Mystery Booster: Commander Edition rewards players who love Magic’s strangest corners
The new Mystery Booster: Commander Edition (MBC) is not for everyone. It is full of references to old, niche Magic: The Gathering cards. Many of those cards are useless in serious play. Some are jokes. And yet the set has found fans who love it precisely for that reason. One of them is the author of a new article titled “Mystery Booster Commander and Steering into the Skid.” The piece argues that MBC turns obscurity into joy.
The set was previewed at MagicCon Amsterdam. It is available only through conventions and Festival-in-a-Box Secret Lair orders. That limited release has not stopped players from making their own copies.
The Strange Pair at the Center
One of the first two cards previewed for the set was Joven and Chandler. It is a combined card that sends up two odd cards from 1995’s Homelands set: the separately named Chandler and Joven.
Those original cards are famously bad. For 5 mana, each summons a 3/3 creature. For another 3 red mana, that creature can destroy a single artifact creature or non-artifact creature. The cards are not chase cards for tournament grinders.
The original illustrations by Douglas Shuler are part of the appeal. They show men in high fantasy clothes, standing still and staring at the viewer. The author notes that Chandler looks like Anthony Bourdain trapped in the Han Solo factory. Joven looks like Zach Galifianakis returning exhausted from a Gathering of the Juggalos.
The new combined card brings back Shuler for a fresh illustration. That art has the slick brightness of 2020s Magic house style rather than the muddiness of 1995. The new ability is also suspiciously decent.
Deep Cuts From Magic History
The rest of the set goes much deeper. Jay Anelli and Loreley Weisel-Librizzi have documented that MBC is packed with characters from Magic story who never got cards before.
Worzel, the Protector and Thomil, the Destroyer are Magic’s very first planeswalkers. They previously appeared only in a supplemental rulebook in The Duelist #0.
Arzakon is the final antagonist of the 1997 MicroProse Magic computer game. The author describes him tossing a ball at you because he would like to be your friend.
Dyfed (Dyfed, the Guiding Hand) plays a fateful role in J. Robert King’s 1999 novel The Thran. Dyfed introduces Yawgmoth to Phyrexia. The author adds a single word: oops.
The most disturbing inclusion is Sash and Waistcoat. These two goons served the villainous Ixidor in the Onslaught block storyline. The author hates them and wishes they could be unseen. They are glad the cards were included anyway.
Names Get Their Own Cards
Some MBC cards wrap names and lore around characters who previously had only brief appearances. Chira, All In gives a full creature card to a character who appeared on two random editions of Gamble. One was from Eternal Masters. One was from a six-year-old Judge Gift Program entry.
Davvol, Evincar of Rath appeared on a few Y2K-era cards, most memorably the hilarious Carnival of Souls. He never got a creature card until now.
Gustha Ebbasdotter has a pulsing Karl Kopinski illustration. The card asks a simple question: who was that character from the 1995 printing of Hydroblast?
The author describes breathlessly explaining these cards to a confused but encouraging parent. That experience captures what the set does. It creates excitement at superfluity that registers in nerves and hands as well as mind.
Not Just Nostalgia Bait
The set could easily be dismissed as reference-chasing. The author argues it is not. MBC feels defiantly invested in the odd and obscure. It is hardly a guaranteed moneymaker to bring Sifa Grent out of the woodwork.
The set’s design is pure Commander. It includes sneaky pushes toward rule-exceptionalism that define the format. For many players, those exceptions ruin the format. For the author, the set still works.
The abundance is the point. The set both welcomes and overclocks the player’s powers of intellectualization. Preview photos with the image quality of Bigfoot evidence turned into crisp Scryfall-friendly .pngs. Each card felt like part of an exuberant excess.
A Schedule of What to Expect
| Event | Detail |
|---|---|
| MagicCon Amsterdam preview | First MBC cards revealed |
| Homelands release | Original Chandler and Joven cards |
| The Duelist #0 | First appearance of Worzel and Thomil |
| MicroProse Magic game | Arzakon as final antagonist |
| The Thran novel | Dyfed introduces Yawgmoth to Phyrexia |
| Onslaught block | Sash and Waistcoat storyline |
| Festival-in-a-Box orders | Current MBC distribution channel |
Key Facts
- MBC previewed at MagicCon Amsterdam
- Available via conventions and Festival-in-a-Box Secret Lair orders
- Joven and Chandler sends up two 1995 Homelands cards
- Original Chandler and Joven: 5 mana for a 3/3, 3 red mana to destroy one creature
- Worzel and Thomil: Magic’s first planeswalkers
- Arzakon: final antagonist of the 1997 MicroProse game
- Sash and Waistcoat: servants of Ixidor in the Onslaught block
The Joy of Useless Cards
The article makes a case for loving cards that do almost nothing. Chandler and Joven are stupid and useless and hilarious. That is why they are loved.
The eye catches first on Shuler’s odd oily paintings. They messily mingle banality with ostentation. Each depicts a man dressed in high fantasy haute-couture. They are static portraits rather than dynamic action-poses.
The reader asks: why are these guys looking at me like that? The paintings are just guys. The names are nondescript. The whole package is equal parts stupid and useless and hilarious.
MBC pays off on that promise. The mini-set goes so extraordinarily deep for its subject matter that it swallows you up. It demands you revel with it in oddness.
The author interrupted a Sunday EDH game repeatedly to pass new previews to the pod. There was excitement at that superfluity. It registered in nerves and hands as well as mind.
This is not the microdosing of pleasant recognition that defines contemporary media’s precious in-jokes. It is not a simple “I know that reference!” moment. MBC feels different.
The set is full of references to incredibly niche, old-school Magic cards. In theory, that should give pause. Does bringing Chandler into a slick present-day card negate its inherent, beautiful oddness?
The answer, the author concludes, is no. The rest of the card file paid off on the best of Joven and Chandler’s promise. It avoided the worst pitfalls.
The result is a set that feels abundant. It feels excessive. It feels exuberant. It feels like a celebration of everything strange and hidden in Magic’s long history.
Players who love the game’s odd corners will find much to enjoy. The set rewards the habit of body and mind that it instills. That is the point.
Source: hipstersofthecoast.com
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