Wizards of the Coast has given us our first look at the summer's main three Magic: The Gathering releases, with early previews for Double Masters 2022, Dominaria United, and the Warhammer 40,000 Commander decks.
Highlights included dates for all three products, a new type of booster pack, and confirmation we'll be seeing the end of the current Magic story sometime next year. Uncharacteristically for these sneak previews, we did also get a new mechanic revealed for the Warhammer 40,000 decks, known as squad.
Like other sneak previews hosted by Weekly MTG, the stream mainly focused on things like new art treatments and the packaging art itself, rather than having a substantial number of new cards you'd expect more from the formal debut stream later on.
Warhammer 40,000
First, we saw the Warhammer 40,000 Commander decks. Part of Magic's ongoing Universes Beyond umbrella brand, it is a collection of four Commander decks and three Secret Lair drops.
Though only one deck's commander was revealed, we were given the names and colours of all four:
- The mono-black Necron Dynasties.
- The Esper (white/blue/black) Forces of the Imperium.
- The Temur (green/blue/red) Tyranid Swarm.
- The Grixis (blue/black/red) The Ruinous Powers. This one had its commander confirmed to be Abaddon the Despoiler, who gives spells in your hand cascade as long as their mana value is lower than the total life opponents have lost that turn. Interestingly, it also confirmed at least one new creature type will be in the decks, as Abaddon is an Astartes Warrior.
Alongside the four decks themselves, it was confirmed that, for the first time, we will be getting Collector's decks. Like a Collector's Booster, which will be fully foiled with the new 'surge foil' treatment. Wizards didn't confirm what surge foiling is, but did say it would reveal it closer to the decks' launch.
The decks will use flavour words to give the cards a more Warhammer flavour. Flavour words aren't new mechanics, but do evoke the feeling of Warhammer, such as on Abaddon's Mark of the Chaos Ascendant flavour word for his cascading ability.
However, we will also be seeing some new mechanics. The only one confirmed so far is squad, an additional casting cost that lets you copy a creature for as many times as you can pay the squad cost. The card used to reveal this was Vanguard Suppressor, which has a squad cost of two generic mana.
The decks will include reprints of older Magic cards too, but they will be given new, Warhammer 40,000-themed art to fit in with the flavour. The only card of this kind shown off was the promo version of Fabricate.
The three Secret Lair drops will explore other areas of the Warhammer canon, with drops based on the Orks of 40,000, Age of Sigmar, and Blood Bowl.
The Warhammer 40,000 decks' preview season starts on July 26, and will launch on August 12. The Secret Lairs will likely be dotted around that time as well.
Double Masters 2022
Next, we saw Double Masters 2022, a reprint-focused set. Like the original Double Masters, 2022 combines a higher power level than other sets with a higher density of rares and foils. Each booster pack will have two rares or mythic rares, and two foils. It will also contain several new art treatments for the cards it reprints.
Etched foil treatments are coming back in the same style we first saw in 2020's Commander Legends. Every rare and mythic rare will have an etched foil version. However, we'll also be seeing a new 'textured foil' treatment, which adds a light textured feeling to the card that looks very nice indeed.
Fortunately, the original Double Masters' controversial $99 VIP Boosters aren't returning. Instead, we're getting Double Masters 2022 in Draft and Collector's Boosters. There are no Set Boosters this time, likely because the smaller pack size interferes with the ratio of rares found in each pack.
A few spicy reprints were confirmed, such as Kozilek, Butcher of Truth; Wrenn and Six, and Liliana, the Last Hope. The product art also shows us one thing we already knew: the creepy child Planeswalker Aminatou will be appearing somewhere in set.
We don't have to wait too long until Double Masters 2022. The preview season will begin on June 16 (just three weeks after Commander Legends: Battle for Baldur's Gate's finishes), ahead of a full set release on July 8.
Dominaria United
The third product we saw was a very brief look at Dominaria United. We weren't shown any cards from this set, but we were shown the product packaging which confirmed a few things.
The set was described as kicking off the story to carry Magic through its 30th anniversary, with "the fate of Dominaria and the multiverse in jeopardy". The story will be told over several consecutive sets (likely coming to an end in Q2 2023 with two sets released in quick succession, currently codenamed Marathon and Marathon Epilogue).
The packaging shows a few of the faces we expect to appear in the set, such as Karn, Jodah, Shanna, Liliana (back in her usual attire after her stint as a teacher in Strixhaven), Ajani, and Braids. It also confirms that Dominaria United will be getting the full product line-up of Draft, Set, and Collector's Boosters.
A new inclusion in the line-up starting with Dominaria United are Jumpstart Boosters. Appearing to be a replacement of the Theme Boosters released for previous sets, Jumpstart Boosters are based on popular Jumpstart set (and its awesome Arena tie-in, Jump In!).
Jumpstart Boosters will contain half of a randomised, themed deck. By buying two (potentially from different sets, as they will be designed to be compatible with each other) and jamming them together, you have a different take on limited play over the usual sealed and draft games. While most of the cards will be from the main Dominaria United set, there will be "mechanically unique rares" made explicitly for Jumpstart.
Dominaria United will launch on September 9. The dates for the preview season have yet to be announced.
Wizards Presents
Finally, we were given a date for the announcement of next year's Magic sets.
On August 18, Wizards of the Coast will be hosting its own Wizards Presents showcase event. This will have new reveals for Dungeons & Dragons, Magic: The Gathering, and a few more unconfirmed things. The 2023 sets, of which there are allegedly five, will all be revealed at Wizards Presents.
In a follow-up blog post, the codenames for the sets were revealed. While codenames have little to no connection with the content of the sets themselves, it did reveal we're getting two "Marathon" sets released very, very close to each other. Considering the current Phyrexian arc will be coming to an end next year, it's likely that this will be the big event sets, like how Guilds of Ravnica and Ravnica Allegiance led directly into The War of the Spark.