The upcoming addition of Jumpstart to Magic Arena has sparked excitement in the community with a slew of reprint announcements. But it also raised questions as to how it’d be handled digitally.
In today’s Arena State of the Game for June, Wizards of the Coast clarified how Jumpstart will affect Arena when it’s released on July 16.
Jumpstart is a new limited event with a pool of over 500 cards, including 37 new cards. Cards are available through themed boosters used in the draft and sealed Jumpstart events or by crafting them with Wildcards.
The source of the confusion stemmed from Wizards announcing that Jumpstart will be playable in Historic, which would add over 300 new cards to the format.
Once cards like Lightning Bolt and Rhystic Study were spoiled as a part of Jumpstart, fans speculated about whether these cards would be good for the health of Historic due to their power level. Wizards assuaged concerns by announcing that 20 reprints from the tabletop version will be replaced in Arena because of power and gameplay concerns.
The list of card swaps (tabletop -> Arena) is as follows:
- Chain Lightning -> Lightning Strike
- Lightning Bolt -> Lightning Strike
- Ball Lightning -> Lightning Serpent
- Ajani’s Chosen -> Archon of Sun’s Grace
- Angelic Arbiter -> Serra’s Guardian
- Draconic Roar -> Scorching Dragonfire
- Goblin Lore -> Goblin Oriflamme
- Flametongue -> Kavu Fanatic of Mogis
- Exhume -> Bond of Revival
- Fa’adiyah Seer -> Dryad Greenseeker
- Mausoleum Turnkey -> Audacious Thief
- Path to Exile -> Banishing Light
- Read the Runes -> Gadwick, the Wizened
- Reanimate -> Doomed Necromancer
- Rhystic Study -> Teferi’s Ageless Insight
- Sheoldred, Whispering One -> Carnifex Demon
- Scourge of Nel Toth -> Woe Strider
- Scrounging Bandar -> Pollenbright Druid
- Thought Scour -> Weight of Memory
- Time to Feed -> Prey Upon
