It’s you, you’re the special guest.
What are Special Guests in MTG? The world of Magic: The Gathering is full of unique cards, with more and more seeing print thanks to the ever-growing Secret Lair Drop Series. Once upon a time, all you could ever open was a normal printing and the foil version of that card. Now that we’re getting all manner of other foils and treatments, which also extends to a subset called the Special Guests.
Special Guests are collectible cards that many people will generally want to open when grabbing Play and Collector Boosters from any modern-day sets. But what are they, what do they mean, and are they something you should be trying to get your hands on? Well, we’re going to go ahead and answer those questions right now.
What are Special Guests in MTG?
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Special Guests debuted in The Lost Caverns of Ixalan, which dropped in November 2023. Well, you could certainly view the Zendikar Expeditions as similar to the Special Guests that came with Battle for Zendikar as a precursor to the booster experience, happening back in October 2015.
Special Guests are essentially unique reprints of cards in a style that matches whatever set they’re in. These cards can range from anything classic Fetch Lands like Misty Rainforest in Tarkir: Dragonstorm to just good cards like Thoughtcast printed in Aetherdrift. Each of these Special Guests can also often come with a unique foiling type, such as the more recent Dragonscale Foils from Tarkir: Dragonstorm. Almost every new set now has a class of Special Guests cards to collect, and while they can be fantastic for just people who like fancy artwork of existing cards, they can actually lower the price as they’re essentially reprints.
What is the Legality of Special Guests in MTG?
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Legality is always a crucial conversation when it comes to opening cards like these. So, if you open a Special Guests card in your Play Booster and you’re playing at a Prerelease (or a Sealed or Draft event), you’ll be able to play the card in your deck. You’ll be wildly overpowered most of the time, but that’s part of the fun. Generally speaking, any Special Guests card you open will be whatever legality the original printing of that card is.
So, many Special Guests cards you open will often be Pioneer or Modern-legal. However, it’s always worth double-checking the card’s legality online because it’d be a shame if you opened something like Thought-Knot Seer from a Modern Horizons 3 Collector Booster and then added the card to your Standard deck, only to find out that you’re no longer allowed to play in your local FNM or any other kind of competitions at a store level.
The Special Guests is great for collectors and Commander players, so never feel bad if you pull one. Plus, you can always sell it or trade it away if you’re really not interested. There’s plenty to do with a rare Magic: The Gathering card beyond just playing with it, and cards like the Special Guests are a shining example of this premise.