The reveal of the Magic: The Gathering fall set, Throne of Eldraine, featured a fairy tale concept and a host of upgrades taking place with booster packs, Draft packs, and card styles.
Mark Rosewater was his usual bubbly self at the San Diego Comic-Con (SDCC) panel, and as the head of design at Wizards of the Coast for MTG, he enjoyed breaking down the new style changes coming with Throne of Eldraine.
Related: MTG Throne of Eldraine will have a fairy tale theme
The goal behind changing card styles up with the upcoming fall set is about “improving the experience of opening a Magic booster pack,” Rosewater said. MTG is accomplishing this by adding more foil cards per booster pack, having borderless planeswalker style cards, extended art frames, and cards with showcase frames.
In addition to a variety of card styles in each booster pack, Draft packs are now labeled as such. And for those who enjoyed the themed colored boosters that premiered with Guilds of Ravnica, they’re back with Throne of Eldraine. Each themed booster contains 35 cards as opposed to the usual 15, containing cards of a specific color from the color wheel.
Throne of Eldraine will also feature a collector booster pack. Pricing at a range of $20 to $25 depending on regions, the collector booster pack will contain extended art cards and a higher probability of getting those difficult to find cards (like foil cards). Unlike the previous booster packs, the collector booster will have a limited print run.
Draft booster packs
Each Draft booster pack will contain the probability of borderless planeswalker cards and ones with the showcase style. Here’s a detailed breakdown of what to expect in a Draft booster pack.
- One Rare and or Mythic Rare
- Three Uncommons
- Ten Commons
- One land
- One token/ad card
Themed booster packs
In the themed booster packs, there’s a guarantee of one Rare card but the possibility of two Rares showing up (one out of 10). In Throne of Eldraine, there are five different types, each with a focus a single color from the wheel. Here’s what players can expect to find in an MTG themed booster pack.
- A total of 35 cards and one reference card.
- One Rare or Mythic Rare with a one out of 10 chance for two.
- A total of 33 to 34 Common and Uncommon cards (more Common than Uncommon).
- One reference card.
Collector booster packs
Taking booster packs to a whole new level, the collector booster pack contains a little bit of everything neat and worthy in MTG. Here’s the full breakdown of what to find in them.
- One Rare or Mythic Rare with extended art.
- One foil Rare or Mythic Rare card.
- Nine foil Common and Uncommon cards.
- One Ancillary Card (not found in booster packs). For Throne of Eldraine, this slot could be a buy-a-box card, a card from a planeswalker deck, or a card from a Brawl preconstructed deck.
Related: Magic: The Gathering SDCC panel reveals Brawl is coming to MTG Arena
The Throne of Eldraine takes over Standard in MTG on Oct. 4, with a pre-release event taking place on Sept. 28 and 29.
