The Lord of the Rings: Tales of Middle-earth is a new expansion set for Magic: The Gathering it brings the iconic world of J.R.R. Tolkien’s Middle-earth to life, letting you follow the paths of favorite (or favorite villainous) characters from the Third Age. Whether you choose to reenact your favorite moments from the series or turn the tales of Middle-earth on their head is entirely up to you2.
For the Love of Hobbits and Rings:
The set was clearly designed by people who knew and loved Tolkien’s world. The flavor and mechanics of the cards are joyfully amazing. For example, more often then not, hobbits in the set create food tokens (yes, there is a Second Breakfast card), and there is a saga that not only creates Smaug as a 6/6 flying dragon token, but when it dies, it creates 12 treasure tokens! There are various versions of main characters that match their different transformations in the journey, such as 4 versions of Frodo, from peaceful hobbit to Sauron’s Bane, or Gandalf as the fireworks laden Friend of the Shire, to the White Rider, swooping down in the light of the dawn sun, with the riders of Rohan at his back. I’ve been playing the Draftsim practice drafts/sealed simulators just to get a chance to get familiar with the cards, and the kid who fell in love with LOTR is beyond excited to get a chance to play.
Masters Set that you don’t need to be a Master to enjoy This is supposed to be a Universes Away/Masters set, but it feels much more like coming home than going into a new world. Kind of makes sense since MTG was inspired by D&D, which came from (drumroll….) Tolkien. (if you don’t believe me…check out the early changes to D&D based on hobbit lawyers.) Even though the set is in the higher cost Masters slot ($50/55 instead of $30/35 for sealed), don’t take that to mean that the set isn’t friendly for all levels of players. In fact, the thing that will make the set most fun is how much you like Lord of the Rings.
This set is shaping up to be a fantastic journey through the realms of Middle-earth, filled with nostalgia, surprises, and a sprinkle of that unique MTG magic. Whether you’re a fan of the fantasy epic, a dedicated MTG player, or both, this set promises to offer a thrilling new way to experience Tolkien’s world. Can’t wait for the set’s release? Neither can we!
Alternate Art Fun…
There are some amazing alternate versions of the cards, including some that piece together to create full scenes on their own. There are a bunch of cool art treatments to collect. More info here.
New Mechanics
The Ring
The biggest new mechanic has to do with The Ring, and what happens when it tempts you. I know that tempt sounds like a bad thing, but in this case it is some of the very good stuff. When the ring tempts you, you attach the ring card to one (and only one at a time) of your creatures. Every time the ring tempts again it adds another ability to that card. If your ring bearer dies, the ring falls off and you start from the beginning.
Amass Orcs
We’ve seen this mechanic before in building up hordes of zombies. Basically, you create an “army” that is a token with whatever number of counters that the Amass tells you to add. Every subsequent Amass just makes the one army token bigger. (It doesn’t create lots of them.)
We are starting Parent/Kid D&D at D20 Games. Starting Thursdays at 5-7 (come in starting 4 for extra help with characters/questions), the idea is for up to 4 parent & kid combos to get a chance to play D&D together. This can be an old-school player sharing their misspent youth with their kids, or kids getting to share something that they love with their kids. (We are also looking to do a weekend table.)
What: D&D ongoing adventure (6 weeks)
When: Thursdays at 5-7 (Time will actually be 4-7, but first hour is for help with characters and other questions) Or Sunday 3-5 (we will be there from 2pm on to help with questions and game help.) The first session will be mostly about getting your characters in good shape and answering questions to make it much more fun/easier to play. (For those who pay for the whole 6 weeks, this will get added in as an extra bonus week for a total of 7 weeks of D&D)
Cost: $40 per pair/ session ($220 for all 6 weeks). Limited to 5 teams per table. If we get more than 5, we will start a list for a second table which will start when we have at least 3 extra pairs and a .)
Requirements: At least one of the two players should be familiar enough with D&D to play. More mature of pair is responsible for ensuring that players are not being disruptive enough to ruin game play for everyone. (Tools we have to help with that include the fact that any ‘loud” talk at the table has a good chance of being heard by wandering monsters.) We strongly suggest that each combo have their own copy of the Players Handbook. (And be very liberal with the post-it notes/paper clips to get easy access to the things about your character that you need to get to during play. (spells, special abilities, etc.)
Players will start with a 3rd level character generated using either Standard Array or Point buy for the stats, and classes/races from any of the official D&D 5e printed content (excluding Critical Role). (If you want to do Point Buy, here is a good tool to help.)Players should bring an extra character sheet to give the DM, and should have reference cards for their most commonly used spells and abilities. (We want to minimize people frantically flipping through books when it is their turn to act so we can spend more time playing.)
Here are some useful resources to help get you started.
My personal recommendation is to figure out what class you would like to play, and then pick the race that has ability bonuses that help with that class and then set up your stats to help. One thing to remember that the bonuses you get from the basic ability scores only make a difference on the even, not the odd numbers. So, for example, a strength score of 14 and 15 would be +2, and 16 or 17 would get you +3. You wanna work to get as many of your ability scores into even numbers. (Don’t worry about not getting it perfect. For the first couple of sessions, we will let people go back and fix things if they realize they had a different option that works better for them. )
This weekend we will have part two of the prerelease/release for March of the machines, and I can report that the set is hella fun! (We actually had a near full house on last Friday).
Plus I’m gonna do something on Saturday at 2ish that is spectacularly stupid.*
Aside from pretty epic story-telling, the last couple of Magic sets see to be getting more and more fun to play, and March of the Machines looks to keep that trend going . (If you wanna check out the set in a fun way, do some practices drafts/sealed using Draftsim.) Remember to get tix in advance to save the extra $5…$35 day of event, $30 in advance, so get tix at store or online early)
About 4 months ago, Wizards did an epically stupid thing in creating the $1000 30th Anniversary Edition with “reprints” of most of the important cards they promised they would never reprint. About a month ago they sent us the copy they promised each of the local game stores.
What: On Saturday I’m gonna take them and do something on camera that I’ve banned from the store. We’re gonna play Rip it or Flip it.
Why!!!: I’m not actually being that “flip” about this. With each pack we rip, I’m going to publicly call out Wizards for some things they are doing that are as bad to LGS’s as the Open License debacle was for D&D developers. I’m hoping if this gets enough attention, it might spark some changes here as well.
Elesh Norn has been a busy girl. After the machinifcation of New Phyrexia, she decides that everyone should have their chance to take a shot (or end up in the perfection of infection). She flicks her wrist to open portals to 5 different plains with the now perfectly corrupted Atraxa, Ajani and Nahiri at her side. With the other heros trapped in stone, one of the biggest battles in MTG in recent years enters a world(s) of epic battle.
Aside from pretty epic story-telling, the last couple of Magic sets see to be getting more and more fun to play, and March of the Machines looks to keep that trend going . (Been doing some practice drafts/sealeds using Draftsim, and I’m getting pretty psyched for the real thing.) (Remember…$35 day of event, $30 in advance, so get tix at store or online early)
This weekend and next, we have a plethora of sealed events using the prerelease kits from the new set. Players can get their boxes of 6 packs to open and get to build their decks starting 1 hour before each event. Prerelease kits have six 15-card packs, 1 random exclusive promo foil rare or mythic rare from the set, and a special spindown die. We provide the basic lands, so you don’t need anything more to play. We pride ourselves that no one here will make you feel anything but welcome (we all started from scratch at some point).
All events are sealed using the prerelease kits. Make your best decks and win a round, win a pack. If we have enough players to accommodate both, we will also have competitive prize pools for the 10AM sealed events.(Competitive prize pools mean more chance to win lots of packs if you do very well, but more rounds and the chance to win no prize packs if you don’t. Better for more expert players.)
The prerelease and release events are great chances for players who haven’t gotten a chance to play in person to come to a friendly, fun event where everyone is starting from scratch and no one knows much more than anyone else yet. We recommend if you are new, or you have a friend who is new, to play in the Two-Headed Giant events, which are two-person team events. So long as one person in the team knows how to play, you can both have fun without any pressure to know the rules right away.
New Mechanics for this set include some goodies, from Battle, cards that must be protected, fought and then transform into goodies. (Source wizards.com https://magic.wizards.com/en/news/feature/march-of-the-machine-mechanics)
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 inMarch of the Machineis 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’sthematic. 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 ofdefense counterson it equal to its defense, found in the lower right corner of the front face. This tells you how much damage it takes todefeata 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 itsprotector. 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 inMarch of the Machine. On previous plane cards, chaos abilities had the trigger condition, “Whenever you roll [CHAOS].” Starting withMarch 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.
New keywords, new strategies, even a new card type.March of the Machinepromises to bring the Phyrexian threat to a close. Learn whether the threat has been removed or taken over the Multiverse inMagicStory. You can also preorderMarch of the Machineproducts before they arrive on April 21 from retailers likeAmazonand at yourlocal game store. Stay tuned and enjoy the new cards.
Back to Phyrexia, where Elesh Norn and her biomechanical minions are making their all out final(?) assault on the annoyingly imperfect forces of nature. A strike team of the surviving Mirran Resistance comprising of planeswalkers Elsbeth, Jac, Tyvar and Nahiri, plunge themselves straight in to the heart of the infected perfection of the conquerors, but is one member of the group already bringing the infection with them?
[Store owner’s note…since I already cracked/opened my packs for the event…can’t really do that while helping peeps at the store, I have an idea of how good the set is. Gotta say, this is one of the more exciting ones in a while. I’m really looking forward to playing w/y’all!)
This weekend and next, we have a plethora of sealed events using the prerelease kits from the new set. Players can get their boxes of 6 packs to open and get to build their decks starting 1 hour before each event. Prerelease kits have six 15-card packs, 1 random exclusive promo foil rare or mythic rare from the set, and a special spindown die. We provide the basic lands, so you don’t need anything more to play. We pride ourselves that no one here will make you feel anything but welcome (we all started from scratch at some point).
All events are sealed using the prerelease kits. Make your best decks and win a round, win a pack. If we have enough players to accommodate both, we will also have competitive prize pools for the 10AM sealed events.(Competitive prize pools mean more chance to win lots of packs if you do very well, but more rounds and the chance to win no prize packs if you don’t. Better for more expert players.)
The prerelease and release events are great chances for players who haven’t gotten a chance to play in person to come to a friendly, fun event where everyone is starting from scratch and no one knows much more than anyone else yet. We recommend if you are new, or you have a friend who is new, to play in the Two-Headed Giant events, which are two-person team events. So long as one person in the team knows how to play, you can both have fun without any pressure to know the rules right away.
New Mechanics include Toxic (mini infect), Corrupted (power ups if your opponent has gotten themselves at least 3 poison counters), For Phyrexia, equipment that makes its own dudes to attach itself to when it comes in play, and Oil Counters (counters that do stuff depending on the cards…that one is a bit weird, but has some useful effects. Mechanic coming back for a encore is Proliferate (basically add an extra counter to anything you pick on either player’s side that already has a counter on it.)
TOXIC
Can’t you see Phyrexia’s calling? Creatures like these should wear a warning. They’re dangerous, and falling victim to them might have you succumbing to a poisonous fate, no matter what your life total is. Toxic is a new keyword ability found on several Phyrexian creatures in this set, including the terrifying Paladin of Predation.
Any time a creature with toxic deals combat damage to a player, that player gets a number of poison counters equal to thetoxic valueof that creature. That’s the number after the toxic keyword. These poison counters are handed out in addition to the damage being dealt, so bad news for that player on multiple axes. A player with ten or more poison counters loses the game, but in the next section, we’ll learn that advantages for poisoning your opponents kick in much sooner.
A creature’s toxic value and its power aren’t necessarily connected. If a creature with toxic 6 deals 1 combat damage to an opponent, they’re getting six poison counters. 15 combat damage? Still six poison counters. Toxic doesn’t help if the creature deals combat damage to another creature or a planeswalker.
CORRUPTED
Poison counters have been a long-time favorite for alternate-win conditions, but outside of a few individual cards, it’s mostly been all or nothing. If you couldn’t deliver the tenth poison counter, the first nine didn’t matter much. Corrupted is a new ability word that highlights abilities that make cards stronger if an opponent has three or more poison counters.
Some corrupted abilities, like The Seedcore’s last ability, are activated. If you have a corrupted opponent, you can activate the ability, and if you don’t, you can’t. Other corrupted abilities, such as the last ability of Skrelv’s Hive, are static, and their effects are active as long as an opponent has three or more poison counters. In multiplayer games, you need only one opponent to have three or more poison counters, not all of them.
You’ll also find instants and sorceries with corrupted abilities. Some of these abilities provide additional effects if you have a corrupted opponent as the spell resolves. Others affect what a spell costs or what it can target. Corrupted abilities are flexible, and each card will tell you what specific reward—other than ridiculous fun—handing out those poisoning counters can have.
FOR MIRRODIN!
The Mirrans aren’t quite conceding this fight just yet. For Mirrodin! is a new triggered ability found on some Equipment cards that come complete (notthe other spelling) with their own wielder.
The Equipment enters the battlefield unattached like other Equipment. If for some reason it leaves the battlefield before the triggered ability resolves, you’ll still create the Rebel creature token, although they’ll be sadly empty-handed. Equipment with For Mirrodin! behaves just like other Equipment. You can use the equip ability to attach such an Equipment onto another creature you control.
OIL COUNTERS
Although oil counters aren’t a keyword ability, and they have no inherent rules meaning, they play a key role in Phyrexia’s operation. Some cards, such as Urabrask’s Forge, put oil counters on themselves and then use those counters for various effects.
Urabrask’s Forge
Other cards care about how many permanents you control with oil counters on them. Still others move oil counters around. Things get slippery very, very quickly.
PROLIFERATE
Proliferate is a featured returning keyword action in this set, and it’s no surprise: there are oil counters, poison counters, and wouldn’t it be great if there were more of them? Any time you’re instructed to proliferate, you choose any number of players or permanents that already have counters on them. For each one, and for each kind of counter it has, add another one.
For example, if you control a creature with a +1/+1 counter and an oil counter on it, and you chose it while proliferating, it would end up with two +1/+1 counters and two oil counters. If you and your opponent each controlled a planeswalker, you could choose yours to get another loyalty counter while not choosing theirs to do the same. If you controlled a creature with a +1/+1 counter and a stun counter (a counter you might not want to add another of), you have a choice: add one of each kind of counter it has or add nothing.
This is gonna be our bulletin board for updating sales and events for the holidays. But before I do that and smile and remind you that us local businesses need you guys big time to stay alive, I’m gonna get on my usual soapbox about Black Friday Sales.
Don’t let big retail (or even me) force you to give up time with yer loved ones, or a rare and well deserved sleep in, just to get out in a crowd, or stuck to a screen to buy stuff! We will have sales, but they will last into the week after, so you can come in at your leisure. We will be open extra hours and running extra events during thanksgiving, so feel free to come in. We’re just not gonna stand outside your door, screaming for attention.
Speaking of the events and stuff…here is the first installment on what is going on:
A couple of special things this week
Magic Brother’s War Release weekend events all weekend, including Two Headed Giants Sat and Sun-using prerelease kits for extra fun
D&D…special Events For experienced (16+) D&D players on Mon, Tues and Friday. Get a chance to play at the high levels (finally) for Turkmageddon! Limited number of players and long (5-6 hour) sessions.
Lot’s of sales/deals and new stuff coming in this week—rather than just give you a few now here are a couple of places to look to see where the new stuff is updated
Also, we will start taking a bunch of pics of the new stuff as it comes out, as well as special sales on our Instagram account, d20gamesalameda.
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About the D&D Event
Turkmageddon
3 Days of advanced D&D*
Mon 11/21 6pm to 11–10th Level
Tues 11/22 10am-3pm–15th Level
Friday 11/25 10am-3pm–20th Level
$45 in advance/$50 at the door
*For experienced players age 16+
Limited to 8 players per table.
D20 Games is Proud to announce our first Event Campaign: Turkemageddon! Join us for three separate chapters in this holiday themed mini-campaign! Each chapter will be a concise adventure for high level characters with a contiguous story that will weave through and connect each chapter. While it is a campaign Turkemageddon is structured with a drop-in approach allowing players to decide which adventures they would like to take part in. For those who wish to play a character through all three events there will be an in-game gap of five years between each installment to allow for leveling and verisimilitude.
Monday November 21st: Vengeance Most Fowl
We will begin our story on Monday November 21st with Vengeance Most Fowl, an adventure designed for a
party of level 10 characters who find themselves caught between the machinations of a prideful tyrant and the
vengeance of an Eldritch god.
Level 10 characters built with the standard array ability scores (15, 14, 13, 12, 10, 8).
Characters may be built with any official WotC 5th edition books. No homebrew or playtest material.
A list of level appropriate magic Items will be made available before we begin play.
Tuesday November 22nd: Attack on Gourmand
On November 22nd the next adventure, Attack on Gourmand, is designed for a party of level 15 characters
captured by a colossal chef who intends to use them in his piece de resistance.
Characters should be leveled up to or built at 15th level with the standard array ability scores (15,14, 13, 12, 10, 8).
Characters may be built with any official WotC 5th edition books. No homebrew or playtest material.
A list of level appropriate magic Items will be made available before we begin play. Magic items
acquired in the previous session will not count against new magic items for this session.
Friday November 25th: Turkemageddon
In the third and final installment of the campaign on November 25th, the party, now composed of 20th level
characters, must face their most treacherous foe yet in the titular Turkemageddon.
Characters should be leveled up to or built at 20th level with the standard array ability scores (15,
14, 13, 12, 10, 8).
Characters may be built with any official WotC 5th edition books. No homebrew or playtest material.
A list of level appropriate magic Items will be made available before we begin play. Magic items
acquired in the previous sessions will not count against new magic items for this session.
Boys and their toys. In this case, the all time artifact brothers of Magic, Urza and Mishra, are back and ready to tinker to the death (or crying Uncle) When they find the two stones, ancient and powerful artifacts that set their fates on crossed paths. (Click here for the full stories)
Magic old timers will recognize the names as being attached to some of the most powerful and interesting Artifacts in magic, and for this 30th anniversary year set, it is all about those tinkered toys. In addition to a whole batch of new artifacts, there are 63 artifacts from all through Magic’s past in retro frames loaded through the packs.
This weekend and next, we have a plethora of sealed events using the prerelease kits from the new set. Players can get their boxes of 6 packs to open and get to build their decks starting 1 hour before each event. Prerelease kits have six 15-card packs, 1 random exclusive promo foil rare or mythic rare from the set, and a special spindown die. We provide the basic lands, so you don’t need anything more to play. We pride ourselves that no one here will make you feel anything but welcome (we all started from scratch at some point).
All events are sealed using the prerelease kits. Make your best decks and win a round, win a pack. If we have enough players to accommodate both, we will also have competitive prize pools for the 10AM sealed events.(Competitive prize pools mean more chance to win lots of packs if you do very well, but more rounds and the chance to win no prize packs if you don’t. Better for more expert players.)
The prerelease and release events are great chances for players who haven’t gotten a chance to play in person to come to a friendly, fun event where everyone is starting from scratch and no one knows much more than anyone else yet. We recommend if you are new, or you have a friend who is new, to play in the Two-Headed Giant events, which are two-person team events. So long as one person in the team knows how to play, you can both have fun without any pressure to know the rules right away.
Masks and vaccination cards are required.
Set Mechanics
– Prototype: Each prototype card includes two sets of characteristics: First, a larger default mana cost, power, and toughness. They’re where you’d expect them to be on the card. A second set of characteristics exists as part of the prototype ability. There, you’ll find an alternate mana cost and an alternate power and toughness.
– Power Stones: A Powerstone is a colorless artifact that can be tapped for one colorless mana. The mana produced by a Powerstone can’t be spent to cast a nonartifact spell, but it can be spent on anything else. This includes artifact spells, activated abilities—even ones of nonartifacts—costs imposed by triggered abilities, any costs to attack or block you may have to pay, and so only
– Unearth and Meld Return: Unearth can be activated only while the card that has it is in the graveyard, and only as a sorcery. The unearthed permanent gains haste. In a lot of cases, you’ll be unearthing creatures to get in one more attack. At the beginning of the next end step, exile the unearthed permanent. If it would leave the battlefield before then, it’s exiled instead.
One card in each meld pair—in this case, Urza, Lord Protector—will tell you exactly how to meld the two. You can meld cards only if you both own and control them, and only if they’re the actual named cards. So, token copies won’t work, nor will any other copies for that matter. Basically, the backs of the cards make up a puzzle, and if you can’t complete the image of the puzzle, the meld won’t work. Activating Urza’s ability will cause the two cards in this meld pair to exile and then meld, meaning they’ll return to the battlefield as a single permanent. A single, impressive permanent.
Big Change…prerelease=Release
This time around every product is available for us to sell from the moment of the prerelease starting. A bit scary since we need to put out oh, so much money at one time instead of the blessed prerelease weekend to reload.
For full information on the availability of other variants, see the Product Overview.
Experience the most illustrious galactotainment in the Multiverse at Myra the Magnificent’s Intergalactic Astrotorium of Function.
(Nope, I didn’t write it, but no way I’m gonna try and top it.) Unfinity is the latest of the Magic the Gathering Un sets…basically the sets that they create when they’ve been drinking way too much coffee and their eyes start to cross.) The cards are usually just for fun and the only things that can be used in regular play are the extremely pretty lands. In this case, there is a bunch of weird and wonderful stuff for commander, as well as some exceptional/unique versions of a bunch of the shock lands!
We will be drafting the set for the next weeks until Brothers War, and doing two headed Giant on Saturdays starting at 4 (3 to get packs and build).
The new mechanics include Attractions, Wordplay, Dice,
It’s good to be back, and with Dominaria United, we finally are.
This September, Magic: The Gathering returns to its roots: the home plane of Dominaria.
Whether you’re a returning player seeking new spins on familiar faces or someone experiencing MTG’s flagship plane for the first time, Dominaria United has something for everyone. This new Standard-legal set is a return to Magic‘s roots, returning to the Multiverse’s oldest plane in its new hour of need. Join some of Magic‘s most beloved heroes in its fight against their greatest enemy: the fan favorite Phyrexians.
This weekend and next, we have a plethora of sealed events using the prerelease kits from the new set. Players can get their boxes of 6 packs to open and get to build their decks starting 1 hour before each event. Prerelease kits have six 15-card packs, 1 random exclusive promo foil rare or mythic rare from the set, and a special spindown die. We provide the basic lands, so you don’t need anything more to play. We pride ourselves that no one here will make you feel anything but welcome (we all started from scratch at some point).
All events are sealed using the prerelease kits. Make your best decks and win a round, win a pack. If we have enough players to accommodate both, we will also have competitive prize pools for the 10AM sealed events.(Competitive prize pools mean more chance to win lots of packs if you do very well, but more rounds and the chance to win no prize packs if you don’t. Better for more expert players.)
The prerelease and release events are great chances for players who haven’t gotten a chance to play in person to come to a friendly, fun event where everyone is starting from scratch and no one knows much more than anyone else yet. We recommend if you are new, or you have a friend who is new, to play in the Two-Headed Giant events, which are two-person team events. So long as one person in the team knows how to play, you can both have fun without any pressure to know the rules right away.
Masks and vaccination cards are required.
Set Mechanics
Dominaria United offers a host of new and returning mechanics which present a flavorful and fun twist on well-loved gameplay. Enlist conscripts, read ahead with your Sagas, master your Domain, and more!
– Enlist: Band together with your other creatures with Enlist! When you attack with a creature that has Enlist, you may tap another creature you control (that isn’t attacking or summoning sick) to add its power to the first. Enlist this spiritual successor to banding to overwhelm your opponents with massive creatures!
– Read Ahead: One of Magic‘s most beloved subtypes – Sagas – returns to the game, but with a new twist! Sagas enter with a lore counter and gain one more after each draw step, triggering each of their chapter effects in order. Sagas with “read ahead” let you skip the wait and start on whatever chapter you want to!
– Domain: This returning mechanic, last seen in Modern Horizons, improves the more different basic land types you have among different lands you control. Gather a Plains, Island, Swamp, Mountain, and Forest – or a Plains Island Swamp and a Mountain Forest – to maximize the magnitude of your Domain effects!
– Kicker: Fan favorite returning mechanic Kicker comes back with a twist! Spells with a kicker cost let you pay the extra kicker cost to gain an additional effect, and new to this set, every spell with kicker in Dominaria United has a kicker of a different color than itself. Here’s the kicker – it doesn’t stop here! One of the oldest traditions of kicker returns, with cards that have multiple kicker costs to adapt to any situation!
– Stun Counters: Finally, Dominaria United brings to the game an entirely new type of counter! When a permanent with stun counters on it would untap, you remove one from it instead. Now you can finally tap down creatures for more than two turns!
Collecting Dominaria United
Dominaria United comes with a host of beautiful variants for your collection, including six borderless rare lands, borderless planeswalkers, stained glass and textured foil stained glass legendary creatures and lands, and foil and foil etched versions of the Legends Reborn box toppers. For full information on where to find which variants, see here.
Exclusive to Dominaria United, one out of every thirty-three collector boosters will have a card from the original Legends set – not a reprint or special variant, an actual card from the original print runs of Legends, now over twenty-five years old. This includes reserved list cards, such as the Tabernacle at Pendrell Vale. Note that this is not a new printing, so supplies are very limited!
Also exclusive to Dominaria United collector boosters are non-foil and foil etched versions of the Legends Reborn box toppers and foil stained glass full art basic lands.
New to Dominaria United and continuing going forward, Magic offers a new introductory product: Jumpstart boosters. Jumpstart boosters are designed for two to be shuffled together and played against one another, for easy out-of-the-box fun that still offers something new every time. Dominaria United offers ten themes, two in each of the five colors, in twenty-card packs, which each include two rare cards, two traditional foil basic lands, and one non-foil stained glass full art basic land.
For full information on the availability of other variants, see the Product Overview.
Set booster boxes are $159.99. They contain 24 set boosters. We will take $10 off for preorders ($149.99,includes box topper promo). Preorders end on Friday 9/2. Only events and set booster boxes are available until Friday 9/9, when all Dominaria United products will be available.
Double Masters 2022 is the 2nd masters set with all the old school goodies at twice the rares per pack. The set is chock full of over the top goodness, and we’re gonna do draft and sealed events with it before the price follows the other Master’s sets and makes it too much.
The Lord of the Rings: Tales of Middle-earth is a new expansion set for Magic: The Gathering it brings the iconic world of J.R.R. Tolkien’s Middle-earth to life, letting you follow the paths of favorite (or favorite villainous) characters from the Third Age. Whether you choose to reenact your favorite moments from the series or turn the tales of Middle-earth on their head is entirely up to you2.
Masters Set that you don’t need to be a Master to enjoy
Update…now starting on June 29th!
Back to Phyrexia, where Elesh Norn and her biomechanical minions are making their all out final(?) assault on the annoyingly imperfect forces of nature. A strike team of the surviving Mirran Resistance comprising of planeswalkers Elsbeth, Jac, Tyvar and Nahiri, plunge themselves straight in to the heart of the infected perfection of the conquerors, but is one member of the group already bringing the infection with them?
All events are sealed using the prerelease kits. Make your best decks and win a round, win a pack. If we have enough players to accommodate both, we will also have competitive prize pools for the 10AM sealed events.
Big Change…prerelease=Release 
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