MTG - Is it worth it to buy Masters 25 for Magic: The Gathering?

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Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 3.0

Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 3.0

Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 3.0

Many Magic The Gathering players ask the question, Is it worth it to buy Masters 25?

Masters 25 is the latest Masters set, coinciding with Magic’s 25th Anniversary, it seeks to contain cards from across Magic’s 25 year history, including cards from every set, with an emphasis on nostalgia as well as the usual Masters aims of providing needed reprints, all while maintaining an enjoyable draft environment.

But like all Masters sets, it still carries with it the higher than usual MSRP of 9.99, and with a higher price come higher customer expectations. Masters 25 boasts big, but does the end product swing in for a critical hit, or fizzle out when opened? Let’s take a look.

Masters sets have always been designed with two primary goals: a great draft experience, and providing needed reprints for formats like Modern, and to a lesser extend Legacy and Commander. These goals however have often been competing with one another, with the requirements of a balanced draft environment often being the reason that unneeded reprints have made up the bulk of the cards in these sets. With Masters 25, the added goal of a nostalgia set puts even more strain on this product, and this review with examine each of these elements to see how well they have been accomplished.

[yungamogus]

I guess WOTC saw that the playerbase enjoyed Unstable, so they decided to go and make another joke of a set.

[omerbarel]

Wizards doesn't publicly acknowledge the secondary market, yet they sell a booster pack for over twice the price of a regular one? Why is that then? Because of the guaranteed foil? Take it out then, and give us $4 master packs with regular foil chance

[Lockon]

Goddamnit. I really respect you Professor. This video helped me justify abstaining from impulse buying this.

[shawnwida-fleming]

Many Magic: the Gathering players ask is it worth it to continue playing

[oom-]

When you actually realise that a m25 draft costs the same as a commander precon deck, why would you draft this garbage?
Go draft dominaria or wathever instead.

[curtislatham]

For people who think you are a sellout, they obviously haven’t watched your videos. Thanks for the honest and entertaining reviews.

[charmlessgentleman]

No it's not worth it to buy homelands 25

[TheAressandoro]

Wizards need to abandon the draft requirement on master sets

[invaderzimm]

The set is an F clearly. If the draft format is meh with a $30 price tag it's an F. If the nostalgia level is dubious at best it's an F. If the reprint/expected value is dismal it's an F. With all accounting points rating an F then the overall score is F. Wizards needs to re-evaluate what their goals as a TCG company are, and if "stay in business" is the goal they are doing it wrong.

[clubadam]

Nailed it prof. The card selection alone tells us how out of touch Wizards is with what their target audience feels is memorable about each set. They may have nailed Balduvian Horde from alliances (it was a beast back in the day) but seriously Tree of Redemption with the non combo card of triskadecaphobia???

[davekot]

"Absolute fail, " "ambiguous, " "too expensive, " so yeah, it gets a C grade?

[taylorpace]

Does it concern you that the Wizards employees who work on set design have almost all stated that they primarily play Magic in the form of draft? It seems to me like the problem won’t be solved until they get some diversity in the way they experience the game.

[the_yani_rottie]

The real question that should be asked is "Many Magic the Gathering players ask the question, is it worth it for WOTC to lose the vast majority of your player base for money?"

[the_snakelicious]

Honestly, I couldn't care less about the draft enviroment, at $10 a pack draft should be the least of their concerns, the vast majority of magic players won't be drafting the set anyway because of the price alone. Draft just seems like a poor excuse to include shitty cards that no one cares about just to lower the value of the box.

[IronBuddha]

It's not worth $10 a pack. It's not worth $185 a box. Normally I wait for the masters set to drop around $140-$150. This set isn't even worth that.

[kuroshinko]

No, I'm not gonna buy Tree Masters 25.

[Vardaris]

The only nostalgic thing in this set would be my 40$ that I'd miss if I ever opened the packs

[szymonkoziarski]

What about this set is "nostalgic" exactly? You look at the box and, again, it's a generic modern text put on a bland, blue background - a five minute Photoshop job. The card choice is baffling - where's Daze? Where's Psychatog? What about Flametongue Kavu? These are all format-changing cards that are still prevalent in player's minds, yet they're absent.
From the get-go, I knew this set will be a test. Will Wizards stop their greed and, more importantly, will Wizards stop their need to prove that THEY are right and that you should be TOLD what to like? The answer is a resounding "no". This set is designed by Wizards for Wizards - not for you. So don't buy even a pack.

[szymonkoziarski]

You know what's funny? These Masters set are apparently "designed to draft" and they do provide a better draft environment that Standard sets. But Standard sets feature cards that are literally awful and the excuse is that they are "designed for draft". So why is it more difficult to make a better draft environment in a non-Masters set when you're *literally designing cards for draft*, instead of picking them from reprints?

[Perplexing_Enigma]

2 themed masters sets ... 2 fails
not really looking forward to the next one