Last updated on January 28, 2025
Mabel, Heir to Cragflame | Illustration by Airi Yoshihiza
Once upon a time, you went to the grocery store or LGS and bought a Magic booster pack. No frills, no choices between different booster types, just a single product. Those days are long gone, with various types of booster packs releasing and getting canceled.
The newest booster product is the Value Booster, debuting with Bloomburrow. These boosters contain a mere seven cards and don’t even guarantee a rare among them. What exactly is this product, and who is it for?
Let’s look into it!
What Are Value Boosters in MTG?
Primal Beyond | Illustration by Mark Tedin
Value boosters are the newest type of MTG booster pack. They contain seven cards and are, according to Wizards of the Coast's official release article, “a budget-friendly way to experience Bloomburrow.”
There has been no announcement about whether future sets will have value boosters, though it’s reasonable to assume we’ll see them for the next couple of sets.
What Comes in a Value Booster?
Value boosters contain seven cards. These include:
- Three commons
- Two uncommons
- One wildcard of any rarity
- One card that may be a land, traditional foil, or Special Guest card
When Do Value Boosters Release?
Value boosters release with Bloomburrow on August 2.
Why Do Value Boosters Only Have 7 Cards?
Value boosters contain seven cards because they’re meant to be a cheap, budget-friendly entry point for players who don’t want to or can’t purchase Play boosters or Collector boosters. Remember that these products aren’t meant to replace the boosters that enfranchised players currently purchase; rather, they’re to serve a specific market niche.
As Mark Rosewater mentions in response to a question about Value boosters on Blogatog, “There are a lot of stores that want a lower priced Magic booster option, so we’re experimenting with something for them.”
Another commentor hit the nail on the head for what Value boosters were designed for:
I’ve seen products similar to Value boosters from other TCGs; many Dollar Trees and similar stores in my area carry 3-5 card booster packs from games like Pokémon and Yu-Gi-Oh!.
How Many Rares Are in a Value Booster?
A Value booster contains two rares at most – but they are not guaranteed to contain rares.
Why Do Value Boosters Not Guarantee a Rare?
To quote Mark Rosewater from Blogatog, “The point of the booster pack is to be a low cost alternative. Having rares show up in some boosters was how we were able to do that.”
Can Value Boosters Have Mythics?
Yes. The wildcard slot can be any rarity, including mythic.
Do Value Boosters Have Cards from the List?
Yes, with the caveat that the way The List works changes with Bloomburrow’srelease. Rather than reprinting old cards with a planeswalker stamp, Bloomburrow’s list contains the Special Guest cards. Since the last slot in Value boosters can be a Special Guest, it doubles as a slot that can contain cards from the List.
Value Boosters vs. Draft Boosters
The discontinued Draft boosters contained 15 cards plus a token or ad card, whereas Value boosters only contain seven cards. Draft boosters also had a very different card breakdown. They were designed for Draft or Sealed play, so they had a heavy emphasis on commons and uncommons, with only a few slots dedicated to rares. They were guaranteed to contain at least one rare, which is more than Value boosters. For context, here’s the Draft booster content breakdown from Ravnica Remastered(RVR), the last set with Draft boosters:
They also differ in purpose. Draft boosters were Limited-playable products. Value boosters are a cheap entry point to the game; they exist only to be opened, not for drafting.
Value Booster vs. Play Boosters
Play boosters combine the playability of a Draft booster with the variety of a Set booster. Play boosters were introduced in Murders at Karlov Manor, replacing Set and Draft boosters since then.
The main difference when comparing Play boosters versus Value boosters is that a Play booster's 14 cards can contain different rarities and special treatments, thus providing much more variety than the humbler 7-card Value boosters. For context, here’s a content breakdown of Bloomburrow‘s Play boosters:
Like Draft boosters before them, Play boosters are designed for Limited play, while Value boosters aren't.
Value Booster vs. Set Booster
Set boosters were designed to be exciting products to open, so they had fewer slots devoted to commons and more variable slots that could contain a wide variety of cards than Draft boosters. The Lost Caverns of Ixalan was the last set to have Set boosters, and they contained:
Set boosters and Value boosters have similar purposes. Neither are Limited-playable; they’re designed to be fun products to open. While Set boosters were designed to give non-Limited players exciting booster packs to open, Value boosters were designed as a budget-friendly product.
Are There Value Booster Boxes?
Wizards hasn’t announced a booster box for Value boosters. Given Rosewater’s statements about the market their design purpose, we can infer that they won’t be offered as booster boxes and instead only available at retail locations.
Are Value Boosters a Limited Release?
Wizards hasn’t confirmed that sets after Bloomburrow contain Value boosters, but it’s reasonable to expect them to show up for the next couple of sets, given that they were clearly designed to fill a specific market niche.
Wrap Up
Lilysplash Mentor | Illustration by Aldo Dominguez
Value boosters are unlikely to have a dramatic impact on how we play Magic. Contrary to products like Set boosters and Collector boosters that hit the shelves of LGSs, these seem to be designed for a specific market that doesn’t include enfranchised players.
If anything, a budget product like this might bring new players into the fold!
What do you think of Value boosters? Are they one product too many? Do you plan to hunt them down once Bloomburrow releases? Let me know in the comments or on the Draftsim Discord.
And if you're curious about how Value Boosters compare to Beyond Boosters, or the differences between Value Boosters and Collector Booster, be sure to check those articles.
Stay safe, and thanks for reading!
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