Mystery Booster 2 is a set that throws far more curveballs than MTG fans are used to. Not only was the set itself a surprise, being announced out of nowhere at Gen Con last weekend, but its contents are not what you’d expect either. In addition to the Futureshifted card frame, Mystery Booster 2 also marks the return of Magic’s infamous white border, for the first time in 19 years. Is this a good or a bad thing? Did anyone actually ask for this? Will these new white border experiments have financial value? These are all very good questions.
Return Of The King?
For newer Magic players, all this talk of white borders will likely be confusing. That’s because the idea of printing white-bordered cards was abandoned long ago. The last cards of this type were printed in Ninth Edition, way back in 2005. Before that, these borders served an interesting purpose for the game.
You see, starting with Unlimited Edition, the white border was used to indicate that the card in question was a reprint. This clearly differentiated cards from their original printings, which used the classic black border. For those familiar with Yu-Gi-Oh!, think of it as an analog to the little ‘First Edition’ text on cards. Of course, the white border was a lot more obvious than a simple line of text, and it had notable effects on the aesthetics of the cards that used it.
It’s easy to tell that Magic cards were designed with a black border in mind when you see their white border counterparts. The art on each card just doesn’t feel right with a glaring white void around it. In addition, white borders showed signs of dirt and wear far easier than their black counterparts. This resulted in white-bordered cards feeling cheap and shoddy compared to their original printings.
In part, this was intentional. Reprints are always worth less than the originals in card games, and this was a clear way of showing that. For a while, picking up a white-bordered printing of a card was the budget option, since most players preferred to avoid them. In recent times, however, some players have started collecting white border cards again for nostalgia reasons; something Mystery Booster 2 is keen to capitalize on.
More Than Ink Deep
So now you know the backstory, what exactly is going on with the white border cards in Mystery Booster 2? Well, quite a lot actually. This isn’t a lazy frame swap, as some have criticized the Retro Frame for being. This is a full overhaul of the classic white border look and one that takes into account the innovations in Magic card layout over the years.
For starters, text that used to sit on the colored section of the card now sits on the black section. This includes the set code, artist name, rarity, etc. On a regular card, this text is white to stand out, but here it’s flipped to black, which looks quite striking. This is also the first time the white border has interacted with the holofoil stamp or the legendary frame. You can see both on the Uro above.
Both elements look incredibly strange with the white border around them. The legendary frame, in particular, is a complete mess without its old black edges. It looks like a dodgy Photoshop job, to put it mildly. Despite this, there’s a certain charm to it. It really feels unique, and totally distinct from a normal Magic card, even compared to the original white-bordered run.
On top of this, the white border is also being used as an excuse to get creative by the Mystery Booster 2 team. Whiteout, a bizarre anti-Flying tech card from Ice Age, gets ‘new art’ in its white-bordered form, for example. Said art is actually just a completely white space. A clever joke based on the card name, but also a nice tie into the new white-bordered treatment.
White Gold?
Whether any other cards get playful treatment like this remains to be seen. I certainly wouldn’t put it past Mystery Booster 2 at this point. Nor would I underestimate the potential for these new white-bordered cards to be worth serious money. Although the treatment has its roots in budget gaming, the fact that it hasn’t been seen in nearly 20 years adds a lot of scarcity. As does the innate nature of Mystery Booster 2 itself.
Mystery Booster 2, like the original, breaks the usual MTG rarity rules. Every card in the set has equal rarity, regardless of the symbol on the card. Pair that with the massive card pool, nearly 1700 in the original Mystery Booster, and your chances of pulling any specific card are minuscule. With Mystery Booster 2 sticking to a convention-only release approach, this means that supply for individual white-bordered cards will be extremely low.
This means that if any of these new white-bordered cards are in high demand, their prices could skyrocket. We’ve already seen a few notable examples, including the legendary Urza’s Saga, Wasteland, Culling the Weak, and Teferi, Time Raveler. Players who want these cards with white borders will need to get very lucky at events or get ready to shell out some serious cash.
This was something we didn’t really see with the first Mystery Booster. Both because that set got a retail release, and because there were no new card treatments found within it. For that reason, the prices on the Mystery Booster 2 white border cards are uncharted territory. It’s unclear how things will shake out with this unique new set, but it’ll certainly be interesting to watch in any case.
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