Quick Links
Magic: The Gatheringhas unveiled a load of new details about its next four releases, giving us an in-depth look at Lord of the Rings: Tales of Middle-earth, Commander Masters 2022, Wilds of Eldraine, and the Universes Beyond x Doctor Who Commander decks.
RELATED:What To Buy For Magic: The Gathering
Alongside release dates for all four of these, we’ve seen lots of new art, mechanics, hints at returning characters, and the second return of Planechase this year. We also finally saw the gingerbread lady from the Throne of Eldraine trailer get her own card, making all the other reveals pale in comparison. Here’s everything revealed in the MagicCon Minneapolis Sneak Preview panel.
Universes Beyond x Doctor Who
The first, and perhaps biggest, reveal of the panel was our first substantial look at follow-up to last year’s Warhammer 40,000 decks. This year, Magic is instead crossing over with BBC’s long-running sci-fi series Doctor Who, with four decks spread across both the modern and classic eras of the show.
The four decks are:
While we weren’t shown the face cards for these decks, we were shown its take on Partner, with Doctor’s Companion allowing you to run both a Doctor and a Companion as your commanders. While each face commander will likely only be one card, it’s possible it will be used for the secondary commanders – Ten and Rose, for example, or Thirteen and Yaz.
Another big inclusion in the decks will be 19 Sagas based on key episodes from each Doctor’s era, including the Fugitive Doctor, the War Doctor, and key Sagas based on key villains. So far, the only one we have seen is the Ninth Doctor’s final episode, The Parting of the Ways, but I’m holding out hope we see Heaven Sent, Day of the Doctor, and Midnight get similar treatments.
Doctor Who will also see the return of Planechase, which we just saw make a comeback in the March of the Machine Commander decks. The one shown off is The Lux Foundation Library, seen in the Tenth Doctor story Silence in the Library. To mimic that story’s flesh-eating shadows, the Vashta Nerada, this Plane card can give creatures shadow counters, a rare comeback for the mechanic.
In total, each deck will have 50 new cards, including ten Planechase cards. We haven’t seen any specific cards yet, but we’ll likely see more at the First Look on July 28, and the full debut on October 3, with itsactual launch coming on October 13.
Wilds Of Eldraine
Next, we had a look at the next major Standard set, which is returning to the fairy tale-inspired plane of Eldraine. We didn’t see any cards from this, although we were given hints of the story.
Set after March of the Machine, the sleeping spell that was used to fight the Phyrexians is now said to be spreading further than intended. With the King and Queen of Eldraine also dead, a vacuum power has been left to be filled by the Kenrith twins, who appear to be at war with each other over the future of the plane.
We also saw the return of Ashiok, who was last seen tormenting Elesh Norn in a Phyrexia side-story, and, best of all, confirmation we’ll finally have a card for Syr Ginger. Syr Ginger was first introduced in the Throne of Eldraine cinematic trailer, and has since become a heavily requested character, last making a cameo appearance in Unfinity.
We also saw the two Commander decks releasing with the set:
Wilds of Eldraine’s first look will be coming the same day as Doctor Who, on July 28. The debut and preview season will then begin on August 15, ahead of the formal launch on September 8.
Commander Masters
The surprise reveal of this year was that we’ll be getting a Commander-focused reprint set this summer, with Commander Masters. Since then, there has been heavy speculation on what the set will include, and what its four preconstructed decks will be.
Finally, we know for sure that these decks will include one hell of a deep cut, with the return of Commodore Guff almost outshining powerful Eldrazi and Sliver commanders:
We also saw some cards that will be in the main set, including a much-needed reprint of Personal Tutor, and Selvala, Heart of the Wilds’ stylish bright pink Profile art treatment.
We’re not too far off from our next look at Commander Masters, as its sneak preview is coming on May 16 ahead of its August 4 launch.
Lord of the Rings: Tales of Middle-earth
We’ve already seen a fair amount of Lord of the Rings: Tales of Middle-earth, the first Universes Beyond crossover booster set. However, this panel did show off a few much-speculated cards, and gave us our first look at how The Ring itself will play in the set.
One of the key mechanics of Tales of Middle-earth is being ‘Tempted By The Ring’. We now know what this is, and it’s somewhat similar to Battle for Baldur’s Gate’s initiative in that it’s a series of abilities that ramp up and get more powerful over time.
Whenever you’re tempted by the ring, you create an emblem called The Ring, and you assign on of your creatures as the ‘Ring-Bearer’. You don’t need a creature in play the first time you’re tempted, as you’ll be able to define a new Ring-bearer each time you’re tempted.
The first time you’re tempted, that creature becomes legendary and can’t be blocked by creatures with great power. The next time, you’ll discard and draw a card whenever it attacks. The third time, your opponent will have to sacrifice any creatures they use to block your Ring-bearer, and then the fourth time the emblem becomes fully upgraded, and makes each opponent lose three life when the Ring-bearer deals combat damage to any player.
As The Ring is an emblem, there’s likely not going to be any way of removing it from play once you’ve been tempted. This means a player who regularly tempts and has creatures they make the Ring-bearer could be a massive threat.
It looks like the cost for being temped will also be pretty low, as one of the two new cards we saw today was Call of the Ring, which costs only two mana and tempts you a the beginning of your upkeep every turn.
Some creatures will give you even more value if you designate them as your Ring-bearer. For instance, Sauron, the Necromancer will make a Wraith token with menace that has to be exiled at the next end step… unless you’ve made Sauron your Ring-bearer, in which case it just stays in play indefinitely.
It will be interesting to see how aggressively costed any Ring-related cards in Tales of Middle-earth are, as this could have a similar impact on Legacy and Vintage that Initiative did when it launched on Commander Legends: Battle for Baldur’s Gate.
Lord of the Rings: Tales of Middle-earth is the next set, with its previews starting on May 30, and the full set launching on June 20.
Magic: The Gathering Arena On Steam
Finally, we got news that MTG Arena will finally bemaking it way to Steam this month on May 23. It will still use your Wizards account and allow you to carry your collection over, however you’ll now be able to buy gems and Mastery Passes directly through Steam if you so prefer.
While the launch version of Arena on Steam will simply be a launcher and a storefront, it was said that deeper Steam integration (potentially friends lists or maybe even marketplace functionality) will be coming at a later date.
There was no news on the upcoming console versions of Arena, which are still scheduled to launch sometime next year.
NEXT:Every Card In Magic: The Gathering’s March Of The Machine: The Aftermath
