Magic the Gathering - Throne of Eldraine bundle review

 I bought a Magic the Gathering Throne of Eldraine Bundle on the day of release from my favourite local game store The Dice Cup here in Nottingham, and I'm glad I did so. While so far I'm not finding the Eldraine set as immediately accessible as the Core 2020 set or the brilliant War of the Spark set, I think this one will grow on me. Getting the hang of new mechanics is always a bit of a learning curve at first, but I think the new 'Adventure' mechanic has a ton of potential and adds a lot of value to cards that have it.

So how is the bundle? As with the Core 2020 bundle I bought, this one contains ten booster packs, an oversized spindown counter, a stack of foil lands and regular lands, a foil alternate art card and a sturdy box emblazoned with the main Throne of Eldraine artwork. Let's start with the packaging. The outer sleeve slips off easily once the plastic is pulled away, and once opened out that sleeve features some gorgeous artwork which is very much in keeping with the fairytale theme of this new set.

The storage box is strong and looks fantastic, with the art brightly rendered and looking sumptuous. The spin down life counter looks fantastic with its marbled purple colouring and the Eldraine logo in place of the 20. The back of foil lands and regular lands are a nice touch and there's enough of each to build a two-colour deck from the packs. The alternate art foil card - in my case Piper of the Swarm - looks fabulous when the light catches the reflective eyes and mouth on the art. But the main attraction here is the booster packs themselves, and the sheer joy of opening ten of them in quick succession is a real delight.

While I didn't land any of the major cards of the set, there was a pretty good balance across the ten boosters, and plenty of cards with the Adventure mechanic to get my teeth into. I do like it that the usual token card in the packs is often an Adventure card used to place cards that are using the mechanic on while they're on their 'adventure'. It's a nice touch that can help you keep track of the game. I must say the cards feel ridiculously nice to hold. Whatever Wizards of the Coast have done to the coating is really, really nice.

The bundle works out as good value, although more expensive than the previous bundle I bought (this was £42 while the Core 2020 bundle cost me £35). While the price of boosters has gone up for this set, the bundle is still a worthwhile purchase, reducing the overall price for the boosters and giving you the added bonus of the extra cards, the counter and storage box. Is it perfect? Nearly. I would have liked a foldout deck box in there or a code for a free pack or deck on the Arena online game that has been eating so much of my time in recent months, but I'd still give this a solid 8.5/10.