Thanks to the panel at MagicCon: Las Vegas, a boatload of information about the future of MTG was revealed. For Arena, Pioneer Masters is on the way in December of this year. Six new paper sets were also revealed, all releasing in 2025.
Before we get to any premier sets, though, a sweet set of reprints will debut in January in Innistrad Remastered. While we don’t know a ton about the set yet, it was revealed that this will be the first set ever boasting Headliner cards.
Headliner cards are a new concept designed to be the focal point of the set. Presumably, these cards will all be flashy and quite rare. This can add some suspense to cracking packs since these Headliner cards will undoubtedly be worth a fortune. To kick things off, let’s take a peek at the Headliner card for Innistrad Remastered.
Serialized Edgar Markov
Of all the cards that could have been deemed the face of the set, Edgar Markov is a perfect choice. Edgar Markov is an absolutely incredible Commander, mostly due to their Eminence ability. This means that Edgar Markov can take over the game even when it isn’t in play.
Unfortunately, up to this point, the only normal-sized versions of Edgar Markov are from Commander 2017 and a Judge promo. Both are foils worth over $100.
Recently, Edgar Markov was leaked as an inclusion in Innistrad Remastered. However, we did not know a serialized version with Movie Poster art of this magnitude would be available.
Well, that’s clearly what the Headliner cards are all about. They give players the chance (albeit a slim one) to pull a fancy version of the chase card of a given set, which could be worth a ton of money. For reference, based on the Amazon listing for Innistrad Remastered Collector Boosters, these Edgar Markov serialized cards show up exclusively in under 1% of collector boosters.
A Planeswalker Equipment?
Interestingly, we also got a sneak peek at the Headliner card from Aether Drift in 2025, and it’s a doozy. Of course, we don’t know any of the rules text on the card, but the fact that it’s a Planeswalker Equipment is, by itself, ridiculous.
Wizards has really been pushing the boundaries in card design lately, and there are some really intriguing directions they could’ve taken with this one.
Perhaps the Planeswalker’s abilities can only be activated if The Aetherspark is Equipped to a creature. Maybe one of the loyalty abilities lets you Equip The Aetherspark for free. For now, we’ll just have to wait and see how the Equipment and Planeswalker concepts have been fused.
What we do know, is that The Aetherspark is once again featured as a serialized Headliner card. It’s not certain whether all Headliner cards will come with serialized variants, but we know some wild cards are in store for us. 2025 looks like a massive year for change in the world of MTG, and we’re just getting started.
