Mark Rosewater, the lead developer on Magic: The Gathering, took to Twitter/X to elaborate on the rulings for promo cards at the upcoming prerelease event.
MTG’s “gathering” part involves store events. When a new set is released, stores will run a prerelease event to let people play with the cards early. These are super casual events that adhere toLimited formatrules, like more than four copies of a card in a deck.
However, at more recent prerelease events, the ruling on whether you can use the included promo card has caused some confusion. For instance, when we attended theLord of the Ringsprerelease, we weren’t allowed to use one of the included two promo cards. It was never really explained why, but it appears to be an issue once again.
Mark Rosewaterresponded to MTG Goldfish’s SaffronOlive, who was pointing out that it’s “awkward” to include the cards in the packs.
Rosewater responds to criticism surrounding prerelease promo cards
The reason is there are only three and the cards are powerful. If we let players play with them, everyone would, it would greatly warp the prerelease, and make it less fun.#WotCStaff
Responding to the content creator, Rosewater flatly says that the cards have the potential to warp the entire prerelease around them. Rather than giving everyone a chance at the bazooka to obliterate their opponent,Wizards of the Coasthas opted to keep these as collectibles.
Of course, the cards are totally legal in the Standard format once Murders at Karlov Manor is allowed for tournament play. However, the cards are so far going to be unavailable outside of these prerelease packs, raising other concerns.
Respondingto Rosewater, SaffronOlive mentions that the issues with the secondary market are “another topic”. He also points out that it could potentially be confusing for new players, which prereleases tend to attract.
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Joel Loynds was Dexerto’s Deputy Tech Editor in the UK team. He has been writing about tech & games for over a decade, specializing in PCs, hardware, and handhelds such as the Steam Deck. He also has bylines at Scan, WePC, PCGuide, Eurogamer, Digital Foundry and Metro UK.
