Spoiler season for Magic the Gathering’s Bloomburrow set is in full swing, and players have been very happy with the offerings. The set is Redwall-inspired, with mouse knights and rabbit soldiers, frog wizards, and bat clerics — equal parts strong and adorable.
However, even among all these cute and inventive new cards, one has captured the hearts of the Magic community. His name is Flubs, the Fool, and I love him. Regrettably, that means I’d do anything to get my hands on him, too.
Flubs isn’t a standard legal card, but fans, especially Commander players, are still enamored with him. This frog is stylish and full of flavor, wearing the same garb as depicted by The Fool tarot card in the classic Rider-Waite tarot deck. It’s an awfully fun design, offering an interesting all-or-nothing playstyle that requires churning through your deck. As a whole package, he’s perfect, requiring players to be the Fool themselves and throw caution to the wind, just playing cards from the top of their deck without a care in the world.
Many players have already begun preparing and theorizing possible Commander decks for him, taking to social media to show off decklists. At first, some were also happy to see that Flubs would be a buy-a-box promo included for free with a booster box. However, just beyond this lies a dark secret, an inkling that it is not Flubs, but us, who will be played as a fool.
Flubs, the Fool sadly marks the return of buy-a-box exclusives.
When the booster box promo was originally incepted, these promo cards were alternate art foil cards that could otherwise be found in the set. Then, with the release of Dominaria in 2018, MtG changed for the worse. Buy-a-box promos became exclusive, meaning these were new cards that couldn’t be found any other way than buying a box, severely limiting players’ ability to get their hands on them.
MtG players didn’t take this quietly, and the practice was changed in 2020, returning the cards to being alternate art promos that could also be found in regular booster packs, such as the card below. Now, here we are, circling back again to cards that can only be purchased with a whole booster box.
For those not in the know, a booster box is generally pretty expensive, around $160, substantially limiting who can get their hands on exclusive box rewards. On Tumblr, lead designer Mark Rosewater claimed market research showed that the majority of players who buy these booster boxes prefer these promos to be unique. However, this makes us ask, what percentage of the community buys booster boxes?
Magic the Gathering is an expensive game, we all know that. However, I think it would be folly to say that a larger chunk of the community than not buys mostly booster boxes, instead of singles or individual packs. Booster boxes are the least efficient way to get cards, price-wise. While that market research may be true, is it a decision that would earn the support of the community at large?
Even outside of this, Wizards of the Coast has been making some weird product choices that don’t seem to respect the money players put into the game. MtG’s new booster packs haven’t gone over too well, either. They’re confusing and seem like a bit of a cash grab. The return of booster-box exclusivity may just be the same.
Do you agree with my assessment? Am I being a bit of a prude? Or is Flubs generally worth it? Personally, I think the cost is too much, but every day I look at that damn adorable frog and feel my willpower eroding. Come release, I’ll probably have a booster box ready at my local game store with my name on it. Flubs got me this time, but here’s to hoping we aren’t all foolish enough to keep falling for this.