Wow was not expecting such a major change to card distribution! Here’s an overview of the new booster contents:

Differences from existing draft boosters: *

• The potential to open up to 4 rare or mythic rare cards
• -1 playable card
• -3 commons
• +1 non-foil wildcard
• +1 traditional foil wildcard
• 1-in-8 opportunity of getting a card from The List (The List didn’t appear in draft boosters)
• ~1-in-3 opportunity of an art card (art cards didn’t appear in draft boosters)

* Based on the default without a traditional foil card. Previously, draft boosters had a traditional foil approximately a 1/3 the time.

wow, in practice the changes to Limited might not be very big with this new type of booster, but in the history of MtG this is a humongous change. For the first time since 1993 Draft boosters will have 14 playable cards instead of 15. This changes the fabric of MtG. I feel that in the long run this is a very good shift, all of the problems highlighted in the article are very real, and it seems like they’ve addressed them well with the Play Booster. Fascinating stuff, I can’t wait to hear the Limited podcasts analysing how this changes the game.

Couple thoughts after thinking about it a bit more:

• This smells a bit like a quieter way to just raise the price of boosters. Drafts will cost more now, which sucks. They say “Because that is six more boosters than Set Booster displays have right now, be aware the price of a Play Booster display box will be higher than that of a Set Booster display box.” Most likely this coincides with a per-booster price increase too which probably (partly) drove this.

• Impact on draft seems way higher than they’re leading on, even though they address this. An average of 3 cards from the List per draft has to increase variance. Granted it’s now 50 cards instead of 300 in the List, and there is thought to tie it into the set, but that’s still more variance. Relatedly, possibly opening 4 (!) rares but 3 fewer commons also has to change the game quite a bit too. 2-rare packs seem not crazy at least, and 3 fewer commons is substantial.

• I’m glad we’re going back to just 1 type of booster pack though, I didn’t like 2 different packs.

• I hope all cards from the List now make it to Arena! Could be a cool way to get more reprints there.

I really don’t like being negative on these sorts of things. It doesn’t lend itself to a good environment for discussion, and it’s easy to fall into negativity echo chambers, but my first feeling here is that this is going to suck. It’s a massive change to both limited and overall card distribution, and none of it for the better, in my eyes.

My biggest problem is the overall limited changes, and while they say they are working hard to keep it in line with current limited, I just don’t see how they can. Limited’s biggest asset is that all players have (mostly) the same playing field. In draft, you can’t buy your way into a good deck, you have to find it. Luck played a factor, but it was pretty minor overall. Now, between the list spot and the 2 wildcards, that luck factor will be exacerbated by quite a bit, adding about 13~16 extra rares in a pod by my math, and not evenly distributed, either. That’s going to be bad for limited, imo.

Second problem is of course cost. Draft is already pricey, but making the boosters as expensive as set boosters is pushing it too far. Personally I already haven’t drafted in paper for a long time due to that, and I’m concerned this will push me out entirely.

Draft is arguably the primary reason I play Magic, and if these changes are as problematic as I think they will be, I’m concerned I’m not going to have a reason to play Magic at all anymore, and that sucks. Here’s hoping I’m wrong.

*Math is hard