Following its envy-inducing early Draft yesterday, the entirety of Mystery Booster: Commander Edition has now been revealed. While the new Commanders are definitely the highlight here, the set’s suite of reprints is not to be sniffed at either. Between new Alchemy cards, Future Sight reprints, and pricey regular cards, Mystery Booster: Commander Edition is looking seriously stacked on this score.
New Age Alchemy
As with Mystery Booster 2, Mystery Booster: Commander Edition is bringing reprints of previously Alchemy-only cards to paper for the first time. In addition to Oracle of the Alpha, which returns from last time, nine more Alchemy cards are available in this set.
The highlights of this batch are definitely the Collector cards, a cycle of five creatures that can conjure one of the original Moxen each. We’re also getting a paper printing of Euru, Acorn Scrounger, which is a fun digital-only Squirrel Commander that also uses the Conjure mechanic. Some other fun picks, in Overcooked, Perforator Crocodile, and Case of the Lost Witness, round out the new batch.
Following the precedent established in Mystery Booster 2, all of these cards will be printed here with acorn stamps, meaning they’re not legal in any sanctioned Magic format. This includes Commander, though you can always try to negotiate their inclusion via rule zero conversations.
These cards will also be just as rare as they were in Mystery Booster 2, appearing only in traditional foil, and in less than 1% of packs according to the official reveal article. This means that, while they’re essentially collectibles only due to their legality, we could be looking at some very pricey cards indeed in these nine.
Oracle of the Alpha is one of the most expensive cards in Mystery Booster 2, after all, at a whopping $169. Given they share that card’s tie to the power nine, the Collector cycle could easily end up at a similar price point. The other four newcomers will likely end up in the $30-60 range based on the low-end picks last time, but they should still be great value hits.
Back To The Future
Another returning element from Mystery Booster 2 in this set is the Future Sight Frame cards, of which you’ll get one in every pack. Disappointingly, while the previous set introduced 136 of these cards, Mystery Booster: Commander Edition only adds 10 new ones to the mix.
These new picks aren’t incredibly exciting, either, with Dust to Dust and Jeweled Amulet leading the pack at $9.50 and $8.50, respectively. The other new cards here are all cheap Commander staples, including mana rocks like Chromatic Lantern and lands like Exotic Orchard. While it’s nice to get these cards in the Future Sight frame, they’re unlikely to be worth much.
Fortunately, Mystery Booster: Commander Edition also reprints many of the Future Sight frame cards from last time around. In a fun twist, a lot of these cards have now had their foil/non-foil exclusivity removed. Cards like Future Sight are now available in foil, for example, while Arcane Signet and Command Tower now have non-foil printings.
Perhaps most excitingly, Mystery Booster: Commander Edition also reprints all 10 of the Vanguard art Future Sight frame legends from last time. These cards are all highly expensive, with Urza, Lord High Artificer leading the pack at around $253 right now. While these cards will be just as rare as they were previously, it’s still nice to get another crack at such pricey pulls.
Planeswalker Stamp Of Approval
Special slot reprints aside, Mystery Booster: Commander Edition also has a ton to offer with its regular planeswalker stamp reprints. As always, these cards are drawn from all 33 years of Magic’s history, with a lot of very valuable stuff on offer.
One of the best parts of the selection this time around is how it includes cards from non-mainline Magic products. Greymond, Avacyn’s Stalwart gets its first-ever non-List reprint here, for example, giving players a fair crack at a $66 card. There are also pricey supplemental product reprints here too, like Rev, Tithe Extractor from Foundations Jumpstart, and Bria, Riptide Rogue from the Bloomburrow Starter Kits.
There are plenty of goodies from Magic’s main sets here as well, including a bunch of high-value Commander staples. Cards like Elesh Norn, Mother of Machines, Thassa, Deep-Dwelling, and Sakashima of a Thousand Faces all make triumphant returns here. There are even some hits for constructed formats, with cards like Barrowgoyf, Untimely Malfunction, and Mental Note all getting much-needed reprints.
Overall, Mystery Booster: Commander Edition is absolutely stuffed with desirable reprints, at every layer of the set. While accessibility is definitely a concern at this early stage, hopefully this set will go the way of Mystery Booster 2 in time. Once the set makes its proper debut at MagicCon: Atlanta, we should be able to take advantage of one of the best reprint suites Magic has seen in a good while.
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