Wizards of the Coast have announced a new tabletop Magic: The Gathering product called Jumpstart, to come July 3 this year, closely tied to Core Set 2021. You mix two booster packs with 20 cards together to form a 40 card deck and dive right in! Each booster pack also has its own theme, such as Pirates, Unicorns, Goblins, and more.
The new cards in these booster packs will not be Standard legal as a stand-alone, supplemental product similar to Commander decks. It is however important to note that this play experience will also be introduced to MTG Arena (not yet confirmed if at the same time or with the same cards), and the Jumpstart cards will be legal for Historic play. This follows other cards added from Historic Anthology and Brawlers’ Guildhall.
Here’s the relevant quote from the official article:
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.
For more details, the announcement article transcript is below.
Goblins and Walls. Cats and Phyrexians. Pirates and Unicorns. All together at last, thanks to Jumpstart.
Jumpstart is a new way to play Magic that mashes together themes from throughout the history of the game and lets you skip the deckbuilding part. If you can’t wait to have Pirates head into battle with Unicorns, smash two boosters together and ride on. If you absolutely must merge the greatest evils in the multiverse together, Cats and Phyrexian packs are waiting for you.
Jumpstart takes the best parts of Limited and Constructed Magic and fuses them into a dynamic, innovative play experience.
Let’s dive in.
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.
So check with your local store and break out your Elf Wizard playmat. Jumpstart is coming July 3.
