After a few weeks of quiet, the long-anticipated first look for The Lost Caverns of Ixalan has finally come and gone. This was part of the MTG Vegas preview panel that occurred this Friday alongside the beginning of the MTG World Championship for 2023.
The Lost Caverns of Ixalan is the show’s star, especially with a new Mana Crypt printing on its way, but Wizards of the Coast had more to show off than just that.
Here, we’ll take a look at all the new information we have regarding Ravnica Remastered. From new anime artwork to old-bordered treatment to fan favorites, here’s all the new details for MTG’s next reprint-focused set.
New Anime Artwork!
To kick things off, five new anime artworks were revealed for MTG players to collect in Ravnica Remastered! Krenko, Mob Boss and Birds of Paradise offer some enticing reprints here, commonly used in Commander. The other three cards, while pretty, leave something to be desired.
Notably, Birds of Paradise saw a pretty recent reprint in Dominaria Remastered. The card received all the bells and whistles in terms of alternate artwork for that set as well. Seeing it again this early is, honestly, a little disappointing.
Regardless, Birds of Paradise’s cheapest iteration is currently a little under $5.50, making this a mediocre, but respectable reprint.
Krenko, Mob Boss is going to have some fans. Sure, the card isn’t worth too much – less than $2, to be exact, thanks to another recent reprint in Commander Masters, but the artwork has a lot going for it. The fanciest version of Krenko players currently have is an Etched Foil one from Commander Masters, and, in my opinion, this anime artwork blows that one out of the water. While the artwork is great, the reprint is odd.
The other three cards featured here simply see no play. The artwork is beautiful, but, aside from some collecting and some niche sideboard play, Massacre Girl, Fblthp, the Lost, and Tomik, Distinguished Advokist aren’t very desirable in a gameplay sense. None of these cards’ cheapest iterations surpass a dollar.
The good news is that this probably means that more anime artwork will be featured in Ravnica Remastered. The current anime cards shown off are a bit middling, but the artwork does look incredible! It will be interesting to see what cards get the anime treatment in the future. Kaya and Ral, for example, could get an anime appearance.
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Full Cycle of Shock Lands Return!
On the opposite side of the spectrum, the return of all ten Shock Lands have been announced for Ravnica Remastered! While the anime artwork cards revealed were a little lackluster, these reprints are absolutely fantastic.
Seeing heavy play in Pioneer, Modern and Commander, all ten Shock lands tend to hold significant secondary market price tags. To be precise, market prices for these cards, at their cheapest, vary from $9 to $17! Players will generally need multiples of these cards for various manabases, or maybe multiple Commander decks, so there is a serious incentive to get these cards as cheap as possible. Otherwise, getting the original Rob Alexander artworks reprinted is a beautiful touch.
The artwork being utilized for the full art Shock Lands is really interesting. This is the first time we’ve seen this artwork printing on a paper MTG card, but it is not the first time we’ve seen this artwork for MTG Shock Lands. Before now, these were online exclusive artworks from Magic Online. The Steam Vents, for example, according to mtggoldfish.com, was released as a Magic Online promotional card back in 2019.
“This art may be familiar to you. You may have seen this before online, but it is the first time it is coming to physical paper cards, and it is spectacular.”
Riley Knight
Saving the best for last, for the first time ever, players have access to Retro Frame Shock Lands! We commonly see premiums for old-bordered artwork. Expressive Iteration and Preordain are some examples of this.
There is definitely an audience that will love these new additions to the Shock Land lineup and, hopefully, this reprint makes Shock Lands a lot more accessible to everyone.
The Rest
Rounding off the new spoilers from Ravnica Remastered is the return of two fan favorites in, for the first time, the Retro Frame.
Niv-Mizzet, Parun is not an expensive MTG card, but it does see some niche competitive play and is a Commander favorite thanks to it going infinite relatively easily. The inability for Niv-Mizzet to be countered, combined with it’s absurd draw potential, makes it a great option to play against decks like Izzet Phoenix.
Aurelia, Exemplar of Justice sees very little play but this is, interestingly, her first reprint since Guilds of Ravnica back in 2018. Neither Niv-Mizzet or Aurelia, in these iterations, break the $2 mark on the secondary market.
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Final Notes
While the Shock Land Cycle and new anime artworks are rather exciting, the new spoilers for Ravnica Remastered are a bit middling. Fortunately, there’s still a lot more to see as spoiler season for this set is still a few months away. You can expect reveals for Ravnica Remastered to officially get underway on December 19th. The official launch for Ravnica Remastered will be January 12th. If you’re looking forward to everything else 2024’s first MTG set has to offer, be sure to keep these dates under your hat.
As a final note, as mentioned by MTG panel host Riley Knight, the contents of Ravnica Remastered will not just feature cards from main sets that featured the plane (original Ravnica block, Return to Ravnica Block, the most recent Ravnica Block and War of the Spark):
“I’m pleased to tell you that we will also see cards set in Ravnica that didn’t necessarily appear in Ravnica-based sets. Cards that appear in, for instance, Commander releases that featured Ravnica characters or identities or w/e, they will also be in Ravnica Remastered, so keep an eye out for your favorite locations, characters and icons for Ravnica.”
Riley Knight
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