The Avatar: The Last Airbender Source Material bonus sheet has been rather controversial, to say the least. The choice of artwork, or rather the use of screenshots from the show, has drawn immense criticism from MTG players. Despite the rather odd flavor of this bonus sheet, it’s hard to argue with the value on display.
With this value in mind, MTG’s Head Designer, Mark Rosewater, has just delivered fans some good news. Reportedly, the recent increase in the frequency of bonus sheets is no accident. That said, while this sounds like a needed change, the reality of the situation is far from perfect.
A New Normal
Between Force of Negation, Teferi’s Protection, and the recently spoiled Diaochan, Artful Beauty, there’s no denying the Avatar bonus sheet has some heavy hitters. Technically, Diaochan is the most expensive card of the bunch, with non-foil copies being worth $120. Admittedly, foil copies are only $21, but still, this Source Material bonus sheet is absolutely stacked.
As much as bonus sheets aren’t always guaranteed to have such incredible MTG reprints, it seems they’re becoming the new normal. The past three MTG sets to be released each had a bonus sheet, and obviously, Avatar has one as well. Looking further into the future, we already know that the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles set will have one too.
According to MTG’s Head Designer, Mark Rosewater, this recent influx of bonus sheets is no accident. Responding to a question about the number of bonus sheets, Rosewater confirmed, “We are increasing the amount of bonus sheets we are doing.”
Realistically, this isn’t the most surprising move by Wizards of the Coast. Recently, Wizards has been culling some of the best avenues for reprints, leaving very few remaining options. Outside of Secret Lair drops and preconstructed Commander decks, bonus sheets are the last true bastion of reprints.
Due to this, it makes sense that Wizards of the Coast is making more bonus sheets going forward. That said, it doesn’t seem like every set is going to have one. Lorwyn Eclipsed, for instance, doesn’t have a bonus sheet, so they could largely be a Universes Beyond thing. Unfortunately, even if Wizards is increasing their frequency, bonus sheets aren’t exactly as good as they used to be.
Unreasonable Rarity
Back in 2024, when Wizards made a bonus sheet like Breaking News in Outlaws of Thunder Junction, finding cards from it was trivial. One Breaking News card was included in every Thunder Junction Play Booster, enabling these reprints to be incredibly effective. The reprint of Mindbreak Trap, for instance, crashed the card’s value from $75 to under $5.
Unfortunately, since 2025 began, bonus sheets have become increasingly rare in MTG. This started with Final Fantasy’s Through the Ages bonus sheet, which only appeared in one out of three Play Boosters. After this, Edge of Eternities’ Stellar Sight bonus sheet upped the rarity to one out of every eight packs. MTG Spider Man then pushed things further to one in 24 odds, and now MTG Avatar is one in 26 Play Boosters.
As if this weren’t bad enough already, the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles’ Source Material bonus sheet only appears in one out of 28 Play Boosters. Thankfully, bonus sheet cards are still guaranteed inclusions in Collector Boosters, for now, but that doesn’t provide tons of supply.
Due to the lower pull rate of bonus sheet cards nowadays, at best, the new reprints are much less effective. The recent Spider Man Source Material reprint of Opposition Agent, for instance, has only dropped in price by a few dollars. The reprint of Parallel Lives is thankfully a bit better, falling to $14 from $27, but that’s still not amazing.
Unfortunately, the increased rarity of bonus sheet cards can occasionally have the inverse effect. Through the Ages copies of Rhystic Study, for instance, are selling for $109, despite the regular card being $51. Clearly, if the art is good enough to drive the collectible market, these repritns can actively fail at their job.
A Pendulum Swing
For now, with bonus sheet cards getting rarer with every set, the future really doesn’t look that bright. That said, some reprints can still help to bring prices down. The reprint of Diaochan, Artful Beauty as Azula, Flame of Ember Island, for instance, is bound to sell for significantly less than current highs.
At the moment, the value of Diaochan, Artful Beauty is almost entirely propped up by its rarity. The $21 price tag of the 2012 Commander’s Arsenal reprint already demonstrates this, and Capture of Jingzhou provides further proof. After being reprinted in 2023’s Commander Masters, the original price of this card has remained obscenely high at $200.
Meanwhile, the Commander Masters reprint itself is now worth only $10 on average, since it’s nowhere near as scarce. In theory, the same thing should happen to Diaochan, even with the bonus sheet’s increased rarity. Whether or not this will happen, however, technically remains to be seen for now.
Either way, it’s certainly possible for bonus sheet reprints to be effective, even at their current pull rates. That said, they’re definitely worse than they used to be, and arguably should be. If decades-old first-time reprints are the only way for bonus sheets to be effective, it’s hard to say they’re fit for purpose in MTG.
With this in mind, we can only hope that this current trend of increasing rarity doesn’t last long. Sadly, this remains to be seen for now, as we’ve not really got enough evidence. Things don’t look good, but a future Magic Multiverse bonus sheet could swing the pendulum back in the other direction.
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