Two weeks in the past, I fortunately attended my first-ever pre-release occasion for a brand new Magic: the Gathering set. This was for Lorwyn Eclipsed, which veteran gamers inform me is a long-awaited return to the fantasy stylings of Magic’s Lorwyn aircraft after almost 20 years. As you possibly can think about, there have been plenty of long-time Magic followers who have been very enthusiastic about this launch, however in the minutes earlier than my pre-release occasion started, I stored overhearing a tone of hysteria in the conversations round me.
The reason for the anxiousness? Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles.
If you happen to’ve by no means been to a pre-release occasion, what occurs is that this: you are given a pleasant little field that accommodates a number of booster packs, which you’ll use to construct a deck for the occasion and play some matches with different attendees. The containers additionally are inclined to include different goodies, which in the case of Lorwyn Eclipsed concerned a deck field, a die, and a single foil card from the set. The foil you get is random, but it surely’s supposed to return from the set you are there to play. And after I opened my field, that is what I encountered. A pleasant little foil of Shadow Urchin.
However the motive for the anxiousness at the occasion was as a result of phrase had gotten round that some folks have been not receiving Lorwyn playing cards as their foil promo card. As a substitute, quite a few social media posts had been circulating exhibiting gamers with six Lorwyn Eclipsed booster packs and one foil card from the upcoming Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles set.
Now, that is fairly the mix-up! Not solely is TMNT, uh, very totally different from Lorwyn, however the TMNT set is not even purported to be out but. It is approaching March 6, just below two months from the date this was taking place. So not solely was this inflicting an concern for Lorwyn followers, however TMNT followers excited for the upcoming set have been now getting beforehand unrevealed playing cards proven off by way of random social media posts.
This case additionally difficult the occasion itself: usually, a TMNT card wouldn’t be authorized in a Lorwyn Eclipsed pre-release deck. Fortuitously, Wizards of the Coast issued a statement fairly shortly about the state of affairs, saying that shops ought to substitute the TMNT promo playing cards the place doable with Lorwyn playing cards. The place not doable, gamers could be allowed to play with the TMNT playing cards. That… type of helps, however the truth is that Lorwyn Eclipsed playing cards are a part of a set that is meant to be performed collectively, with playing cards and mechanics that coordinate with each other to create a balanced recreation. A single TMNT card is extra doubtless than not going to wrestle to suit into decks like that. What’s extra, retailers must break into unsold pre-release containers to take out the alternative foil playing cards, which primarily simply eats by means of stock for no motive.
In fact, you possibly can argue, it is only one card! Who cares! And that is truthful. However one other sentiment I heard each on-line and at the occasion I attended was that the turtle invasion felt like a slap in the face to veteran Magic gamers. Not solely has the wait to return to Lorwyn been lengthy, however some long-time gamers have grown annoyed at what number of collaborations with outdoors IP (dubbed “Universes Past”) Magic has been doing currently. Wizards has been doing these crossovers since 2020, although at the time Universes Past playing cards weren’t deliberate to be made authorized in the Customary format and plenty of of the ones that adopted have been simply reskins, making them pretty straightforward to place up with in case you did not need to see Transformers or Physician Who in your Magic recreation.
However beginning final yr with Last Fantasy, that modified. The wildly fashionable Last Fantasy set was dubbed Customary-legal, and this yr, Magic is getting extra Universes Past units than ever earlier than: TMNT in March, Marvel in June, The Hobbit in August, and Star Trek in November. That is 4 commonplace units – greater than Wizards is releasing of non-Universes Past units, of which we’re solely getting three: Lorwyn Eclipsed, Secrets and techniques of Strixhaven, and Actuality Fracture. It is a lot to maintain up with each mentally and financially, and whilst you might argue there is no stress to “sustain,” there’s in case you play the recreation’s Customary format, which at all times revolves round the most recently-released units.
It is also price noting that teams of followers aren’t the solely ones who’re irritated right here. Just lately, shareholders of Wizards’ guardian firm, Hasbro, filed a lawsuit in opposition to it, alleging that it was overprinting units of playing cards, thereby devaluing ones that already existed. In the go well with, shareholders additionally claimed Hasbro had beforehand performed some pretty manipulative issues with Magic card gross sales to cowl up shortfalls elsewhere in the firm. No matter whether or not or not something comes of the lawsuit, there are some fairly hefty accusations in the grievance that may understandably sow additional mistrust amongst those that already felt Magic was overplaying its hand.
So, again to the pre-release occasion, you possibly can think about maybe being a long-time Magic fan, excited for the return of Lorwyn, able to play some video games involving elves and fairies and merfolk, perhaps rubbed the improper means a bit by the sheer quantity of Universes Past however making an attempt to not let it trouble them, solely to open their pre-release pack and discover “Michelangelo, Weirdness to 11” in shiny foil. Does not really feel nice. Heck, I’ve solely been enjoying a yr, and I breathed a sigh of aid when my pre-release pack (and, actually, my whole card store) was decidedly turtle-free.
To their credit score, Wizards has acknowledged fan frustrations and is trying to make good. In a prolonged weblog submit written by communications director Blake Rasmussen, he apologized for the “shell shock” of seeing a turtle in a Lorwyn field. “We would not blame you in case you discovered it cool, however perhaps a bit impolite, that Lorwyn Eclipsed needed to share the highlight with an upcoming set,” the submit reads.
In response, Wizards went forward and up to date its picture gallery to incorporate official artwork of all rares and mythic rares from the important set. “They’re already on the market if you understand the place to look, and we would reasonably you could have them multi function official place,” the submit reads. “It is prepared for you now if you wish to have a look.”
Rasmussen additionally introduced plans for some type of make-good occasion for the shops that needed to take care of turtles at the occasion, although they weren’t clear as to what that may appear like simply but. Here is what he mentioned:
“Then, to maintain the Lorwyn Eclipsed celebration going, we will do—one thing. We’re enjoying catch up a bit and we needed to get this text out sooner reasonably than later, however we’re assessing how widespread the concern was and dealing on some form of cool, back-end, Lorwyn Eclipsed-related factor we will do for affected shops as a result of we’re actually pleased with this set and we need to be sure it will get its time in the solar. We’ll determine mentioned factor out and get again to you all.”
The response to this from the neighborhood has been blended. Lots of people weren’t mad about the turtles to start with. Universes Past, some argue, is an effective way to get new gamers into the pastime who won’t have in any other case seen Magic earlier than. Some others who have been irritated with the turtles seem to have been pacified by Wizards’ assertion and response. Others nonetheless aren’t pleased, believing this can be a symptom of a bigger drawback at Wizards (an excessive amount of emphasis on Universes Past) and an total lack of care.
We cannot actually know the place the neighborhood writ massive’s coronary heart lies on the broader points till later this yr, when the Magic card deluge has totally arrived and now we have a greater thought of whether or not or not individuals are truly shopping for all these dang units. As for Lorwyn Eclipsed, hopefully no matter Wizards is plotting to assist assuage the affected shops is appropriately celebratory of Lorwyn, which frankly is a reasonably cool setting. I ended up having a grand time at my pre-release occasion, and can most likely attend future ones because of this, supplied there aren’t any horror tales of Borg exhibiting up in Strixhaven.
Rebekah Valentine is a senior reporter for IGN. Got a narrative tip? Ship it to rvalentine@ign.com.