At long last, MTG is finally about to get going in 2025. The long break over the holidays has been nice, but now we’re positively itching to enjoy a new set and Limited environment. Thankfully, Innistrad Remastered is just around the corner, as preview events are set to start this week.
Unfortunately, it now seems attending these events may be easier said than done. According to new communication from Wizards of the Coast, a last-minute delay threatens to disrupt planned Innistrad Remastered events. Right now, it’s unclear how widespread this issue is set to be, but it’s certainly not the start to 2025 that many were hoping for.
Innistrad Remastered Delayed
Reportedly, Wizards of the Coast has recently warned WPN Premium stores of a delay affecting Innistrad Remastered. Specifically, Innistrad Remastered Play Boosters have been impacted by a shipping delay. Hopefully, the cause of this delay won’t be too major, as Wizards states it should be “Resolved shortly.”
Despite optimism from Wizards, it’s currently unclear how long this delay may last. In the email, shared to Reddit by Undead_Artemia, Wizards states the delay “may impact your ability to his Innistrad Remastered WPN Premium Preview events. Given these events are scheduled to begin on January 17th, in just three days, some disruption isn’t at all surprising.
Similarly unsurprising is the fact that some MTG players aren’t too happy about this potential disruption. On Reddit, TobytheRam commented that this delay “kinda blows,” especially due to the proximity to Aetherdrift. In case you’re unaware, the spoiler season for Aetherdrift starts next week on January 21st.
With this date looming ever closer, many MTG players may soon understandably shift their focus to Aetherdrift. Hopefully, Draft events for Innistrad Remastered will continue to be hosted, but it’s hard to think that attendance won’t be affected. At the very least Innistrad Remastered isn’t really getting any uninterrupted time in the spotlight, which is hardly ideal.
Thankfully, there’s no guarantee that every Premium Preview event for Innistrad Remastered will be disrupted. That said, it will still be worth checking with your LGS to find out what’s going on in your area. Hopefully, you’ll be able to attend any events as planned but it’s better to be safe than sorry.
Shipping Snafus
Unfortunately, this isn’t the first time that product shipping has caused problems for Wizards. Not only have we seen numerous delays in the past, especially during and post-pandemic, but even now players are waiting on product. Specifically, it seems some players are still waiting to receive their rewards from competing in Arena Direct events.
Starting with Modern Horizons 3, Arena Direct is an event series that allows players to compete for physical Play Booster Boxes of a set. The entry cost to these events was steep, but obviously, the rewards were well worth the price, provided you win. Since their introduction, Arena Direct events have become a regular feature that’s available for most sets.
Unfortunately, it seems shipping out a vast volume of Play Booster Boxes directly to players isn’t entirely easy. Across multiple different Reddit posts, MTG players have been complaining about long shipping times and missing shipments entirely. Despite these problems being a much complained about issue, Wizards is still running Arena Direct events, much to some players chagrin.
“They really shouldn’t be running additional arena direct events until all the winners from the previous event actually receive their prizes. It’s a cool idea, but there’s no point in playing in these if it takes over two months to ship boxes.”
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Beyond just benign annoying to be left waiting that long, as BritishGolgo13 notes, this delay actually devalues the prizes. Upon release, Booster Boxes and individual cards all tend to be rather expensive. As the market settles, however, it’s only the new staples and Commander gems that retain any value. Subsequently, being forced to wait multiple months for a prize can seriously devalue it.
Once again, we can only hope that Wizards of the Coast will be able to address this issue and speed up shipping sooner rather than later. Whether or not this will actually happen, however, remains to be seen. If Secret Lair drops have taught us anything, it’s that, even when pre-printed, shipping can still take a long while.