Oh, yeah, this was a thing they experimented with in this set and only this set if I recall correctly. It was kinda like a precursor to collector boosters, and it had 10 uncommons, 3 rares and 2 foils, and it was only in japanese. That's why the packaging is so shiny, and that's also why it has Dovin on it (the regular packs have Lavinia as a representative of the Azorius)
Graham, you remembered Mirror Shield from THB, which gives a triggered ability that destroys deathtouchers before damage and thus saves your equipped creature.
It does have "Collector Booster Pack" printed on the front, but I guess it's before they came up with the current setup with guaranteed foils and special arts etc.
Precisely. the Ravnica pseudo-block before Eldraine tried out a set of collector-esque boosters which had better chances at rarer cards, but were more or less just otherwise normal boosters.
@@LadyLunarSatine I tried looking but couldn't find the entry that defines this in the CR, sorry. But the ruling on the card on gatherer is what I said so that is how it works. (At least for this type of effect) Edit: actually 107.1b is the appropriate rule
I'm a bit sad that we'll have to wait a while for more crack-a-packs, but i appreciate the content so much that i will endure the wait, just for you guys! :3
I have a terrible memory of this set and thought the Azorius split card might be called Cease//Desist, which it isn't, but why hasn't that been used yet? It's so good.
Interesting that the Japanese typelines use katakana-ified English terms (Ku-rii-chyaa, Aa-tei-fua-ku-to, En-chya-n-to, In-su-ta-n-to) rather than something in, idk, kanji. Maybe it's a stylistic choice, or perhaps it's just easier to directly transfer the ever-expanding type list across that way?
I learned from my wife that the Japanese split cards also have that first-shared-syllable gimmick. Depose/Deploy is Kainin/Kaiten, and Thrash/Threat is Kyougeki/Kyoui.
As a card-holding member of the Orzhov Syndicate, I can’t believe Graham called that last card a Boros card. [in the vein of Gimli talking about Moria] A BOROS CARD!?!
Graham is confusing Screaming Shield with Mirror Shield from Theros: Beyond Death In fairness that card does have a screaming gorgon reflected in the art It gives +0/+2 and "whenever a creature with deathtouch blocks or is blocked by this creature, destroy that creature"
Recognized the first card immediately as it's in my Azorius commander deck. Thought "cool! I know this set!" Then proceeded to know literally nothing about every other card :P. Always fun to see a new crack a pack. Will look forward to when they come back :).
Japanese printed packs always have the rarity order of the cards in the pack reversed, even for draft boosters. Southern Hobby in STL almost always has its draft boxes it sells be printed in Japan so I’m just used to it since I draft at the same story 95% of all Friday nights.
Tithe Taker was an unassuming but really satisfying 2-drop for both draft and constructed decks at the time, but I don't think you'd really want to first pick it for flexibility over Thrash//Threat unless you specifically wanted to force Azorius/Orzhov. Thrash being hybrid mana means that it goes in any Gruul, Rakdos, or Simic deck as a solid 2 mana removal spell. If you happen to land in Gruul to cast Threat, then all the better, but that's just upside. Because RNA was a guild set where each color only pairs with two others, hybrid cards went in more decks than monocolored cards, as backwards as that usually seems.
Huh... Clear the stage is templated really weirdly in Japanese. It reads like an old card from the 90ss Roughly "Target 1 creature on the battlefield and up to 1 creature in your graveyard. Give the former creature -3/-3 and if you control a creature with power 4 or greater return the other creature to your hand"
Interesting! It does maybe clarify the Oracle ruling, “You may always choose a target creature card in your graveyard, even if you don’t control a creature with power 4 or greater.” The Korean, which iirc usually matches Japanese cards in this respect, actually is templated more like the English.
All the jp card games I play have the little tearable corner and it's WAY better Easier to get into and less likely to damage cards, so long as you don't open them like a wolverine ripping into a meal
Oh, yeah, this was a thing they experimented with in this set and only this set if I recall correctly. It was kinda like a precursor to collector boosters, and it had 10 uncommons, 3 rares and 2 foils, and it was only in japanese. That's why the packaging is so shiny, and that's also why it has Dovin on it (the regular packs have Lavinia as a representative of the Azorius)
Is it just me or does it sound better than current set/collector boosters' layout?
It was available in english just extremely rare. They're being sold on tcgplayer for $400 a pack right now
Oh that's wild I never heard about that even at the time
Graham, you remembered Mirror Shield from THB, which gives a triggered ability that destroys deathtouchers before damage and thus saves your equipped creature.
Both are shields with open mouths
That's one of those really rare pre-collector collector boosters i think, rav allegiance was the test before they figured it out for eldraine.
It does have "Collector Booster Pack" printed on the front, but I guess it's before they came up with the current setup with guaranteed foils and special arts etc.
Precisely. the Ravnica pseudo-block before Eldraine tried out a set of collector-esque boosters which had better chances at rarer cards, but were more or less just otherwise normal boosters.
8:05 funnily, this interaction doesn’t work like that anymore, now if a number for +X/+X is negative it becomes 0 instead
really? What's the official rule entry of it fir my own reference?
@@LadyLunarSatine I tried looking but couldn't find the entry that defines this in the CR, sorry. But the ruling on the card on gatherer is what I said so that is how it works. (At least for this type of effect)
Edit: actually 107.1b is the appropriate rule
I'm a bit sad that we'll have to wait a while for more crack-a-packs, but i appreciate the content so much that i will endure the wait, just for you guys! :3
I do be loving crack a packs. I’ll be sad while they’re gone but outrageously happy when they come back!!
That appears to be the 5th pack of Ravnica Allegiance opened. The other statistical outlier appears to be Dominaria, also at 5 packs.
I completely forgot Wilderness Reclaimation was an uncommon. I thought it was a rare or even a mythic given how abusable it was.
I have a terrible memory of this set and thought the Azorius split card might be called Cease//Desist, which it isn't, but why hasn't that been used yet? It's so good.
Interesting that the Japanese typelines use katakana-ified English terms (Ku-rii-chyaa, Aa-tei-fua-ku-to, En-chya-n-to, In-su-ta-n-to) rather than something in, idk, kanji. Maybe it's a stylistic choice, or perhaps it's just easier to directly transfer the ever-expanding type list across that way?
I think it would be a good idea to mic up the tech desk for Crack A Pack Foreign edition, if that‘s feasible
Thanks for the great work editing this; it made each card a fun guessing game.
I will miss Crack-a-pack! love your content!
I learned from my wife that the Japanese split cards also have that first-shared-syllable gimmick.
Depose/Deploy is Kainin/Kaiten, and Thrash/Threat is Kyougeki/Kyoui.
Mirror Shield was the Theros Beyond Death equipment. It triggered and destroyed deathtouchers before damage.
Delightful as always!
As a card-holding member of the Orzhov Syndicate, I can’t believe Graham called that last card a Boros card. [in the vein of Gimli talking about Moria] A BOROS CARD!?!
I love this set. So many cool designs in the set
Graham is confusing Screaming Shield with Mirror Shield from Theros: Beyond Death
In fairness that card does have a screaming gorgon reflected in the art
It gives +0/+2 and "whenever a creature with deathtouch blocks or is blocked by this creature, destroy that creature"
Recognized the first card immediately as it's in my Azorius commander deck. Thought "cool! I know this set!" Then proceeded to know literally nothing about every other card :P. Always fun to see a new crack a pack. Will look forward to when they come back :).
Gotta get a "um ah um ah heck" shirt.
Oh hey, I didn't know Japanese split cards also have both halves start the same way. I mean, could've guessed, but it's still very cool to read.
Ay I actually remembered pitiless pontif, wilderness reclamation and tithe taker and I didn't play the set much tbh
I feel like pointing out that it's not Undying but Afterlife. At least it was consistently wrong ;-)
"I need this coin." Don't you know Olivia Gobert-Hicks? I'm sure she could hook you up eventually.
Japanese printed packs always have the rarity order of the cards in the pack reversed, even for draft boosters.
Southern Hobby in STL almost always has its draft boxes it sells be printed in Japan so I’m just used to it since I draft at the same story 95% of all Friday nights.
Thank you and hope filming new episodes will go well.
Already excited for the new crack a pack
In this video, hear Graham say "Oh, heck..." 15 times.
Tithe Taker was an unassuming but really satisfying 2-drop for both draft and constructed decks at the time, but I don't think you'd really want to first pick it for flexibility over Thrash//Threat unless you specifically wanted to force Azorius/Orzhov. Thrash being hybrid mana means that it goes in any Gruul, Rakdos, or Simic deck as a solid 2 mana removal spell. If you happen to land in Gruul to cast Threat, then all the better, but that's just upside.
Because RNA was a guild set where each color only pairs with two others, hybrid cards went in more decks than monocolored cards, as backwards as that usually seems.
I call 'em fight and BITE in reference to Rabid Bite, the first card of the type I remember seeing. Also it rhymes with Fight. lol
There might be Gorgons head from Born of the Gods? It's almost shield-like
This video has taught me that I know this set surprisingly well
Gosh, I remember the brief blip that were these boosters.
Ravnica Allegiance had an extremely small limited run of Collector Booster
Crack! A! Pack!
can i request a batch of wheeler crack a packs? maybe adam too, they are the top two people i enjoy watching opening packs almost as much as graham
That's right! Put some respecc on my boi Tithe Taker's name!
Naps are important!
Huh... Clear the stage is templated really weirdly in Japanese. It reads like an old card from the 90ss
Roughly "Target 1 creature on the battlefield and up to 1 creature in your graveyard. Give the former creature -3/-3 and if you control a creature with power 4 or greater return the other creature to your hand"
Interesting! It does maybe clarify the Oracle ruling, “You may always choose a target creature card in your graveyard, even if you don’t control a creature with power 4 or greater.”
The Korean, which iirc usually matches Japanese cards in this respect, actually is templated more like the English.
Great.
All the jp card games I play have the little tearable corner and it's WAY better
Easier to get into and less likely to damage cards, so long as you don't open them like a wolverine ripping into a meal
Eyes Everywhere wasn't the worst pick in draft but nothing fantastic.