But if it does come out this summer, I have the highest hopes for its ability to fill the gap. Sadly, there’s no guarantee it’ll come out this summer, and if it does, it’ll be competing with Double Masters 2, Battle for Baldur’s Gate, and Streets of New Capenna for attention and dollars. I have no idea when it’ll come out, but if it follows in Unstable’s footsteps and provides an awesome Limited environment, I’m sure to love it (and struggle to get my Spike-y friends to play it). I’ll definitely give Double Masters 2 a try if I’m able, but if it’s like Double Masters 1, it could be too expensive to be played much (especially with how available Modern Horizons 2 boosters still are).įinally, there’s Unfinity. The introduction of $100 VIP Boosters and $60 Collector boosters? Well, they’re not for me, and they feel more than a little bit excessive. The gimmick of two rares per pack doesn’t excite me, as it feels liable to make draft worse rather than better. Thanks to the pandemic, I have no nostalgia for the first Double Masters (I drafted it once on Magic Online and it was fine. That enthusiasm has dipped a bit after Modern Horizons and Modern Horizons 2 provided awesome draft environments that also introduced new cards and archetypes.
I’ve long written about how I love Masters sets. Still, it feels unlikely that Commander Legends 2 is what’ll fill the lull.ĭouble Masters 2 is more promising. Moreover, I recognize that sometimes I can be absolutely wrong when I discount something I end up loving. To be clear, I don’t at all want to yuck anyone else’s yum-the set seems intended for other people and I hope they have an absolute blast. I have low expectations that it’ll be a format I’ll enjoy. Surely, there’ll be something for me to pass the time with this summer?īattle for Baldur’s Gate combines Commander Legends (a format I barely played and did not enjoy) with Adventures in the Forgotten Realms (perhaps my least favorite Limited environment of the past decade). Three sets within a few months is a lot, but they’re ostensibly for different audiences, so they ideally won’t tread on each others’ toes too much. There’s even a chance Double Masters 2’s release will dovetail with the delayed Unfinity’s card previews. As soon as it comes out, we’ll likely enter spoilers for Double Masters 2. We’re already in preview season for Commander Legends: Battle for Baldur’s Gate. However, there are ways to fill that break between Standard sets.įor more than half a decade, summer has been the season of supplemental sets, and this summer is no different. That’s a long time to be in the worst part of the Magic release cycle. And there’s a long gap from its release in late April to Dominaria United’s in early September. With Streets of New Capenna well in the rear view mirror, my lull has already begun, earlier than ever before. Every Play-In Point I’ve earned is a frustrating and constant reminder of the gems Wizards took away so I could have yet another useless-to-me Arena currency. As for why, there’s plenty of discourse on the state of the format, so I’ll save my impressions of its design and development for another day-though I do feel compelled to note that the change to Arena’s Limited economy is a factor unrelated to the set. I stopped playing, and I haven’t missed it.
And it’s that lull that I want to discuss today. This helps bring some balance back to the cycle of spoiler, play, and lull. It was hard to play sets like Conspiracy 2 and Iconic Masters when they were surrounded by releases other draftable sets.Īs time went on, Wizards addressed these unfortunate consequences of its successes by shortening spoiler seasons, having more targeted marketing, and encouraging players to seek out products they want, rather than assuming that every product is meant for them. It was challenging to sustain hype when it felt like half the year was spoiler season. With more products, there were more spoiler seasons and more releases in close proximity. When Magic had only four major releases each year, it spread them out approximately equidistantly, so about three months apart.Īs Magic has grown and catered to more audiences-both a great thing for game players of all stripes and a boon to the game-this paradigm has shifted. This process happens at a different rate for most players, but once upon a time, the solution was fairly simple. Ideally, spoiler season kicks off just as a format is getting stale. Magic vacillates between three phases: the hype of spoiler season, the fun of playing with new cards, and the lull as excitement dims but before the next spoiler season begins.
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