Magic: The Gathering head designer Mark Rosewater clears up plenty of conundrums on his personal blog, and a post from October 11 may have confirmed the failure of a recent MTG set. When asked if we’ll see another ‘epilogue’ set like March of the Machine: The Aftermath, Rosewater replied that the chances were “pretty unlikely”.
Aftermath was the first of its kind, a miniature MTG set designed to wrap up the story of the set that came before it in the MTG 2023 release schedule. It contained 50 Magic: The Gathering cards that were all uncommons, rares, or mythic rares. Additionally, the set’s boosters were a new, non-draftable type that contained five cards each.
Despite the limited cards in the set and its booster packs, there wasn’t much of a price reduction to reflect this. The small number of available cards also led to fans regularly opening duplicates when cracking packs – and this, combined with no way to use the packs in MTG drafts – significantly devalued the experience of opening boosters.
There’s currently no public data on how well Aftermath sold, but comments on Rosewater’s blog post show how the set fared in the court of public opinion. “Pricing was far too high for a five-card pack”, Tumblr user Drums011 writes, “and the card selection just didn’t ‘hang together’ as set to me”. “Pricing, set design, and story elements all seemed to fall flat.”
Other users lament the “poorly priced” set and how forgettable it was in the grand scheme of MTG releases. Not everyone loathes the concept, though. “I’d also like to see feedback for Aftermath put towards a different take, rather than scrapping the idea altogether”, says user Simicmimic.
For more on the latest Magic releases, here are the best MTG Arena decks storming the meta right now. And for more digital trading card game goodies, check out these MTG Arena codes.