Many March of the Machines Bundles Have The List Cards In EVERY Pack

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Yes, you read that title correctly and no, it isn't clickbait. Many March of the Machine bundles have a card from "the list" in every single pack. That said, today I'll be breaking how the list usually works, what possibly caused this to happen, and the repercussions for customers buying these bundles.

What Is The List? 

Let's start here for those who may not know exactly what the list is and why it exists. You can have a look at all the cards currently on the list here.

The list is a curated list of 300 cards, which are added to Set Boosters at a rate of about 25%. So, roughly one in four Set Booster and Bundle packs will have a card from the list instead of a marketing card. These cards come from all through Magic's history and appear with their original art.

The bulk of the list stays the same from set to set. However, somewhere between 50-75 of the cards are swapped out for cards that are a good fit for the newest set. As an example, Zhalfirin Void was added to the list for MOM since the plane plays a key role in the March of the Machine storyline.

What Is It For?

The list came about in 2020, along with the release of Set Boosters, which are designed to be as fun as possible to open. Their contents aren't restricted by having to keep gameplay balanced for Drafts. Adding extra cards from throughout the game's history, as they originally appeared was one of the things implemented to make Set Boosters exciting.

The March of The Machine Situation

With that out of the way, we can move on to the MOM bundles. Bundles contain eight Set Boosters and a few extra items. As mentioned, the usual pull rate for the list card is about 25% or, one in four packs. So, if you buy a single bundle you'll usually be looking at getting roughly two cards from the list. Of course, sometimes you luck up and get maybe three and sometimes you flop and might only get one. But for the most part, they hold true to the pull rates in my experience.

There are numerous, and I do mean numerous, videos of people opening MOM bundles and getting the list cards in every single pack. While I can't find any proof to confirm it, I'm hearing that some players have opened as many as 12 bundles in a row and had the same thing happen each time. However, there are also people who open them and experience a regular pull rate. So, this isn't happening with every single bundle, which leads me to an unfortunate conclusion.

One Players Loss Is Another Players Proffit

Wizards of the Coast did not physically print 75% more list cards for this set. And again, this isn't something that is happening with every bundle. What this likely means is that for every bundle that has eight list cards, there will be three that don't have any. Essentially, they aren't extra cards; They're the ones that should be with other bundles.

This means trying to jump on the train here has some potential risks. If you get a loaded box, you'll be getting great value for your money. On the other hand, the list cards are a big part of what adds to the value of Set Boosters. Buying a bundle and possibly getting zero cards from the list will be a pretty big loss. Mathematically speaking, if this is true, around 75% of buyers will get boxes with zero (or a diminished number of) list cards. So, just keep this risk in mind if you go pick some of these up.

This Is Not A Set Booster Issue In General

Just to be clear, this is not something that is happening with single Set Boosters (that didn't come from bundles) or boosters from Set Booster boxes. If you buy a single pack or a Set Booster box, they'll have the regular pull rates. For those who don't know, this is possible because bundles have their own separate print run. This means that issues like this one (and other quality issues) can be isolated to bundles. Or vice versa, issues present in Set Booster boxes may not show up in bundles.

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Furthermore, on a side note - It also means that you have different pull rates for bundles as well. And while there's no concrete evidence to confirm that sometimes bundles have higher numbers of better cards, I've certainly had that experience personally. I can't tell you how many Ravnica Allegiance bundles I bought but they were all loaded.

I got several shock lands as well as other cards like Hydroid Krasis, Smothering Tithe, and Guardian Project in each one I bought and they were only $40 at the time. So, I believe there's some truth to it, that sometimes bundles are better. And it's thanks to the separate print run that things like this are possible in only bundles.

Why/How Did This Happen

I'm going to go out on a limb and say that this is simply due to a lack of vigilance and quality control on the part of WOTC. These issues aren't new but they have been numerous as of late. Did you happen to see the German card that had a single word in English? Ironically, the word is "reviewed." Here's a look:

Between the multiple plot holes in the MOM storyline and things like that, it's pretty clear that WOTC is cutting corners on having people review things before they make it out to the player base. I can't think of a way this could happen aside from an error on the company's part that no one caught quickly. Hopefully, Wizards gets it together and big issues like this don't continue to happen.

Conclusion

Overall, some players will reap the benefits of this mistake and I believe others will suffer due to it. Perhaps, some players will avoid buying the bundles altogether due to the mix-up. If you want to gamble with $50, you can pick a few of these up and see if the Magic gods bestow you with numerous cards from the list or curse you with zero.

Personally, I'm going to save my money and buy a few singles from the set. If you do get one, comment don't below and let me know how many you get; Especially if it's zero, so I can confirm that info for the article. Whatever you decide to do - Good luck and have fun.