Hello everyone! Welcome again to The Magic Hole. This week we’re doing something a little different. Don’t worry, there will still be a YouTube video of me making all kinds of misplays while trying to make a sixty card pile of jank win games of magic. But in this article we will be discussing the upcoming release of Double Masters 2022, and the broader future of collecting in Magic: the Gathering.
With a release date of July 8th, 2022, Double Masters is a continuation of Double Masters from 2020 focusing on reprints for all eternal formats. Wizards of the Coast is showing that they mean business with what has been spoiled so far. The value of this set is absolutely out of this world, and cards that have never seen reprints at all getting shown some love.
Imperial Seal and Warrior’s Oath, with a combined value of over $1,200 before the release of Double Masters 2022, are great examples of how dedicated WotC is to combating the inflating prices of some of these cards that really have no business being as expensive as they are, while still catering to the collecting side of the hobby. We will get more into that later.
For context, Portal was mainly produced for Asian markets, most of the printings being Japanese and Chinese. Any English printings were mostly sold in Australia and New Zealand, which makes them extremely difficult to find. So we find ourselves with cards that are overall underwhelming in power level compared to other cards at that price point, but still somehow maintain incredibly high prices due to their scarcity.
Reprints have been a relatively hot button issue in the Magic community, especially when it comes to older cards that maintain a high value like Imperial Seal and Warrior’s Oath. Fortunately for the collectors out there, it doesn’t seem like reprints usually affect the price of the original printing all that much. Take Imperial Recruiter for example. This is another Portal Three Kingdoms card that didn’t see a reprint until Double Masters 2020, and the price was virtually unchanged after release. The price of the original art from Portal has even gone up since then, even through ANOTHER reprint in Modern Horizons 2! So no worries for the collectors, who still have the $170 value of the original Imperial Recruiter, while the rest of us common folk can buy a copy for $7 that admittedly, isn’t nearly as cool, but we still get to actually play the card.
With that being said, I do think WotC is moving Magic in a great direction as far as collectibility and functionality of the cards they print. With the additional focus of alternate borders, arts, and borderless cards, it seems like they’re making an attempt to compete in the world of collecting for the sake of collecting, rather than just collecting to complete your next deck.
We can see this pretty clearly in Pokemon, people mostly love collecting it because it's nostalgic and they love the art, not necessarily for the game itself. Magic is a little different. Not to take anything away from Magic’s incredible art, but there is just something about hitting your favorite Pokemon in a full-art holo.
A recent example of this is Hidetsugu, Devouring Chaos out of Kamigawa: Neon Dynasty. This is a .25 cent card that isn’t especially powerful, but has a printing out of the same set that last sold on eBay at auction for just over $1,200. The neon ink Hidetsugu looks amazing, and I wish I could get my hands on one, but the price is obviously out of reach for me, and most other people. However, if all I wanted to do is play the card there isn’t really an issue.
Overall, these rare or more collectible copies of cards are great for the game in general. I welcome the collectors to come in and scoop up the neon red Hidetsugu’s, or the older printings of Imperial Seal or Warrior’s Death. The more attention we can get into Magic, the more players and healthier the game is.
All of this is to say, I think Magic is on the horizon of being in the spotlight as a collectible card game closely rivaling Pokemon. Don’t get me wrong, there is a strong collecting community in Magic currently, but this recent push could get us to Pokemon levels of popularity. In my opinion, scooping any of the new alternate arts from Double Masters 2022 would be a great start to your Magic collection. Here is a list of some of my favorite alternate arts spoiled so far:
The Magic art team continues to impress, you can expect to pay a pretty penny for these in their alternate art printings, but prices for the base cards are sure to drop for people who just want to play the game. The original art is nothing to scoff at either, so don’t think you’re getting ripped off by not being able to afford the regular printings.
Anyways, those are just a few of my favorites, you can find the whole list of what has been spoiled on MTG Goldfish. Be on the lookout on July 8th, you might be able to find some deals before the prices inevitably shoot up.
Thank you all again for hanging out in The Magic Hole. This week was a little different, but again, we will still have a video on YouTube so be sure to check that out. Also be sure you’re following on Instagram and TikTok and visit goingtwice.com for more content on other collectibles!