Wizards of the Coast (WotC) and IGN have announced a new collection of cards coming soon to MTG Arena — Jumpstart: Historic Horizons.
Coming to MTG Arena on August 12, Historic Horizons introduces 782 (yes, you read that right) cards to Historic, many of which are reprints, but also included among that massive number are 31 new cards that are not only “unique” to MTG Arena, but also introduce digital-only mechanics.
Digital-First Mechanics
Digital-First Mechanics exist only within the digital spectrum of Magic and Historic Horizons will be introducing three of these mechanics: Seek, Perpetually, and Conjure.
Seek
A new take on one of Magic’s oldest mechanics (tutor), cards with seek allow players to pull cards from their libraries without having to shuffle afterwards.
Perpetually
The perpetually mechanic applies changes to a target for the duration of the game. These changes can be anything from adjusted casting costs to plus/minus power and toughness.
For example, if a creature is perpetually given -1/-2 by Davriel’s Withering, that creature will carry that stat reduction throughout the duration of the game, regardless of where it ends up. Even if said creature dies, is exiled, or is returned to the deck or hand, it will still have -1/-2.
Conjure
The third and final new digital-first mechanic is conjure, which generates an entirely new, random card and places it into your hand. We’re not just talking about “from outside the game” and pulling something from your sideboard either. No, this is totally random, and you can even get cards like Ponder and Tropical Island (don’t worry, the three cards above aren’t included in the actual set, only through conjure.)
According to Magic’s Vice President of Design, Aaron Forsythe, the creation of digital-only cards opens up design potential without compromising the integrity of the game itself. They allow designers to think outside the (text) box, and create more unique and complex cards, such as Davriel, Soul Broker, which employs a list of eight different off-card options as part of his minus two abilities’ offers and conditions.
Offers:
- Draw three cards.
- Conjure a Manor Guardian card into your hand.
- Return two random creature cards from your graveyard to your hand. They perpetually gain +1/+1.
- Return a random creature card with the highest mana value from among cards in your graveyard to the battlefield.
- You get an emblem with “Creatures you control get +2/+0.”
- You get an emblem with “Spells you cast cost {oB} less to cast.”
- You get an emblem with “Davriel planeswalkers you control have “+2: Draw a card.”
- You get an emblem with “Whenever you draw a card, you gain 2 life.”
Conditions:
- You lose 6 life.
- Exile two cards from your hand. If fewer than two cards were exiled this way, each opponent draws cards equal to the difference.
- Sacrifice two permanents.
- Each creature you don’t control perpetually gains +1/+1.
- You get an emblem with “Creatures you control get -1/-0.”
- You get an emblem with “Spells you cast cost {oB} more to cast.”
- You get an emblem with “Whenever you draw a card, exile the top two cards of your library.”
- You get an emblem with “At the beginning of your upkeep, you lose 1 life for each creature you control.”
Obviously a list of sixteen different options would never be able to fit in a traditional text box, but this avenue is now possible through digital-only cards. As we saw recently with MTG Arena’s Mirror Mirror event, the digital space allows for some cards to be changed at-will, making the design possibilities fresh and nearly limitless.
So what do you think of Jumpstart: Historic Horizons? Do you think digital-first cards and mechanics will have a huge impact on the way we play MTG Arena? Let us know what you think in the comments!