Core Set 2020 (M20) season is upon us and there's a lot to know about this set.

A lot.

Let's not waste any time. Here are fifteen changes coming with M20 that every retailer should know.

1. This Set Has More Foils

Take a look at a War of the Spark booster. Lift the seam on the back. See the second to last line? "Premium card odds approx. 1:67"? For M20, it'll say "approx. 1:45."

More foils!

2. Bundle Gets an Upgrade

Core Set 2020 Bundles come with twenty foil lands, an alternate-art foil promo card, and an oversized Spindown life counter.

3. Schedule Your Events When Your Kit Arrives

Kits usually arrive around the time card previews start, which triggers a spike in Store and Event Locator traffic. If you don't have events scheduled, you simply won't appear.

4. Friday Prerelease!

We're very excited to roll out the first-ever global test of Friday Prerelease. When you log in to WER to sign up for Prerelease (do it today!), you'll see Friday, July 5 available as an option.

Note that the official "start time" is 3PM (in your local time).

5. First-Ever Commander Event Aug 24–25

This season's Magic Weekend coincides with the release of Commander 2019—the perfect way to support sales. Commander Weekend will feature Commander variants recommended by Magic’s design studio, with achievement cards. (These will be available for download closer to the event.)

6. There are 5 Planeswalker Decks

Most sets get two. Core Set 2020 gets five, and each one has a foil planeswalker card not found elsewhere, one M20 booster pack instead of two (so that, hopefully, you can offer them at a more inviting price), plus a code to unlock the entire deck on Magic Arena.

7. Planeswalker Decks for Sale at Open House June 29–30

WPN members participating in Core Set 2020 Open House are eligible to sell a limited quantity of Planeswalker Decks at the event. Reach out to your preferred M20 Prerelease distributor for ordering information. (Note that the product's release date remains July 12.)

8. Spellslinger Starter Kit—Reduced Cost

The contents are unchanged—two entry-level decks, two life counters, two foil cards—but we've reduced the cost so that you can keep the barrier to entry as low as possible for new players.

9. WPN Premium Icon Goes Live in Store and Event Locator

Starting soon, qualified stores will have the WPN Premium seal next to their events in the Store and Event locator. They'll also get priority in search results, based on their proximity to the user.

If you want the seal, we want you to have it. The bar is high, but we believe it's in reach of any store that's ready to work for it. If that's you, check out the resources below.

10. Premium-Only Test Events: Best-of-1 Events, Drafts at Prerelease

One of the advantages of WPN Premium is that they get to test out new things before we roll them out more widely. With M20, they're eligible to run two such experiments:

1. Best-of-one events. More Magic, less waiting. These events will run in Premium locations between August 1 and September 15, and they'll be identifiable in the Store and Event Locator.

2. Prerelease Booster Drafts. Premium stores will have an extra case of boosters in their Prerelease allocation, specifically to run drafts. So, roughly six drafts worth of product, with prize support (excludes Europe).

11. Magic Arena Codes at FNM August 16 (US & Canada Only)

North American WPN members who have signed up for M20 FNM will receive Magic Arena code cards to hand out to players on their August 16 FNM. Around that time, Arena will feature an ad driving players to FNM.

12. "London" Mulligan Goes Official

Named after the Mythic Championship in which it was first tested, the "London" Mulligan Rule works like this: when players take a mulligan, they'll draw a full hand of seven cards, then place cards on the bottom of their deck equal to the number of mulligans they've taken in that game.

So, on your first mulligan, put one card on the bottom of your deck. On the second, do two, and so on.

The rule goes "official" for tabletop Magic on July 5 (July 2 for digital).

13. Introduction of Universal Promo Packs (With Japanese War of the Spark Planeswalkers)

Core Set 2020 brings the universal Promo Pack into stores for the first time.

Promo packs are loaded with promo-stamped rares and foils, plus the Japanese-only alternate-art planeswalkers will be available outside of Japanese War of the Spark booster packs for the first time.

14. New Welcome Decks

Magic Welcome Decks get their annual refresh. You'll get forty of them in for Open House (quantity varies by region) and you can call your WPN support team to get more starting June 29. (Details vary by region.)

15. New Buy-a-Box Allocations

Starting with M20, you'll get Buy-a-Box promos in quantities based on your Tickets and Engaged Player totals (quantities were previously based on store level). We expect this new, more precise paradigm to get more product into the places where demand is highest.

Call your distributor now and get your full Prerelease Early Sale Promotion allocation!