Magic: The Gathering is leaving New York City behind (again), as it moves from Turtles to wizarding schools (no, not that one) with its return to Strixhaven.
The new set is packed with fresh cards and five Commander precons, but it also includes a bunch of fresh mechanics. Here’s our rundown of each one, including each College’s own trademark keyword.
Prepare
Prepare is the big new mechanic in this set, because it essentially gives players access to powerful cards like Ancestral Recall or Swords to Plowshares by tying them to a creature.
Once a creature is ‘prepared’ (which requires a variety of conditions to be met), you’ll be able to fire off an instant or sorcery that’s tied to one of these creature cards, like Emeritus of Ideation being able to use Ancestral Recall, or Stensian Sanguinist having the option to use Exsanguinate.
College Keywords
Repartee (Silverquill) – Repartee triggers additional effects when you play instants or sorceries, like Conciliator’s Duelist being able to exile a creature.
Opus (Prismari) – Cards like Colorstorm Stallion with the Opus keyword will gain +1/+1 counters until end of turn when instant and sorcery cards are played, with additional effects for larger spells.
Infusion (Witherbloom) – If you’ve gained life in a turn, you’ll trigger the Infusion keyword. On something like Old-Growth Educator, it’ll gain two +1/+1 counters.
Flashback (Lorehold) – Cards with Flashback can be played from the graveyard for its Flashback cost rather than its mana cost, like Molten Note. Once this happens, the card is exiled.
Increment (Quandrix) – If a card has Increment, like Cuboid Colony, you put a +1/+1 counter on a creature if the mana value of a spell you cast is greater than it.
Converge
If you cast a creature with Converge, it’ll arrive with additional effects based on the number of colored mana used to cast it.
Rancorous Archaic, for example, is a five-cost card. Cast it with all red mana, and it’ll enter as a standard 3/3 with Trample and Reach thanks to a single +1/+1 counter. Spend all five colors, however, and it’ll enter as a 7/7 thanks to five of those counters;
Book
Books, like Diary of Dreams, are a new Artifact type that gains page counters which can then be spent to trigger other effects.
Paradigm
Still with us? It’s a busy set, keyword-wise, but Paradigm is really neat. It’s found on sorceries like Improvisation Capstone, triggering them once when initially played. Paradigm spells are then exiled and available on your first main phase as a copy that can be played without its mana cost.
Expect these to be in demand, given the power they could potentially give you. Even if your initial spell is countered, your Paradigm persists!
Lloyd Coombes is an experienced freelancer in tech, gaming and fitness seen at Polygon, Eurogamer, Macworld, TechRadar and many more. He’s a big fan of Magic: The Gathering and other collectible card games, much to his wife’s dismay.
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