Magic Origins is the latest core set of cards in the always popular trading card game, Magic: the Gathering. With a raft of changes, as well as being the first Magic: the Gathering card set released in conjunction with Magic Duels, Magic Origins is meant to shake up the formula a bit. I’ve had the chance to go hands-on with the new deck, to bring you guys this rundown of the big new additions to Magic Origins.

Dual-Sided Planeswalkers:

With a focus on showing us the origin stories of the game’s iconic Planeswalkers, Magic Origins introduces something that has never been seen before in Magic: Dual-sided Planeswalkers. Dual-sided Planeswalkers cannot be played like a regular Planeswalker card and instead will initially need to be played as a legendary creature.

The legendary creature side of the card represents each Planeswalker prior to them gaining their god-like abilities. Once certain conditions are met you will be able to flip the card over to the Planeswalker side and make the most of its power.

In the case of Gideon Jura, the well-known plains Planeswalker, you will initially need to play him as Kytheon, Hero of Akros. For Kytheon to become Gideon, you must complete a combat where Kytheon and at least 2 other creatures attacked. This brings a new element to playing Planeswalker cards and means that you must develop specific strategies around being able to play them, and not just around how to use their powerful abilities.

Renown:

Renown is a brand new creature ability that has been introduced in Magic Origins. Renown is based around rewarding a creature after the first time it deals damage to a player. Renown awards +1/+1 counters and makes the creature ‘renowned’. The amount of counters that are added depends on the multiplier attached to the specific cards. Kytheon’s Irregulars, for example, are awarded 1 +1/+1 counter thanks to their Renown 1 ability.

Being renowned also gives benefits with some other spells that can be cast. With Enshrouding Mist any target will gain a +1/+1 counter until the end of the turn and prevent any damage to it. However, if it’s renowned it will also be untapped, which means that you could potentially use that card to defend an enemy attack after having used it in an attack against your enemy.

While Renown looks to be a definite buff to creature cards, without more spells that take advantage of this, it’s one of the weaker additions to Magic the Gathering.

Spell Mastery:

Spell Mastery is what I believe to be the most significant addition in Magic Origins. Spell Mastery is a new ability that is listed on certain Instant and Sorcery cards. If you have two or more instant or sorcery cards in your graveyard Spell Mastery will trigger on an applicable card. In the case of Gideon’s Phalanx your spell will go from just creating four 2/2 creature tokens to also making every creature you control indestructible for the turn. All that is required is for you to have used 2 other Instant or Sorcery spells beforehand and use an applicable spell.

This is a significant addition to Instant and Sorcery cards and encourages players to make their decks a bit more spell heavy, as opposed to just loading it with powerful creatures.

With the changes to the regular Magic: the Gathering formula brought about in Magic Origins, particularly the dual sided Planeswalker and Spell Mastery Ability, it looks like the game could undergo a bit of an upheaval in the near future. Wizards of the Coast has signaled that they are willing to make big changes to keep Magic: the Gathering fresh and interesting and I am certainly excited to see what the future holds.