When we think of Magic: The Gathering, we think of fantasy worlds. It makes sense because they have been giving us rich stories and fantasy illustrations for thirty-five years, with extraordinary quality, where they have managed to stand out even more for the vibrancy and originality of their worlds than for the mechanics of the game. This makes the move they have decided to make at Wizards of the Coast for their new collection even more surprising: to abandon fantasy to embrace science fiction.
Named Edge of Eternities, the collection takes us to places we haven’t been before: to the far reaches of space. Because this collection wants to reveal to us that beyond all the different dimensions of the Magic multiverse, there exists a whole shared universe. Literally. Because space, what lies beyond the stars, plays a crucial role in the narrative of Magic. Or it will from now on.
This turn towards science fiction embraces space opera. With clear influences from works like Star Wars and Star Trek, we have everything we can expect from this kind of stories: remote planets, alien species, reinterpretations of races we already know, competing factions, and of course, huge spaceships.
Magic, now with lasers
But before diving into the details of the cards, it’s good to take a minute to appreciate what is particular about the setting of this new collection. In Edge of Eternities, we will travel to the solar system of Sothera, where a black hole threatens to devour everything if it continues to grow. This is something that may end up happening, as there is a cult, the Monoists, who believe it is their divine duty to feed the black hole, while the Celestial Palatinate, a coalition of various alien groups, wants to prevent them from doing so, leading to the War of Entropy.
Under this premise, Edge of Eternities occurs. A collection where, as it could not be otherwise, we have many new mechanics. All of them related to the fact that we are now in space.
If until now we had mounts and vehicles in Magic, now we will also have stations and spaceships. Their peculiarity is that these will not be piloted, but crewed. To do this, we will have to turn creatures with enough power as indicated by the card, at which point they will become creature cards, turning into artifact creatures. Some of the most powerful cards we have seen so far. Something they share with one of the new types of land, the planets, which can become stations and give us tremendous advantages, but at a very high cost.
The most interesting mechanic, however, is Warp. Being able to travel at full speed through space-time, some cards can be played for their alternative Warp cost. What does that mean? That although they will enter the battlefield, they will disappear at the end of our turn, allowing us to play them again for their normal cost from exile. This can give us great advantages thanks to their associated abilities. Also thanks to another of the new mechanics, Void, which will allow us to play cards for a lower cost, as long as a permanent has left the battlefield this turn or we have played a card for its Warp cost.
Finally, Edge of Eternities introduces a new type of tokens: the landers. Artifact tokens that we can sacrifice for two mana and search for a basic land that, on more than one occasion, can make a significant difference in our games.
Deep changes for formats
All of this comes, moreover, with significant changes for the game. On one hand, the release of Edge of Eternities coincides with the standard rotation. This means that all collections from Dominaria United to The Brothers’ War will no longer be playable in this format. In addition, in Commander, a new type of cards will be playable as commanders: vehicles, mounts, stations, and spaceships.
To reinforce this, the collection will be released with two commander decks that will feature space stations and ships as secondary commanders. Something they want to demonstrate is the capabilities of these cards in changing how commander is played, the most popular format of Magic: The Gathering right now.
Although Edge of Eternities is a radical change from what we are used to in Magic: The Gathering, it arrives at a perfect time. With the rotation, very strong cards are leaving, and after the resounding success of the Final Fantasy collection, it is time to do something different. Ensuring that fans have something to look at with attention and interest. And if traveling to space and discovering that there is something beyond the worlds of fantasy is not that something, it seems hard to imagine what will be.
