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It's official. After months of speculatingĀ and theorizing,Ā Modern MastersĀ (2015 Edition) has been officiallyĀ announced. There's not much info here, but let's see what we can parse from what little we have.
First, This (2015 Edition) Nonsense
Everybody is going to call thisĀ Modern Masters 2015.Ā Everybody would have known what that meant. Instead, Wizards has complicated things for editors, because nobody's going to get the actual set name right. Based on the announcement, the style WOTC is going with isĀ Modern MastersĀ in italics, then (2015 Edition) in roman, in parentheses, and capitalized. Fan-run sites will, of course, be usingĀ Modern Masters 2015Ā (I guaranteed Brainstorm Brewery will),Ā but the Mothership doesn't have that luxury. Poor Mike McArtorĀ will rue this naming decision for as long asĀ Modern MastersĀ sets are printed.Ā
And that's the other thing implied strongly by this name. Just likeĀ CommanderĀ is now identified by its year of release,Ā Modern MastersĀ specifying a year strongly indicates there will be many iterations of this product. We probably all expected that after the success of the firstĀ Modern Masters, but this is the first thing resembling confirmation.
The Planes
The announcement specifies that this set will take players back to remarkable planes from recent history including Zendikar (fetch lands!), Mirrodin (Mox Opal and Karn Liberated), Ravnica (hopefully not shock lands! But maybe another Dark Confidant printing?), Lorwyn (Bitterblossom), Kamigawa (uhhh...draft filler? Please don't let it be a cycle of dragons), and Alara (filter lands!).
Those parentheticals are just some suggestions of some big-ticket items that can be reprinted. I'm not saying they will all be in the set, but you can bet that at least some will. Notably absent from that list are Dominaria and Innistrad. The announcement doesn't say that the set will be made exclusively of the listed planes, but not mentioning them does not bode well for reprints of Tarmogoyf, Snapcaster Mage, and Liliana of the Veil. Nonetheless, it's hard to imagine 'Goyf not being in this set.
The MSRP
The MSRP for this set is $9.99 per pack. WOTC is getting dangerously close to charging us $1 per piece of cardstock. This set had better come with a gold-plated card in every box, because this is getting a little out of hand.
Really, I could handle paying $10 a pack for a goodie-filled set with a sweet draft environment.Ā But $10 a pack is what I paid for the firstĀ Modern Masters, despite it retailing for $6.99. I paid $160 to do four single-elimination drafts, opened no money cards, lost in the first round of all but one of them, and felt a severe case of buyer's remorse. That experience left a bad taste in my mouth whereĀ Modern MastersĀ is involved, and now I can expect to pay $60 or more (!) to draft the set. I'm not making any sweeping proclamations just yet, but this time around, I'm not inclined to pay more than MSRP. If the local LGSs are marking this product up, I'll probably just check out the set online.
WOTC is encouraging us to check out the set online, too, because the Magic Online MSRP remains at $6.99. I've felt for a long while that WOTC needs to realize that online prices need to be lower than paper prices to attract more players to the program, but I wasn't thinking that the price of paper packs should beĀ increased.Ā
Considering that I find the $6.99 MSRP offensively high already, it's hard to swallow this new $9.99 price for paper packs. I'm looking forward to hearing the justification WOTC provides.
The Grands Prix
As expected, Grand Prix TBD is indeedĀ Modern Masters 2015Ā Limited, and it is indeed in Las Vegas. However, there's a major change from last time:
All three Grand Prix will runĀ Modern MastersĀ Limited, with Sealed on Days One and Two and a Top 8 Draft.
Day two will be Sealed as well, unlike in 2013. Of the thousands of participants these events will have worldwide, only 24 lucky players will have the chance to draftĀ Modern Masters 2015Ā on the GP stage. Bummer.
That's it! We don't have a ton of information at this point, but you can count on this set being a huge focus in the MTG finance community moving forward. Keep your eyes peeled!
Filter lands weren’t from Alara, they were from eventide/shadowmoor.
Do we know how limited the print run is? Maybe they are greatly increasing the amount of product so stores will charge msrp.
$10/pack? Sonuvabitch. So much for that whole “lowering the financial bar for entry into the Modern format” schtick. My family was priced out of MM from the get-go; looks like history will repeat itself.
If this set sees a higher print run than Modern Masters, it’s gonna be very hard to justify this price increase. If the print run is going to remain the same, I guess WotC figured they’d ensure that they get all the money generated from boxes preordering for ~$250 each.
I hope the list of rares and mythics is solid gold, because buying a pack for $10 only to bust some quirky, bulk rare that “might” be good in one specific Draft deck is gonna feel like a punch in the gut.
Let everyone else spend $10 on a pack and inject copies into the market, thus lowering singles prices. How does lower singles prices not lower the financial bar for entry into Modern?