I am interested in speculating on creature types and mechanics for the upcoming set of Theros. I know that this set will be influenced by Greek mythology. In a similar way INN was influenced by classical horror literature. The key here is the word influenced. We will not see a Zeus or Poseidon card, but we may see cards influenced by them. We can be relatively certain that we won't see lightning bolt, even though this would fit quite nicely!
We know that WotC likes to give hints to upcoming sets with cards in previous sets. The inclusion of so many Minotaur in RTR is one of these hints. We will see Minotaur in THS. Another more subtle hint were the cards Quirion Dryad and Dryad Militant, in M13 and RTR respectively. The green spirit in INN, Strangleroot Geist, is in a way connected to this hint. IMHO.
On this note how do you think that dryads will work in THS?
Speculation: In Greek myth the dryads, a type of nymph, are tree spirits. Specifically they are the spirits of oak trees, but this will probably be generalized into a connection with a forest card. When the oak tree is cut down the dryad will die, and the gods will be offended. There is nothing that will offends magic players more than destroying a land. I am speculating that there will be a few cards that use this flavor. Here is one idea:
Green Enchantment: Whenever a forest etb under your control, put a 1/1 green dryad creature token into play. Whenever a forest you control leaves the battlefield, sacrifice a dryad. Whenever a dryad you control leaves the battlefield, return a forest to your hand.
my take is that we are finally going to get a follow up set to Legends. we've lived picking the bones of that set for two decades (pendelhaven, serra, elder dragons, kithkin, 50 different Legendary creatures, etc) but the set itself was practically a blip when it was released. it got almost no press even when it was brand new... that's when I discovered the game and had to wait 3 months for more cards to ship because went by so fast cards were sold out in days. and delivered by armored car! Cards were so expensive and rare nobody would even play with them.... if they had enough of them.
I hope they go big, history encyclopedia big, rather than getting bogged down in chasing around a few planeswalkers... lets see some giant-sized mythology building. let's see building out NEW places to visit for another Decade.
a little unrelated, but evan erwin opened a Jace the Mindsculptor out of the first generation of these.
I'm pretty sure the packs are standard and these people are just simply unlucky
It's simple statistics. Each set prints on sheets 121 up. So there are multiple rares on a sheet but typically 1 of each mythic. So you have like 15 chances out of 121 packs to get something valuable. As the packs are different sets, each pack has the worst odds.
This is why fat packs seem to do better. You get 5 packs "in a row" and 4 packs "in a row" off the line, so your chances are better that you'll get something good.
If you are serious, sealed booster boxes are the best value... 36 packs "in a row" off the line. Buy 3 from the same case and you'll get a full set.
Or just get over it that you don't want to spend $300 a quarter, you can't win tournaments for "free" packs, and you suck at trading with the guys doing this since they were 10.
Get the intro packs and Deckbuilder toolkit... Treat them as a "boxed set" like Munchkin.
That was a complaint from previous years they fixed. It used to release in may-June, so it would have deck heading out of rotation. Matching it to M13 release means it gets to pull from the full Innistrad block. It also means all the cards in the box will be in standard rotation for the whole year till the next one.
The previous toolkits all included cards from the sets that were outbound in October. Any newbies buying it had to start pulling out cards right away.
If this follows the last kist we are looking for:
4 individual packs with colored bands. One is all land, two are common-uncommon sets all the boxes get.
The fourth is the interesting one. Typically there are eleven sets of eleven cards (it sounds like a sheet!) that make the "seed" of each of the suggested decks. Each kit gets four of the eleven sets, usually spaced by a land. That makes it semi random because it doesn't divide evenly.
So we just need the card lists and anybody can box up their own. It's all common-uncommon stuff. Like having 11 mini intro decks for teaching new players.
We do also know that Innistrad block is Big-Small-Big. The third set intended to draft by itself. That means there are quite a few "cycles" that are needing wrapped up.
The Scars block was odd because the sets had new lands in them. I would expect DKA to have the missing land art (4/4) also the number would be odd because of the "double-sided" sheet. That will effect the count also.
OK kids
Here's what you might get in the Booster Battle Packs:
they contain the two attached deck boxes (probably so they pack better)
How to play insert
Booster Battle Pack insert
2 Magic 2012 boosters
2 "twenty card" decks (see below)
The "twenty card decks" are really 4 selections from the "semi-random" bundles below:
Each is 5 basic lands, 4 commons, and 1 uncommon in one color.
White A:
Pride Guardian
Armored Warhorse
Siege Mastodon
Divine Favor
Serra Angel
5 plains
Green B:
Sacred Wolf
Giant Spider
Greater Basilisk
Trollhide
Lure
5 forests
Thanks, Internet kids for posting your contents.
This is TEN different selections, probably rotating in some fashion like the deck builder's toolkit. That's not enough cards, there should be one more set of 10 cards to round out the 110 cards on a sheet... so some color has one more pack?
See kids, if you don't want to BUY the booster battle pack you can just raid your vast selection of cards and build your own...and just add boosters.
Hasbro is a for-profit company. They're legally bound to maximize profits for the company's shareholders. Printing more actual sets would bloat the card pool and be too expensive to develop anyways, but printing more and more specialty products keeps people buying year-round with very few additional costs relative to blocks and core sets.
Exactly!
If you already have cards, you don't NEED TO BUY this... Unless you just have to try out all the new stuff they put on the shelf.
For a newbie, this provides a little direction to try out. Basically this is a Deck Builder's Toolkit Lite version. They should do this for every set and scrap intro decks all together.
Mu opinion is that the real value is in the card selection. That it provides a common set of cards to build from... Like a baby newbie "Cube" format. The thing I see missing at FNM is teaching PLAY separate from BUILDING. Playing from a series of prebuilt, balanced decks would be interesting.
You know what other product was good limited introduction? the tournament pack which also doubled as a way to put lands out there for noobs and was overall better buy for the beginner that say 4 boosters. Oh wizz why did you kill it? you had something good all you needed was a little more repackaging.
Tournament packs were a non booster SKU, but they were still "sealed" first run product. They also only did them for one set in the block, it was inconsistent. Statistics-wise, they would have had to set up the run to pack the boxes... Booster packs aren't RANDOM, they are EVEN (mostly). They lay cards out on the sheet in the rough order they want them in packs. That's why packs seem to cluster cards that like each other. They get more mileage tossing extra boosters in rather than tournament packs. Basically Fat Packs are the Tournament pack... And the lands are packed separate to sell if you want!
I would like to suggest a new card type. In both Zendikar and Mirrodin (and scars) blocks a new type was missed. For lack of a better word it would be a "Planar Construct".
The need: lands are approaching the end of useful power space. I propose something that would represent a Hedron from Zendikar (best example) Thematically the Hedrons were at the same level as creating a plane. They are far to powerful to be "artifacts". Like the "Glimmer panels" that make up Mirrodin, or the floating islands of Serra's realm these are BIG. They are immune to mere shatter effects, and not manapulated by land magics.
Essentially they would replace your land drop per turn.
Fundamental design space:
CANNOT produce mana, ever. This keeps them from being immune to land spells and breaking things. Much like people have problems thinking about planeswalkers as "not creatures".
By doing that it allows them to have land TYPES and do goofy things lands have had taken away. You could finally have a "plains, island, swamp, mountain, forest" and mess with landwalk abilities (for example) without breaking things.
I'd be really looking for a NEW design space. A good idea might be to have one turn into a "planeswalker" token. (rather than a creature) it would made a good mechanic to replace something like phasing... The magical hedron cannot be destroyed, only knocked out of the plane. I had ideas for more Hedron and Eldrazi type cards like this.
In Scars block they would represent the massive constructs, like the Great Furnace. It might also represent something like the old Phyrexian portals between planes. Or the gateways to the Nine Circles. They could even represent the moons of Mirrodin as well. Or the Null Moon of Dominaria. The Weatherlight and Karn would also be the type of thing I'm looking for.
I do think this is probably OK. There are things that produce 5 colors more easily. I think rather than "return" it should be sac. That would make it cost a lot more.
I would like to see an "every color" mana. It would only be "1" but for things like sunburst it would count for 5... (at least for now). Just for fun it should also switch to being "every color".
is it just me... or does that picture of Sorin look photoshoped?
I think they gave the box art for this one to one of the "juniors" in the art department. I really didn't like using the Anime Jace but not Chandra. You are correct, it feels rushed compared to the usual quality of WotC box art.
Battle Cry
1 Terramorphic Expanse
1 Signal Pest
1 Goblin Wardriver
1 Ember Hauler
1 Memnite
2 Kuldotha Ringleader
1 Goblin Arsonist
1 Goblin Balloon Brigade
1 Rally the Forces
1 Emrakul’s Hatcher
Black Discard
1 Terramorphic Expanse
1 Liliana’s Caress
1 Rise from the Grave
1 Bloodhusk Ritualist
1 Mind Sludge
2 Liliana’s Specter
1 Mind Rot
1 Phyrexian Rager
1 Psychic Miasma
1 Last Kiss
This refers to 125 "loose cards" (not in boosters). There are some staple commons (think lightning bolt) that will be part of these 125 cards. However, you may get 1 lightning bolt or you may get 4. I bought one DBTK 1.0 and got 4 lightning bolts. My buddy only got 2. We more or less got the exact same commons just in different amounts.
the set mix is fairly rigid. The base set is all commons and uncommons. The Gold is land, the White and Red packs are exactly the same in every kit.
The kit comes with a "Deck Themes" page. There are eleven "seeds" that match the eleven types on the page. The "dotted" pack has 4 of them in a semi-random order. What I did last time was to get 2 boxes, then go through my stash to build out the 3 "seeds" I didn't get so I had all eleven "Themes" to use for practice or newbies. The board just about has all eleven themes represented so you don't even have to buy the kit to play "kit wars" with friends.
The semi-random has nothing to do with the packs. The packs are normal packs that you would buy at a wal-mart or target.
The 125 extra cards are semi-random though. You get lots of staples, like giant growth, lightning bolt, llanowar elves, etc. This just means that they don't have the same cards in each, just similar.
The semi-random cards are in the "dotted" pack.... the other three wrapped packs (Red, White, & Gold) are exactly the same in every box.
Black
1 Blood Seeker
2 Child of Night
1 Death Cultist
1 Disfigure
1 Doom Blade
1 Duress
1 Giant Scorpion
1 Gloomhunter
1 Gravedigger
1 Last Kiss
1 Looming Shade
1 Mind Sludge
1 Sign in Blood
1 Zombie Goliath
Land
4 Terramorphic Expanse
20 Plains
20 Island
20 Swamp
20 Mountain
20 Forest
You also get (and this is the semi-random part) 10 cards from 4 of the strategies lined out in the Deck Builder's Toolkit poster, each separated by one of the above Terramorphic Expanses. Here are the ones I know:
Red Burn:
1 Burst Lightning
1 Explosive Revelation
1 Fiery Hellhound
1 Fireball
1 Kiln Fiend
1 Lava Axe
1 Lightning Bolt
1 Lust for War
1 Searing Blaze
1 Rod of Ruin
White Weenie:
1 Armored Ascension
1 Brave the Elements
1 Elite Vanguard
1 Journey to Nowhere
1 Kor Firewalker
1 Kor Hookmaster
1 Soul Warden
2 Veteran Armorsmith
1 Veteran Swordsmith
Mana Ramp:
1 Craw Wurm
1 Explore
1 Frontier Guide
1 Howl of the Night Pack
1 Living Destiny
1 Ondu Giant
1 Pelakka Wurm
1 Timbermaw Larva
1 Vastwood Gorger
1 Whispersilk Cloak
Vampires:
1 Arrogant Bloodlord
1 Blood Seeker
1 Consume Spirit
1 Feast of Blood
1 Gatekeeper of Malakir
1 Sign in Blood
1 Tendrils of Corruption
1 Vampire Aristocrat
1 Vampire Lacerator
1 Vampire Nighthawk
Black-Red Destruction:
1 Dead Reckoning
1 Doom Blade
1 Hideous End
1 Marsh Casualties
1 Quest for the Gravelord
1 Rise from the Grave
1 Flame Slash
1 Goblin Artillery
1 Lightning Elemental
1 Ruinous Minotaur
I suspect the shortage is one which is artificially induced by WotC to drive up demand. They did it with M10 by "not printing enough", and they certainly should have foreseen the demand for Zen. They've never had such shortages in the past.
What I predict happened was that they saw how demand for the very limited FTV: Dragons drove up price, demand and interest, and they decided to try it out with everything else too.
ohh the newbies out there. Magic was founded on "not printing enough".
At least now they are big enough to afford multiple printings of a run. In the days of Antiquities or Legends you got one run and they couldn't afford to do another run because it got in the way of the print schedule for the next set. I remember the first time they "printed enough" was Fallen Empires and stores were finally stocked regularly. All the "collectors" hated it because kid's toys stopped being worth gold bricks.
I wouldn't worry about getting Zendikar anyway. It's the head of a block set, that means they'll print enough to be around for drafts when the block is done next May. They're not "starving artists" anymore and can print however many they want.
Frankly, with the recession, short printing sets is a great idea. They know they'll need more in 6 months anyway so they'll get at least one more printing... why take the risk of over printing when they can sell out? Selling out also helps sell more as the stupid people with-more-money-than-brains hoard them all "to have them first". Pre-releases and sealed openers are the real product driver right now and most places have been selling out of their tournaments... that eats up cards from the pool before they "go on sale".
hopefully they'll do that as the cards in normal rarity would take 100+ packs. On the other hand there are so many commons compared to the rest even a "flat" rarity is pretty steep and would take 36 packs (at $11.99) if every single pack was different. The breakdown of the three sets is 35M 123R 141U 256C, that makes mythic already 1:15.
QFT Zinger. This is honestly getting tiresome, i wonder if they keep releasing more products , will they eventually start taking losses in value?
That's the question, and things like these sets help pump product without diluting play value. They are actually producing fewer cards than ever (519 this year. see: http://www.wizards.com/magic/magazine/article.aspx?x=mtgcom/daily/mr334) That makes play value of Mythics and Rares held much more closely. It really shows in 2010 because they had to cut 50+ cards and the set feels like it's "all" good cards. That helps out the casual player because the ability to get good cards is in reach now more than ever.
Things like "all foil" and the premium dual decks are easy ways to reprint product and introduce players to new older stuff. Remember, WotC walks a fine line here. A Black Lotus netted WotC under $1 when it was sold (back when packs were much cheaper) yet it sells for $1400+ That's $1400 of demand out there WotC is not tapping (ha ha) A certain amount of that value is "marketing" and that's why WotC honors the "reserved list". But being able to tap the past is holding them back.. every card more than $4 is essentially a lost sale of a "retail" pack. This is also where card shops get in the way versus retail stores. Card shops serve a purpose in meeting a market need, but when they "hijack" product and pick it over for the best bits before WotCs CUSTOMERS get a chance WotC has to slash the value of old cards to loosen up the supply they already printed. (Fallen Empires anybody!)
my take is that we are finally going to get a follow up set to Legends. we've lived picking the bones of that set for two decades (pendelhaven, serra, elder dragons, kithkin, 50 different Legendary creatures, etc) but the set itself was practically a blip when it was released. it got almost no press even when it was brand new... that's when I discovered the game and had to wait 3 months for more cards to ship because went by so fast cards were sold out in days. and delivered by armored car! Cards were so expensive and rare nobody would even play with them.... if they had enough of them.
I hope they go big, history encyclopedia big, rather than getting bogged down in chasing around a few planeswalkers... lets see some giant-sized mythology building. let's see building out NEW places to visit for another Decade.
It's simple statistics. Each set prints on sheets 121 up. So there are multiple rares on a sheet but typically 1 of each mythic. So you have like 15 chances out of 121 packs to get something valuable. As the packs are different sets, each pack has the worst odds.
This is why fat packs seem to do better. You get 5 packs "in a row" and 4 packs "in a row" off the line, so your chances are better that you'll get something good.
If you are serious, sealed booster boxes are the best value... 36 packs "in a row" off the line. Buy 3 from the same case and you'll get a full set.
Or just get over it that you don't want to spend $300 a quarter, you can't win tournaments for "free" packs, and you suck at trading with the guys doing this since they were 10.
Get the intro packs and Deckbuilder toolkit... Treat them as a "boxed set" like Munchkin.
That was a complaint from previous years they fixed. It used to release in may-June, so it would have deck heading out of rotation. Matching it to M13 release means it gets to pull from the full Innistrad block. It also means all the cards in the box will be in standard rotation for the whole year till the next one.
The previous toolkits all included cards from the sets that were outbound in October. Any newbies buying it had to start pulling out cards right away.
If this follows the last kist we are looking for:
4 individual packs with colored bands. One is all land, two are common-uncommon sets all the boxes get.
The fourth is the interesting one. Typically there are eleven sets of eleven cards (it sounds like a sheet!) that make the "seed" of each of the suggested decks. Each kit gets four of the eleven sets, usually spaced by a land. That makes it semi random because it doesn't divide evenly.
So we just need the card lists and anybody can box up their own. It's all common-uncommon stuff. Like having 11 mini intro decks for teaching new players.
The Scars block was odd because the sets had new lands in them. I would expect DKA to have the missing land art (4/4) also the number would be odd because of the "double-sided" sheet. That will effect the count also.
Here's what you might get in the Booster Battle Packs:
they contain the two attached deck boxes (probably so they pack better)
How to play insert
Booster Battle Pack insert
2 Magic 2012 boosters
2 "twenty card" decks (see below)
The "twenty card decks" are really 4 selections from the "semi-random" bundles below:
Each is 5 basic lands, 4 commons, and 1 uncommon in one color.
White A:
Pride Guardian
Armored Warhorse
Siege Mastodon
Divine Favor
Serra Angel
5 plains
White B:
Griffin Rider
Griffin Sentinel
Angel's Mercy
Peregrine Griffin
Roc Egg
5 plains
Blue A:
Coral Merfolk
Aether Adept
Amphin Cutthroat
Jace's Erasure
Belltower Sphinx
5 islands
Blue B:
Skywinder Drake
Chasm Drake
Cancel
Frost Breath
Azure Mage
5 islands
Black A:
Zombie Goliath
Sorin's Thirst
Disentomb
Mind Rot
Sengir Vampire
5 swamps
Black B:
Tormented Soul
Duskhunter Bat
Bloodrage Vampire
Taste of Blood
Vampire Outcasts
5 swamps
Red A:
Fiery Hellhound
Firebreathing
Goblin Tunneler
Chandra's Outrage
Volcanic Dragon
5 mountains
Red B:
Goblin Fireslinger
Blood Ogre
Shock
Lava Axe
Stormblood Beserker.
5 mountains
Green A:
Gladecover Scout
Garruk's Companion
Stampeding Rhino
Plummet
Overrun
5 forests
Green B:
Sacred Wolf
Giant Spider
Greater Basilisk
Trollhide
Lure
5 forests
Thanks, Internet kids for posting your contents.
This is TEN different selections, probably rotating in some fashion like the deck builder's toolkit. That's not enough cards, there should be one more set of 10 cards to round out the 110 cards on a sheet... so some color has one more pack?
See kids, if you don't want to BUY the booster battle pack you can just raid your vast selection of cards and build your own...and just add boosters.
Exactly!
If you already have cards, you don't NEED TO BUY this... Unless you just have to try out all the new stuff they put on the shelf.
For a newbie, this provides a little direction to try out. Basically this is a Deck Builder's Toolkit Lite version. They should do this for every set and scrap intro decks all together.
Mu opinion is that the real value is in the card selection. That it provides a common set of cards to build from... Like a baby newbie "Cube" format. The thing I see missing at FNM is teaching PLAY separate from BUILDING. Playing from a series of prebuilt, balanced decks would be interesting.
Tournament packs were a non booster SKU, but they were still "sealed" first run product. They also only did them for one set in the block, it was inconsistent. Statistics-wise, they would have had to set up the run to pack the boxes... Booster packs aren't RANDOM, they are EVEN (mostly). They lay cards out on the sheet in the rough order they want them in packs. That's why packs seem to cluster cards that like each other. They get more mileage tossing extra boosters in rather than tournament packs. Basically Fat Packs are the Tournament pack... And the lands are packed separate to sell if you want!
Posts merged.
The need: lands are approaching the end of useful power space. I propose something that would represent a Hedron from Zendikar (best example) Thematically the Hedrons were at the same level as creating a plane. They are far to powerful to be "artifacts". Like the "Glimmer panels" that make up Mirrodin, or the floating islands of Serra's realm these are BIG. They are immune to mere shatter effects, and not manapulated by land magics.
Essentially they would replace your land drop per turn.
Fundamental design space:
CANNOT produce mana, ever. This keeps them from being immune to land spells and breaking things. Much like people have problems thinking about planeswalkers as "not creatures".
By doing that it allows them to have land TYPES and do goofy things lands have had taken away. You could finally have a "plains, island, swamp, mountain, forest" and mess with landwalk abilities (for example) without breaking things.
I'd be really looking for a NEW design space. A good idea might be to have one turn into a "planeswalker" token. (rather than a creature) it would made a good mechanic to replace something like phasing... The magical hedron cannot be destroyed, only knocked out of the plane. I had ideas for more Hedron and Eldrazi type cards like this.
In Scars block they would represent the massive constructs, like the Great Furnace. It might also represent something like the old Phyrexian portals between planes. Or the gateways to the Nine Circles. They could even represent the moons of Mirrodin as well. Or the Null Moon of Dominaria. The Weatherlight and Karn would also be the type of thing I'm looking for.
Hi, thanks for playing....
I do think this is probably OK. There are things that produce 5 colors more easily. I think rather than "return" it should be sac. That would make it cost a lot more.
I would like to see an "every color" mana. It would only be "1" but for things like sunburst it would count for 5... (at least for now). Just for fun it should also switch to being "every color".
Guys gotta thing outside the box more!
I think they gave the box art for this one to one of the "juniors" in the art department. I really didn't like using the Anime Jace but not Chandra. You are correct, it feels rushed compared to the usual quality of WotC box art.
Boosters:
2 M11
1 Scars of Mirrodin
1 Mirrodin Besieged
Red Pack: (Commons)
Artifact:
1 Perilous Myr
1 Strider Harness
1 Prophetic Prism
1 Pilgrim's Eye
Land:
2 Evolving Wilds
White:
1 Infantry Veteran
1 Soul's Attendant
2 Squadron Hawk
1 Kor Skyfisher
1 Kor Hookmaster
1 Assault Griffin
1 Cloud Crusader
2 Pacifism
1 Solemn Offering
1 Safe Passage
1 Inspired Charge
Blue:
1 Augury Owl
1 Scroll Thief
1 Cloud Elemental
1 AEther Adept
1 Azure Drake
1 Plated Seastrider
1 Surrakar Banisher
2 Cancel
1 Mana Leak
1 Foresee
1 Preordain
1 Ice Cage
Black:
1 Guul Draz Vampire
1 Blood Seeker
1 Viscera Seer
1 Child of Night
1 Cadaver Imp
1 Crypt Ripper
1 Jagwasp Swarm
2 Doom Blade
1 Duress
1 Quag Sickness
1 Sign in Blood
1 Grasp of Darkness
Red:
1 Goblin Tunneler
1 Fiery Hellhound
1 Vulshok Heartstroker
1 Arc Runner
1 Manic Vandal
1 Ogre Resister
1 Berserkers of Blood Ridge
2 Lightening Bolt
1 Flame Slash
1 Chandra's Outrage
1 Act of Treason
1 Demolish
Green:
2 Llanowar Elves
1 Garruk's Companion
White Pack:
Green: Common: (10)
1 Overgrown Battlement
1 Viridian Emissary
1 Giant Spider
1 Alpha Tyrranax
1 Spined Wurm
1 Harrow
1 Giant Growth
1 Plummet
1 Naturalize
1 Savage Silhouette
Uncommon: (10)
1 Serra Angel
1 Condemn
1 Mind Control
1 Jace's Ingenuity
1 Corrupt
1 Skinrender
1 Fireball
1 Prodigal Pyromancer
1 Garruk's Packleader
1 Leatherback Baloth
40 M11 Lands
(2 full art sets)
Gold Pack:
60 M11 Lands
(3 full art sets)
"Dotted" Pack: (4 sets of 11)
** My pack had the sets in this order **
** We need the 4 remaining sets and **
** their order in the pack **
** Packs pull from the same order **
Vampires
1 Terramorphic Expanse
1 GateKeeper of Malakir
1 Feast of Blood
1 Urge To Feed
1 Vampire Nighthawk
1 Bloodthrone Vampire
1 Barony Vampire
1 Pulse Tracker
1 Ruthless Cullblade
2 Vampire Lacerator
Elves
1 Terramorphic Expanse
1 Joraga Treespeaker
1 Lead the Stampede
1 Greenweaver Druid
1 Pennon Blade
1 Arbor Elf
2 Wildheart Invoker
1 Ezuri’s Archers
1 Coperhorn Scout
1 Sylvan Ranger
Battle Cry
1 Terramorphic Expanse
1 Signal Pest
1 Goblin Wardriver
1 Ember Hauler
1 Memnite
2 Kuldotha Ringleader
1 Goblin Arsonist
1 Goblin Balloon Brigade
1 Rally the Forces
1 Emrakul’s Hatcher
Black Discard
1 Terramorphic Expanse
1 Liliana’s Caress
1 Rise from the Grave
1 Bloodhusk Ritualist
1 Mind Sludge
2 Liliana’s Specter
1 Mind Rot
1 Phyrexian Rager
1 Psychic Miasma
1 Last Kiss
** Don't know Pack Order **
White Equipment
1 Terramorphic Expanse
1 Elite Vangard
1 Kemba’s Legion
1 Kor Duelist
1 Trusty Machete
2 Kitesail Apprentice
1 Journey to Nowhere
1 Fledgling Griffin
1 Sylvok Lifestaff
1 Strider Harness
Library Depletion
1 Terramorphic Expanse
1 Wall of Frost
1 Hedron Crab
1 Guard Gomazoa
1 Call To Mind
2 Tome Scour
1 Jace’s Erasure
1 See Beyond
1 Sea Gate Oracle
1 Mnemonic Wall
Metalcraft:
1 Terramorphic Expanse
1 Volatic Key
1 Stone Golem
1 Golem Foundry
1 Perilous Myr
1 Myr Sire
1 Darksteel Myr
1 Palladium Myr
1 Razorfield Rhino
2 Chrome Steed
** add more here **
Green-White Auras:
** add more here **
Blue-White Fliers
** add more here **
Red Burn
** add more here **
Mana Ramp
the set mix is fairly rigid. The base set is all commons and uncommons. The Gold is land, the White and Red packs are exactly the same in every kit.
The kit comes with a "Deck Themes" page. There are eleven "seeds" that match the eleven types on the page. The "dotted" pack has 4 of them in a semi-random order. What I did last time was to get 2 boxes, then go through my stash to build out the 3 "seeds" I didn't get so I had all eleven "Themes" to use for practice or newbies. The board just about has all eleven themes represented so you don't even have to buy the kit to play "kit wars" with friends.
The semi-random cards are in the "dotted" pack.... the other three wrapped packs (Red, White, & Gold) are exactly the same in every box.
I noticed each of the packs had different colored bands... is this a clue to what's in them?
of the bundles of cards
With Gold, dotted, white, and red bands (gold was all lands)
1 bundle was all lands
2 bundle was half lands and half uncommons
3 & 4 were the "deck builder" cards.
ohh the newbies out there. Magic was founded on "not printing enough".
At least now they are big enough to afford multiple printings of a run. In the days of Antiquities or Legends you got one run and they couldn't afford to do another run because it got in the way of the print schedule for the next set. I remember the first time they "printed enough" was Fallen Empires and stores were finally stocked regularly. All the "collectors" hated it because kid's toys stopped being worth gold bricks.
I wouldn't worry about getting Zendikar anyway. It's the head of a block set, that means they'll print enough to be around for drafts when the block is done next May. They're not "starving artists" anymore and can print however many they want.
Frankly, with the recession, short printing sets is a great idea. They know they'll need more in 6 months anyway so they'll get at least one more printing... why take the risk of over printing when they can sell out? Selling out also helps sell more as the stupid people with-more-money-than-brains hoard them all "to have them first". Pre-releases and sealed openers are the real product driver right now and most places have been selling out of their tournaments... that eats up cards from the pool before they "go on sale".
hopefully they'll do that as the cards in normal rarity would take 100+ packs. On the other hand there are so many commons compared to the rest even a "flat" rarity is pretty steep and would take 36 packs (at $11.99) if every single pack was different. The breakdown of the three sets is 35M 123R 141U 256C, that makes mythic already 1:15.
That's the question, and things like these sets help pump product without diluting play value. They are actually producing fewer cards than ever (519 this year. see: http://www.wizards.com/magic/magazine/article.aspx?x=mtgcom/daily/mr334) That makes play value of Mythics and Rares held much more closely. It really shows in 2010 because they had to cut 50+ cards and the set feels like it's "all" good cards. That helps out the casual player because the ability to get good cards is in reach now more than ever.
Things like "all foil" and the premium dual decks are easy ways to reprint product and introduce players to new older stuff. Remember, WotC walks a fine line here. A Black Lotus netted WotC under $1 when it was sold (back when packs were much cheaper) yet it sells for $1400+ That's $1400 of demand out there WotC is not tapping (ha ha) A certain amount of that value is "marketing" and that's why WotC honors the "reserved list". But being able to tap the past is holding them back.. every card more than $4 is essentially a lost sale of a "retail" pack. This is also where card shops get in the way versus retail stores. Card shops serve a purpose in meeting a market need, but when they "hijack" product and pick it over for the best bits before WotCs CUSTOMERS get a chance WotC has to slash the value of old cards to loosen up the supply they already printed. (Fallen Empires anybody!)
Don't doublepost. Warning issued.