In a special Twitch stream, Wizards of the Coast gave their first official look at Ultimate Masters (UMA), a new premium Magic: The Gathering set that will be available beginning December 7. The set will be released in English and Japanese printings.
In terms of other availability, the set will be sold in 3-pack blister packs at bigbox stores for $34.99 in some markets. Ultimate Masters is also making the set part of Magic: The Gathering Online on December 7. Packs will cost $6.99. The Ultimate Box Toppers will be part of the random rewards drops from Treasure Chests.
Just like other Masters sets in Magic: The Gathering, it’s a reprint set featuring some new versions and art of existing cards. This means that the price for some of those chase high-end cards is about to shift quite a bit. So I hope you weren’t holding singles of some of these cards hoping that they would go up in value.
This is the last Masters set according to Wizards, at least for a while. They’re shelving the product line to focus on other products and SKUs that feature reprints of different cards from multiple sets. While these sets tend to drive collectors and speculators on sealed product nuts, it’s cool to see the company giving the product a good send off.
Speaking of those speculators and collectors, a lot of people have just gotten caught with a bunch of money invested in Masterpiece and other special cards, which are seeing a drop in equity. Even though Wizards is dropping the Masters line, the company will probably continue to try and monetize the playerbase with special reprints like this. So those of us paying attention will see the writing on the wall and might want to leave Masters and similar products by the wayside for now.
Given that this is a premium set, it comes with a premium price tag. MSRP on a booster box of this set is $335.76 per box. Each box will contain 24 15-card boosters, with each pack containing one premium foil. Each box will also include a box topper pack with a special box topper “Ultimate” promo foil.
There are 40 Ultimate Box Toppers, and they are as follows:
- Ancient Tomb
- Balefire Dragon
- Bitterblossom
- Cavern of Souls
- Celestial Colonnade
- Creeping Tarpit
- Dark Depths
- Demonic Tour
- Emrakul, the Aeons Torn
- Engineered Explosives
- Eternal Witness
- Fulminator Mage
- Gaddock Teeg
- Goryo’s Vengeance
- Karakas
- Karn Liberated
- Kitchen Finks
- Kozilek, Butcher of Truth
- Lavaclaw Reaches
- Leovold, Emissary of Trest
- Life from the Loam
- Liliana of the Veil
- Lord of Extinction
- Maelstrom Pulse
- Mana Vault
- Mikaeus, the Unhallowed
- Noble Hierarch
- Platinum Emperion
- Raging Ravine
- Reanimate
- Sigarda, Host of Herons
- Snapcaster Mage
- Stirring Wildwood
- Tasigur, the Golden Fang
- Tarmogoyf
- Temporal Manipulation
- Through the Breach
- Ulamog, the Infinite Gyre
- Urborg, Tomb of Yawgmoth
- Vengevine
Wizards will begin previews of the rest of the 254-card set beginning Monday, November 19, and a full image gallery of the set will be available on Wednesday, November 21. However, a few teaser images of some of the chase Rares have been released, which can be seen below. A full image gallery of the Ultimate Box Toppers is available on the Wizards of the Coast website.
I must say, even though premium collector’s set like this are beyond my price range, and have a very niche appeal within the MTG community, it’s cool to see these cards making a return. I do also really like the expanded art of the Box Toppers. I really want that Tarmogoyf.
