During the coverage of Pro Tour Return to Ravnica this weekend, Mark Rosewater and company dropped a bomb on the audience. A brand new 229 card set scheduled for June 7, 2013 titled Modern Masters will be released, featuring reprints of Modern legal cards only, as a way to jump start interest in Modern and increase card availability. Tarmogoyf was the first card previewed for reprint, and you can expect a slew of other big name cards as well. The set will not be Standard legal, but will obviously be legal in any formats the cards are normally legal in (ala Coldsnap).
To start you off, here is the full video announcement of the new Modern Masters set:
Reprints of Big Dollar Cards
So we’ll be seeing reprints of stuff like Tarmogoyf, Dark Confidant, and other high priced but relatively recent staples for Modern (and Extended, Legacy, and Vintage, where many of these cards also see play). This will likely drop the price of these cards across the board. The set will consist solely of cards that were printed from Eighth Edition through Alara Reborn.
Foils In Every Pack; Higher Price Point
Another interesting fact about the release is that every single pack will contain a foil! That means there will be a good amount of big ticket foils being reprinted, which should also impact the price of original foils (absent rare and unique things like Japanese Foils, misprints, etc.). Along with this fact and the fact that these are going to be valuable cards, Wizards of the Coast has also changed the price point for this product, and will be experimenting with an MSRP of US$6.99 per pack. These will be released in booster boxes only, with 24 packs per box (rather than 36).
English Only Release
Modern Masters will be available globally, but will only be released in English language, so all of you Japanese and Russian fans can breathe a sigh of relief that your old pimp foils will not be reprinted (at this time, at least, although many of these are not on any Reserved List so could still see reprints in foreign languages).
Magic Online/MTGO Availability
It will also be available in Magic Online, but will not be redeemable, so that should also drop the price of those cards in the MTGO digital world as well. Wizards has not yet confirmed a release date for the MTGO version of Modern Masters, but if all of the prior history of precedent of MTGO is to serve us notice, you can probably expect to see the MTGO version around a month later (possibly July 2013).
Modern Masters Grand Prix in Las Vegas
Modern Masters was designed to be drafted as well, and the product packaging was even designed with this in mind, with 24 packs per box being the exact number needed for a full 8 person pod ring draft (3 packs per person). To promote the release of this product Wizards will be hosting a Grand Prix in Las Vegas on June 22-23, 2013. The combination of the Modern Masters product, a limited Grand Prix, and Las Vegas should do wonders for attendance.
We’ll keep you posted on more Modern Masters news and previews as they are released. You can also use the hashtag #mtgmm to follow news and announcements on Twitter.