Why Magic: The Gathering’s Bloomburrow Set is Quite Literally Suffering From Success

by

Why Magic: The Gathering's Bloomburrow Set is Quite Literally Suffering From Success

As a seasoned Magic: The Gathering enthusiast with decades of collecting under my belt, I must say that the Bloomburrow set has left me in a bit of a pickle. On one hand, I’m enamored by its whimsical charm and captivating art style. It’s like stepping into a lush, vibrant world filled with adorable anthropomorphic creatures. But on the other hand, as a collector, it’s become a bit of a rollercoaster ride.

For several years now, “Magic: The Gathering” has been venturing beyond its traditional boundaries, much like collaborations in a trading card game. This is evident through the introduction of Secret Lair sets and main sets with distinctive themes and settings, such as the “Wilds of Eldraine” and “Murders at Karlov Manor”. These departures from typical expansions for the TCG are refreshing and offer an intriguing twist on familiar tropes that remain distinctively “Magic: The Gathering”. However, this year, Wizards of the Coast outdid themselves with the “Bloomburrow” set, which is set on a plane inhabited by adorable anthropomorphic creatures.

As a Magic: The Gathering enthusiast, I must admit that the idea of adorable animal tribes living in harmony might seem a bit off-kilter for this game of strategy and conflict. However, when you delve deeper into the set’s story and lore, it makes perfect sense. In fact, the current expansion, Bloomburrow, has been one of the most successful for the game. I believe the exceptional art and innovative theme are the main reasons behind its success. The reception from players has been overwhelmingly positive, and sales continue to thrive even a month after release, with prices actually increasing since launch.

Why Magic: The Gathering’s Bloomburrow Set is Caught Between a Rock and a Hard Place

MTG: Bloomburrow’s Market Rise and Fall Explained

Similar to Magic: The Gathering’s Lord of the Rings series, the Bloomburrow collection includes a handful of extremely scarce, highly coveted cards that can essentially recover the majority of a collector’s booster box investment. These sought-after cards are known as Raised Foils (or Anime Raised Foils), which are essentially borderless variations of other cards within the set, showcasing distinctive anime-inspired illustrations. Additionally, they feature raised golden accents along the borders resembling leaves. These cards are the rarest and most valuable in the set, though they are more exceptions than the norm.

Despite not being as prized as the One Ring from the MTG Lord of the Rings series, individual cards in this set can cost between $70 and over $200. However, due to its immense popularity and continuing high sales, the value of most other Bloomburrow cards has significantly plummeted since the expansion was launched. Even rare borderless, showcase, and mythic cards, even when they’re foil, may only be worth a few dollars. This makes it challenging to make a profit or even break even with Bloomburrow, including with the sought-after collector’s booster boxes.

Due to an oversupply of Non-Raised Foil cards from Bloomburrow compared to the demand, their prices have significantly decreased since they were first introduced. Some exceptional borderless or showcase cards might even fetch only a few pennies.

MTG: Bloomburrow’s Raised Anime Foils Are a Double-Edged Sword

For avid collectors of Magic: The Gathering, it’s no secret that Bloomburrow has been a favorite set with many valuable cards. However, despite its popularity and the quality of its cards, the potential returns on investment for this set could be relatively low. Nowadays, a collector’s booster box can easily surpass $250, but even with numerous high-value cards like Three Tree City in the mix, the steep price is primarily driven by the Raised Foils.

Visually appealing collectible items such as Mabel, Heir of Cragflame and Finneas, Skilled Archer, typically sell for under a dollar. On the other hand, rarer Mythics usually hold a higher value, with most being priced at around $3 to $4 or more.

Pulling one can be an amazing feeling, but the fact that a unique and thematically interesting set can come crumbling down in value merely four weeks after launch is disappointing. As such, regular play boosters have a very poor return on investments from the get-go because their rates have been estimated at around 1.5 rares/mythics per pack or less, whereas collector’s boosters have 5 guaranteed rares or higher rarities per pack. Still, with Magic: The Gathering‘s Duskmourn set being a little longer away, it seems likely that Bloomburrow products’ prices will continue to rise for a while, whereas the cards from the expansion will hit new lows outside of the Raised Anime Foils.

Read More

2024-08-31 22:06