placeholder Welcome Booster
    MOM placeholder Welcome Booster

References

  1. ↑ Portal Second Age Demo Pack 2 Player - MTG (Video). Quiet Nerd. YouTube (2019).
  2. ↑ Magic The Gathering 24 Cards Starter 2000 Demo Game Rare booster pack Opening (Video). Polish Star Wars Collector. YouTube (December 20, 2024).
  3. ↑ Quiet Nerd (2020). "8th Edition Demo Game Booster Pack - MTG (Video)". YouTube.
  4. ↑ Quiet Nerd (January, 2020). "Ninth Edition Sampler Booster Pack Fun - Happy New Year :D - MTG (Video)". YouTube.
  5. ↑ Tom LaPille, Latest Developments (July 09, 2010). "My Favorite Things About Magic 2011". magicthegathering.com. Wizards of the Coast. Archived from the original on 2019-07-11.
  6. ↑ Monty Ashley (June 13, 2011). "Magic 2012 Sample Decks". magicthegathering.com. Wizards of the Coast. Archived from the original on 2019-07-11.
  7. ↑ Monty Ashley (June 14, 2012). "Duels of the Planeswalkers 2013 Promos". magicthegathering.com. Wizards of the Coast. Archived from the original on 2019-07-11.
  8. ↑ Blake Rasmussen (June 12, 2014). "Magic 2015 — Duels of the Planeswalkers Promo Packs". magicthegathering.com. Wizards of the Coast. Archived from the original on 2019-07-11.
  9. ↑ Magic Welcome Decks
  10. ↑ Gavin Verhey (January 18, 2018). "Know Your Audience". magicthegathering.com. Wizards of the Coast. Archived from the original on 2018-01-18.
  11. ↑ Mark Rosewater (2017 June 12). "Metamorphosis 2.0". magicthegathering.com. Wizards of the Coast.
  12. ↑ Mark Rosewater (June 18, 2018). "Getting to the Core". magicthegathering.com. Wizards of the Coast.
  13. ↑ Gavin Verhey (February 5, 2019). "State of Product Design 2018". magicthegathering.com. Wizards of the Coast. Archived from the original on 2019-02-05.
  14. ↑ a b Ari Zirulnik (June 4, 2020). "Core Set 2021 Product Overview". magicthegathering.com. Wizards of the Coast. Archived from the original on 2020-06-26.
  15. ↑ WPN (June 10, 2020). "The Reimagined New Player Experience, From Start To Finish". Wizards Play Network.
  16. ↑ WPN (June 28, 2024). "Dates & Details for Duskmourn: House of Horror". Wizards Play Network.
  17. ↑ Wizards of the Coast (August 31, 2024). "Welcome Decks Return to Your Local Game Store in 2024". magicthegathering.com. Wizards of the Coast.
  18. ↑ WPN (September 9, 2021). "WPN Promo Usage and Policies". Wizards Play Network.
  19. ↑ WPN (June 4, 2020). "Introducing Welcome Boosters, Coming With M21". Wizards Play Network.
  20. ↑ WPN (February 20, 2023). "Dates & Details for March of the Machine". Wizards Play Network.
  21. ↑ Adam Styborski (March 3, 2022). "A First Look at Streets of Ne Capenna: Where Family Means Business". magicthegathering.com. Wizards of the Coast. Archived from the original on 2022-03-03.
  22. ↑ Streets of New Capenna Prebeat (Video). Weekly MTG. YouTube (March 4, 2022).
Types of booster packs
Current
Obsolete
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