Image: Wizards of the Coast
The Chinese Dominaria Release Notes have been leaked recently, revealing some of the cards from the highly-anticipated Magic: The Gathering set, and Wizards of the Coast has responded by explaining how the preview season for Dominaria is going to be different. They also made the Release Notes available to download online, which gives players information about the rulings, mechanics, concepts, and details about the specific cards in the set.
Here are some highlights from the Release Notes:
There's going to be a lot of legendary permanents in Dominaria: "Legendary characters new and old have risen to prominence across the plane. In every Dominaria booster pack, you'll find at least one legendary creature. Beyond just creatures, the set also features a significant number of other legendary cards."
And there's a new term called "Historic", which refers to cards that have a legendary supertype, the artifact card type, or the Saga enchantment type
The set introduces a new kind of enchantment cards called Saga cards. Here's how the Release Notes explained the new mechanic:
History of Benalia
1WW
Enchantment — Saga
(As this Saga enters and after your draw step, add a lore counter. Sacrifice after III.)
I, II — Create a 2/2 white Knight creature token with vigilance.
III — Knights you control get +2/+1 until end of turn.
As a Saga enters the battlefield, its controller puts a lore counter on it. As your precombat main phase begins (immediately after your draw step), you put another lore counter on each Saga you control. Putting a lore counter on a Saga in either of these ways doesn't use the stack.
Each symbol on the left of a Saga's text box represents a chapter ability. A chapter ability is a triggered ability that triggers when a lore counter that is put on the Saga causes the number of lore counters on the Saga to become equal to or greater than the ability's chapter number. Chapter abilities are put onto the stack and may be responded to.
A chapter ability doesn't trigger if a lore counter is put on a Saga that already had a number of lore counters greater than or equal to that chapter's number. For example, the third lore counter put on a Saga causes the III chapter ability to trigger, but I and II won't trigger again.
Once a chapter ability has triggered, the ability on the stack won't be affected if the Saga gains or loses counters, or if it leaves the battlefield.
If multiple chapter abilities trigger at the same time, their controller puts them on the stack in any order. If any of them require targets, those targets are chosen as you put the abilities on the stack, before any of those abilities resolve.
If counters are removed from a Saga, the appropriate chapter abilities will trigger again when the Saga receives lore counters. Removing lore counters won't cause a previous chapter ability to trigger.
Once the number of lore counters on a Saga is greater than or equal to the greatest number among its chapter abilities—in the Dominaria set, this is always three—the Saga's controller sacrifices it as soon as its chapter ability has left the stack, most likely by resolving or being countered. This state-based action doesn't use the stack.
These Sagas bring a lot of story flavor to the set, and I'm excited to see how these they will interact in games. I just hope that they will be strong enough to be competitive in Standard or any other Constructed formats.
Image: Wizards of the Coast
There's one returning mechanic in Dominaria: Kicker, the mechanic that lets you pay more to give your spells do something extra.
Another new mechanic that will be introduced in Dominaria is Legendary Sorceries. You can only cast legendary sorcery cards if you control a legendary creature or planeswalker on your side of the battlefield.
There's also a rules change that comes with the release of Dominaria: Damage Can't Be Redirected to Planeswalkers.
"Previously, you could redirect noncombat damage that a source you control would deal to an opponent, having that source instead deal that damage to one of their planeswalkers," the release notes explained "A large number of cards that dealt a certain amount of damage to "target player" are receiving errata using the following guidelines:
Abilities that read "target creature or player" have been changed to "any target."
Abilities that read "target player" have been changed to "target player or planeswalker." However, if the amount of damage is calculated by using information about that player or objects they control, the ability remains unchanged and can now damage only the player.
Abilities that read "target opponent" have been changed to "target opponent or planeswalker" with the same exception listed above. These spells and abilities can target a planeswalker you control.
Abilities that deal damage but don't call for a target haven't received errata, with one exception (Vial Smasher the Fierce).
Image: Wizards of the Coast
Planeswalker cards from Dominaria have also been revealed:
Chandra, Bold Pyromancer (Planeswalker Deck only)
4RR
Legendary Planeswalker — Chandra
5
+1: Add RR. Chandra, Bold Pyromancer deals 2 damage to target player.
−3: Chandra, Bold Pyromancer deals 3 damage to target creature or planeswalker.
−7: Chandra, Bold Pyromancer deals 10 damage to target player and each creature and planeswalker they control.
Karn, Scion of Urza
+1: Reveal the top two cards of your library. An opponent chooses one of them. Put that card into your hand and exile the other with a silver counter on it.
−1: Put a card you own with a silver counter on it from exile into your hand.
−2: Create a 0/0 colorless Construct artifact creature token with "This creature gets +1/+1 for each artifact you control."
5
Teferi, Hero of Dominaria
3UW
+1: Draw a card. At the beginning of the next end step, untap two lands.
−3: Put target nonland permanent into its owner's library third from the top.
−8: You get an emblem with "Whenever you draw a card, exile target permanent an opponent controls."
4
JayaBalard
2RRR
+1: Add RRR. Spend this mana only to cast instant or sorcery spells.
+1: Discard up to three cards, then draw that many cards.
−8: You get an emblem with "You may cast instant and sorcery cards from your graveyard. If a card cast this way would be put into your graveyard, exile it instead."
Here are the general details for Dominaria:
Set Name:Dominaria
Number of Cards: 269
Magic Open House: April 14-15, 2018
Prerelease Weekend: April 21-22, 2018
Release Date: April 27, 2018
Draft Weekend: April 28-29, 2018
Magic League Begins: April 30, 2018
Standard Showdown Begins: May 6, 2018
Store Championship: June 30 - July 1, 2018
Magic Online Launch: April 23, 2018
On Sale in Magic Online: April 27, 2018
Official Three-Letter Code: DOM
Twitter Hashtag:#MTGDOM
Languages Available: English, Chinese Simplified, Chinese Traditional, French, German, Italian, Japanese, Korean, Portuguese, Russian, Spanish
Read more: Magic: The Gathering Head Designer Explains Why Slivers Won't Return in Dominaria
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