The Status Quo
“Like Modern Horizons before, Modern Horizons 2 introduced new cards into Modern and eternal formats without them ever being legal in Standard. There is no storyline associated with this set”
Modern, Magic: the Gathering
For the longest time, Magic: the Gathering released new cards in blocks/sets, designed around a particular storyline. They would also form a queue, and join a pool of what is known the “Type II / Standard” legal cards for use in tournaments.
This helps stores because it meant players needed to fuel up with the latest cards every season; and kept the game interesting for players: the strategy you used last year may be well-thought-out, but it won’t survive the strategies everyone else is using at the moment. (This is known as the metagame.)
However, this shouldn’t matter to casual gamers… the rest of us are happy that more and new cards are being printed, featuring a number of good ol’ returning mechanics.
We can have a lot of fun with these cards!
It. Has. Everything.
There are over forty (40) keyword abilities making a return, which makes us nostalgic, but some rules of the game have changed since cards with those abilities were first printed(?!)
- Suspend
- Madness
- Typecycling
- Converge
- Storm
- Flashback
- etc.
There’s a card for that
Discover the missing pieces to your favorite deck! This set is bursting with everything you need to blast your way through the battlefield. Whether you’re a fan of Modern or Commander, this set has something for everyone!
What happened to the 13th, 14th, and 15th cards in our boosters?
Back in the day, Magic: the Gathering sold boosters with 15 cards each. Eventually, they started adding specially printed marketing materials (pamphlets the same size/shape/material as regular cards) and cards to be used as Tokens while playing the game. (They had some really neat art too.)
It seems they’re trying to tell a story with a 12-card Set Boosters are targeted to players that are not interested in Draft or Limited, but enjoy the excitement and surprise of cracking boosters.
So, if you’re a returning player like me, just be aware that Boosters come in two sizes now… and the prices are different.