Wizards of the Coast recently announced new changes that will be happening with Magic: The Gathering play and collector booster packs beginning in early 2027.
Beginning with Nauctis: The Sunken Realm, the following changes will occur:
- God packs will be introduced in every multiverse set, with every Universes Beyond release following suit in 2028. Every play booster will have a one-in-1,000 chance of having a pack with nothing but rares and mythic cards. The odds are increased for collector boosters, with 1 in every 300 packs being such a pack.
- Japan showcase cards will not just be in collector booster packs anymore, with play boosters now seeing them in the wildcard slot
- Drop rates for foil rare and mythic cards will be increased in play boosters
- Play booster packs will be renamed to simply booster packs once again
- Foil common and uncommon cards will be removed from booster packs, with it no longer being a guarantee that every booster pack will have a foil in it
- Collector boosters will be removing two common and one uncommon foil slots
Overall, these comprehensive changes to booster packs are the biggest in years, with many citing it as the largest changes since collector boosters were first introduced in 2019.
Responses to the changes seem to have been mostly negative, such as with what this Reddit user posted:
"I hate almost everything about this and im so sick of this game appealing more and more to streamers, pokebros and investors." posted Efficient-Plate-3351.
The reduction of the number of cards in collector boosters saw especially high criticism.
"Bruh the packs we pay more for they cutting back on lol.. AGAIN!" said YouTuber Russ 'Mr DjLonghair' to Magic Untapped.
Others also expressed disappointment with foils in booster packs no longer being guaranteed and the reduction of foils in collector boosters, with some accusing this particular change as a measure to help control the falling prices of foil common and uncommon cards
"Seriously. I love getting a foil in each booster," said Reddit user Daedelus11-5 in a post. "I remember being a kid in 2012 and being always disappointed I never got any foil cards. Just because people who endlessly open packs on social media don't care about them doesn't mean the average consumer doesn't like it."
They continued, stating "if wizards of the coast want to keep doing cost-cutting measures, they should be lowering prices. Wasn't one of the justifications of play boosters higher price the foil card you'd always get?"
"This is one of the reasons they're making this change, IMO. They phrase it as people being disinterested in the commons and uncommons when they crack collector's boosters, but they've killed the value of foil commons and uncommons through overprinting," added commenter Killericon. "They want foil Hare Apparents to go for 4x the normal value, not them be at par."
"Yeah this is a net negative for people not interested in collector packs, but who like foil cards," explained BeyondElectricDreams. "It's going to mean all foil commons and uncommons from certain sets now have a fixed supply, entirely tied to the one print run of the collector packs."
"It's diabolical work to frame this as for the players when it's blatant cost cutting," commented user fumar.
"Once again wizards twist the feedback from players," said Empty_Turnip 473. We don't want your pringled, non playable foils. Fix your foils, don't remove them. The real reason why they are removing them is because they feel like rare and mythic foil dopamine hits are gonna get people more addicted to opening packs than your commons and uncommons. Especially when people watch pack opening on youtube or whatnot. They want to have viewers always in a state of excitement and anticipation. I feel like I have to read between the lines of every WotC decision because they are never transparent."
Many accused Wizards of cost cutting in the changes as well.
"WotC: "We're hitting record profits quarter over quarter! We can't keep magic product stocked, every secret lair is selling out," commented DemonicBug. "Also WotC: "We're reducing the amount of cards you get, but keeping the same price because we need to save more money."
"Whether you like the changes or not, I feel like it's important to realize the intent behind them. With three fewer cards per collector box, WotC can now use the same printing capacity to print 25% more product (e.g. printing 3000 cards before would be enough for 200 packs, but now it's enough for 250 packs)," said Huaojozu in their Reddit post.
"Obviously the printer doesn't care whether the cut cards are common or rare, only the quantity. And sure, there are other distribution costs than just the printing but still, it's safe to assume this will be a large boon to the bottom line, whether the capacity gets used to increase the print run or print other products (hello more Secret Lairs). It will be really interesting to see what happens to Nauctis CBB prices."
"I don’t think anyone is missing the point that wizards is doing this to make more money," added Opening-Owl-1546.
On a positive note, the introduction of god packs was generally received positively, with users noting Magic introducing a better god pack system over other trading card games. Many did express worry over how Limited play would be affected though.
"Regardless of my feelings about the existence of god packs and how that will mess with limited, I am very happy that they are putting in a little commemorative card saying “hey, this is a god pack”. I’ve seen too many posts on Reddit saying “is this a god pack?” when it’s just an above average pack, and this just squashes any confusion about it" posted NayrSlayer.
"I need to be convinced how this doesnt screw up Limited other than "It's rarely gonna happen". added Vedney.
Some players also expressed that the changes could be good in the long-term, and that bulk reduction would be favorable to them.
"I think it is actually good long term. SWU had issues similar to the ones these changes aim to fix, they did something similar to their packs, and it helped a ton," noted Ducklett "Play boosters actually having something good in them is a great change, making foil non-rares actually impactful is a great change."
"It sucks for some players. I loathe foils, I'll gladly take a shot at a Japanese showcase card over that," expressed Meat Abstract. "Getting common and uncommon foils never felt great. Happy to wave that goodbye as well. I only but a CB once in a blue moon, but less bulk garbage and higher EV per booster sounds good to me."
Wizards of the Coast is likely going to respond to criticism of the changes in the near future, as they have following major backlash to changes in the past.
