Jumpstart will be available as an event on MTG Arena once again from June 4, 2021 to July 8, 2021. For an entry fee of 2000 Gold or 400 Gems, you will be able to select two themed booster packs each containing 20 predefined cards that are shuffled together into a deck to play with as much as you like. Each entry will also grant up to two additional Jumpstart-only rare Individual Card Rewards (ICRs) per win. The set contains 78 new cards, 417 reprints and the packs also contain a mixture of 169 Core Set 2021 cards that fit into the theme of the booster pack. While the new cards introduced to MTG Arena will not be Standard legal, they will be introduced to the Historic card pool.
There are 46 themes and 121 pack variations in Jumpstart, each with predetermined 20 card decklists. Below is a list of all of them, as well as the key rares, mythic rares and the themed Basic Land you will find in each pack. Use the search bar to quickly look for the theme, and click on the theme name for the exact decklist and find out what other cards (the commons and uncommons) are contained in the packs. Keep in mind the 20 cards being replaced in MTG Arena, referenced in the event guide.
This will be a useful reference for players that wish to select packs that have cards that they do not already have and efficiently manage their collection. You cannot buy Jumpstart packs from the store, and though you will be able to redeem them for Wildcards, the special Basic Lands are only found by participating in the event and opening the packs. Some packs also have more than one rare.
For example, if you select the “Angel” theme, you have a 50% chance of opening a pack containing Baneslayer Angel or the one that contains both Linvala, Keeper of Silence and Serra’s Guardian. If you already have four copies of Baneslayer Angel from your Core Set 2021 collection, you will receive 40 Gems. Selecting a Liliana pack will guarantee a Liliana, Waker of the Dead and Liliana’s Standard Bearer.
Recommendations
Jumpstart packs contain many cards already in MTG Arena. Only about 100 cards are unique to this set, and are all mostly Historic legal but cannot be used for Standard. You will find cards in Core Set 2021 and cards like Woe Strider which have versions in Jumpstart that you can collect as well as in Theros Beyond Death. Another thing to note is that you can only obtain the unique Basic Lands by participating in the event. All things considered, it can be quite expensive to collect the whole set – especially given that you are not guaranteed to open a particular pack. As a general advice:
- If you are a Standard player, you should not invest too much in the Jumpstart event. It is targeted for new players who want a casual, non-competitive Magic: The Gathering experience.
- If you are a Historic player (or wanting to get into it) it is may be better to craft cards individually that you need and open specific packs from the store that contribute towards the Wildcard wheel. Though Mythic Rares are generally hard to get this way, we wouldn’t count on opening packs that contain the Jumpstart Mythic Rare you need.
- If you wish to collect the Basic Lands, be prepared to enter the event many times! At minimum, you will need to enter at least 23 times, assuming you get lucky and open different packs in each run, not taking into account the synergy or overall power of your Jumpstart deck. We recommend you always pick the “rare” or “mythic” pack that has a less chance of being opened whenever it pops up.
