Core Set 2021 Mastery Pass: Is it worth it?

Will Core Set 2021 bring good value for this set? Lets find out!

WotC released the mastery pass information early again. While we don't know what levels we will get what rewards at, we can look at past mastery mass tracks to have a pretty good guess. This will only be needed to figure out the break even point. Total value can still be obtained if you plan to complete the entire track.

How long is Core Set 2021?

The length of Core Set 2021 (M21) is longer than Ikoria, clocking in at the typically stanard time frame of  90 days. The Mastery Tree is 90 levels total, with level 91 and beyond giving out uncommon ICRs, the same as the previous mastery passes. M21 runs on Arena from 6/26/20 with it's last day being 9/23/20. The release date for Zendikar Rising on Arena starts 9/24/20. The paper release for M21 starts the weekend after.

For active players, I am still recommending the same model of playing 4 wins per day to maximize your gold farming ability without running into burnout.

Doing so averages out to 1135 XP per day over the course of the week. With 90 days of play, you should be at Level 102. This gives you plenty of time to reach the final level of rewards.

Here is what this looks like calculated out:

• 500XP per daily quest x 7 = 3500 XP/week
• 250XP x 15 weekly wins = 3750 XP/week
• 100XP per day (4 wins minimum) x 7 = 700 XP/week
  • Total XP per week = 7950
• 7950 XP per week / 7 = 1135 XP/day
• 1135 XP per day x 90 days = 102,150 XP
  • 102,150 XP = Level 102

In fact, to be more accurate, we can use MTGAHelper's excellent Mastery Pass Calculator to figure this out for us once the new pass goes live.

Where do the values come from?

All values have been carefully traced back to actual money that you can spend in the game through gems, or using gold to gem conversion rates. Everything in the game can be traced back to an actual dollar amount at this point in time. Even individual random cards, which includes ICRs.

For more information on real world Arena values, please click on my article HERE.

Free Mastery Track

Lets start by looking at what is available for free from the basic set mastery track.

Ikoria free mastery track includes the following:

• Product
  • 36 Ikoria Booster Packs = $39.05
• Cosmetic Items
  • 5 Orbs = $10.94

So all of you F2P players are getting $49.98 in value for just playing the game. That's excellent value for zero dollars spent!

Paid Mastery Pass

Now, lets see what the paid mastery pass gives you for this set.

M21 mastery pass includes the following:

• Product = $42.09 Total Value
  • 20 Misc Booster Packs from Standard Sets = $21.69
    • ELD x 5, THB x 5, IKO x 5, M21 x 5
  • 4000 Gold = $4.00
  • 1,200 Gems = $7.01
  • 1 Premier Draft Token = $9.39
  • 10 Random Mythics = $0 (still working on this, it's complicated)
• Cosmetic Items = $144.84
  • 25 Card Styles = $54.68
  • 25 Orbs = $54.68
  • 2 Sleeves = $13.12
  • 1 Avatar = $3.04
  • 1 Pet = $19.32

This gives us a combined total of $186.93.

Thoughts on the M21 Mastery Pass.

Lets say you aren't interested in the cosmetic items. You are still getting $42.09 in value for virtual items at just under $20 worth of gems. This is still a pretty decent value for any active player.

One change from this pass over previous passes is that the older booster packs offered this time around are still all in standard, and will be for the next full rotation. Also they are including the current M21 booster packs as well, bringing the value up even more.

I really don't see anything negative about the pass, even if you are only interested in the non-cosmetic items.

Is the Core Set 2021 Mastery Pass it worth it?
Typically I would add in a few various Yes, No and Maybe comments here. Because all of the booster packs included will still be legal in the post-rotation standard, as well as the increase in gems over Ikoria, and the included premier draft token, this is an excellent deal. The cosmetics are just the icing on the cake.