Ever since it was first created way back in 1993, Magic: the Gathering has been an inherently collectible game. It is literally in the name, after all, as there is certainly no shortage of gathering. Despite this longstanding history of collectibility, however, throughout recent years, the collectible side of MTG has been steadily expanding. Thanks to new products and sub-brands, MTG players have more ways and more to collect than ever before.
While many players have delighted in the enhanced collectibility of MTG, not everyone is so pleased. MTG’s original designer, for instance, isn’t entirely pleased with the direction Wizards has been taking their creation. Alongside this voice of authority, many MTG players have also been voicing their concerns and discontent throughout the years. Following the announcement of a rather bizarre collector’s product, these complaints have flared up once again. Fortunately for players and Wizards alike, however, it might not be all bad news.
Universes Beyond Doctor Who Collector Booster
During MagicCon: Minneapolis, Wizards of the Coast revealed a plethora of details about upcoming sets. For some, such as The Lord of the Rings: Tales of Middle-earth, Wizards delighted fans with new and powerful spoilers. Other sets, such as the Wilds of Eldraine, however, were only given new enticing art for players to scrutinize. For the most part, the Universes Beyond Doctor Who set fits into this latter category.
Throughout their Preview Panel presentation, Wizards revealed five new artworks for this upcoming release. Showcasing three of the fourteen, technically fifteen, Doctors, alongside artwork of Davros, Wizards officially set the hype train rolling. As if that wasn’t enough to get players excited, Wizards also revealed the Commander set’s box art. At first, this was nothing out of the ordinary, as pre-constructed Commander decks, even Universes Beyond ones, aren’t entirely new. Following this, however, Wizards shocked fans somewhat by revealing Doctor Who Collector Boosters.
Just like preconstructed Commander decks, this product is hardly a new innovation as they’ve been around since Throne of Eldraine. Despite this precedent, however, Commander decks like these have never had Collector Boosters before. Instead, these decks typically have “Collector’s Edition” variants. As seen with the Warhammer 40,000 Commander decks, this product offers an entirely foiled-out version of the regular deck. While this has been a lucrative strategy in the past, Wizards is nevertheless experimenting again.
As a new take on an old product, the Doctor Who Collector Boosters certainly seem out of place. According to the WPN Store, however, these boosters are nothing to be afraid of. Just as we’ve seen time and time again, these Collector Boosters are your best chance to get a set’s foil cards. Within a Collector Booster, there are 15 cards, at least 12 of which are foil.
A Divided Audience
Being a change in the wide world of MTG, unsurprisingly, players had plenty of opinions to share about this decision. Subsequently, many players took to social media, to debate whether or not Wizards had lost the plot. As you might expect, some players weren’t all too happy about the removal of Collector’s Edition decks. While they might have been expensive if you wanted a playset of a card and hated buying singles, they were nevertheless consistent. Collector Boosters, on the other hand, are anything but, as even when buying a Booster Box, there are no guarantees.
Due to this factor, several MTG players implied that Wizards were being ostensibly greedy through this change. Reddit user u/ygolordned, for instance, commented Wizards is “just trying different options to maximize profits.” While this was quite a descriptive response, other players like u/nonstripedzebra stated, “it’s called milking it.”
While it certainly seems easy to argue this angle, not every player was so negative toward this change. In fact, some players noted this decision could actually be positive in the long run. As pointed out by u/Salnder12, by putting chase cards in packs, it’s possible card prices may be cheaper in the future, thanks to increased circulation. While it hasn’t been disastrous, this has certainly been a problem for the Warhammer 40,000 Commander decks. Despite being guaranteed in every deck, chase foils such as Triumph of Saint Katherine are still worth around $57!
Considering it’s hard to argue that cards getting cheaper is a bad thing, even Salnder12 noted Wizards’ way of doing this isn’t perfect. “That being said, this is still 100% greed because the best way to get these in circulation would be via set boosters, NOT $20+ Collector Boosters.”
Delightful Details
At the time of writing, it is far too early to tell how the secondary market will be affected by this change. While this may be somewhat disappointing, there’s still plenty about the Doctor Who Commander Decks to get excited about. For instance, as we noted earlier, the names and names for each deck have been revealed.
- Blast from the Past | (Green-White-Blue)
- Timey-Wimey | (Blue-Red-White)
- Paradox | (Green-Blue-Red)
- Masters of Evil | (Blue-Black-Red)
Admittedly, as you can see above, this new information doesn’t tell us all too much about the decks themselves. Thankfully, however, there are still details that should be exciting. Namely, the Doctor Who Commander Decks finally have a release date! According to Wizards, the four decks should release on October 13th, 2023! Of course, this only applies if the decks are not delayed like the Warhammer 40,000 Commander decks were.
Read More: MTG’s Most Controversial Commanders Are Getting Reprinted
