Each year, it seems like more and more promos are being made available to players. From Lotus Petal promos being distributed to stores as part of MTG’s 30th anniversary celebration to quarterly promos made ready for WPN Premium stores, there have been plenty of opportunities for local game stores to obtain unique cards. Each of these promo releases provide players with the opportunity to play at their local store and walk away with a little something extra.
Just yesterday, a handful of promos designed to celebrate the Year of the Dragon in 2024 were revealed. While some of these promos are specifically available in the APAC region and are designed to promote the APAC League, a few of them can be obtained at upcoming Standard Showdown events starting February 9. The Sarkhan Unbroken promo in particular is an excellent promo available globally.
In addition to these Standard Showdown events beginning, February 9 is also the release date for Murders at Karlov Manor. Murders at Karlov Manor is the first set to showcase the new play boosters and, to encourage players to come out and draft, there are some more promos being made available at local game stores. Luckily, being able to get your hands on these promos is fairly easy.
How to Obtain These Draft Promos
There are a total of three different draft promos available for players to pick up at their local game stores. They will only be available in English and in traditional foil. The promos in this group will be Arcane Signet, Chaos Warp, and Commander’s Sphere. Arcane Signet has similar artwork to the 30th anniversary promo version, featuring a retro frame. On the flip side, both Chaos Warp and Commander’s Sphere boast new artwork.
“It’s the goblin from the companion app”
SolarJoker
The new artwork on both Chaos Warp and Commander’s Sphere appears to be showcasing the Goblin associated with the Companion App, as SolarJoker mentions in this Reddit post. The Companion App provides players with an easy method for signing up for local events and the ability to check pairings, standings, and more. Additionally, the Companion App actually plays a vital role in being able to obtain these promos. In order to get any of these promos, you need to sign up for a local draft specifically using your Wizards account. This process is made even easier by simply using the Companion App to sign up.
At each draft, you will receive one of the three promos. You can get more by signing up and playing in more drafts over time. It’s unclear if you will earn a different promo each time you enter a draft or if the promos will be randomly distributed, but this is likely up to each store individually. For further clarification, definitely check in with your local game store to find out more details.
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Reprint Value
Unfortunately, none of these cards hold much value in particular. Arcane Signet is worth roughly 50 cents in its cheapest traditional form, according to TCGplayer market price. Given that this promo in particular is foil and retro frame, it may be worth a few bucks more. However, given how abundant these promos are likely to be, it wouldn’t be surprising if these promos were worth very little.
Chaos Warp, despite being a rare, is in a similar boat. Sitting at roughly $1 in its cheapest form, Chaos Warp has been reprinted countless times. Just recently, the card even showed up as a bonus card for one of the MTG Jurassic World Secret Lairs. Chaos Warp is still a Commander staple, nonetheless, so perhaps the new artwork will drive up the demand and it will hold a bit more value.
As for Commander’s Sphere, the card barely cracks 10 cents in its cheapest form according to TCGplayer market price. After all, the card is simply a bulk common with a ton of previous reprints. While it’s definitely cool to see more and more promos up for grabs, none of these promos are that exciting.
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Commander Promos for a Standard Set?
“All commander promos for a standard set…hmm…”
Steel_Reign
It is rather interesting that these were the cards chosen to promote the new play boosters for Murders at Karlov Manor. Murders at Karlov Manor is the first premier set of 2024, meaning the cards will be Standard legal. Showing off cards that almost exclusively see play in Commander at local draft events is certainly a surprising choice.
“Seriously, would it kill them to make promos of The Wandering Emperor or Wedding Announcement instead?”
DragoGuerreroJr
Not only are the promos chosen not worth much, but there are tons of powerful Standard cards that would be solid inclusions instead. For instance, Wedding Announcement is a Standard staple that has only one artwork available for players to use. Wizards of the Coast has emphasized the importance of revitalizing Standard, and this seemed like a perfect opportunity to promote the format in a draft environment where the cards are Standard legal.
“Nice, this has me very interested to draft a few times”
Hididdlydoderino
The one argument in favor of promos like these, though, is that they incentivize Commander players to draft at their local store. Commander is an absurdly popular format, so appealing to a large player base in the hopes of getting more players to draft locally isn’t unreasonable.
Still, with how much Standard is being pushed, especially with the change to Store Championships being Standard-only, it would be nice to see more promos of newer Standard cards in place of cards with tons of printings already. If you’re looking to add some pizzazz to your Commander deck and enjoy drafting, though, this is a great chance for you to get some cool-looking cards.
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