Although we are still getting used to the new cards brought to us by Foundations, we have begun to get announcements about the next Standard-legal set, Aetherdrift. Aetherdrift will be the first set to come out in 2025, and it will also be the first Universes Beyond Standard-legal set. For those who aren't familiar, Universes Beyond sets are the ones that do not exclusively involve the traditional MTG characters and planes, although they can still be incorporated. What they do for the characters in the Universes Beyond sets is to have somewhat of a crossover between MTG and another universe in popular culture. We have seen them do Lord of the Rings, Assassin's Creed, etc. What is unique about the Universes Beyond sets going forward is that they will now be Standard-legal - something that has not been the case up until now. In fact, almost all of the Universes Beyond sets were strictly Commander, Legacy, and Vintage-legal up until now, with the exception of Lord of the Rings also being legal in Modern. That is a change that we did know about , however, but the latest updates follow up on the new changes that we will see starting next year.
Changes to Play Booster Boxes
So what is this big change? How will it affect MTG?
Wizards has announced that Play Booster Boxes will now come with 30 booster packs, instead of the usual 36 that have been in each box since the product debuted with Murders At Karlov Manor. The Play Boosters themselves still aren't everyone's favorite, and drafters have argued that it has had a negative impact on the drafting process itself. These same drafters are not happy with this new change either.
One of the most convenient things about doing a draft lately was that a relatively smooth system was developed for prize payouts, and overall draft process in general. The box would have 36 packs in it, so 24 packs would be used for the regular drafting pod, then the other 12 packs would be administered for prizing to be given out based on results. It allowed for there to be a clean cut for dividing up the winnings amongst those who participated. Each player drafts a total of 3 packs in a draft, and of course with 8 people in a pod, that covers the 24. The rest are given out based on standings after three rounds of limited play as prizing. The new announcement appears to complicate that process, and leads to a bit of inefficiency - especially for those who want to do a private draft. Obviously at a local game store, they can take an extra six packs out of another box to fulfill the prizing payouts, but those who want to get together with some friends to draft and also have prizing at the end are now in a bit of a weird spot. They would have to only have 6 packs for prizing, or purchase additional loose packs for extra money. One could make the argument that we will just go back to how it was done previously, because draft boxes used to come with 30 packs. This is reasonable, but people may start to wonder what the point of doing 36 packs was in the first place, and why we have to constantly change things when they are functioning properly.
Something that we can hope to see that may alleviate the aforementioned issue of purchasing extra packs is Wizards lowering the overall cost of a Play Booster Box. Right now they go for around $130 USD, and it is going to be interesting to see if maybe it gets lowered to a price that is closer to $100 USD. This would make buying the packs a little bit less painful, and it would also be more of a clean price for a newer player who is interested in purchasing their first box. This speculation also still follows the general rule of thumb when trying to predict what a major corporation will do: You have to rely on them to keep the consumer in mind when making decisions. As consumers, particularly in America, we know we generally are not thought of in these decisions more often than we are. Our silver lining in this scenario is that the design of this is going to be to attract new players to the game, so there has to be a focus on the consumer to some extent.
When considering the psychology of pricing and spending money, a price point of $99.99 just looks and sounds better than $130. I can see this being a big reason for making a change. Foundations also brought along a few new products with the set, so it could be the case that there is a need to shake things up. I think it is also worth noting that they may view the Play Booster product in general as imperfect, and in turn, the new Universes Beyond sets can be the time to experiment with a different allotment in packs for each box.
Does this Have any Bearing on Standard Players?
This shouldn't affect most constructed players that much. Generally speaking, constructed players are more likely to buy individual cards, and it is generally viewed as a waste of money to simply buy boxes and hope that you get the cards that you need from a given set. What I do worry about for constructed players, however, is that it may decrease the likelihood that they may want to draft, or if somehow there are just fewer people drafting because they aren't happy with the process. While I am a constructed player at heart, focusing on draft over the last two years has made me a better constructed player. The play patterns in limited help us to improve our fundamentals, and learn how to evaluate cards. I fear that if fewer people start drafting, newer constructed players could miss out on opportunities to draft, and won't get the same opportunity to improve their skills in the game. There hasn't been a ton of communication on this, and Aetherdrift still is a good bit away, so we are sure to receive further updates from Wizards. We will have to cross our fingers for lower pricing on boxes, and hopefully a somewhat logical reasoning as to why they made this change. Be sure to stay glued to MTGCircle, as we will keep you updated on this as things develop!
