There will be more cards of a rare and mythic rare power level, but adapting to that (making sure players have more answers at lower rarities) is part of how R&D is adjusting our set designs.

What exactly this sentence turns out to mean could have ramifications for constructed play too. Does it mean “removal is getting stronger”? Because removal is too strong already, IMO. It seems to me that creatures are so ridiculously powerful nowadays because they’re so easy to kill.

On the other hand, maybe it means “power level is getting flatter across rarities,” which is a change I would welcome. Honestly, the phrase “rare and mythic rare power level” is indicative of an ongoing design mistake, if you ask me. Power level should be consistent; complexity should be the main determinant of a card’s rarity.

Big picture… nothing in this announcement sounds apocalyptically worrying to me, but I guess I just have a reflexive anxiety anytime Wizards changes anything. Like… this article outlines six problems that arose from the introduction of Set Boosters, and I feel like most or all of them should have been foreseeable. So the same people who got us into this situation are going to get us out of it? Okay.

(Want to know how bad problem #4, “confusion in the marketplace” was? I actually either didn’t know or didn’t remember that Set Boosters existed until I read this article. I thought Draft and Collector Boosters were the only kinds.)