KTK Digest 1: #FetchlandsConfirmed, Mechanics, Khans, Planeswalkers, and More!


Khans of Tarkir spoiler season is in full swing, and it's time for our first spoiler digest.

We've got a lot of ground to cover between the release of Duel Decks: Speed vs Cunning, the PAX Party, and the start of the first spoiler week, so I'm just going to dive right in to it.

Fetchlands Confirmed


First and foremost, we have the exciting news that the Onslaught fetchlands are returning. Anyone who has been playing Magic since Zendikar or who participates in any older format can attest to the power of fetchlands. They are some of the most-played cards in the game in any older format. Misty Rainforest, Verdant Catacombs, and Scalding Tarn are three of the top 5 most-played cards in Modern, while all of the blue fetchlands (Rainforest, Tarn, Strand, and Delta) plus Catacombs are all in Legacy's top 20 most-played.

Fetchlands are highly valued in every eternal format for their interaction with shocklands and original dual-lands, but they provide a lot of other benefits as well. In Standard, we can expect to see them played alongside Courser of Kruphix, who negates their lifeloss (and gains you extra life if you have multiples) and can take advantage of the shuffle to bury unwanted cards or get extra land plays from the top of the library. Additionally, with delve making a comeback, they serve as a great way to fuel the graveyard to feed the mechanic.


Wedgelands Confirmed


The other cycle of lands in Khans isn't nearly as powerful, but it still generates some excitement, particularly among Commander players and Peasant Cube managers who have been waiting for wedge counterparts to Shards of Alara's Savage Lands cycle for years. Enters-the-battlefield-tapped lands are not the strongest, but they frequently show up in Standard decks. Slower midrange and control decks favour them in particular, as seen with the shard lands, Lorwyn's Vivid Lands, and, most recently, Theros's Scry Temples.

Mechanics

Each of the five clans of Tarkir has its own unique mechanic. These mechanics are all fairly simple, but promise an exciting and dynamic limited environment.



Abzan, the WGB clan, is focused on the endurance of the dragon. Their mechanic, outlast, exemplifies this, as it helps them grind out longer games by systematically growing its threats. Outlast appears very limited at first, given the sorcery-speed restriction and tap activation cost, which requires you to sacrifice both attacking and blocking in order to activate it. But the benefits offered can, over time, overwhelm any opposing force, creating an interesting tension. Cards like Ainok Bond-Kin and Ivorytusk Fortress offer strong incentives to activate the mechanic, as they provide further abilities to your creatures with +1/+1 counters.




Jeskai, the UWR clan, is focused on the cunning of the dragons. Prowess demonstrates this principle, allowing you to use any instant or flash artifact/enchantment as a combat trick to boost power and toughness. Flying Crane Technique is a perfect example of this, triggering prowess on each creature that has it mid-combat, while also buffing an army into a force to be reckoned with on offense or defense.





Sultai, the BUG clan, is focused on the ruthlessness of the dragon. They will do anything it takes to secure victory, even exiling their own graveyards to pay for powerful creatures and spells with delve. Necropolis Fiend, in particular, is exciting, as it has stats that are very close to that of the occasional Legacy-staple Tombstalker. It sacrifices a point of power and costs one mana more, but in return it gains access to a powerful Grim Lavamancer-style removal ability. Delve synergizes nicely with fetchlands, as well as with any card that puts cards into the graveyard, like Bitter Revelation or the Sultai khan.





Mardu, the RBW clan, is focused on the speed of the dragon. They plan to attack early and often, and raid rewards them for doing so. This simple trigger allows them to get bonuses on many of their creatures and spells simply for doing what they already want to do. Cards like Ankle Shanker help enable this by making attacking easier.





Temur, the GRU clan, is focused on the savagery of the dragon. Ferocious embodies this by rewarding Temur for playing large creatures. Rattleclaw Mystic helps to accelerate into these fatties, like Sagu Mauler.




It is also worth noting that there is a lot of internal synergy between these mechanics. Clans can easily borrow cards of their colors from other clans. It is easy to enable ferocious by outlasting a creature to 4 power, utilizing prowess to pump a creature to 4 power, or simply casting a fatty with delve. Raid decks can benefit from having aggressive ferocious, prowess, or delve creatures to attack with. Prowess decks likely cast a lot of cheap instants and sorceries, enabling them to cast delve cards more easily. And these are just a few interactions that are evident from the cards revealed so far.



KHAAAAAAAAANS


Each clan also has a khan that plays nicely with their mechanic. Four out of the five have been revealed thus far.



Anafenza, the Foremost


Abzan's khan is Anafenza. She provides an efficiently-costed body along with two great effects. Her +1/+1 counter ability works well with outlast, as you can tap a creature with outlast to let her put another counter on it safely. It also plays nicely with Abzan's cards that care about +1/+1 counters. Her second ability is an obvious Sultai counter, as it denies them creatures to dredge, and it can also shut off other graveyard strategies. I would not be surprised to see this in Modern in a Hatebear-type deck.

Narset, Enlightened Master


Narset is Jeskai's khan. Low power and toughness combined with hexproof and a very powerful attack trigger make this card reminiscient of Geist of Saint Traft. It's twice the converted mana cost of Geist, but the benefits offered on each swing are tremendous. You get to dig four cards deep in your deck and play each non-creature spell you find FOR FREE. Commander players are already going crazy over the potential of flipping into multiple effects like Time Stretch and Gratuitous Violence, some of which would give you additional opportunities to let you dig even deeper. If you flip instants or flash cards, she can also give you free prowess triggers, making her extremely threatening.

Sidisi, Brood Tyrant


Sultai's khan, Sidisi, does a great half-Grave Titan impression. Both when entering the battlefield and with each attack, she will mill you three cards. If any of those cards were creatures, she gives you a zombie token. She also gives zombie tokens if you can mill creatures into your graveyard by other means, which of course makes Commander players drool at the thought of Mesmeric Orb plus Basalt Monolith to mill large swaths of their own libraries. The cards she mills obviously help to feed delve as well.

Zurgo Helmsmasher


Zurgo, the khan of Mardu, has been known since San Diego Comic-Con, but that doesn't make him any less exciting. 7 power, haste, and indestructibility on your turn make him the perfect raid enabler. In fact, he won't even let you miss out on raiding, as he attacks every turn. Commander players are already jamming him into decks alongside Wrath of God effects to clear a path for him - or, for the more Spike-ish players, Jokulhaups effects to leave him as the last man standing.

Surrak Dragonclaw


Temur is the only clan without their khan spoiled yet, and we eagerly await the reveal of Mr. Bear-Puncher himself.

Mythic Roundup



Both planeswalkers for the set have also been spoiled, as well as a powerful artifact and a Mythic for each mono color. Wingmate Roc and See the Unwritten are pictured above, and Sarkhan is Red's Mythic. This brings the total number of spoiled Mythics to 11, with Surrak Dragonclaw and 3 currently-unknown Mythis remaining.


Sarkhan, the Dragonspeaker


Sarkhan returns, doing a great impression of a Stormbreath Dragon that can also dish out Flame Slash or ult into a double Grafted Skullcap. He combines successful elements of two popular previous planeswalkers, Koth of the Hammer and Gideon Jura. As an added bonus, he plays into many clan mechanics. He's a noncreature spell to trigger prowess, and comes down as a hasty, 4-power dragon to turn on both raid and ferocious.

Sorin, Solemn Visitor


Sorin also returns, yet again in a white/black form. He does a great remix of his Dark Ascension incarnation, offering lifelink with a +1/+0 anthem until your next turn and vampire tokens (this time as a -2 ability with 2/2 stats and flying). His ultimate is easily accessible at -6 with a starting loyalty of 4, and offers a powerful one-sided The Abyss effect.

Ugin's Nexus


Ugin's Nexus is quite the engima, offering an extra turn when it leaves play, but stopping all extra turns while it sticks around. The Johnny in me immediately thought about ways to break it. Stolen Identity doesn't work, as even though the copy would die immediately to the legend rule and trigger an extra turn, the original would block it. The best I've been able to come up with is Prototype Portal, which can give you a token copy every turn to sacrifice for another turn.

Empty the Pits


Empty the Pits is a strong finisher for control decks, allowing them to produce a potentially lethal batch of zombies at instant speed. Its mana cost seems high, but delve allows you to utilize your graveyard to pay most or all of the XX cost and provide a truly terrifying game-ender.

Clever Impersonator


Clever Impersonator is the latest in Clone technology. Sporting a 2UU mana cost and a mythic rarity, Impersonator gives amazing flexibility by allowing you to copy any non-land permanent. This makes it the first card that is capable of copying a planeswalker, outside of corner cases like Mycosynth Lattice + Sculpting Steel. Impersonator rounds out the week one mythics at 11 total, leaving the Temur khan and three currently-unknown mythics remaining.

Cycle Watch



Ascendancy


We've also seen parts of several other cycles. The ascendancy cycle is a set of 3-mana, tri-colored enchantments that each support their clan. Temur Ascendancy gives haste to your fatties and provides you card advantage for casting them. Abzan Ascendancy grows your team even further, while providing tokens if your outlasting creatures are removed. Mardu Ascendancy gives you an extra incentive to attack, expendable tokens to trigger raid with if your opponent sets up killer blocks, and a sacrifice ability that can save your entire team from sweepers like Bile Blight, Anger of the Gods, or Drown in Sorrow. Sultai Ascendancy gives you a powerful card-filtering mechanism that also fuels dredge.


Charms


There's also a new cycle of charms, featuring a new, clearer, bullet-point list formatting for the modes. Sultai Charm is the only one we've seen so far, but it offers an incredible combination of Ultimate Price, Naturalize, and Catalog, which has already put it in contention for the most powerful charm of all time.


Other Goodies


Not (necessarily) part of any cycle, there have also been multiple exciting removal spells revealed. Crackling Doom offers a pinpoint edict effect with some nice burn tacked onto it. Utter End is an insanely versatile removal spell, offering exile at instant speed on a card that can hit any nonland permanent.
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