Opening A Jumpstart Booster: Modified

There's a new product line for Magic: The Gathering. I bought a few boosters to open and discuss.

Your favorite legends and Planeswalkers are here with quintessential Magic from across the Multiverse. This set was made for past, present, and future Magic players. —Wizards of the Coast

The Foundations set is supposed to be tournament-legal through 2029 according to the pre-release announcement, so this is meant as a literal foundation for the next several years of releases. It is also designed to be a good way to learn how to play. The pitch with these Jumpstart Boosters is that you can buy two and get an instant 40-card deck to learn the game. While 60 cards is standard for most tournament formats, 40 is common as a minimum for booster drafts and other events. All you need is two packs. Shuffle them together and just play a game!

Each pack has a set of cards inside a second cellophane wrapper with a cover card stating the color and theme. This first deck is mono-green, and bears the title, Modified. This means the theme is tied to equipment, enchantment auras, and counters. Those traits are the focus of these cards, and some may synergize with extra effects.

I cracked the pack and shared the list on Moxfield. There were 6 basic forests, two non-basic lands which help fix mana in a multi-color deck, 7 creatures, 2 instants, 2 enchantments, and an artifact.

This pack had a nice surprise. New sets mean card price volatility, but Kodama of the West Tree was a good pull. It's clearly the centerpiece of this pack, and it's a reprint of a high-value rare card from a previous set. In fact, this card is priced at more than what I paid for the pack. Will that remain the case due to print volume? Who knows?

These are all single copies, and most are at bulk card prices, so completing playsets to tune a tournament deck would be inexpensive enough. This might also be a good way to start a Commander deck with a theme ready to inspire additional card choices, but that may be a bit of a reach.

I'll be opening more and will continue to post my thoughts, but this was a good first impression. The owner of the FLGS cracked a pack just to see what there were, and he got a nice green elf tribal starter set. I think this is a good sign WotC might be planning to support new players and even out the power creep trend in the long term. We'll see.