Set Review: “30 Cards + 1 Guaranteed Legendary Rare” That I Bought From the Gas Station
In the wake of Magic’s never-ending spoiler season, you could be forgiven for missing the announcement for “30 Cards + 1 Guaranteed Legendary Rare.” My close circle sure did! Luckily, I was able to grab a pack from my Friendly Local Gas Station (FLGS) on my commute this morning. Let’s find out if this set deserves the zero hype I saw online, or if it’s actually a sleeper hit!
One pack of 30+1 was sold to me for $12.99, which seems about on par with the price of two play boosters, but Wizards of the Coast doesn’t post MSRP for all of their products, so that may be the market price. For the sake of brevity, I won’t go over all 31 cards in the pack since it had a large number of basic lands and tokens. I don’t know which card makes Three of Diamonds, but I know it’s a token because it doesn’t have a traditional card back. I’m also not sure tokens are supposed to be considered “cards” in any context, but the gas station employee on checkout hasn’t obtained his L1 Judge certification yet so he didn’t know either.
From what I gather, 30+1 is meant to feel similar to Core Sets. Wizards seems to be trying out a new reprint treatment where the card looks exactly like a previous printing, and even has an authentic amount of aging and wear. These reprints range from old-border sets like Visions and Stronghold to new-border sets like Conspiracy 2 and Core Set 2019. Just about every card is a reprint just a bit below standard power level. As you may expect, I opened many evergreen standard cards like Shock, Divination, and Reassembling Skeleton. Multicolor decks will be supported with a cycle of gain lands and Evolving Wilds. I’m tentatively excited to see some controversial picks that may shake up the standard meta including Stone Rain, Thunderheads, and AWOL.
While Shivan Dragon has been the gold standard for Red’s rare creature slot, they’ve gone a new direction by replacing that honor with Kookus. While Kookus isn’t quite as evasive and has that pesky damage clause, he definitely gives players some new and interesting avenues for deck brewing. Keeper of Kookus is strangely absent from the set, but I’m sure that’s so Wizards can include him in 30+1 Jump Start, or maybe the upcoming set in the block “Ultimate Gamer: 20 Foil Magic Cards”.
30+1 boldly mixes classic Magic cards and characters with Universes Beyond for the first time. I don’t know a whole lot about “Major League Baseball” (MLB) so Red Sox Starting Pitcher Nathan Eovaldi was not on my radar. According to my research, this printing of Eovaldi was part of a tournament winning list in 2018. That set’s mechanics involved some complicated math and number tables, so I wasn’t quite able to decipher them. I’m often told math is for blockers, so I’m certain he’ll be a great fit for my aggro deck once I figure out how to cast him.
Finally, the coveted 1 Guaranteed Legendary Rare is… Daxos of Meletis! I’ll be transparent, I was a bit disappointed that the mildly ambiguous “guaranteed legendary rare” language on the pack literally meant a legendary creature that was printed in the rare slot in its original set, but maybe that’s on me. Daxos’s evasive ability looks a lot like an early version of Skulk, and his second ability almost does a convincing Ragavan, Nimble Pilferer impression. He might not be as flashy or gamebreaking as I would have liked, but I know exactly where in my trade binder he’ll be going.
I was surprised to see the pack includes a coupon/advertisement card for partnering gas stations. I opened a $1 off coupon for any drink in the store NOT including the Kratom drink. I love that Wizards is supporting local business, and that their hard line on vices is drawn after gambling but before addictive substances!
By now you’re likely asking, “should I run out to my local gas station and pick up some 30+1?” Speaking strictly EV, these packs simply don’t have the value inside to match its retail price. Everything I opened sells for roughly $5 on the secondary market, but that may just be a low roll on the booster pack slot machine. As far as pack opening experience, there’s something for both enfranchised and newer players. It was nostalgic to see reprints I mildly recognize, and exciting to discover cards I’ve never heard of. Unfortunately, the high notes were largely drowned out by so much chaff. I don’t plan on purchasing any more of this product, but I could be convinced if we decide to run a pick-two draft at FNM. Overall, this set receives a Commander’s Herald official C- rating.
