I’ve not written anything for more than a couple of days. Even with the easing of lockdown, the opening of shops etc, I’m still observing it as much as possible to minimise the risk of bringing anything back that could be passed onto Nan or Mum.

There have been no plans yet discussed about holding club game sessions again. Our hosts aren’t open yet for instance.

So in reality there hasn’t really been much to write about. There is not a lot of gaming going on with others.

Although I did play a couple of games of MtG using a Core Set 2021 Prerelease kit Monday afternoon with a couple of friends using webcams. Or in my case a cobbled together setup of my iPhone showing my play area. And viewing my opponents play area on my iPad. The magic glue was a discord server, and for me two discord accounts!

That almost felt strange writing about MtG. I haven’t done that it a while.

Hitting the UK any day (hopefully, although I do believe WotC may have pushed the date back for reasons) is Jumpstart.

I think the easiest way to describe Jumpstart is WotC do Smash Up! for MtG. Or as WotC describe it “…mashes together themes from throughout the history of the game and lets you skip the deckbuilding part. … Grab two boosters, shuffle them together, and you’re ready to go.” So you can see why I compare it to Smash Up! Which builds its decks in the same way.

So what can you expect in a Jumpstart booster? “Each booster contains 20 cards centered on a theme. What theme each booster contains is randomized, but each themed 20 cards will be sealed inside the pack and labled.” Apparently “One in three boosters includes an extra rare.” But there are nearly 500 reprints, 37 new cards, and it also shares cards with Core Set 2021 but is a separate product. “Every pack includes one basic land with art that matches the pack’s theme. A few of them use thematically appropriate lands from M21, but most of them use brand-new themed land art created for Jumpstart.”

Some Jumpstart packs are out in the wild because they were given away with Core Set 2021 booster box purchases from stores. Reports have the print quality of the cards being poor. I’ve also seen it reported Jumpstart is not a limited run product and that WotC will keep printing it as long as there is demand. So as long as you are patient there is no need to pay through the nose for this set.

I like the idea of this set. It’s great for new and returning players. Buy two packs and play! It makes getting started very accessible. Like ninjas and dinosaurs? But the packs and go. Doesn’t get easier than that. I’m hoping it pushes Rhystic Studies prices down, and I pull one. There are certain themes I’m interested in as Commander deck material.

All I want to now is get some boosters and play some casual MtG.