A Closer Look at the Art of Mystery Boosters 2

Nick Wolf • August 22, 2024

Miscellaneous
Mystery Boosters 2

Earlier this week, many Magic players spent time in a digital queue seeking to purchase the latest Festival in a Box release. People who did so might not want to know that as of this writing, there are still copies of the package available for purchase.

There are a number of things in that release, and I'm sure there are people who bought it for any number of those reasons. By purchasing one of these things, you get Collector Boosters from Lost Caverns of Ixalan, Wilds of Eldraine and Commander Masters, you get a Secret Lair, and you get a promo pack with a few "event exclusive" versions of Convention Maro, Ponder, Swords to Plowshares and Plains.

But for most, I would wager that the primary draw was a display box of Mystery Boosters 2. Most of the news regarding the product has revolved around the various unusual treatments used for select reprints contained within, but it's important to remember that, alongside the white-borders, future sight frames, and playtest cards, there's also 1,451 "regular" reprints. You know the ones; the reprints that look identical to an existing printing, but have that little planeswalker symbol in the bottom right corner. And if you're curious, the single most expensive single reprint of those 1,451 cards is Aesi, Tyrant of Gyre Strait, a card that I had zero idea was so expensive until I started researching this very topic.

After Aesi, there are a few moderately expensive reprints people should be aware of, so let's rumble through those really quick:

If this were a typical release, that'd be a pretty solid list of reprints, a topic I have grown accustomed to paying attention to. Despite 15 or so cards demanding a double-digit (in USD) pricetag, the odds aren't nearly as good for opening something worthwhile when the pool of cards is so vast. But we all know that people aren't jumping at the chance at acquiring a display box of Mystery Boosters 2 in the hope they open a reprint of Inside Out.

No, it's for the weirdness.

Other than the aforementioned Festival in a Box, the only way you'll be able to get your hands on Mystery Boosters 2 is at an in-person event organized by Wizards of the Coast. That's because, according to Mark Rosewater, the product only exists due to the WotC Convention Team using their own budget for production costs. And Magic Con Vegas in late October will be players' first chance to crack MB2 packs at such an event.

All told, there are:

  • 121 cards being reprinted in white-border
  • 136 in the future frame
  • 7 "Alchemy Made Real" cards
  • 121 playtest cards

Since MB2 exists outside the regular slate of releases, that's a ton of art needed for all these reprints. Sure, Gavin Verhey and the team could use whatever art is most recent, or most known, and call it a day. That wouldn't be very unique, though, and alongside the weird frames and treatments, they need "weird" art to make the release special. And "special," in Magic parlance, means "sought-after."

Between reprints that are coming out of left field, and repurposed art not seen in decades (or ever, on a card at least), there's plenty to talk about, so this is the part of the article where I stop talking about talking about it, and just talk about it.

Yes, These Are Reprints

Mardu Outrider

You might have thought this was some random card from Khans of Tarkir, but you'd be wrong. Until now, Mardu Outrider only existed digitally, as part of the Arena Beginner Set, meaning this art by Evan Shipard is appearing on a physical card for the first time.

Temporary Truce

This is the first-ever reprint of Temporary Truce, which first appeared in Portal and never again since. That's a gap of 27 years between printings. Not bad for a white Vision Skeins.

Preordain

We all know Preordain. It's been around for awhile, debuting in Magic 2011. But that art is unusual, as many of us are probably accustomed to the Svetlin Velinov art appearing nine times in various products. This new white-bordered version, however, digs deep, grabbing the Scott Chou art used only once, in Duel Decks: Venser vs. Koth, released in 2012.

Unnatural Selection

This is a weird card, so you'd be forgiven for thinking it's designed specifically for a weird set like MB2, but it's actually from Apocalypse, and this white-border version is the card's first-ever reprint.

King's Assassin

King's Assassin is another Portal card reprinted for the first time in MB2. It was meant to be a "simpler" Royal Assassin, but it's actually more complicated, as Portal cards were, with that set's more verbose, overexplaining rules text. Portal is also notorious for completely ignoring that instant-speed effects exist, as evidenced by cards like Mystic Denial.

Seedtime

If you were around during Judgment times, you would have already learned the lesson that "the hippo grows wings to fight the condor." If not, you might have assumed that this card was created for MB2. With its first reprint here, a new generation of players can feel that dopamine of successfully sticking it to a blue player by resolving a Seedtime.

Whiteout

Art from NéNé Thomas was sacrificed in order to make this visual pun. The first reprint of Whiteout appears here in MB2, a card that debuted in -- surprise, surprise -- Ice Age. That version actually had art.

Why do these look... different?

Hoodwink

Moving onto future frames, we see the first paper reprint of Hoodwink, which debuted in Mercadian Masques. That original version had different art, so where'd this new image come from?

Well, it isn't new, but until now it was exclusively digital. Volkan Baga is a veteran Magic artist, but he's also often the go-to for online-exclusive art, providing updated visuals for a number of Reserved List cards, like the Moxen, and that's where Hoodwink came from: a Magic Online promo card.

Contagion

Most of us are more familiar with the creepy cat from Alliances, especially if you're a fan of Vial Smasher the Fierce. But like Hoodwink, the Chris Rallis art we see here in MB2 is repurposed from a version of the card used as a Magic Online promo. I miss the cat, though.

Sengir Vampire

There have been many, many versions of Sengir Vampire over the years. Starting out as the bald weirdo licking a blood tree way back in Alpha, that was the version that carried us through about a dozen printings before it saw its first visual update in Torment. That Kev Walker version was eventually printed 15 more times before we got the third art as a 30th Anniversary History Promo a couple years ago.

There was actually one version sandwiched between the original Anson Maddocks art and the Kev Walker art, courtesy of Jeff Easley. For some reason, they included a version of Sengir Vampire with exclusive art in the Beatdown Box Set released in October of 2000. Naturally, being the least-known version, the MB2 team opted to use that art.

And to save space, I'll go ahead and say that the MB2 versions of Ball Lightning and Erhnam Djinn also use art that was until now only in the Beatdown Box Set.

Triumph of Ferocity

The design team decided to use the Magic Online promo art of Garruk standing menacingly for this reprint. That was probably a wise decision.

Black Vise

For the first 12 printings of its life, Black Vise looked exactly the same, and that was featuring our favorite masochistic doll, Stuffy. It wasn't until the very controversial From the Vault: Relics that it received its first new art, courtesy of Dan Murayama Scott. For 14 years, that was the only place you could see that particular art, until it was reprinted here in Mystery Boosters 2. 

Tsabo's Web

Tsabo's Web was until now only seen twice: its debut in Invasion and a gold-border reprint in the World Champ Decks series. Both of those versions had the same Carl Critchlow art. Where'd this Iris Compiet version come from?

Well, the first clue is the artist. Compiet is one of the more recognizable artists working in the game today, but the Dutch artist is relatively new to Magic, with her first card being Brazen Borrower. In typical MB2 fashion, Compiet's art was not created specifically for this set. It was actually one of the first pieces of art she painted for Magic, going on a half-decade ago now. "[It's] a card I never thought would see the light of day, finally out in the wild," she said. "Tsabo's Web, I think this was my second or third card to paint for Magic but it never got released."

Tasbo's Web isn't the only card in MB2 with art that has never appeared before. There's understandably a wealth of art in the annals of Wizards of the Coast never used for its originally intended purpose, and what better time than MB2 to dust it off?

Other cards with new art include Demonic Consultation, Arena, Eater of the Dead, Manabond, Mind Twist, Reset and Urza's Bauble.

Goblin Gang Leader

It seems like a card that's been around forever, but Goblin Gang Leader is actually appearing in paper for the first time with MB2. Originally, it was a digital-only card from the Arena Beginner Set. 

Velukan Dragon

And to get even more esoteric, there's Velukan Dragon. This one's appeared once before in digital, as a Sega Dreamcast Card. With its appearance here, it joins Arden Angel as cards from the Japanese-exclusive Magic Dreamcast game to get a physical reprint.

Now that it exists in paper, I'm tempted to include it in Sarkhan, Soul Aflame for the oddness.

Nalathni Dragon

From one rarely-seen Dragon to another, let's go over to Nalathni Dragon. This is the first appearance of Nalathni Dragon since 1994, which, if you're not a math person, is 30 years ago. It began its life as a promotional card that could originally only be acquired with a mail-in voucher given to attendees at Atlanta, Georgia's Dragon Con in that year. After complaints of a mechanically unique card serving as an event exclusive (the irony is palpable), Wizards included the card in Duelist magazine for all to purchase. 

And now it's here, with new art to boot.

To the Vanguard

Earlier this year, I was cleaning out my garage. I moved house in 2021, but there are still boxes here and there that were packed up for that move and have remained untouched now three years later. 

Inside one of those boxes were a bunch of random Magic paraphrenalia: deck boxes, binders of commons from Innistrad, those card list inserts that used to come with Bundles. There was also a copy of Tahngarth. Once upon a time, I had the whole collection of the first run of Vanguard, but alas, apparently only Tahngarth remains. 

What is Vanguard? Put simply, it was a supplemental set released in 1997-99 that featured oversized cards with abilities that affected the game. In some ways, it's a precursor to Commander as we know it today, and to align with modern Magic, it's true that the Vanguard cards are actually in the command zone for rules purposes. The cards were released in four "series," each featuring eight characters. Each card had a unique depiction of its character created by the biggest names in Magic art at the time.

With Mystery Boosters 2 being what it is, the art formerly exclusive to Vanguard is making its return. There are 10 MB2 reprints in all that make use of the Vanguard art:

Does it reflect the future that once was or the past that can never be?

Mystery Boosters 2 is a deep dive into the eccentricities of Magic, and the two driving opinions about the set that seem to be shared by the majority of people online is that A) it's very cool, and B) it's a huge bummer that it's hard to acquire for many. But that's just the world in which we live.

But what's your opinion on the set? What's your favorite surprise return? Let me know in the comments below.