Last updated on March 14, 2024
Pack Attack | Illustration by Andrea Radeck
Do you like cracking packs? I know I do. There’s just something exciting about pulling a card you really want out of a pack that you lose when you buy singles. There are drawbacks to buying booster packs, of course, especially if you’re a newer player.
You might not have a place to keep the new cards you just opened, which forces you to cram them into random boxes with your existing Magic decks or have to buy boxes for your decks. There’s organizing to think about and keeping track of which cards are where. And if you’re buying packs to build a deck you won’t have enough lands to make one without an existing collection.
If these problems are holding you back from buying booster packs you’ll be happy to know that Magic actually makes a great product that addresses them all. They’re called bundles, and they’re very helpful when it comes to building your card collection.
Let's jump right in and find out everything you need to know about these bad boys!
What's a Bundle? What’s the Purpose?
Unity of Purpose | Illustration by Jason Felix
Bundles are a packaged Magic product that come with a number of booster packs, a box to store your cards in, a pack full of basic lands, a life counter, and sometimes a few extras depending on the set. The number of booster packs also varies from set to set, ranging from 8 to 10.
Bundles serve several purposes that you should consider when deciding to buy them. One really nice thing is that they allow you to purchase a bulk number of booster packs that are factory-sealed without having to buy an entire booster box. Booster boxes can be prohibitively expensive or just difficult to find if you don’t have access to a local game store and they’ve sold out online.
You can usually find bundles at big box retail stores like Target or Walmart, so you aren’t out of luck if you don’t have a local shop. And they’re much more affordable than a booster box since you’re only getting 8 to 10 packs, allowing you to buy multiple boosters with a lower initial investment.
Another great reason to grab a bundle is all the extras that come with it. These can help you store your cards and organize them by set since the storage boxes have set-specific artwork on them.
Bundles were good for doing at-home Sealed or Draft events with a group of friends at one point since they include a pack of basic lands. But now that Wizards reduced the amount of lands, the number of packs per box and will move to play boosters, it’s clear that this product is intended more for growing and storing your collection than playing with the bundle directly.
How Much Is a Bundle?
While it varies from set to set, a bundle is reliably about the same cost as buying the individual boosters inside. This makes them a great option if you plan on buying the same number of boosters since you get all the extras as well. But if you’re looking to save money on packs, this isn’t the way to do it.
Of course, that’s if you’re buying bundles right when they come out. Bundles see similar increases or decreases in price relative to the boosters inside and depending on the cards that come with it for older sets.
But if you’re lucky enough to stumble on an old set at a big box retailer they usually still sell them for the original price. I still remember finding a wall full of Battle for Zendikar products at a Walmart in 2019 priced the same as Standard sets.
What Comes in a Bundle?
A new bundle comes with eight set boosters, 40 lands, one promo card, and more goodies. The most recent change to the makeup of a bundle came in Innistrad: Midnight Hunt, where the number of packs changed from 10 draft boosters to 8 set boosters.
When the first bundles were released as part of Kaladesh, they included 10 draft booster packs and 80 basic lands.
The other contents of bundles have changed a bit over the years too. Starting with Core Set 2020, each bundle included a foil alternate art promo of a card from the set. While most bundles include a spindown counter, Forgotten Realms bundles include a randomized 20-sided die instead.
How Many Cards Are in a Bundle?
Bundles currently include eight 12-card set boosters, 40 basic lands (half of which are foil), and one foil promo card. This brings the total number of cards in a bundle to 137. However, there's no one answer to how many cards come in each bundle since their contents continue to change over time.
Bundles from Core Set 2020 through Forgotten Realms came with slightly more cards since they had 10 15-card draft boosters instead of set boosters. The total number of cards in these bundles was 191.
From Kaladesh to War of the Spark, the bundles included 80 lands instead of 40 and no promo card. Amonkhet is an exception due to including 25 tokens, making it the bundle with the most cards coming in at 255 total.
The Best Bundles Ranked
#12. The Lord of The Rings: Tales of Middle-Earth
The Lord of The Rings: Tales of Middle-Earth Bundle is kind of an honorable mention since the cards made Magic more collectible than ever before. The LTR gift edition adds a collector booster which would've given you a chance at the 1 of 1 serialized The One Ring, but that has since been found. The regular bundle does replace a single promo card with four scene cards with alternate art.
- MAGIC MEETS THE LORD OF THE RINGS—Experience the beloved story of The Lord of the Rings with the strategic gameplay of Magic: The Gathering, facing off against opponents in thrilling magical battles
- JOIN THE FELLOWSHIP—Immerse yourself in Middle-earth with unique game mechanics and stunning art that draw you into this epic tale
- A BUNDLE FULL OF CARDS & ACCESSORIES—Open a box full of The Lord of the Rings-themed Magic cards plus accessories, including Lands, a Spindown life counter, and more
- 4 MOUNT DOOM SCENE CARDS—Every Bundle includes 4 Traditional Foil cards with Borderless alt-art that combine to depict a full scene of the moment Gollum and The One Ring fall to their destruction in the fires of Mount Doom
- EXPLORE WITH SET BOOSTERS—Set Boosters are specifically designed for a fun pack-opening experience, including at least 1 shining Traditional Foil card and 1 Art Card in every pack
#11. Kamigawa: Neon Dynasty
Kamigawa: Neon Dynasty is a set with tons of great cards. You have channel lands like Boseiju, Who Endures, a powerful planeswalker, The Wandering Emperor, not to mention a bunch of support for shrine tribal if that’s your thing.
Set boosters also include some Commander-exclusive cards like Go-Shintai of Life's Origin which you can use to make a very fun Shrine Commander deck. The Neon Dynasty bundle itself also comes with a promo alternate art version of Invoke Despair, which is a great card for Commander since it allows mono-black decks access to some enchantment removal.
- 8 Kamigawa: Neon Dynasty MTG Set Boosters
- 1 foil alt-art promo card—Invoke Despair
- 40 basic land cards (20 foil + 20 nonfoil)
- Spindown life counter + card storage box
- With cyberpunk cards full of color and chrome—the future is bright in Kamigawa
#10. Ravnica Allegiance
Anytime we visit Ravnica I get excited about the Draft environment. With such clearly defined color pairings, these sets are a great way to get newer players into Limited formats, and bundles are a great way to do this.
Grabbing a Ravnica Allegiance bundle allows you and two other players to do a booster Draft with a pack left over if you feel like having a prize pack. Since the bundle includes lands, you should have everything you need right in the box!
Apart from a fun way to draft with friends, you might also be lucky enough to pull some shock lands from this set. With Ravnica Allegiance still being a relatively affordable set despite being out of print, it might be a good time to get your hands on some.
- STAND WITH YOUR GUILD. Ravnica is one of Magic’s most beloved settings, where guilds jockey for power and control and multicolored cards show up in force. New takes on Ravnica classics like Guildmages and split cards await
- GET MORE THAN CARDS. Every Magic player needs land cards, and dice can make keeping score more fun. Each Bundle comes with a 20-sided spin-down life counter, 75 basic land cards and 5 foil basic land cards, a storage box, and a Player’s guide, which contains a visual encyclopedia of Ravnica Allegiance
- BUILD DECKS. Your Bundle contains 10 booster packs, 75 basic land cards, and 5 foil basic land cards from Ravnica Allegiance, the follow-up to the hit expansions Guilds of Ravnica. Each booster pack contains 15 Magic cards (230 Magic cards total, including lands). Pick your favorites, put them in your deck, and battle!
- PLAY THE ORIGINAL. Magic: The Gathering is the first modern collectible card game. Magic has inspired more than 20 million fans over 25 years, from the first dragons and angels to today’s planeswalkers and Commander decks
- JOIN THE FAMILY. Wizards of the Coast has been making the world’s best strategy games for almost 30 years: Magic: The Gathering (MTG), Dungeons & Dragons (D&D), many board games under the Avalon Hill umbrella, and more. Explore them all, discover new favorites, and make new friends along the way
#9. Innistrad: Midnight Hunt
It can sometimes be easy to forget great sets that recently came out with the constant hype around each new set overshadowing the previous. Midnight Hunt is definitely a victim of this constant hype train, and you might have forgotten just how many great cards you can get from this set.
The Meathook Massacre is an obvious standout, but Vanquish the Horde and Fateful Absence are also great additions from this set. I also think Teferi, Who Slows the Sunset is a bit overlooked, but I don’t blame anyone for not wanting to read all that text.
The Midnight Hunt bundle also has some unique goodies, including a Harvesttide Mask and a poster of Innistrad’s moon.
- 8 Innistrad: Midnight Hunt MTG Set Boosters
- 1 foil alt-art promo card—Triskaidekaphile
- 40 basic land cards (20 foil plus 20 nonfoil)
- Glow-in-the-dark Spindown life counter plus card storage box
- Become what you fear in a gothic horror set overrun with werewolves, warlocks, and spooky mechanics
#8. Guilds of Ravnica
I put the Guilds of Ravnica bundle on this list for mostly the same reasons I did Ravnica Allegiance: fun Draft format, shock lands, etc. The reason it falls higher is the cards in the set itself.
Assassin's Trophy is a fantastic removal spell, and Divine Visitation belongs in most token decks running white. Mausoleum Secrets is also a great budget version of a Demonic Tutor for mono black reanimator decks.
- STAND WITH YOUR GUILD. Ravnica is one of Magic’s most beloved settings, where guilds jockey for power and control and multicolored cards show up in force. New takes on Ravnica classics like Guildmages and split cards await.
- GET MORE THAN CARDS. Every Magic player needs land cards, and dice can make keeping score more fun. Each Bundle comes with a 20-sided spin-down life counter, 75 basic land cards and 5 foil basic lands, a storage box, and a Player’s guide, which contains a visual encyclopedia of Guilds of Ravnica.
- BUILD DECKS. Your Bundle contains 10 booster packs, 75 basic land cards, and 5 foil basic land cards from Guilds of Ravnica, the follow-up to the hit expansions Core Set 2019 and Dominaria. Each booster pack contains 15 Magic cards (230 Magic cards total, including lands). Pick your favorites, put them in your deck, and battle!
- FILL YOUR BINDER. Guilds of Ravnica includes planeswalkers like Vraska, Golgari Queen, game-changing spells like Assassin’s Trophy, and the return of “shock lands” like Sacred Foundry and Steam Vents.
- PLAY THE ORIGINAL. Magic: The Gathering is the first modern collectible card game. Magic has inspired more than 20 million fans over 25 years, from the first dragons and angels to today’s planeswalkers and Commander decks.
#7. Commander Legends: Battle for Baldur’s Gate
If you like the cards in Commander Legends: Battle for Baldur’s Gate, I have great news for you: this set is dirt cheap. Tons of stores are selling the Battle for Baldur's Gate bundle cheaper than some Standard sets.
Aside front the stellar ancient dragon cycle from this set, there are plenty of fun commanders like Neera, Wild Mage and Miirym, Sentinel Wyrm. And this set actually has a ton to offer you as well if you have a dragon Commander deck, like Renari, Merchant of Marvels.
- 8 Commander Legends: Battle for Baldur’s Gate MTG Set Boosters
- 1 foil alt-art promo card—Wand of Wonder
- 40 basic land cards (20 foil + 20 nonfoil)
- Spindown life counter + card storage box
- Open a box full of epic MTG Commander cards and accessories from the world of D&D
#6. Ikoria: Lair of Behemoths
When Ikoria first came out I was pretty lukewarm about the set. But I've since been surprised by the staying power of its cards. The Ikoria bundle offers a lot of sleeper hits outside of the flashy mutate mechanic that the set introduced. Regardless of what you play, there’s probably something in this set for you.
Shark Typhoon is a great tool for any control deck, allowing you to create threats as you counter spells. Companions like Lurrus of the Dream-Den add a fun new angle to the game as well. And if you play Commander you've probably come to love or fear Kinnan, Bonder Prodigy, and have found Triomes very helpful for mana fixing multicolored decks.
- The Ikoria: Lair of Behemoths (IKO) Bundle comes factory sealed with 10 booster packs and accessories—a great gift for any Magic player.
- You’ll be ready to play with 20 basic lands, 20 foil basic lands, 1 alternate-art promo card, a reusable storage box, keyword counter punchouts, and one oversized life counter on top of your booster packs.
- Befriend your perfect monster companion—if you meet their conditions, they’ll come to your aid from outside the battle! The Companion mechanic will feel familiar to Commander fans and add a fresh twist to two-player formats.
- Battle your way through the plane of Ikoria with monster-themed mechanics like Mutate—stack your creature cards for a mutated monster with the type of one and the abilities of another.
- It’s you and your monsters against the world! Team up with your powerful companions, help them grow, and crush the behemoths of Ikoria!
#5. Streets of New Capenna
Since Streets of New Capenna is the most recent Standard set you have a little longer before these cards rotate out. There’s still a lot to love in the New Capenna bundle even if you aren't a Standard player. Ledger Shredder has already started making appearances in other formats, and the family lands complete the Triome cycle started in Ikoria a few years back.
Since this bundle includes set boosters you also have a chance to get some cards from The List. New Capenna’s List includes fewer cards than usual and while this might seem like a downside, it actually increases your chances of getting any individual card you want off the list. This was done to increase the number of Stranger Things cards you can hope to get, which appear in The List for the first time.
- 8 Streets of New Capenna MTG Set Boosters
- 1 foil alt-art promo card—Mysterious Limousine
- 40 basic land cards (20 foil + 20 nonfoil)
- Spindown life counter + card storage box
- Traditional or Gilded Foil card in every Set Booster
#4. Modern Horizons 2
Modern Horizons 2 is unique since it was the first premium set to have bundles printed for it. This set had a lot of merits: powerful cards for Modern, reprinted fetch lands, and a very fun Draft environment.
The MH2 bundle also includes an alternate art promo version of one of the best coin flip cards in Magic, Yusri, Fortune's Flame, and one of the better-looking spindown counters.
- 10 Modern Horizons 2 (MH2) Magic: The Gathering Draft Boosters
- Exclusive foil alt-art promo card—Yusri, Fortune's Flame
- 40 basic land cards (20 foil & 20 nonfoil)
- Spindown life counter and MTG card storage box
- Introduces powerful cards and beloved reprints to the Modern format
#3. Kaladesh
Sealed products for Kaladesh can be hard to come by. This is thanks in part to the Inventions lottery cards that were featured in the set. As we tend to do in this community, Magic players have opened box after box in search of these rare cards, making the number of available booster boxes dwindle over time.
So if you’re looking for a more affordable way to get sealed packs, whether to draft or chase your own lottery cards, Kaladesh bundles might be a more reasonable way to do so. This is still the best way to get Kaladesh packs that are factory-sealed for many of us who can’t afford a full box, even if these bundles are still very expensive.
- This item will be ship on September 30th
- 10 booster fat pack
- This is of sealed Fat pack from the Kaladesh set.
#2. Hour of Devastation
What makes Hour of Devastation’s bundle one of the best is what it has to offer outside of just the packs included in the bundle. Not only are 20 of the 80 lands given the full-art treatment, but the bundle includes one copy of each token printed for this set. This ensures that whatever direction you go with your cards, you have the tokens for it.
Just like Kaladesh, this set also has lottery cards to be on the lookout for. It’s hard to trust individual packs you buy of old sets online but getting a factory-sealed pack guarantees nobody messed with your odds of grabbing one of the sought-after Invocation cards.
- 10 Hour of Devastation booster packs. 1 Card box. 1 Player's Guide with complete visual encyclopedia for Hour of Devastation. 80 Basic land cards. 1 Magic learn-to-play guide. 1 Spindown life counter. 2 Deck boxes.
#1. Amonkhet
Just like Hour of Devastation, Amonkhet also has 20 lands with the full-art treatment. This bundle also came with 25 double-sided tokens from the set, making it the bundle with the most cards included.
This set also has lottery cards, including the highly sought-after Force of Will invocation version. Not only does this bundle have the most cards, but it also has a chance of being very valuable.
- Brand New in box. The product ships with all relevant accessories
What’s the Difference Between a Bundle and a Fat Pack?
Fat packs were the precursor to bundles and were similar in many ways. They also included a number of booster packs, ranging from three to nine depending on the set. They sometimes had a means of storing your cards, and some also included lands. But there are two big differences between fat packs and bundles.
The first is inconsistency. While bundles have changed slightly over time, they’ve stayed pretty consistent for several sets in a row before changing their contents. Fat packs changed contents in subsequent sets, sometimes going from three boosters to six and back to three in the span of three sets.
The other major difference was the inclusion of Magic fiction. Some fat packs had excerpts from Magic’s story and others came with entire novels. As Magic’s published fiction seems to be less and less prevalent, it isn’t too much of a surprise that these have disappeared from newer bundles.
How Many Packs Are in a Bundle?
The current number of packs in a bundle is eight set boosters. This may change with play boosters, but was a decrease from the original 10 draft boosters that bundles came with until Midnight Hunt. You can expect to get more rares out of your newer boosters on average.
How Many Lands Are in a Bundle?
Bundles include 40 lands, half of which are foil. Bundles originally included 80 basic lands with the occasional foil or full-art treatment. Now this makes bundles attractive to newer players that could use some more basic lands for deck construction.
How Many Cards Fit in a Bundle Box?
While there’s no official number given in the product description for the number of cards these boxes can hold, anywhere from 400 to 600 unsleeved cards can fit in a bundle box. The number of sleeved cards is about 300, so it should be enough room for three sleeved Commander decks.
Are Bundles Worth It in General?
Deal Broker | Illustration by Cliff Childs
Most of the time a bundle is worth it if you’re planning to buy the same number of individual booster packs. You’re getting the same number of boosters for basically the same price as individual packs, and then you have the rest of the bundle’s contents basically for free.
That said, a booster box is probably the way to go if you’re looking to buy a larger number of boosters because you’re generally able to get a box of boosters a bit cheaper than you could buy the same number of individual boosters. And it might be a little more responsible just to buy the packs and not throw out the bundle packaging if you don’t want all the clutter and already have a storage system for cards.
How Many Rares Are in a Bundle?
Bundles that include eight set boosters have a minimum of eight rare cards. But each a set or play booster has the possibility of cracking one to four rares. Bundles that included 10 draft boosters included at least 10 rares, one in each pack. There was a slight possibility for more since there was a chance that each pack had a foil rare.
The maximum number of rares you could possibly get in these bundles is 32, but that's highly unlikely. But don’t be fooled into thinking that’s a guarantee; there's still a chance you’ll only be pulling eight.
Are Bundles Limited Release?
It looks like bundles for a given set are a limited release, usually only seeing one initial print run. This is because you may as well go for a booster box or two if you have enough money to spend on multiple bundles. For that reason, few players ever buy more than one bundle.
What’s the Difference Between a Gift Bundle and a Regular Bundle?
Gift edition bundles are a relatively newer version of bundles that originated with Throne of Eldraine and took the place of gift packs. These packs include everything that a traditional bundle of the same set comes with, plus a few added bonuses.
Apart from the boosters that come in the normal bundle, gift edition bundles also include one collector booster from the set. Some also include extra set-specific goodies, like Forgotten Realms did with oversized versions of the dungeon cards.
Bundling It Up
Werewolf Pack Leader | Illustration by Miranda Meeks
Bundles aren’t necessarily the most fun product, but they are one of the more practical ones if you want to build up your collection. I wouldn’t say it’s a bad idea to grab a bundle from any set if you’re planning to buy the same number of packs anyway. I’ve seen tons of players show up to game stores with their decks packed into a bundle box, and it’s a great way to show your love for a specific set’s theme or artwork.
I’d love to hear some of your thoughts on bundles. Do you like the built-in storage? Would you prefer them if they still included draft boosters? What type of extras entice you to buy a bundle instead of packs? Would you gift a bundle to a friend? Let me know in the comments below or over on Draftsim’s Twitter.
I hope all your pulls give you a bundle of joy, and I'll see you next time!
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