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15 New Changes Coming With The Release of Magic: The Gathering Core Set 2020


Wizards of the Coast

Magic: The Gathering's Core Set 2020 is coming out next month and there are some changes coming with the release of the upcoming set including Friday Pre-Release events, Magic Arena codes at FNM's, a new mulligan system, and Universal Promo Packs.

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Credit: Wizards of the Coast

The Wizards Play Network announced the changes that "Every Retailer Should Know" coming with the Core Set 2020 on You can check them out in the list below:

1. Core Set 2020 will have more foils. Compared to War of the Spark's 1:67 (Premium card odds), Core Set 2020 will be 1:45.

2. Bundle gets an upgrade. The new Core Set 2020 bundles come with twenty foil lands, an alternate-art foil promo card, and an oversized Spindown life counter.

3. Retailers can schedule events when kits arrive. This is around the same time as the official previews for Core Set 2020 begin.

4. Friday Pre-release. Instead of waiting Saturday midnight, players will be able to attend the new set's Pre-release on a Friday event.

5. First-Ever Commander event. On August 24-25, with the release of Commander 2019, Commander Weekend will feature Commander variants.

6. 5 Planeswalker decks. Most MTG sets get only 2 but Core Set 2020 will have 5 and they come with codes to unlock the decks in Magic Arena.

7. Planeswalker decks will be available at Open House on June 29-30. That's about a couple of weeks before the release of the new set but only a limited amount will be available in each WPN retailer.

8. Spellslinger Starter Kits get reduced cost. They still come with two entry-level decks, two life counters, two foil cards but they will cost less to help bring new players to the game.

9. WPN Premium goes live in Store and Event Locator. These stores will get priority in search results.

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10. Premium-only test events: Best-of-1 events & drafts at Pre-release.

1. Best-of-one events. More Magic, less waiting. These events will run in Premium locations between August 1 and September 15, and they'll be identifiable in the Store and Event Locator.
2. Prerelease Booster Drafts. Premium stores will have an extra case of boosters in their Prerelease allocation, specifically to run drafts. So, roughly six drafts worth of product, with prize support.

11. Magic Arena codes at FNM August 16 (US & Canada only).

WPN members in North America who have signed up for M20 FNM will receive Magic Arena code cards to give to players on their August 16 FNM. Around that time, Arena will also feature an ad aimed at promoting FNM in local game stores.

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12. "London" Mulligan goes official.

Here's how the new London mulligan works:

103.4. Each player draws a number of cards equal to their starting hand size, which is normally seven. (Some effects can modify a player's starting hand size.) A player who is dissatisfied with their initial hand may take a mulligan. First, the starting player declares whether they will take a mulligan. Then each other player in turn order does the same. Once each player has made a declaration, all players who decided to take mulligans do so at the same time. To take a mulligan, a player shuffles the cards in their hand back into their library, draws a new hand of cards equal to their starting hand size, then puts a number of those cards equal to the number of times that player has taken a mulligan on the bottom of their library in any order. Once a player chooses not to take a mulligan, the remaining cards become that player's opening hand, and that player may not take any further mulligans. This process is then repeated until no player takes a mulligan. A player can take mulligans until their opening hand would be zero cards.

13. Introduction of Universal Promo Packs (With Japanese War of the Spark Planeswalkers). They include promo-stamped rares and foils as well as the Japanese alternate-art War of the Spark Planeswalker cards.

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14. New Welcome Decks. They will be available on June 29 at the Core Set 2020 Open House event.

15. New Buy-a-Box Allocations. Starting with Core Set 2020, retailers will get Buy-a-Box promos in quantities based on their Tickets and Engaged Player totals (quantities were previously based on store level).

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Core Set 2020 is set to be released on July 12, 2019. Core Set 2020 is also coming to Magic Arena, with preorders for the set opening in the game later this week on June 13. The Core Set 2020 bundle in Arena includes a mythic rare Planeswalker card for Chandra as a bonus.

Watch our new Magic Arena video below:

Related: MTG MagicFest Grinder Tania Russell Shares Her Take on MC3 Invites & Direction of Organized Play

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