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Wizards of the Coast Announces "Jumpstart"- "Magic: The Gathering"

Today, in the middle of a rather humdrum, possibly lacklustre day of news, this author was amazed to find a new product announcement by Wizards of the Coast for their basically-immortal trading card game Magic: The Gathering. Within this announcement is an all-new way to go about playing a brand-new Sealed environment: "Jumpstart" is here – or rather, it will be, in June – and we all had better be ready!

Wizards of the Coast Announces "Jump/Start"- "Magic: The Gathering"
Source: Wizards of the Coast

According to Magic's main news hub, DailyMTG.com, here are the details of this new mix-and-don't-match sort of Sealed product:

JUMPSTART: A NEW KIND OF PLAY EXPERIENCE INSIDE A NEW KIND OF BOOSTER

At its foundation, Jumpstart is simple. Grab two boosters, shuffle them together, and you're ready to go. But a closer look reveals an intricate play experience unlike anything in Magic.

It works like this. Each Jumpstart booster includes 20 cards. All 20 cards fit a theme, and most themes have multiple variations—enough to make 121 possible 20-card lists inside any given pack.

Themes range from the familiar ("Garruk") to the curious ("Doctor"), and two themes sometimes come together to form an unlikely mishmash ("Doctor Garruk"). If you've ever wanted to make a Cat Pirate deck well, meow is the time. There are even special "Mythic Rare" packs that don't have variations at all—just the one card list—because there is only one true Unicorn deck.

Jumpstart is different than anything we've done before, so here are some key things to know about this product releasing on July 3.

  • Each booster contains 20 cards centered on a theme. What theme each booster contains is randomized, but each themed 20 cards will be sealed inside the pack and labled.
  • One in three boosters includes an extra rare.
  • It's loaded with reprints—almost 500!
  • Jumpstart introduces 37 new cards to the game. These will not be Standard-, Pioneer-, or Modern-legal cards. They are legal in Legacy, Vintage, and Commander.
  • It's closely tied to Core Set 2021—they share a lot of content and release near one another—but Jumpstart is a stand-alone product.
  • All cards are legal in Eternal formats (Legacy, Vintage, and Commander)
  • Every pack includes one basic land with art that matches the pack's theme. A few of them use thematically appropriate lands from M21, but most of them use brand-new themed land art created for Jumpstart.

And because Prereleases are fun, we're going to be holding a Prerelease for Jumpstart June 20-21! Check with your local stores to see if you can sign up for a Jumpstart event.

We also plan to bring this fun play experience to MTG Arena sometime this year! Jumpstart cards on MTG Arena will be legal in Historic.

Like Jumpstart itself, Prereleases for this product are going to be a little bit different.

Jumpstart Prereleases will be run all day. Each player will get two Jumpstart boosters to create a deck and then they just—play. Play enough matches, get a promo card. And if you want to jump back in? Hey, go right ahead. You may even earn another promo.

Jumpstart releases on July 3rd, following the aforementioned prerelease events the week prior. Are you excited about this? I know I am!

What do you think of this product? Has Wizards of the Coast found the magic – *ahem*, Magic – answer to Keyforge? Are they biting off more than they can – or even need to – chew? Let us know your thoughts!


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Joshua NelsonAbout Joshua Nelson

Josh Nelson is a Magic: The Gathering deckbuilding savant, a self-proclaimed scholar of all things Sweeney Todd, and, of course, a writer for Bleeding Cool. In their downtime, Josh can be found painting models, playing Magic, or possibly preaching about the horrors and merits of anthropophagy. You can find them on Twitter at @Burning_Inquiry for all your burning inquiries.
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