If you've been living under a rock, you might not know that Modern Masters has been something of a runaway hit.  Unlike previous "special edition" sets, the limited printed Modern Masters seems to be well-enough supplied for players to consistently acquire the product in order to either open for singles or host their own Booster Drafts.  Similarly it seems that a good number of local game stores also have the product available for the same purposes: selling packs, boxes, singles, or hosting events.

While everyone was in fear of Modern Masters being extremely limited in print run, this seems to be a non-concern at the moment; especially with rumors of a second wave on the horizon.

So what do the players think?
Quite simply, this set has been hailed as one of the most fun draft formats in quite some time.  Pro Magic: The Gathering players on Twitter and Facebook have been raving about all of their favorite game mechanics, cards, and abilities through Magic's recent history finding a home in one set of powerful, older cards.  There's a reason why players have been willing to shell out $30 to $40 for a single Booster Draft, and Modern Masters has definitely been putting its money where its little booster pack mouth is... er, so to speak.

But with so many packs being opened, why is the set retaining its value?
This is a great question and the answer harkens back to the purpose of the set.  Many players believe the set was intended to lower the price point of chase cards in the Modern format, but this is not the case.

As WotC's Aaron Forsythe highlights in his article regarding the set:

"We knew that many players wanted a non-rotating format in which to keep playing their older cards, but the best alternative at the time--Legacy--was, and still is, hampered by card availability problems that stem from our Reserved List (a policy that prevents us from reprinting several cards from Magic's early days, many of which are tournament mainstays).  Since our hands are tied when it comes to growing Legacy, we made the decision to create a similar, smaller format for which we had no restrictions about what we could reprint."

Basically, the purpose of the set was to get more of these older cards into circulation, and not necessarily to lower their value.  Yes, they are reprints, and as such there are now more copies in the market, but the entire set has also created a higher demand for these cards from both new players wanting to try out the Modern format and seeing this as a great jumping on point, as well as for veteran players who were looking for a way to get the chase cards they were missing.

So why has the set generated so much excitement?
If you hadn't already guessed, this is a combination of both question one and two.  The set has been highly praised as being both an incredibly fun draft format as well as having a high expected value. This means that when you spend $30 or $40 to participate in a Modern Masters Booster Draft, there's a high chance that you’re going to see a return on that investment in the form of the cards you open having a high dollar value.

All in all, Modern Masters has been a smashing success, and that bodes well for future sets of this nature.  While the largest complaint among players is that the set didn't do as much as they had hoped in terms of bringing the price point down for entering the Modern format, the set has succeeded in numerous other ways including injecting that format with a much needed boost of chase cards and supplying us with yet another way to play our favorite collectible card game:  Modern Masters Booster Draft.

Click here for a list of the top ten cards from Magic: The Gathering-Modern Masters.

Frank Lepore is the editor of Magic.TCGPlayer.com.

The opinions expressed in this column are solely those of the writer, and do not necessarily reflect the views of the editorial staff of ICv2.com.