Back in February when Bloomburrow was officially unveiled, something seemed off. With a release date poised for early August, it seemed Wizards had been tinkering with the MTG release calendar. To us, it felt like Wizards of the Coast was hiding an entire major set that we hadn’t been told about yet.
Furthering these suspicions, the release date for Duskmourn: House of Horror was recently leaked. Revealed via an early store listing, it appears this set is launching in September, just eight weeks after Bloomburrow. Now this release date has been confirmed, it seems more certain than ever before that something is missing from the 2024 release calendar.
Thankfully, at long last, we might finally have the long-awaited answer about what this missing set is. Hold onto your hats, everybody, it looks like we’re getting another Jumpstart set!
Jumpstart 2025
After a three-year hiatus, it appears that Jumpstart is coming back in 2024. Somewhat confusingly named Jumpstart 2025, this set is reportedly going to be released in November. Specifically, Jumpstart 2025 is apparently going to launch on November 15th, 2024.
Notably, this release date, or even the existence of this product, has not been confirmed by Wizards of the Coast. Instead, this information has been revealed via online retailer The Game Collection. While you could easily dismiss this listing as erroneous, The Game Collection has been right before.
Most recently, The Game Collection revealed the release date of Duskmourn: House of Horror early. On the website, their product listings for the set stated a release date of September 27th, 2024. Thanks to a new article detailing new Japan Showcase Cards, this rumored release date has been confirmed.
While there is no guarantee that The Game Collection will be on the money twice in a row, it’s certainly a possibility. Ultimately, we’re just going to have to wait and see what’s real when, or if, this set gets announced. Thankfully, we shouldn’t be left waiting long for that announcement.
Tomorrow, Wizards of the Coast will be hosting The Preview Panel at MagicCon: Amsterdam. On the docket for this panel, Wizards will be talking primarily about Bloomburrow and Duskmourn. While no other announcements are reportedly planned, there’s little reason this mysterious set couldn’t make an appearance.
Ultimately, we’re just going to have to wait and see what reveals are in store. Even if Jumpstart 2025 isn’t announced at this event, it may only be a matter of time before it breaks cover officially.
Jumpstart’s Back, Back Again
While it is by no means confirmed just yet, Jumpstart 2025 is primed to be a surprisingly exciting product. Unless Wizards has changed up the formula, this product won’t be Draftable, as it uses the Jumpstart format instead. This often leads to hardcore MTG players overlooking the set as it’s more casual-focused.
As much as Jumpstart is designed to be a new-player-oriented product, there are still new and exciting cards. Jumpstart 2022, for example, featured gems like Ashcoat of the Shadow Swarm and Pirated Copy. If intriguing Commander playable cards aren’t exciting enough, many Jumpstart exclusive cards are also remarkably expensive. Just look at Allosaurus Shepherd for an example of that.
Speaking of expensive, Jumpstart products can also hide away a few incredibly expensive reprints. Looking back at Jumpstart 2022, this set included reprints of Rhystic Study and Goldspan Dragon. Further adding to the excitement, this set also included stunning anime reprints which are always a delight.
All in all, even before knowing anything about it, Jumpstart 2025 has a good deal of potential. As an Eternal-legal product, Wizards can push the boat out with new cards that they create. Hopefully, Jumpstart 2025 will continue the trend of giving often underserved Typal archetypes some welcome added support.
Ultimately, as interested as we are already, it’d be silly to board the hype train now. As exciting as the set’s potential may be, it’s sensible to wait until we know more before properly getting hyped. We can only hope that we won’t be left waiting for long.
The New Normal?
For better or worse, there’s a non-zero chance that an eight-week gap between premier MTG sets becomes normal. After all, in 2025, Wizards of the Coast is going above and beyond with two major Universes Beyond sets. While one of these is likely going to be released in June, like Tales of Middle-earth, the other is unknown.
Right now it seems like Wizards is moving sets around to create space for a new release at the end of the year. Potentially, this could be the new home for the Universes Beyond crossovers with Marvel that have been announced. Whether or not this is the case remains to be seen, but we’d be surprised if Wizards isn’t up to something.
Sadly for anyone looking for instant answers, we likely won’t know more until much later. Even if Jumpstart 2025 gets announced at MagicCon: Amsterdam, Q4 of 2025 is a long way away. Given the concerns about MTG’s overwhelming release calendar, hopefully, some clarity can be provided soon.
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