MTG: MagicCon Barcelona Previews Get All Timey-Wimey
From fairy tales to flying police boxes the MTG previews from Barcelona make the future releases look incredible.
Welcome in Planeswalkers and Praetors! We are solidly in the middle of preview season for the last half of 2023 and it’s already shaping up to be an amazing finisher. Thanks to the timeline released earlier this year we know what sets we can look forward to. And, thanks to the preview panel at MagicCon Barcelona on Friday, we’ve gotten a few glimpses at the cards from the upcoming sets. Between the return to Ixalan and Eldraine and the Universes Beyond set taking us on a journey with the Doctor, there’s a lot to look forward to. We still don’t know everything but we know enough to be excited about the upcoming releases.
MagicCon Barcelona Previews
Wilds of Eldraine
Eldraine is one of the most popular settings in Magic history, and for good reason. The fairytale setting and “adventure” cards have drawn in fans of both lore and meta rules. Wilds of Eldraine looks to capitalize on both, bringing in more fables and continuing the storytelling theme. Like Eldraine before, the set will be focused around two color pairs similar to Ravnica, each based on a famous story. We don’t know all the featured stories just yet, but a few were revealed at the preview, like Snow White (White/Black) and Little Red Riding Hood (Red/Green). Another exciting return is the only planeswalker to every rattle Elspeth: Ashiok. I’m a huge story nerd, and I’ve always loved old fairytales, so I can’t wait to see what other stories the set features.
Doctor Who
Venturing back into a realm outside the magic multiverse, the next Universes Beyond set will take us through time and space with the Doctor. The mini-set will include four featured Commander decks, a Secret Lair release, and a collection of Collector’s Boosters. We got a fast preview of the Tenth Doctor a couple months ago, but more featured cards were revealed at MagicCon, like Rose Tyler, Missy, River Song. In addition to the exciting standard rules the set will introduce two new mechanics; Doctor’s companion and villainous choice. The former is similar to partner, allowing you to take an additional commander if one has the ability and the other is the Doctor (any of them). The latter is like voting, except only one player votes, and both of the choices are bad.
Another exciting addition from the set will be the return of Planechase, appropriate for a set about the Doctor. There will be several new “planes” based on locales from the show, as well as phenomena that mirror trials the Doctor faced. I can’t wait to see how these cards shift the new meta, and if the decks will be as powerful as the Warhammer 40k decks.
Lost Caverns of Ixalan
We didn’t get much about this set admittedly. We have confirmation that the set will be slightly different than the previous venture to this plane, and we know Huatli will be back, albeit without her spark. Gods will rise, angels will take to the field for the first time, and the dinos will take a bit of a backseat to the shifting battles over the power source at Ixalan’s core. Only time will tell what else the set has for us.
