Colossal monsters, new mechanics and interface improvements. Ikoria breaks into the strength of Godzilla to present a powerful new Magic set
Although we had it for quite a few months before, it wasn't officially until the end of last year when Magic The Gathering Arena was officially released for PC. Arena was an attractive wash in the face of the Magic formula in digital, it was beginner-friendly and it put the brand back on everyone's lips, at a time when the popularity of card games continued to grow.
In addition to all this, Arena managed to translate the Magic formula into a video game without compromising its complexity and density. Now comes Ikoria: World of Behemots, the new great expansion of Magic and the last of the 2020 collection, and one that puts on the board a series of significant novelties and very funny mechanics. At Meristation we were able to test it a day before its launch with an account that had access to all the cards and we have explored the new possibilities offered by this collection. And now we tell you about it.
A colossal collection
Colossal beasts and their devastating effects are the headliner of this new Ikoria collection. 387 cards in total are added to the collection among which are some old acquaintances (Pacifism, Divine Arrow or Deadweight find their place among several others again), some humans, artifacts and powerful enchantments, three Planeswalkers and many, many beasts and monsters of all kinds.
Without wanting to diminish the prominence of a collection full of interesting creatures, the clear protagonists are what they are here. Giant moths, gorillas destroying buildings … Magic games can turn into a monster movie set with many of the new additions to the collection.
The inspiration is very clear, and in an unprecedented collaboration with Toho even Godzilla, Kong, and the rest of Japanese kaijus can join our decks through skins that can be obtained for a limited time. The powerful luminous incubator Moth becomes none other than Mothra, or the symbiotic Tadpole becomes Babygodzilla.
This is a masterful move to seduce fans and put the set on the lips of new players, a set that is pretty appealing anyway for other reasons.
WotC is always careful when developing new balanced collections that cater to different gaming philosophies. In the lands of Ikoria, monsters are everywhere and come in all colors, shapes, and sizes, they come from the air, from the land, and from the sea, but there are also rough humans who barricade themselves in their strongholds, warriors, and hunters. Tribal decks, those made up of creatures of a particular type, gain new meaning in this collection, not only because it is promoted thematically, but because new mechanics invite it.
New Mechanics: Companions and Mutations
Companions add a new mechanic to Magic that opens up possibilities for new deck-building formulas. Similar to how Planeswalkers or Commanders work, Companions are creatures around which our entire deck is structured. They limit the introduction of cards but propose a series of strategies in the deck that are enhanced when the Companion is present.
These creatures are not ubiquitous, as commander cards are, so building these decks involves developing strategies that allow us to protect you or get you back from the graveyard should it fall. In these first phases of the new set, the goal has yet to be shaped, and it will be necessary to see to what extent these types of decks are competitive, but they are certainly very fun and give way to very satisfactory synergies between creatures.
Mutation mechanics are other great additions to Ikoria. It allows us to unite two non-human creatures into one that maintains the statistics and identity of one of them but contains the abilities of both. The possibilities of Mutation are very high. It can be used in decks whose creatures benefit from specific abilities that make it much more powerful. It can also be the main mechanic that a deck rotates around, as there are creatures that activate new effects when they are mutated or when there are mutations around them.
Ciclar is another of the additions to Ikoria. Creatures with cycling allow us to discard that card and remove another from the deck, often activating effects they enter for or synergizing with creatures, artifacts, or enchantments on the table. The mechanics are an old acquaintance that comes back to Magic and works especially well with deck types looking to speed up the progression of plays.
The addition of these mechanics is significant enough to give the collection a strong identity, but if we also add the attractive addition of the Kaiju (Toho skins included) we are left with one of the most mechanically interesting and fun sets of this rotation. .
What the present tells us and what the future promises
With the expansion of Ikoria we come to the end of the 2020 Magic collection, and it is not only the addition of the new cards, but also a good time for MTG Arena to get ready. The game has taken advantage of this edition to make subtle but important changes. The search engine is one of them. New filters have been added to make searches more specific and a new button has even been added that allows filtering by cards compatible with our current Companion, in sync with the new companion mechanics.
Drafts are another thing that has received a major facelift with this new collection. With Ikoria, drafts with other humans come to MTG Arena for the first time, since until now they were with bots. Up to 8 players can now sit at a virtual table and improvise a deck on the fly with the cards they select one by one as they arrive. It is one of the most common ways of playing Magic and it is something that fans have been asking for for a long time. It is also the most fun and profitable way to get hold of a good number of the new cards a set offers.
Perhaps something that can be thrown at these new drafts is that the economy has been remodeled to make them less beginner-friendly. Its admission price is much higher, but it is also true that it is compensated by the other side because the rewards are much higher, being able to get up to 2000 gems for 7 victories, a not inconsiderable amount considering, for example, that the Pass Mastery (which is the battle pass in MTG Arena) is 3400 gems.
The horizon of Magic The Gathering Arena seems as rosy as its present. In the coming months we will see the arrival of the new main collection of 2021, and towards the end of the year its first major expansion with Zendikar Rising. In the most recent developer diary, those responsible for Arena confirmed that a mobile version is in production right now, and that it will arrive at the end of the year, thus expanding the gaming experience to new platforms, as many of its competitors are already doing.
As if this were not enough, WotC continues to work on bringing new classic cards to the historical format with a new Anthological Collection, something that will be done in parallel to the launch of new formats, expanding its collection much more and trying to cover from anthology to anthology (this it would be the third) the more than twenty years that Magic the Gathering has on its back.
If a few months ago with its launch we could not but praise the many benefits that made Arena a complete and refreshing proposal when it comes to enjoying MTG digitally, Ikoria is demonstrated not only as a forceful new set but as the general reaffirmation of the good shape of the title. WotC is doing an excellent job with the implementation of each new collection, with the incorporation of new exclusive Arena proposals such as the Anthology collections, and listening to the feedback of thousands of players increasingly convinced that this is the ideal way to play Magic. MTG Arena is here to stay.
