Magic: The Gathering’s Wilds of Eldraine set is available for tabletop today! To celebrate the arrival of the new fairy tale-like expansion, Wizards of the Coast is holding an Open House at various TCG stores until 10 September, which is essentially a Launch Party.
Ahead of Wilds of Eldraine’s release, Wizards sent over a couple of products to unbox, including a Starter Kit 2023 and a box of Set Boosters. If you’re curious just what kind of cards you can get in the latter – especially those sweet, sweet anime cards – here’s an unboxing of Wilds of Eldraine’s Set Boosters and Starter Kit!
Before that, let’s check out a couple of other neat items that Wizards sent over. There’s a letter of sorts that connects the events of March of the Machine to the Wilds of Eldraine, as well as a couple of sticker packs to “armor up” Syr Ginger, one of the most prominent figures of the set.
Next, there’s the Starter Kit 2023, which is made for new players who want a working 60-card MTG deck straight out of the box. In fact, two decks are bundled in the kit: there’s a red/blue deck featuring Tyrant of Kher Ridges, and a white/green deck headlined by Boon-Bringer Valkyrie – both of these cards are in traditional foil.
Next, there’s the Wilds of Eldraine Set Boosters. Unlike Draft Boosters, Set Boosters are meant to be more “exciting” to crack open, making it ideal for folks who just enjoy opening booster packs instead of using them for Limited play, such as Draft or Sealed.
Anyway, what makes an MTG Set Booster more exciting to open is the structure of the 14-card pack for the Wilds of Eldraine. 12 of them are guaranteed Magic cards, while the other two are an art card and a token/ad card; the latter has a chance to be replaced with a card from “The List.”
Unique to Wilds of Eldraine’s Set Booster is a dedicated slot for an Enchanting Tales card, which are made up of popular enchantments that were previously released. These borderless cards feature fairy tale-style artwork, and if you’re lucky, there is a 2.8% chance of cracking open an Enchanting Tales card with a special anime-themed treatment.
In my box of Wilds of Eldraine Set Boosters, I was lucky enough to pull not one, but three Enchanting Tales card with the anime borderless treatment! The anime Necropotence and Greater Auramancy are the regular variants, while Sneak Attack is a foil version. These are certainly high value cards, though I was hoping to get a Rhystic Study instead – that would’ve been a great addition to my Esper Commander deck.
Nonetheless, aside from these three anime enchantments, I also got a number of other noteworthy cards. These include Cavalier of Thorns and Korvold, Gleeful Glutton; the former was found in The List slot, while Korvold is a part of the Wilds of Eldraine Commander set. That is why these two cards do not have the Wilds of Eldraine set logo on them.
Other noteworthy mythic rare that I managed to pull from the Wilds of Eldraine Set Boosters are Virtue of Loyalty, Virtue of Persistence, and Talion, the Kindly Lord. It’s worth noting that these cards, along with the other mythic rare cards in the box, easily surpassed the cost of the Set Boosters. And that is without even looking at the other rare cards I got!
This comes as no surprise, given that the cards you get in a box of MTG Set Boosters can cover its cost; at least, in most cases. Of course, the caveat is that you will get random cards, and you may not pull for the one card that you want – in my case, it was Rhystic Study.
Nonetheless, it’s always entertaining to unbox Magic: The Gathering’s Set Boosters. If you’re keen to get any products in the Wilds of Eldraine set, give your nearest game store a visit. There’s a wide variety of products to choose from, including Draft Boosters, Set Boosters, Collector Boosters, Commander Decks, Prerelease Packs, Bundles, and of course, the Starter Kit 2023.