Wizards of the Coast will be rescheduling the release of the fun Jumpstart set for June but in the meantime, the company will be doing some amazing things to support local game stores whose business is negatively impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic.
Today, we’ve got some slightly bad news, and then something amazing to report.
Remember when we reported the announcement of Jumpstart, MTGA’s newest format? Not to be confused with the Izzet keyword by the same name! Well, to nobody’s surprise, it won’t be making its initially planned release date.
It was supposed to come out around the time of Core Set 2021, which is still coming to MTGA on June 25 and tabletop July 3. However, the cats, pirates, and physicians of Jumpstart will have to wait some more until their arrival in MTGA on July 16 and tabletop on July 17.
Wizards’ very short statement on the matter reads:
“The delay of Jumpstart is certainly unfortunate, and we look forward to a return to normalcy once we can ensure the continued health and safety of those who help make our game possible.”
Now for the great news. We all know how bad the coronavirus is and how it’s affecting local game stores, with delays, reschedules, vastly reduced profits and in some grim cases – forcing them out of business.
Wizards of the Coast does seem to take the situation very seriously, just like they stated previously, and will now support Wizards Play Network (WPN) stores with free boxes of Mystery Boosters.
Mystery is a paper-exclusive drafting format featuring cards for all of MTG history printed with their original artwork and card frames. Those are valued around the same a normal booster box (usually slightly more) and now WPN stores will be allocated some of these to sell and no charge. We have to give credit where credit is due – this is an amazing gesture that really shows Wizards still care about local store and organized paper play, despite the various controversies lately and their clear focus on digital displayed with the somewhat confusing Ikoria mechanics.
Thanks, Wizards! We appreciate it.
