Today’s Weekly MTG stream provided a retrospective on the Epilogue Boosters from March of the Machine: The Aftermath and offered a preview of Beyond Boosters — a new product debuting with the Universes Beyond Assassin’s Creed set.
Blake Rasmussen was joined by Magic: The Gathering product architects Max McCall and Zakeel Gordon. The trio did a brief recap on what the Epilogue Boosters did and didn’t do well and why they, according to Rasmussen, didn’t quite land.
While the cards inside the March of the Machine: The Aftermath Epilogue Boosters were liked and fun to play with, players generally prefer larger packs and want fewer duplicates in their packs. Even with the many different Booster Fun treatments used in the set, players opened far too many copies of the same cards, particularly the uncommons. Players did enjoy seeing the moments the characters share on the cards, specifically Chandra and Nissa, and Wizards of the Coast (WotC) was able to deliver some fan service.
WotC took the feedback on the first wave of Epilogue Boosters and made the decision to scrap Epilogue Boosters for the upcoming set — Outlaws of Thunder Junction. McCall said that the story for the set made for another place to use the new booster, but the cards that were meant for these boosters were mostly incorporated into the main set. The cards that were going to appear in the Epilogue Boosters will use a different set code, so they will be noticeable in Outlaws of Thunder Junction. The set is scheduled for release on April 19.
With what WotC learned about Epilogue Boosters, they adjusted the upcoming Beyond Boosters — a new offering that will be used with the Universes Beyond Assassin’s Creed set. Beyond Boosters are a sweet spot that falls between a full-scale premier set like The Lord of the Rings: Tales of Middle-earth and a Secret Lair drop such as the Princess Bride product. The Assassin’s Creed set will be about 100 cards and the Beyond Boosters for it will contain seven cards and a token or ad.
Take a look at a breakdown of what can be found in Beyond Booster.
Beyond Boosters will once again not contain commons as the packs are not meant to be drafted. The contents of the packs and the associated sets will be Modern-legal, have reprints, and have the chance to have up to four rares or mythic rares. The Beyond Booster boxes will contain 24 packs. Assassin’s Creed is set for release in July.
Another issue with the Epilogue Boosters from March of the Machine: The Aftermath was the price. Rasmussen said that while they can’t comment on specifics about prices, as WotC no longer sets MSRP for their products, he said they did listen to the price feedback from the first run of Epilogue Boosters.
It’s still unclear if Beyond Boosters will only be used for Universes Beyond products or if they will be developed in a way to use as follow-ups to main set releases for potential future mini sets. We should get some more information at MagicCon: Chicago, where WotC will give first look panels for Outlaws of Thunder Junction, Assassin’s Creed, Modern Horizons 3, and Bloomburrow. The first looks will reveal previews, talk about the stories for the sets, and more.
