Token Troubles Are Over

With 17 Offspring cards in Bloomburrow finding the tokens that you need during Draft is basically impossible. Given that tokens are useful gameplay aids, and not to mention fun, this is a fairly substantial problem.

There are a lot of exciting cards you can find in a Booster Pack. No matter which set you’re opening, there are always expensive all-stars and juicy staples. As fun as these cards are, it’s also practically guaranteed you’ll find a few duds. Not only are packs filled with Draft Chaff, but there’s a decent chance you’ll find a literally useless card too.

If you’re already playing Magic, an ad card is always disappointing to see. While these cards do serve a valuable purpose in MTG, finding one means missing out on a token. Most of the time, this isn’t a big deal as tokens are cheap, plentiful, and readily available. Sadly, the same isn’t true during Draft and Prerelease events, especially for Bloomburrow.

Thanks to the new Offspring mechanic, the lack of tokens has proven to be more of a problem than usual. Due to this, it didn’t take long before MTG players were taking their complaints to MTG’s Head Designer. Thankfully, it appears players may be getting exactly what they want before too long.

With 17 Offspring cards in Bloomburrow, finding the tokens that you need during Draft is basically impossible, especially given that tokens are useful gameplay aids, and not to mention fun, this is a fairly substantial problem. Until now, it’s been a problem that Wizards of the Coast has been hesitant to fix.

Now, however, it seems Wizards may have changed their tune. After Bloomburrow-based complaints were brought to Blogatog, Mark Rosewater was surprisingly forthcoming in their responses. Not only did he reveal that Wizards is aware of the problem, but they’re apparently working on a solution too.

“We have gotten the note of “find ways to include more token cards” and are working on solving that problem.”

Sadly, while we know that something token-y is in the works, exactly what is being planned is unknown. Additionally, there’s no telling when such a change or product may be released. Given we’re not expecting a full token-based MTG set, any solution hopefully won’t take the full two-year development pipeline.

When it comes to what this change or innovation may be, there are no end of options. Ranging from sensible to downright impractical, Wizards could do literally anything. Due to this immense freedom, accurately predicting the future is rather difficult. That said, we can’t help but wonder and speculate about what may be in store.

Since Wizards is a business, one of the more lucrative options may be making and selling a token station. Such a solution has been floated before, although it’s admittedly not great. Unless Wizards released a new station with each set, it’d be no more useful than the tokens we have already.

Alternatively, should Wizards feel generous, they could give away new packs of tokens upon each release. These could be distributed by Prerelease Packs or sent to an LGS to ensure everyone is prepared. While this would be a great solution, the printing cost of this method makes it less than ideal from Wizards’ perspective.

In a similar vein, Wizards could increase the size of Play Boosters. By adding another dedicated token slot, Wizards would vastly increase the supply of tokens for Draft and Prerelease events. Even this cunning plan, however, wouldn’t guarantee you actually find the tokens you need.

Ideally, then, Wizards should just guarantee that we find the tokens you need. If you opened up a pack with Tender Wildguide inside, the Offspring token should also be there. Sadly, this solution doesn’t account for finding multiple Offspring cards, and it’s a huge change to pack construction.

Given this problem is most prevalent during Prerelease events, adding tokens in some form to these packs makes the most sense. Whether or not Wizards will do this, however, remains to be seen. Hopefully, by the time the next token-based mechanic comes along, we’ll have an answer.

Until this unknown solution finally materializes, MTG players can sort of solve this token-based problem on their own. By bringing along a notepad, reusable tokens, or even placeholder copy tokens, it’s possible to work around this issue. Admittedly, these solutions aren’t as adorable as Bloomburrow’s many Offspring tokens, but they do work in a pinch.

At the end of the day, we’re just glad that something is being done to rectify this issue. Bloomburrow has exposed this problem to a new harsh light, so hopefully we’ll have a fix soon.

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