Stop the jokes about Double Masters 2022 being essentially Commander Masters as the real deal is coming this year. Combining Commander draft, with highly wanted Commander reprints, Commander Masters looks like what folks wanted last year from Commander Legends: Battle for Baldur's Gate, and players can expect to see it this summer.
Commander Masters will be released on August 4th, and will feature both boosters, and several commander decks. Perhaps to assuage those worried after Commander Legends: Battle for Baldur's Gate lacked the 'high profile' reprints they wanted, Wizards revealed three highly priced and sought after cards: Jeweled Lotus (currently going for over $100), The Ur-Dragon (going for around $100), and Capture of Jingzhou, which goes for several hundred dollars as it was only ever printed in Portal: Three Kingdoms. These cards will also be getting various special art treatments, including the return of textured foils from Double Masters 2022, as well as borderless and other booster fun variants.
The main set will be all reprints like past Masters sets with Draft, Set, and Collector boosters all available. The draft boosters will have 20 cards per pack to support Commander Draft, and there'll be 3-4 legendary cards per pack, with at least three non-foil legends. Each draft pack will also have at least two rares (at least one of which will be a legend), and a foil card. The set boosters will be 15 cards, and will include 2-6 rares, at least 2 legends (including one at rare), a foil in each pack, and at least one borderless card per pack. The collector boosters will have 15 cards as well, with some exclusive booster fun treatments, at least 5 rares, and 5 borderless cards. These will likely run a pretty penny, like the Double Masters 2022 collector boosters did when they sold for around $250 for 4 packs last year.
But that's not all! Commander Masters is taking a step away from Masters tradition and will release with four Commander decks along with it. These decks will include 10 new Magic cards, including brand new commanders. They seem to have taken the opportunity to answer some pent up demand for some fan-favorite tribes that don't work great in most sets. Here are the four Commander decks that will be coming:
- Sliver Swarm (White-Blue-Black-Red-Green)
- Eldrazi Unbound (Colorless)
- Enduring Enchantments (White-Black-Green), and
- Planeswalker Party (White-Blue-Red)
Barring any unexpected shenanigans (like Slivers or Eldrazi crashing the Phyrexians party), this will be the first time either tribe has had the limelight in a while, and could serve to make some fan favorite cards more available. For me, it just means my brother further powering up his Sliver deck this summer.
We can expect a first look at Commander Masters on May 16th, with Wizard Play Network Premium stores having the opportunity for Preview Events on July 28-30th, before the August 4 launch.
This wasn't the only announcement Wizards made today, as we also got new information about the upcoming Lord of the Rings set, and over the weekend we got a first look at March of the Machine. It's a busy time to be a Magic fan, with new sets being announced barely a week after the last set has released.
