Tarkir: Dragonstorm seems to be quite successful overall. Prereleases were packed everywhere over the weekend, representing the incredible popularity this MTG set has. Unfortunately, nothing goes without a hitch.
We already had massive reports of ink bleeding for Tarkir: Dragonstorm non-foil rare and mythic rare cards. Fortunately, it appears that North America wasn’t as negatively impacted as other places, but it’s a shame that this was an issue at all.
Unfortunately, this is far from all the issues that players are experiencing with Tarkir: Dragonstorm. Some are getting accidental windfalls, while others are even struggling to find rares in their packs.
Crazy Tarkir: Dragonstorm Defects
MTG Reddit has been ignited with various Tarkir: Dragonstorm pack errors. Not all are necessarily bad, but the vast majority appear to be. This is likely reporting bias, but it’s clear that there are a lot of messed-up Tarkir: Dragonstorm packs.
One example comes from Reddit user Lucco1. This post features a pack that reportedly did not have a rare in it. MTG Tarkir: Dragonstorm decks are supposed to have a rare in them 100% of the time, with chances of having more than one. Yet, this pack didn’t have any.
This is obviously an unintentional defect. Contacting Wizards Help will likely yield a replacement pack since this particular pack doesn’t abide by the advertised contents.
A few players are experiencing similar defects. One player opened a pack with no non-foil rare, but happened to find a foil rare. This is also not supposed to happen. Foil rares appear exclusively in bonus slots, meaning packs should always contain a non-foil rare, regardless of the foil rare’s presence.
Otherwise, a good amount of posts are appearing reporting damaged cards. This particular example had three of their rares come backwards with obvious damage.
Others cited multiple missing rares in their prerelease kits specifically. Most of the reported Tarkir: Dragonstorm defects appear to be occurring there. This makes sense since most packs that have been opened at the time of writing would have been at prerelease events. Regardless, there is an unusual number of players citing problems.
Prerelease Defects
Various player reports cite both missing and extra packs appearing in their prerelease kits. Within those packs, an unusual number also appear to be missing rares.
Of all the comments, players missing their prerelease pack in their kit seemed to be the most common. This meant that the prerelease promo routinely granted at a prerelease, as well as all the clan-specific cards meant to support the clan of your choice, were missing. The LGS replaced the prerelease kit immediately, but this is still worrying.
While some players had their prerelease pack missing, others got an extra in their kit. Players were allowed to keep both packs but were only allowed to use one in their prerelease pools. While missing and extra packs are usually easy fixes, not every prerelease error is easy. Extra and missing rares, in particular, are difficult to correct.
As someone who has been impacted by an error prerelease kit before, this is incredibly frustrating. It makes playing in the event a difficult affair. Either your kit is far too powerful or far too weak, depending on what the error is. Either way, the playing field becomes incredibly uneven, which ruins the spirit of the game.
The Silver Lining
While many players have shown off their bad beats online, others have shown off insane god packs that shouldn’t even have a chance of happening. This particular example had 7 packs in their Tarkir: Dragonstorm collector booster box that were entirely Special Guest cards. You can even find a video of the opening here.
Apparently, this defect affects multiple people. Another player mentioned that their LGS opened two error packs in the same fashion during prerelease events.
For reference, Special Guests this time around are particularly valuable as the enemy Fetch Land cycle was reprinted. This is a nod to the inclusion of ally-colored Fetch Lands in the original Tarkir block. These are premium copies of those lands, as well, which means they’re worth quite a lot.
According to one comment, the total value of the error product equates to $619.87 USD. That’s an absolutely incredible Tarkir: Dragonstorm Play Booster box.
Probably Overrepresented
With all these reports of product mix-ups, it’s also important to remember that the majority of Tarkir: Dragonstorm products likely function as intended. None of these errors are even remotely as widespread as the ink defects. Regardless, there does appear to be a concerning amount of Tarkir: Dragonstorm product errors, and players are starting to become concerned.
Chances are, outside of areas affected by the severe ink bleeding, that most of your cards won’t come with any errors. That said, do contact Wizards of the Coast if something funky occurs with your Tarkir: Dragonstorm packs.