March of the Machines New Mechanics
MARCH OF THE MACHINE MECHANICS Feature Mar 29, 2023 Matt Tabak The glory of Phyrexia is marching to your town! You may have mixed feelings about this, and that's understandable. But no matter where you stand on the "please compleat me" to "free will is kind of cool" spectrum, March of the Machine has plenty of awesome new cards featuring several awesome new mechanics, so let's take a look. For a visual overview of all the mechanics, check out the video below: BATTLES Phyrexia had success invading Mirrodin, so they're trying it again. Everywhere. But, just like the Mirrans, the residents of all the planes being marched on aren't taking it lying down. There are battles to be fought, so many that we have a new card type to represent them: battles. Invasion of Fiora // Marchesa, Resolute Monarch Each battle in March of the Machine is a transforming double-faced card. The front faces (the faces you cast) are the first permanents to feature beautiful landscape art—landscapes being attacked, but as you'll see, that's thematic. But first, let's get them onto the battlefield. Battles can be cast during your main phase if the stack is empty, just like creatures, sorceries, and other non-instant spells. Each battle enters the battlefield with a number of defense counters on it equal to its defense, found in the lower right corner of the front face. This tells you how much damage it takes to defeat a battle. Much like planeswalkers, battles can be attacked and damaged. But unlike with planeswalkers, the general idea isn't to cast them, protect them, and hope they stick around. You're battling to take them out. A battle's subtype provides rules for how it can be attacked. Since every battle in this set has the subtype Siege, they all play by the same rules. (Could future battles have different subtypes and have different combat rules? It would certainly seem some bright, forward-thinking people set the system up that way.) As a Siege battle enters the battlefield, its controller chooses an opponent to be its protector. Every player except a battle's protector may attack it. Only a battle's protector may block creatures attacking it. Don't confuse protector for controller. You're going to attack battles that you control, the first time you've been able to attack your own permanents. Fun! Battles are susceptible to more than just combat damage, though. Some spells and abilities may specifically say that they cause damage to be dealt to battles. Also, any spell or ability that says "any target" can target a battle, so get ready to stoke the flames of war. Stoke the Flames Any damage dealt to a battle causes that many defense counters to be removed from it. When the last defense counter is removed from a Siege battle, the battle is defeated and a triggered ability triggers. As this ability resolves, the battle's controller exiles it then casts the back face from exile without paying its mana cost—and there won't be a mana cost, so that part's easy. The back faces are a variety of things; most of them are permanents like Marchesa, Resolute Monarch (long may she reign), but there are some sorceries in the mix. Invasion of Fiora // Marchesa, Resolute Monarch TRANSFORMING DOUBLE-FACED CARDS In addition to battles, there are other transforming double-faced cards in the set. As a quick refresher, here are some of the key things you should know. The front faces of transforming double-faced cards are marked with a triangle facing up on the top left. The back faces are marked with a triangle facing down on the top right. Elesh Norn // The Argent Etchings Planar Booster Fun Transforming double-faced cards, or TDFCs as we in the biz call them, have only the characteristics of their front faces while not on the battlefield. So, if you're searching your library for a creature card, you could find Elesh Norn, but if you're searching for an enchantment card, you couldn't find The Argent Etchings. You always cast the front face, and a TDFC always enters the battlefield with its front face up unless something explicitly says otherwise, such as Elesh Norn's last ability. One last thing in this refresher course: mana value. The back face doesn't have a mana cost, but its mana value is based on the mana cost of the front face. So, The Argent Etchings has the same mana value as Elesh Norn: 4. Thanks for heading down memory lane with me. Back up to the new stuff! BACKUP The forces defending their homeworlds aren't doing so alone. They brought plenty of backup. Backup is a new triggered ability that allows creatures to help a friend . . . or even themselves . . . in a pinch. Boon-Bringer Valkyrie Extended Art Backup always comes with a number. Whenever a creature with backup enters the battlefield, you put that many +1/+1 counters on a target creature. If you chose another creature as the target, that creature also gets every ability of the original creature that is printed below backup until end of turn. For example, when Boon-Bringer Valkyrie enters the battlefield, you can either put a +1/+1 counter on Boon-Bringer Valkyrie itself, or you can put a +1/+1 counter on another creature and have that creature gain flying, first strike, and lifelink until end of turn. Note that even if you have another creature gain those abilities until end of turn, Boon-Bringer Valkyrie will keep them. Note that backup confers only abilities that are printed below the backup ability. You can't respond to the backup ability by giving Boon-Bringer Valkyrie additional abilities and have backup give those abilities to the backup target. However, token copies of a creature with backup work just like the original. For example, if a token enters the battlefield as a copy of Boon-Bringer Valkyrie, that backup ability can have another creature gain its keywords until end of turn. On a few creatures, abilities that wouldn't make much sense to have another creature gain until end of turn, such as flash or landcycling, are printed above backup. Creatures that are the targets of backup abilities don't gain any abilities printed above backup. INCUBATE If the glory of Phyrexia is not apparent to you, perhaps baby Phyrexians would be more convincing? Incubate is a new keyword action that allows you, yes you, blessed spreader of Elesh Norn's perfection, to create Incubator tokens. This sounds wonderful, no? Traumatic Revelation An Incubator token is a new kind of predefined token, joining ones such as Food and Treasure. An Incubator token is a colorless artifact token with "{2}: Transform this artifact." Oh, did I mention it was a transforming double-faced token? That's new. It's a transforming double-faced token. The back face is a 0/0 colorless Phyrexian artifact creature. Incubator // Phyrexian token The instruction to incubate will include a number which indicates how many +1/+1 counters to put on the Incubator token. Those counters don't do much while the token has its front face up, but they do a great job of keeping the Phyrexian artifact creature alive once it transforms. CHAOS ENSUES It really does. Towashi Planechase is a major feature of the Commander decks in March of the Machine. On previous plane cards, chaos abilities had the trigger condition, "Whenever you roll [CHAOS]." Starting with March of the Machine, this condition has been replaced by "whenever chaos ensues." With respect to the planar die, nothing has changed; rolling [CHAOS] will still cause these abilities to trigger. However, now there are ways to have these abilities trigger that don't involve the planar die at all. Of course, that only makes sense if you already know what Planechase is. You can gain this knowledge now with an explainer on Planechase by Gavin Verhey. MARCH ON New keywords, new strategies, even a new card type. March of the Machine promises to bring the Phyrexian threat to a close. Learn whether the threat has been removed or taken over the Multiverse in Magic Story. You can also preorder March of the Machine products before they arrive on April 21 from retailers like Amazon and at your local game store. Stay tuned and enjoy the new cards.
Commander Legends Battle for Baldur's Gate Mechanics
The beloved adventure of Dungeons & Dragons returns to Magic once more in Commander Legends: Battle for Baldur's Gate. This set visits one of D&D's most iconic settings, introduces some exciting new mechanics, brings back popular mechanics like roll a d20, and even brings a new twist to some other returning mechanics. Before I get into too many details, however, let me give you some background. BACKGROUNDS Specifically, these Backgrounds: Backgrounds are a new type of enchantment. Legendary Background cards represent the story that brought your commander to the point where we find them now. Each one gives your commander a bonus that will help them (and therefore help you) in the game. Most often, this bonus comes in the form of an ability your commander gains or a boost to their power and/or toughness. CHOOSE A BACKGROUND A Background enchantment that's in your commander's color identity can, of course, be played in a Commander deck just like any other card. Some legendary creatures in this set, however, have an ability that allows them to start the game with a Background in the command zone. One thing to note about Volo, Itinerant Scholar (aside from all those creature types) is that it has an ability called "choose a Background." Choose a Background is a very specific version of the partner ability, which can allow a player to have more than one commander. If the legendary creature you've chosen as your commander has chosen a Background, you may start the game with both that creature and a legendary Background enchantment in the command zone. If you do, that Background functions as a second commander for your deck. This means that the Background can have a different color identity from the legendary creature and you use the combined color identity of both the legendary creature card and the legendary Background card to determine what the other 98 cards in your Commander deck (or 58 cards in Commander draft) can be. For purposes other than color identity, that Background is treated as an individual commander on its own. If it is put into your graveyard, exiled, or would otherwise leave the battlefield, you may put it back into the command zone. "Commander tax," the additional cost of two mana for every time you've cast a commander from the command zone, applies separately to your Background. Some cards, usually Backgrounds themselves, refer to "commander creatures." Those don't refer to a Background enchantment that is a commander unless it is also a creature. For other purposes, however, if a card refers to your commander, it means either the legendary creature or the legendary Background enchantment. So cards like Command Beacon (not in this set, but still a popular option) can fetch either the legendary creature or the legendary Background. Anything that cares about whether you control your commander will be satisfied if you control one or both of them. Cards like Command Tower (which is in this set!) can add mana of either of your commander's color identities. THE INITIATIVE Any veteran of the game can tell you that initiative is pretty important in Dungeons & Dragons, and it's important in Commander Legends: Battle for Baldur's Gate as well. In Magic terms, the initiative is a designation that a player can have during the game (similar to the monarch from some other sets). When the game starts, no player has the initiative, and there are three ways for a player to take the initiative. The most direct way is cards like White Plume Adventurer. The second way to take the initiative is to attack the player who currently has the initiative. If a creature you control deals combat damage to that player, you take the initiative. Once you do, though, be prepared to defend it! Other players will surely try to take it from you just as quickly. The third way to take the initiative is if the player who currently has the initiative leaves the game. When that happens, the player whose turn it is takes the initiative. If the player who has the initiative leaves the game on their own turn, or the active player left the game at the same time, the next player in turn order takes the initiative. Once a player has the initiative, there will only be one initiative designation for the rest of the game. As one player takes the initiative, the existing player who has the initiative (if there is one) loses it. Why do you want the initiative? Well, there are three significant bonuses to having the initiative: First, whenever a player takes the initiative, they venture into Undercity (Undercity is a new dungeon card; see "Dungeons" below). This will happen even if that player already had the initiative at the time. Second, the player with the initiative ventures into Undercity again at the beginning of their upkeep. Third, several cards in the set get better if you have the initiative. DUNGEONS Dungeons, as you might guess from the name, are an important part of the Dungeons & Dragons experience. Dungeon cards were first introduced in Dungeons & Dragons: Adventures in the Forgotten Realms, along with the keyword ability venture into the dungeon. The card type is making a return in this set with Undercity, a new dungeon card. Just like previous dungeon cards, Undercity starts outside the game and can end up in the command zone for a while. Players can enter Undercity using only the new keyword action "venture into Undercity," a special version of venture into the dungeon. Players venture into Undercity when they take the initiative and, if they still have the initiative, at the beginning of their upkeep. (See "The Initiative" above). For the most part, venture into Undercity and venture into the dungeon work the same way. If a player is already in a dungeon when they venture into Undercity, they will move to the next room of that dungeon (even if it isn't Undercity). However, if a player isn't already in a dungeon when they venture into Undercity, that player doesn't get to choose which dungeon card to put into the command zone. Instead, they must put the Undercity dungeon card into the command zone. The rest of the process works the same way. They put their venture marker on the first room of Undercity, at the top, and that room's ability triggers. If you venture into the dungeon using a card from Adventures in the Forgotten Realms, you can't choose to start the Undercity dungeon. However, if you're already in the Undercity dungeon, you will move your marker to the next room in Undercity. Since you can't be in two places at once (that's just physics), each player is still limited to having only one dungeon card in the command zone at a time. For example, you could be in either Undercity or Lost Mine of Phandelver, but not both. You'd have to finish one in order to start the other. For more detailed information about the venture into the dungeon keyword action and previously printed dungeon cards, please check out the Adventures in the Forgotten Realms Mechanics article. & DRAGONS Oh, uh . . . right. Dragons, as you might also guess from the name, are an equally important part of the Dungeons & Dragons experience, and many of them appear in this set. We weren't going to do this joke again, but apparently it's required in a contract somewhere. This may or may not be Stet's fault. & . . . GATES? Okay, this is getting silly. Just because the set is named . . . oh wait, this one really is a mechanic? Well, ok then, let's do this! Gate is a returning land type. It doesn't have any inherent rules meaning, but some Gates, including some found in this set, have abilities that care either about which other Gates you control or the number of other Gates you control. MYRIAD Myriad is a returning mechanic that lets a creature attack in all possible directions. Whenever a creature you control with myriad attacks, for each opponent other than the defending player, you may create a token that is a copy of that creature to attack that opponent or a planeswalker that opponent controls. With myriad, you can attack everyone at once or, if you're feeling particularly political, just some of them. Because you "may" create each token, you can decline to create tokens for some of your opponents. Attacking a planeswalker will also cause myriad to trigger, as the planeswalker's controller is the defending player. The tokens basically copy what's printed on the creature with myriad and not much else. If Battle Angels of Tyr has any Auras or Equipment attached to it, those don't get copied. The same is true for +1/+1 counters or any non-copy effect that has changed its power, toughness, or abilities. At end of combat, the tokens are exiled. They don't go to the graveyard, so no abilities that trigger whenever a creature dies will trigger. Another important point is that the tokens enter the battlefield tapped and attacking. This means they were never declared as attackers. If you have any abilities that trigger whenever a creature attacks, those abilities won't trigger. Put another way, myriad won't cause itself to trigger. ADVENTURES Last, but certainly not least, we have a returning mechanic that feels right at home with D&D—adventurer cards. Volo would note that Monster Manual is not a creature card. In fact, the release of Commander Legends: Battle for Baldur's Gate marks the first time that a noncreature permanent has an Adventure printed on it. Otherwise, however, adventurer cards and Adventures are pretty much unchanged from when they first appeared in Throne of Eldraine. As you play a card with an Adventure, you choose whether you are casting the permanent spell or the Adventure spell. The permanent spell has its usual text box on the right, and the Adventure spell has its own text box on the left, complete with its own name, types, and mana cost. If you cast it as a permanent, it enters the battlefield normally as it resolves. Casting it as an Adventure is very similar. It goes on the stack as an Adventure spell and can be responded to or even countered as normal. If it resolves, you follow its instructions, but instead of putting it into your graveyard as it resolves, you exile it. Now your card is on an adventure! "How does a book take an adventure," you ask? Maybe it travels in the knapsack of a legendary storyteller, or perhaps sits next to a window in a dreaded pirate captain's cabin. Or, just maybe, it discovers that the real adventure was inside it all along. Anyway, when you want your card to be done with its adventure, it can return safely. If a card was exiled because you cast it as an Adventure, you may cast the permanent spell from exile! This only works if the Adventure spell resolved and the card remained in exile. If the spell was countered, you're out of luck. While an adventurer card is on the battlefield, just ignore the Adventure and all its text. While the card is in your hand, your graveyard, your library, even exile, it has only the characteristics of the permanent, not the Adventure. TO ADVENTURE! Whether at release events or playing with friends and family at home, you'll find that Commander Legends: Battle for Baldur's Gate is full of powerful cards, fun new mechanics, clever references, and more than a little nostalgia for D&D fans. So, what are you waiting for? Gather up your party and get ready for adventure!
New Capenna Mechanics
STREETS OF NEW CAPENNA MECHANICS Posted in Feature on April 7, 2022 By Matt Tabak BioArchiveTwitter SHARE ARTICLE ShareTweetShare Five families. Five opportunities to make it in this town. The right connections—and knowing the rules—are everything in Streets of New Capenna. Loyalty to one is war with four, so choose carefully. Maybe you need to know a little more before you decide? Smart kid. Each family has its methods. If someone's lucky, they go their whole life in peace and never see those methods. You? You get to see them all in one go. What a day. CONNIVE The Obscura are the white-blue-black family, and their signature mechanic is connive. The Obscura use magic to manipulate and distract, always looking for a more advantageous position. Connive can put you in a more advantageous position, both in terms of creature strength and hand quality. If a creature you control is instructed to connive, here's what you do: First, draw a card and discard a card. This might help you find the land you need, or later in the game might let you trade away an unneeded land while getting to your game-ending threats a little quicker. But not so fast. If you discard a nonland card, you put a +1/+1 counter on the creature that connived. A creature can connive even if it's not still on the battlefield. So, if Ledger Shredder meets an unfortunate demise in response to its own triggered ability, you'll still get to draw and discard. No +1/+1 counter of course, but creatures that want to grow stronger should try to not get dead. CASUALTY The Maestros are the blue-black-red family, and their signature mechanic is casualty. The members of this elite society appreciate no finer art than the art of the kill. Casualty is an optional additional cost that appears on spells like A Little Chat. As an additional cost to cast a spell with casualty, you may sacrifice an underling . . . sorry, a creature with power N or greater, where N is the number that appears after the keyword. If you choose to do so, a triggered ability triggers that copies the spell. If the original spell required any targets, you'll get to choose new targets for the copy. The copy is created directly on the stack, so it's not "cast," meaning its casualty ability won't do anything, and you can't copy it again. The copy is still a spell on the stack though, so it can be responded to and countered as normal, and it will actually resolve before the original spell. Bloodthirsty though you may be, you may sacrifice only one creature to any one casualty ability. If a spell has casualty 2, for example, you can't sacrifice two 1/1 creatures, although I appreciate your spirit. BLITZ The Riveteers are the black-red-green family, and their signature mechanic is blitz. Industrious and tough as nails, the Riveteers never shy away from a fight, and blitz gets you into the action without delay. Blitz is an alternative cost that appears on several Riveteer creature cards. As you cast a spell like Jaxis, the Troublemaker, you can cast it normally for its mana cost, or you can choose to cast it for its blitz cost. Either way, its mana value doesn't change. For Jaxis, it's always 4. Casting a spell for its blitz cost has several effects. The creature gains haste and "When this creature dies, draw a card." You won't have to wait too long for that card, because at the beginning of the next end step, you sacrifice the creature. Hit fast, hit hard, and get out before anyone knows you were there. The triggered ability that has you draw a card will trigger no matter how or when the creature dies. If it doesn't survive combat, you'll get the card in time to cast it in your postcombat main phase. The creature doesn't have to make it all the way to the end step and be sacrificed, though it does have to die. If it gets bounced or exiled, you won't draw a card. ALLIANCE The Cabaretti are the red-green-white family, and their signature mechanic is alliance. Stylish and hedonistic, the Cabaretti are all about their connections. Alliance is an ability word that highlights triggered abilities that trigger whenever another creature enters the battlefield under your control. Nothing complicated here—you want more creatures and plenty of them. If you control multiple creatures that each have an alliance ability and a creature enters the battlefield under your control, all of the alliance abilities trigger. Those abilities can be put on the stack in any order, and the last one to be put on the stack will be the first one to resolve. If the entering creature itself has an enters-the-battlefield triggered ability, like Chrome Cat does, that ability gets thrown in the mix with all the alliance abilities. And don't forget tokens! They enter the battlefield just like nontoken creatures do, and they're great for enabling alliance abilities. SHIELD COUNTERS The Brokers are the green-white-blue family, and their signature mechanic is shield counters. So, you think you're untouchable? Shield counters make your creatures (and occasionally, other types of permanents) harder for your opponents to remove. Shield counters provide two benefits. First, if a permanent with a shield counter on it would be destroyed by an effect, a shield counter is removed from the permanent instead of the creature being destroyed. If your opponent has Murder on their mind, they're going to need backup plans, because the only thing your creature will feel is the shield counter being removed and the sweet, sweet taste of retribution. The second benefit works against damage. If a permanent with a shield counter on it would be dealt damage, that damage is prevented and a shield counter is removed from the permanent. In this case, "permanent" means creature or planeswalker, the two card types that can be dealt damage. This prevention effect works to stop any form of damage—combat damage, damage dealt by spells like Strangle, or damage dealt because of activated or triggered abilities. But be careful. It won't work if the damage is unpreventable. A shield counter will be removed and the creature or planeswalker will be dealt damage. Each instance of damage (and, for that matter, each destroy effect) removes only a single shield counter, so if you can find a way to give your creatures multiples, your opponents may soon find themselves with lots of problems and no easy answers. HIDEAWAY There's one returning mechanic to touch on: hideaway. Hideaway isn't associated with any specific family and appears on a cycle of cards, as well as on a few reprints in the Commander decks. Hideaway lets you store a card away for future use. Hideaway has received a small update since it last appeared. Hideaway is an enters-the-battlefield triggered ability. When a creature with hideaway N enters the battlefield, look at the top N cards of your library, exile one of them face down, then put the rest on the bottom of your library. Hideaway used to inherently mean four cards, but now it can be any number (especially five!), and that number will appear after the word "hideaway." Also, hideaway used to inherently mean the permanent with hideaway entered the battlefield tapped, but this is no longer true. Previous cards with hideaway now have "[This permanent] enters the battlefield tapped" as a separate ability. Permanents with hideaway will have another ability that lets you play the exiled card without paying its mana cost under certain conditions.
Kamigawa Variants
KAMIGAWA: NEON DYNASTY VARIANTS Posted in Card Image Gallery on December 25, 2021 By Wizards of the Coast Archive SHARE ARTICLE ShareTweetShare To view the regular cards, check out our Kamigawa: Neon Dynasty Card Image Gallery. BLACK | RED | MULTICOLORED | LAND | ALL CARDS BLACK Hidetsugu, Devouring Chaos Hidetsugu, Devouring Chaos Hidetsugu, Devouring Chaos Hidetsugu, Devouring Chaos Hidetsugu, Devouring Chaos Hidetsugu, Devouring Chaos RED Atsushi, the Blazing Sky Atsushi, the Blazing Sky MULTICOLORED Kaito Shizuki Kaito Shizuki Satoru Umezawa Satoru Umezawa Satoru Umezawa LAND Plains Plains Island Island Swamp Swamp Mountain Mountain Forest Forest
Innistrad: Double Feature
Preorder yours today! Click here! INNISTRAD: DOUBLE FEATURE PRODUCT OVERVIEW Posted in Feature on November 15, 2021 By Wizards of the Coast Archive SHARE ARTICLE ShareTweetShare More monsters! More horror! More drafts! More of everything you love about Innistrad arrives January 28, 2022, with Innistrad: Double Feature. Available at your local WPN game store, Innistrad: Double Feature combines cards across both Innistrad: Midnight Hunt and Innistrad: Crimson Vow into a beautiful draft-ready booster to play and collect! Innistrad: Double Feature is available in displays of 24 Draft Boosters in English only, and each booster contains the following 15 cards: 4x Innistrad: Midnight Hunt commons 4x Innistrad: Crimson Vow commons 2x Innistrad: Midnight Hunt uncommons 2x Innistrad: Crimson Vow uncommons 1x Innistrad: Midnight Hunt rare or mythic rare 1x Innistrad: Crimson Vow rare or mythic rare 1x Silver screen foil card Each Draft Booster contains two non-foil double-faced cards, one from Innistrad: Midnight Hunt and one from Innistrad: Crimson Vow. Which cards from Innistrad: Midnight Hunt and Innistrad: Crimson Vow can you find inside Innistrad: Double Feature boosters? The complete breakdown is below. What is a silver screen foil card? It's a card with black-and-white artwork printed as a traditional foil using a special silver substrate, then finished with a glossy varnish like the showcase eternal night cards you already know from Innistrad: Midnight Hunt and Innistrad: Crimson Vow. (Check out the Booster Fun breakdown for Innistrad: Crimson Vow for a closer look at showcase eternal night cards.) Every card you can find in Innistrad: Double Feature can be a silver screen foil card, meaning you can open up to three rare or mythic rare cards in each pack! Don't forget that, unlike our recent Innistrad releases, Innistrad: Double Feature is available exclusively at your local WPN game store.
