Product Review - Booster Battle Packs

Sweet Cover Art of Garruk and
Liliana going at it.

Wizards of the Coast had a new release last week that hit a little under the radar: Booster Battle Packs.  Basically, this is designed to be a way to introduce newer players to the limited format, which is where you battle it out not with a preconstructed deck, but by making a fresh deck when you arrive at the event.  Also, there is a bit of randomness to it, since you'll be making that deck using unopened booster packs.  There are a variety of ways to do this, such as:

Sealed - This is where you will recieve 6 booster packs, and make at least a 40 card deck using only these freshly opened cards and basic land.

Draft - Drafts are probably the most popular limited format.  There is a huge randomness factor to it, but also it is something you can be very skilled at.  You recieve 3 booster packs, and you'll sit in a circle with 7 other guys, and crack one open.  You choose one card from that pack, and then pass the rest to your right (or left, depends on the venue).  Don't worry!   You didnt just give all your cards away for no reason!  The person to the left of you will do the same, and you'll recieve his cards minus the one he chose.  You'll pick one from that pile and pass it as well.  You'll repeat this process until the entire pack is gone.  Then crack your second pack, pick one, then pass in the opposite direction.  Etc.  Then, when you are done passing cards, you'll do the same thing as sealed.  At least a 40 card deck using only the cards you drafted and basic land. 

Pack Battle/Pack War - This is an unofficial play style that varies depending on who's playing.  One version I have played is where you and one opponent each buy a pack, then add 2 of each basic land to that pack and battle it out.  The winner gets the other player's deck.

There are other limited formats, but you get the picture.  They all deal with a 2 part process:

- Building a deck on the spot.
- Not having a choice in what cards you will recieve.

I played this game with my fiancee, April.  Since you
aren't supposed to share infomation, I'll only
be able to show my side of things.  This is what
 I recieved from the Booster Battle Pack.  April
recieved an identical number of these, but in different colors

Booster Battle Packs is an introduction to the limited format.  That said, part of the deck has already been built for you.  It is apparently semi random, and from what I have seen, that means you'll recieve 4 commons, 1 uncommon, and 5 lands per colored pack.  You'll get 1-2 non creature spells per colored pack and the rest will be creatures.  You'll get two colored packs and one sealed M12 booster pack per kit.  You also get two kits per Booster Battle Pack.  So, here's what you will recieve in each Booster Battle Pack you buy:

- 4 Colored packs for a total of 40 cards
- 2 M12 Booster Packs
- 2 Cardboard deck boxes

So once you get your stuff, it's time to crack open some stuff!  First I opened the colored packs of cards.

Theres 5 swamps all together.  These cards are all pretty solid,
but nothing too interesting.

This is more varied.  Not too impressed with Chasm Drake but
I can deal.  Cancel and Azure Mage are a breath of fresh air.

Okay, so once you have your packs open, set them aside.  These cards will be the base of your deck.  You cannot change anything about these cards, you got what you got!  So now we get to crack open the booster pack.  We will be able to pick up to 5 cards from the booster pack and add them directly to our "deck".  Let's see what we crack open:

Rootbound Crag?  Bummer.  Red/Green cards are pretty sweet
in this pack as well.  Oh well, let's sift through this and see
if we can find something worth putting in our deck.

These are the cards I ended up with.

There's a very good chance my opponent will have either green or red, so flashfreeze goes in.  Rusted Sentinel is pretty bad, but its one of the largest bodies my deck will have, plus it's easy to cast.  Wring flesh is sort of removal.  Another Bloodrage helps with the bloodthirst theme my black cards had.  Aether Adept is cheap, and helps me regain tempo as well as maintain board presence.

As far as my thoughts on the actual product, at a MSRP of $9.99, I think it's a great one or two time buy for a newer magic player.  Hell, even I enjoyed it.  But as far as building or adding to your collection, you are pretty much paying 10 bucks for two packs.  The game was fun but I wouldn't play it again.  But I do agree that it is a cool way to get some newer players hooked on the limited format.

Well, that's my take on it.  Let me know if you liked this review.  I might review other Magic products such as Duel Decks, From the Vault, Event Decks, and more if you like this style of review.  If not, look forward to my next articles coming soon(ish):

- Transforming the way we play, Part 2

- Innistrad Financial Guide

- Innistrad Sealed Primer

- Post-Rotation Meta-game (Decklists!)