Does Mystery Booster 2 Have Any Reprints for Modern?

09 Oct
by Corey Williams

Hello readers! Happy Wednesday. Today we’ll start the month of October with some Deep Analysis on Mystery Booster 2 (MB2) and its implications for Modern, particularly in the secondary market. Relative to other sets, MB2 is a reprint set intended mainly for drafting, but that doesn’t mean that it doesn’t carry with it some appealing reprints for the Modern format. And now that prices have mostly settled, let’s discuss the Top 5 reprints for Modern from MB2. 

Urza's Saga (White Border)

Prior to MB2, Urza’s Saga saw a recent premium reprint as a Store Championship promotional card, and a more accessible List reprint. Notwithstanding these small reprint events, there hasn’t been a substantial bump to the overall supply of this card since its initial printing in Modern Horizons 2 (MH2). 

So what effect has MB2 had on market prices for Urza’s Saga, a classic Modern staple? It’s put a small dent in the price level on the secondary market. Right now the market price for an MH2 Saga (where the most price data is available for) is sitting around $35 by comparison to almost $45 when the month of September began. Clearly, lots of MB2 packs have been opened since the Festival in a Box shipments have entirely been fulfilled at this point. 

The resulting number of packs being cracked flooded the market with white-border Sagas dragging down the overall price level. Is this the floor? No. Recall that MagicCon Las Vegas is set to be one of the largest events of the year at the end of October. As such, my expectation is that another subsequent jump in supply will probably hit the market around the end of the convention. Probably not as much as the Festival in a Box wave, but still pretty significant. I would venture to guess that the floor for this card is likely around $30 when all is said and done.

Urza's Saga (White Border)
Urza's Saga

Flusterstorm (Future Sight)

Now, unlike Urza’s Saga, Flusterstorm has seen many reprints, and has hung around a bit longer. While it’s one of the most utilitarian counterspells in the game, it can only hit instants or sorceries, and benefits from stack-heavy, interactive metas… Of which Modern is not one. Given that Modern is a “Creatures Matters” meta regardless of whether it's at its most stable or most unstable, cards like Flusterstorm simply don’t have the consistency to meaningfully impact the game, especially in a 1-versus-1 format. 

Flusterstorm has also been around much longer than Urza’s Saga, with its original printing stemming as far back as the original set of Commander preconstructed decks from 2011. Around 2017, Flusterstorm was as high as $90, but thanks to some reprintings as buy-a-box promos in MH1 and MH3, as well as some reprintings in Iconic Masters and The List, Flusterstorm’s price level has been trending downward at a strong rate since 2017, currently sitting around $20. 

While it may not see extensive play in Modern, it does see extensive play in Commander, particularly cEDH, which lives and dies on the stack. Conveniently still very much in demand, MB2 continues to push Flusterstorm’s price on a downward trend. With any luck, we’ll see its original printing settle around $15 and its Iconic Masters printing ideally below $10 with the help of MB2.

Flusterstorm (Future Sight)
Flusterstorm

Pact of Negation (Future Sight)

Unconditional Counterspells are a hot commodity in any format. Obviously, the more eternal the format, the higher the accessibility to such precious forms of Counterspells. Recently, however, in Modern Horizons 3, we were given Strix Serenade–the other half of Swan Song if the two were a coin. However, one of the single most potent Counterspells in this category is, of course, Pact of Negation, which counters anything for zero mana, but puts a burden on you during your next upkeep to pay or lose the game. Very typically, Pact is used in such a way where you can “over-extend” and devote your resources towards going for a win, while holding up protection so that your combo can resolve. 

Price-wise, Pact has been flat for a minute. For the past year or so, it’s sort of teetered around $13 or $14, and hasn’t moved much. This is in part because the market is already pretty saturated with copies, between the original Future Sight, Time Spiral: Remastered, Masters 25, Modern Masters, and the List (among other vintages). Adding another reprint to the pile, unsurprisingly, isn’t going to generate new demand for the card that can’t already be satisfied. Having said that, many of these reprints are years old and have been out of circulation in packs for some time, so MB2 represents a new opportunity to pull a Pact fresh from the pack in arguably its most aesthetically appealing card frame. 

Pact of Negation (Future Sight)
Pact of Negation
Pact of Negation (Borderless)

Underworld Breach (Future Sight)

While more prevalent in cEDH, Underworld Breach does see occasional play in Modern, although things are less clear as to its utility in a meta dominated by the Energy mechanic. Having said that, Prowess strategies and Grinding Station decks are finding some opportunities to shine in a meta otherwise saturated with Energy. Breach gives recursiveness to Grinding Station when utilized with zero-mana artifacts like Mishra's Bauble and Mox Amber, leading to game-ending lines where one mills their entire deck and wins with Thassa's Oracle

Artifact-based combos are notoriously difficult to interact with in Modern, but also require multiple pieces of setup, making them somewhat fragile and inconsistent. However, since Breach-Station lines work with your graveyard, new pieces of synergy like Malevolent Rumble and classic Modern creatures like Emry, Lurker of the Loch make for more accessible Breach lines by comparison to a pre-MH3 Grinding Station loop. More popularly, Breach also sees significant play in Venerated Rotpriest Storm. 

So where does this leave us? Unlike Urza’s Saga, Breach seems to be increasing in price even in spite of these reprint events. In all likelihood, this is because the increase in demand for Breach in a post-Nadu world likely outsizes the increase in supply, although I suspect this won’t be the case for long. Right now Breach sits at around $13, but I would expect it to fall to $7-$10 after Vegas. 

Underworld Breach (Future Sight)
Underworld Breach
Underworld Breach (Borderless)

Thassa's Oracle (Future Sight)

Our final card of the day is the classic cEDH staple, Thassa’s Oracle, which has been seeing a considerable uptick in Modern play–sometimes just “winning the game” is pretty good and worth playing across multiple formats. In Legacy, specifically, Thassa’s Oracle (“Thoracle” hereafter) synergizes nice with the former Modern menace, Nadu, Winged Wisdom, and is part of the Cephalid Illusionist and Nomads en-Kor combo line known as Cephalid Breakfast, which involves repeatedly using Nomads’ zero-cost activated ability to target Illusionist, mill out your entire deck, and then (usually) cast Thoracle for the win. 

In Modern, similar play patterns are emerging alongside the formerly mentioned Underworld Breach, but with Grinding Station as the primary means to mill yourself out. Thoracle is just clean. Love it or hate it, it’s a very streamlined and unambiguous way to win the game. cEDH players have long known this, so it’s no surprise that the cEDH community in a post-Nadu, post-Crypt, post-Dockside, post-Jeweled Lotus world still falls back heavily on this lovely little Merfolk to close out games efficiently. 

Much like Breach, Thoracle also originates from Theros: Beyond Death, and has seen very few reprint opportunities outside of the premium reprint in the Secret Lair product line. Because of the ever-increasing demand for Thoracle, it’s not shocking that its price continually trends upward, and thus MB2 represents the first meaningful reprint in some time. Right now Thoracle is just above $20, but after Vegas, I would imagine we’ll start to see prices level off, and then eventually decline. It’s hard for me to see a world where in the long run Thoracle isn’t any higher than $13, give or take. So hopefully with MB2, we can finally see the price level for this little fella push the brakes, and then drift downwards to a more realistic and stable equilibrium.

Thassa's Oracle (Future Sight)
Thassa's Oracle
Thassa's Oracle

Final Remarks

MB2 was obviously a novelty reprint set with some inside jokes in the form of white border cards, and some nostalgia wrapped up in the Future Sight frame. However, the set did give us one of the highest-quality reprint pools of a dedicated reprint set in years. While the availability of the set in the Festival in a Box Secret Lair was criticizable, it turns out more than enough of MB2 booster boxes found their way around to players, leading to a flood in the secondary market of some really high-quality reprints that perhaps were once thought to be lower in supply than reality bears. What’s more is that some of the reprints are incredibly timely given the direction that Modern is going. 

So what are you waiting for? Go to a convention if you have one nearby, play some Mystery Booster 2 sealed, and don’t be afraid to snag that Underworld Breach or Thassa’s Oracle if you’ve been waiting for a reprint! 

Further Reading:

Will Duskmourn Affect Modern?

Corey Williams
Corey Williams

Corey Williams is an Assistant Professor of Economics at Shippensburg University in Shippensburg, Pennsylvania. He considers himself a macroeconometrician with his research body reflecting work in applied macroeconomics and econometrics. Corey is an L1 Judge who started playing Magic around Eighth Edition. He enjoys Modern, Commander, cEDH, and cube drafting. Outside of Magic, he loves running, teaching, and the occasional cult movie.


More from Corey Williams:

Expensive Singles from Foundations Jumpstart

A few of the singles from Foundations Jumpstart are commanding extremely high prices. Are they worth it? Will those prices hold? Let's discuss.

Power Creep and The One Ring

Will The One Ring get banned in Modern? Why should it? Let's discuss.

Will Any Reprints from Foundations Affect Modern?

Let's look at some important reprints in the upcoming Magic Foundations set, and see if there's any potential for them to affect Modern.

How is the Modern Meta Shaping Up Post-Nadu?

Did Modern diversify after Nadu got banned, or did a new archetype rise up to take its place? Let's look at the numbers.

Will Duskmourn Affect Modern?

Wondering which cards from Duskmourn may have an impact on Modern? This article's got you covered.

Cards Rising in the Post-Nadu Modern

Nadu has finally bit the dust. So let's take a look at the cards rising in the new Modern meta.

Cards to Buy or Sell NOW for Modern

While the world holds its breath for a Nadu ban, other cards in Modern are rising and falling. Should you buy or sell?

Cards to Pick Up While We Wait for a Nadu Ban

While Modern waits for Nadu Summer to end, it's a good time to look at cards that might shine after the ban.

Will Assassin's Creed Affect Modern?

As Modern trudges through Nadu Summer, will any cards from Assassin's Creed sneak into the format?

Checking in on the Modern Meta After Pro Tour Modern Horizons 3

What can the recent Pro Tour tell us about the future of Modern? Are we in for a Nadu Summer? What cards should you pick up? Find out here.