MTG Commander Masters preview Draft event isn’t prerelease, which is why I’m skipping it

Commander and Limited Magic: The Gathering formats are mashed together through preview Draft events, hyping up the launch of Commander Masters—not to be confused with a typical prerelease event. 

The spoiler and hype stage for Commander Masters (CMM), a premier set release that is legal to play in Eternal formats, has gotten off to a rocky start. Scheduled to globally launch on Aug. 4, the WotC preview stream left many in the MTG community angry over product prices in comparison to the CMM spoilers that were previewed at the time. Despite some decent reveals following the preview stream, players are still hesitant about the overall value of the premier Commander set, which includes the Commander Masters preview Draft event. 

What is the Commander Masters preview Draft event?

The CMM preview Draft event is not a prerelease event, although they are often lumped together as the same. And I am guilty of this. The events are very different, though, as are the rewards and the price to play. 

Related: All MTG Commander Masters Draft archetypes

Cost and rewards from CMM Draft events

A Standard prerelease event has an average cost of around $30 to play. Included in the price is a prerelease kit that contains six booster packs for Sealed gameplay, a prerelease promo card that is a random Rare or Mythic Rare from the set, a unique d20 life-counter die, and a cardboard box to hold all your cards from the event. 

Preview Draft events, like the upcoming Commander Masters events, have an average cost of around $50 to play. The CMM Draft events don’t include the random Rare or Mythic Rare promo card, the die, or the cardboard box. Instead, players draft two cards per turn from a total of three booster packs within a pod. And the promo card is the same for all players: a Disrupt Decorum. 

The overall experience and “gathering” with a wide variety of other players are why pre-events in MTG are special, in my opinion. The gathering part doesn’t change between the two events, but with the CMM preview Draft events, the overall experience does. 

A prerelease kit is a big part of how I justify spending $30 to play MTG for a few hours. My schedule is too busy to attend other events, so the cards and goodies included in the kit become display collectibles on my shelves. Paying an extra $20 for cards without the extra gifts isn’t worth it in my opinion.

Players interested in playing at a Commander Masters preview Draft event should contact their local game store for details. The events run from July 28 to 30.