Posted in: Card Games, Games, Magic: The Gathering, Tabletop, Wizards of the Coast | Tagged: Dominaria, Dominaria United, magic, MTG, MTGDMU, Phyrexia, preview, WotC

Magic: The Gathering: Dominaria United Preview Season Kicks Off

Hello, players, collectors, and fans of Magic: The Gathering, the premier collectible trading card game designed, developed, and produced by Wizards of the Coast! The preview season for Magic's newest set, Dominaria United, is now officially underway, starting off strong with a kickoff stream that just played on Twitch and YouTube. Let's look at what Wizards has shown us so far!

The Premise of Dominaria United

The story of this new set is expansive – about as expansive as Dominaria itself. Considering that this plane of existence has existed for the entire span of Magic's 30-year life, the set-up is almost too much to get into. The gist of it at current, however, is this: The Phyrexians have invaded Dominaria and have installed sleeper agents in every part of the plane, into every class and species in and out of society, and they've even turned some of the beloved legendary characters from the story into sleepers as well. Nobody is safe, and nearly everybody is suspect.

And Now…. The Cards of Dominaria United!

This is probably what the majority of you are here to see. Dominaria United has a ton of interesting cards already previewed by Wizards of the Coast. Here are a few highlights that have just been previewed in this way:

Of course, with every recent Magic: The Gathering set release, a number of Commander decks are released in conjunction. The two decks for this set feature a white-black-red deck headed by Dihada, Binder of Wills, and a five-color deck lead by Jared Carthalion:

Specialty Treatments

This set, like many sets before it, contains a number of cards with alternate frame and art treatments. These include borderless "pain lands" (yes, this is the cycle of lands that includes Sulfurous Springs and Adarkar Wastes!),  as well as stained glass basic lands and legendary creatures. The stained glass cards are particularly stunning, especially in foil, or so we have heard.

Mechanics of Dominaria United

There are two returning mechanics in Dominaria United. Domain is a pseudo-keyword that cares about the number of basic land types among lands that you control, and affects the cards that care about it accordingly. Furthermore, we get Kicker, which is an additional cost that provides an extra effect if the card is kicked.

We also get Enlist, a new mechanic that, when you attack, allows you to tap another creature that could attack and add its power to the enlisting creature's power for the turn. This can turn your wide board state into a taller one quickly!

Finally, Sagas are coming back but with a twist: with the new Read Ahead mechanic, players choose which "chapter" of the Saga they wish to start on. For these specific new cards, you don't have to wait three turns to get that final ability, but rather can get it right away but at the cost of forgoing the earlier abilities.

Are you excited for Magic: The Gathering's newest set, Dominaria United? Let us know your hype in the comments below!

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