Masterpieces

Yesterday, WotC announced the Masterpiece Series, branching off the success of the Zendikar Expeditions.

The TL:DR for those of you who just want to read my dulcet words is-Wizards will be adding in ultra-rare reprinted cards to packs that are thematically cohesive to the block. You cannot play them in Standard unless they are part of that Standard block (like the Gearhulks), they will come with new boarders and expansion symbols to distinguish them from other cards in the block, and you can see them all here.

And they're going to be doing this in every set.

While the argument against simply reprinting necessary cards in new sets seems very, very weak (I don't recall Thoughtsieze warping things-there was, as is almost always the case in Magic, a confluence of cards to create an issue both times) and will always seem weak to me, since those cards made it into the pool somehow and Standard was OK:

and

The "Masterpieces will tie thematically into the block" position is incredibly vague, as it gives WotC leeway to print whatever they feel ties into the block somehow-or flat out neglect it because "reasons" (Jitte can't be on Kaladesh because flavor but we're totally OK with Chromatic Lantern, Champion's Helm, Painter's Servant, three Swords from Mirrodin, and the least necessary artifact reprint ever, Sol Ring? C'mon).

{Aside: Just go back to Kamegawa, WotC. Fix that block and reprint some stuff that needs it. Jeeze.}

But

Setting those two weak arguments aside, it does provide an avenue for WotC to give players reprints (what we want) while pushing Standard packs (what they want). And the selection of Masterpieces are pretty dang good, Sol Ring aside. Picks for everyone in nearly every format, cool art, distinctive borders and a solid sense of Magic's history.

There's also the possibility of prices for singles going down, as a result of people opening more packs for cool Masterpieces. And I don't know about you, but cheaper singles means I buy more cards.

As compromises go, it's a good place to start and an impressive lead to this series so we'll see how things continue to get executed.

For now, it really feels like a win-win and with the reprints in Take the Crown take into consideration? Good job, Wizards. Very good job.