After a jam-packed first two days of previews for Magic The Gathering's new set, Streets of New Capenna, Wizards of the Coast has given us a bit of a rest over the weekend. We only have a few previews on day three, but that doesn't mean there aren't some serious bombs in here.
From the daughter of the new head of the Maestros making casualty even scarier than it already was, to a much-needed Throne of Eldraine reprints, here's everything that was announced on day three of Magic's Streets of New Capenna previews.
Ballroom Fighters (translated name TBA)
Three generic, two white Creature – Human Warrior:
Whenever Ballroom Fighters attacks, Ballroom Fighters and up to one other target creature you control both gain your choice of either first strike or lifelink until the end of the turn.
Warriors and their attack triggers were a big part of Kamigawa: Neon Dynasty, which means there could be some neat synergy when Streets of New Capenna hits standard. Five mana for a 3/5 isn't impressive, but something that can give lifelink or first strike to itself and another creature makes this pretty sweet. Should've had blitz, though.
Raffine's Guidance (translated name TBA)
One white Enchantment – Aura:
Enchant creature. Enchanted creature gets +1/+1. You may cast Raffine's Guidance from your graveyard by paying two generic and one white instead of its normal mana cost.
For a common rarity enchantment, it's fine. This is a nice, cheap Enchantress trigger, and maybe a bit of graveyard recursion to keep those casts coming. But this isn't going to exactly rip apart the metagame of any format.
Errante, Street Artist (translated name TBA)
One blue Legendary Creature – Human Rogue
Flash, defender, haste.
Pay one generic and one blue, and tap Errante: copy target spell that was not cast. You can choose new targets for the copy.
This is exact kind of unassuming Commander that I love. Errante doesn't do much on her own, only copying spells that weren't cast… until you remember she's a Maestro, and the Maestros have access to casualty. Her entire role is to copy casualty spells for even more value, and with lightning and haste she can do it straight away. Balancing it with defender is a genius design move too: she can tap straight away for her ability thanks to haste, but she can't attack.
Faerie Vandal
One generic, one blue Creature – Faerie Rogue:
Flash, flying. Whenever you draw your second card each turn, put a +1/+1 counter on Faerie Vandal.
This is one of the first times we've seen a card from Throne of Eldraine be reprinted into Standard, which may have some who remember those overpowered days a bit anxious. But Faerie Vandal was a reasonable card then, and it'll work amazingly well with connive in Streets of New Capenna.
Witness Protection
One blue Enchantment – Aura:
Enchant creature. Enchanted creature loses all abilities and is a green and white Citizen creature with base power and toughness 1/1 named Legitimate Businessperson (it loses all other colours, card types, creature types, and names).
We've had transmutation effects like this before, but the fact this one renames the creature to Legitimate Businessperson is a total flavour win. This isn't as powerful as a Darksteel Mutation, but it'll shut down Commanders and other big threats in a hilarious way.
Graveyard Shift
Four generic, one black Sorcery:
This spell has flash as long as there are five or more mana values among cards in your graveyard. Return target creature from your graveyard to the battlefield.
The blue/black draft archetype will likely relate to the mana value of cards in your graveyard. Five mana for a simple regeneration is on the higher end of the curve for this kind of effect, but being able to do it instant speed does have some utility.
Unlucky Witness
One red Creature – Human Citizen
When Unlucky Witness dies, exile the top two cards of your library. Until your next end step, you may play one of those cards.
Streets of New Capenna is going in hard on impulsive draw being a key theme for red. If you can kill this off on your opponent's turn, you'll also have a long time to work out how you're going to cast the cards you've exiled. In Commander, this could be a cool card to jam into an Obeka, Brute Chronologist deck with plenty of graveyard recursion.
Luxurious Libation
X generic, one green Instant:
Target creature gets +X/+X until end of turn. Create a 1/1 green and white Citizen creature token.
A cheap mana sink spell is always great. There are decks that could make terrifying use of this, but in most cases it'll likely be used as either a combat trick or a way to block a big trampling creature. The token generation is a really nice added bonus, too.
Evolving Door
Two generic, one green Artifact:
Pay one generic, tap Evolving Door, Sacrifice a creature: Count the colours of the sacrificed creature, then search your library for a creature card that's exactly that many colours plus one. Exile that card, then shuffle. You may cast the exiled card. Activate only as a sorcery.
You'd be hard-pressed to find a card that swerves from exciting to disappointing so abruptly. Everything up to the last two sentences of this was awesome – a Birthing Pod that cares about colour is so creative, and in three-colour sets like this it has a lot more utility than you may expect. But then it drops the bombshell that you still have to pay for the creature you want to cast, and you can't do it at instant speed. It feels like over-aggressive balance when you're already limited by the number of colours in your deck.
Snooping Newsie
One blue, one black Creature – Human Rogue
When Snoopies Newsie enters the battlefield, mill two cards. As long as there are five or more mana values among cards in your graveyard, Snooping Newsie gets +1/+1 and has lifelink.
A common-rarity signpost to what appears to be the blue/black draft archetype. She's not exactly a bomb, but a 3/3 with lifelink for two mana is huge for limited and Pauper.
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