Magic the Gathering Shards of Alara lands already at Walmart?

Question

I just bought a pack of mixed Magic the Gathering cards at Walmart and it had several Shards of Alara lands in it. I didn't think this set was out yet. Is this unusual?

Answer 1

You are probably looking at the Magic The Gathering 15th anniversary box. This box contains a foil version of Kamahl, Pit Fighter with the 15th anniversary watermark, six of each land from Shards of Alara, and tenth edition booster packs. All in all, it is a good deal, because you can show off to your friends that you have already gotten some lands from a future Magc: The Gathering expansion.

I really like the new lands. They seem to call back to a time long ago, where there was not much of a theme in Magic – the sets such as Legends, Alpha, Beta, and to some degree, Alliances; that were tide together by a very weak storyline. If one was to look closely at each of the lands, one would notice that there is no common theme between the land illustrations. Whereas in Lorwyn, everything was a shade of white or green, and I Shadowmoor, everything was a shade of black, there is no resemblance in between the lands at all. This probably has something to do with the plot of the block, because the Shards set has the subtitle “Five Worlds Share One Fate.”

Interesting, huh? I can’t wait for this set to come out. I hope that a long avoided part of Magic, the enchantments (Bitterblossom excepted), will finally gain a resurgence.

Answer 2

As Chancludote stated this is not unusal at all.  Some cards are reprinted (like a certain Kithkin), and there are previews very once and a while.

Answer 3

They are part of the Magic 15th Anniversary Two-Player starter set. It's a  Planeswalker themed box.

It seems each box has two of each basic land picture, and each box has the same two pictures. That means we will see half of the basic lands in Shards of Alara.

Each Starter has 20 land, two 10th Ed boosters, a foil Kamahl Pit Fighter with a 15th Anniversary logo in the foil, and a rulebook.

PS. So, that's not unusual at all! But they are cool lands, aren't they? Enjoy them!