Coming off the heels of the successful Final Fantasy collaboration set, Magic: The Gathering charts its course amongst the stars with Edge of Eternities. This set pays homage to Star Trek, Alien, science fiction, and the bountiful journey of space travel with cultists, soldiers, insects, and horrors to far-off planets.
We got the chance to play this space-themed set for 24 hours with Magic: The Gathering Arena, Magic’s digital version of the popular card game, before the set’s official launch. This set utilizes and incorporates many science-fiction themes and brings them to the universe of Magic without compromising its grand story.
MTG Edge of Eternities Introduces Warp, Void, and Spacecraft Mechanics
Warp is one of the newest abilities of this set. On certain cards, by paying a reduced mana cost from the hand, the card is played, but is then exiled at the player’s end step. By warping, you can still play that card from Exile, but for its non-Warp cost later in the game. Cards with Warp will allow you to use the Creature’s ability, such as how Starfield Shepherd can search your Library for a Plains card to add to your hand.
What I love about Warp is that it allows a potent impact early in the game, which sometimes can be a struggle if you do not have enough Land resources to play high-cost creatures. Now, select Creatures are both low-cast and high-cost at the same time without much of a deterrent. Still, even though they do leave at the end step, a Creature like the Green 4-Cost Drix Fatekeeper can be played as a 2-Cost Creature and can give another one of your Creatures a permanent +1/+1 and give it Trample to hit over enemy Creatures. Yes–the 2-Cost Drix Fatekeeper is exiled, but that +1/+1 and Trample buff stays even when leaving the field. Later, when you do have enough Mana to spare, you can cast Drix Fatekeeper again, but this time it will not be exiled at the end step, and you can give that +1/+1 alongside the Trample buff to another Creature on your field.
Many cards in this set also have the new ability called Void. If a nonland permanent leaves the battlefield this turn or a spell was warped, then Void will trigger, such as Elegy Acolyte, which can create a 2/2 Artifact Robot with the card’s Void ability. Void abilities can trigger with Warp, a Creature–both yours or your opponent’s–is destroyed/exiled, and this creates endless possibilities to create new advantages. It is very easy to trigger Warp and Void abilities together, since so many Creature cards in this set accompany these abilities. These two abilities incorporate the space-theme not just narratively, but through the card game mechanics, and thankfully, not just the highest rarity cards have Warp or Void. Many commons like All-Fates Stalker and Insatiable Skittermaw will have these abilities, respectively.
Many card games sometimes put powerful abilities or keywords behind the highest rarity cards, which can end up difficult to pull and/or buy, but allowing even budget players to use these two new powerful keywords–it aids in creating a playing environment so the newest tricks are not just for the players with the most coin but can be employed by everyone with immaculate combo potential.
Edge of Eternities Brings Sci-Fi Flavor and Powerful Combos to Magic With Spacecrafts
It would not be science fiction without Spacecrafts, and Edge of Eternities blasts them off as Artifacts. Spacecrafts will do something upon casting, such as The Serima, allowing you to add a Legendary Creature from the Library to your hand. Spacecrafts all have a designated number, such as the Susurian Dirgecraft having a 7+ that needs to reach that amount or more to have it in play. These Spacecraft cards start with 0 counters, but by tapping one or more of your creatures on your turn, you add the Creature’s Power as the number of counters on the Spacecraft.
For example, if you have two Creatures with one being a 3/2 and another being a 4/1, by tapping these two Creatures, you Station the Susurian Dirgecraft, and now you have a 4/3 with flying. Spacecrafts are powerful due to their Flying ability, and some of these cards have additional abilities, such as Specimen Freighter, sending the top four cards of the opponent’s Library to the Discard Pile.
Sometimes, in a set, there can be an uneven amount of Flying Creatures for Green, White, Black, Blue, or Red, but Edge of Eternities gives each colour its own Spacecrafts. This helps make the draft format smoother, since sometimes drafting a Creature with Flying can win a match all on its own, if a person decides to go with a different colour that does not have much to destroy or counter said Flying Creature.
There are even some cards, such as Flight Deck Coordinator, which, if you have at least two tapped Creatures at the end step, then you gain two life. So even if you have no Creatures to block because you are Stationing Spacecrafts, there are cards in the set that do benefit from Creatures being tapped.
Edge of Eternities oozes creative decision-making, combo potential, and the expansive fictional deep space for Magic: The Gathering. It makes this universe larger with a new setting without having to collaborate on a previously established IP. The set brings colourful art reminiscent of decades-old science-fiction comic books and pays homage to media of all sorts that have space travel, horrific creatures, and faraway solar systems to discover.
Be sure to check out Edge of Eternities in Arena or go to your local card shop.
