If you’re playing Modern Magic: the Gathering, you’ve got a ton of sets to choose from.
All these choices can get a little overwhelming. So how do you decide which ones would be best to buy a booster box for to expand your collection?
We’ll aid you choosing the best one for you. In this guide, we’ll be analyzing the best booster boxes for Modern MTG.
We’ll go over:
- What sort of features could play a part in your choice
- Our selections for the best booster boxes for Modern collections
- The good and the bad of those boxes
- Our overall recommendation
Features to Consider
To begin with, if there are particular cards you’re looking for to add to specific decks you’re building, it’s generally better to buy those cards as singles. If you just buy a box of the set they come from, you can’t guarantee you’re getting the cards you want.
However, if what you want is to just add a sizeable amount of cards to your collection that could be used in Modern, booster boxes are a sensible decision.
Some qualities you could think about before purchasing one include:
- Overall power level
- Multi-color support
- Affordability
Overall Power Level
For the most part, no two sets are exactly the same.
Although there may be a few similarities, you’ll find that each booster box will vary in a variety of ways: price, long-term value, and its power level are just a few differences.
What makes one more powerful than the other is its individual cards. The more single cards a booster box has that are strong enough to be used in competitive Modern tournaments, the better it is for growing your collection.
Multi-Color Support
The majority of decks used in competitive play are multi-color.
Why build a multi-color deck? Put simply, the more colors you use, the more cards you have to pick from.
Some people will even focus on one color, then add in a “splash” of a secondary color just to get access to a few cards from that second one.
Basically, although single-color decks make your mana simple, they’re pretty limiting. That’s why you’ll want a booster box that has some kind of support for multi-color decks.
Examples of what kind of support you could look for include shock or fetch lands or artifacts that help you get access to the mana colors you need.
Affordability
If you’re playing competitively, chances are that affordability is one of the lower things on your list.
Competitive players typically build decks to win, regardless of their cost. On the other hand, the average person playing with a group of friends usually wants to get the best deal they can.
Does that sound like you? If your answer to that question is in the affirmative, then you’ll absolutely want to pay attention to the cost of your box.
Best Booster Boxes for Modern MTG
Ravnica Allegiance
What makes Ravnica Allegiance great for Modern is how it can help improve your mana base. Because of its shock lands and guild leaders, you’ll have no problem finding support for your multi-color decks here – and at a very reasonable cost.
Pros:
- Not as expensive as many of the other options on the list
- Chance to get valuable and useful shock lands, such as Breeding Pool
- With a focus on guilds, there’s a lot of support for multi-color decks
Cons:
- Not as many choices for mono-color decks
- The box’s general strength may be less than other available options
Masters 25
What Masters sets like Masters 25 do is take some of the best cards from MTG’s history and reprint them into one convenient set. As a result, Masters 25’s overall power is particularly high, with all-around useful cards like Jace, the Mind Sculptor possible to pull.
Pros:
- In general, this booster box will give you consistently strong pulls
- Chance of pulling really valuable cards, like Jace or Phyrexian Obliterator
- Cards in this set will be useful for many other formats
Cons:
- A little more costly than some other options
Khans of Tarkir
This set was much-loved by fans, and continues to be popular today, even in tournaments. With Khans of Tarkir, you’ll have quite a few legendary creatures to choose from and lots of tri-color cards.
Pros:
- Plentiful multi-color support in the form of triple color wedge cards
- Abundance of strong legendary creatures
- Possibility of pulling valuable fetch lands
- Fun to draft with friends
Cons:
- Larger upfront investment than with some other boxes
Ultimate Masters
At the higher end of the spectrum, there are sets like Ultimate Masters. As the name implies, this set contains a large haul of strong cards that would be an asset to virtually any MTG collection.
With cards like Tarmogoyf, Snapcaster Mage, or Cavern of Souls, you’ll have a lot of options to tweak any Modern deck.
Pros:
- Contains extremely powerful cards often used in tournaments
- Also has cards that are generally valuable and likely to continue to hold their value
- Good for drafting
- Cards in this set are great for a wide variety of formats
Cons:
- Typically much more expensive than alternatives
Modern Horizons
As a set created with the intent of being used for Modern, Modern Horizons will give you plenty of staple cards to use. All cards are eligible for use in Modern, and classic mechanics like Unearth are all brought back to this one box.
Pros:
- Designed to be used in Modern
- Brings back almost 40 mechanics like Battle Cry
- Pain lands like Sunbaked Canyon support multi-color decks
Cons:
- Can be on the pricier side
Guilds of Ravnica
Since it features the ever-popular dual color guilds, you can expect Guilds of Ravnica to have a lot of support for multi-color decks. Furthermore, it’s extremely affordable, so players on a budget will be able to add it to their own collections without feeling guilty.
Pros:
- Highly affordable
- Abundant multi-color support
- Chance of getting useful and valuable shock lands
Cons:
- Not as much single-color options
- Overall power level may be lower than with other boxes
Iconic Masters
With Iconic Masters, you’ll get a lot of fine-tuned and useful cards for every single box. Like with any other Masters box, the best of the best were brought to the fore here, so you’ll get a ton of great pulls.
Pros:
- Has a high overall power level
- Contains cards that could be used in a variety of decks – not just Modern
- Could be used for a high-power draft
Cons:
- Can be a steeper initial investment
Wrap Up
With so many good options to consider here, it can be hard to pick one over all the others. If you’re looking for something that’s sure to give you the strongest cards consistently, we’d recommend Ultimate Masters.
While it’s true that it’s a more expensive set, the high number of competitive-level cards in it make the price worth the buy. Additionally, because the cards within are so powerful, you’ll be able to use them in many other formats aside from Modern.