Double Masters 2022 Set Review

This year has been absolutely jam-packed with new Magic: The Gathering cards. Whether it was the cyberpunk grunginess of Kamigawa: Neon Dynasty, the deadly sophistication of Streets of New Capenna, or the swords-and-sorcery adventures of Commander Legends: Battle For Baldur’s Gate, we’ve not really had chance to take stock on older cards.

Fortunately, that’s where Double Masters 2022 comes in. This is a luxury reprint set that features an obscenely high power level, and loads of the best cards in the game. Cracking a pack of these bad boys will definitely give you some major spice for your Commander, Modern, Legacy, Vintage, Pioneer, or Pauper deck!

Like the first Double Masters set back in 2020, Double Masters 2022’s ‘gimmick’ is that everything is doubled. Each booster pack includes twice as many rares and mythic rares as normal, twice the foils, and, when drafting, each first pick from a pack asks you to take two cards instead of one.

Thanks to each pack needing two rares, the number of them found throughout the set is much higher. As a reprint set, it borrows cards from right across Magic’s history, and as a result has some of the most highly-sought-after cards in the game. We’re talking cards like Sensei’s Divining Top, Consecrated Sphinx, Mana Drain, Damnation, almost all of the Commander 2011 face commanders, Nicol Bolas, God-Pharoah; Wrenn and Six, and even a Phyrexian Altar.

However, a few cards are particularly noteworthy because Double Masters 2022 will mark their first-ever reprints. Dockside Extortionist, the scourge of Commander, is included in booster packs for the very first time, as are the cards from 1999’s Portal: Three Kingdoms Imperial Seal and Warrior’s Oath. Considering those last two sell for hundreds of dollars on the secondary market, you could get an incredibly huge win from your booster!

Speaking of Commander, this set almost seems intentionally made to give you as many staples for the format as possible. Alongside the 2011 commanders like Animar, The Mimeoplasm, Kaalia of the Vast, and Marchesa, the Black Rose; you can get your hands on format-winning tools like Smothering Tithe (a great way to ramp in white), Mulldrifter, and Eternal Witness.

With all this talk of rares and mythic rares, Pauper players might not feel like there’s much going on for them here. Oh, how wrong you are! With Double Masters 2022, almost 30 cards are being lowered to common rarity, making them legal in the Pauper format for the first time. Some of these have been menaces in other formats, like Experiment One. Others, like Monastery Swiftspear, have already caused huge shakeups in Pauper before they’ve been formally released!

Of course, it wouldn’t be a luxury set without fancy new art treatments, and Double Masters 2022 is delivering them in spades. Many of the cards most interesting to constructed players are available with new, full-frame alternate art – many the first time they’ve had new art since their initial printing. The awesome thing here is that many of Magic’s older artists have returned to contribute, such as Greg Hildebrandt’s gorgeous Force of Negation, or Phil Foglio’s iconically cartoony Chaos Warp. These cards are found at every rarity, meaning you’re almost certainly going to get some bling for your deck.

Etched foils are also making a comeback! These debuted in the original 2020 Commander Legends and have been used to varying degrees in other sets since. They always look really nice, but they’re not the only fancy foiling we’re getting here. Exclusively in three percent of Collector’s boosters, “textured foil” gives cards the appearance of almost being printed onto fabric. This is only found on five of the borderless mythic rares in the set, so finding one of these really is hitting the jackpot.

Double Masters 2022 is the first release of the year to not have the full range of Draft, Set, and Collector’s boosters – likely because a Double Masters 2022 Draft booster already has a lot of the bling and juice of another set’s Set booster. Instead, we’ll be getting Draft and Collector’s Boosters, as well as booster boxes for both. Who needs fancy boxes and art cards when you could pull an alt-art Dockside Extortionist?

It’s easy to look at Double Masters 2022 and think “gosh, that’s expensive”. Compared to the other releases we’ve had this year; it does cost more. However, this is the year’s luxury product, and is priced more in the same range as last year’s Modern Horizons 2 – a standout set that was easily the best of the year. You’re getting twice the rares and some of the best reprints the game has ever had, which is something Kamigawa, New Capenna, and Baldur’s Gate can’t say!

Whether you’re an enfranchised player wanting to bulk up your staples collection, or a newcomer wanting a taste of the high-end of play after enjoying Baldur’s Gate, Double Masters 2022 is easily one of the most exciting releases we’ve had this year. Make sure you preorder your Draft and Collector’s Boosters, as well as any singles, through Magic Madhouse today!