Battlebond is inspired by sports and e-sports.[3] The set contains 254 unique cards (5 Basic Lands, 101 Commons, 80 Uncommons, 53 Rares, 15 Mythic Rares); 85 of those cards are new and will all immediately be legal in Commander, Legacy, and Vintage. Returning favorites from throughout Magic 's history (many with new art) round out the set and cultivate an environment of two-on-two combat and sport. The Battlebond set is designed to be drafted with players who will make groups of two players for Two-Headed Giant multiplayer games.[3] The expansion symbol depicts two connected figures in front of a diamond shape, and is a silhouette of the Spire Garden towers. Battlebond is printed worldwide on Japanese multi-ply card stock.[7]
To facilitate the draft environment, R&D skimped on the weaker power level cards normally found at common and also increased the number of common artifacts above the normal rate.[8] Apart from draft, Battlebond can also be played Sealed. Most of the unique mechanics — the main selling point of the play experience — are indifferent to the format, so long as it's Two-Headed Giant.[4] Partnered pairs will always show up together in booster packs. If you open a foil partner, the other partner will also be foil.[9] Some cards appearing in the set were designed with Commander, Cube, and other formats in mind.[10]
Collector numbers for this set starts with the partners in rarity order, followed by the other new cards in WUBRG, and finishing with the reprints in WUBRG.
All Battlebond booster boxes contain 36 packs of 15 cards each.
