Magic Open House for Dominaria is this weekend, and that means that spoilers have been coming out over the course of the month. Prerelease is the following weekend, and I’ve already preordered a box of Dominaria, so I will be able to pick it up at that point. The official release is the weekend after, and I assume these cards will be making their way in to Magic Arena soon as well. Since spoilers are complete by now, I thought that I’d offer some of my thoughts on some of the great cards that are coming, and show off some of those that I’m looking forward to the most (through the EDH lens of course). This has become a thing around here, so I’m sure you understand where this is going. Let’s get started!

Multi-color:

The Planes walkers for this set are clearly Teferi and Chandra with a showing by Jaya as well. Teferi is busted in some of his other forms, but these ones are so-so. Probably decent for superfriends, and his oath definitely goes in that style deck. Nearly all of these creatures could be a commander in their own right, but I feel like most will slot into decks that I already have built (or have brewed). The simic merfolk will slot right into Kumena, for instance. The Orzhov Vampire will love to hang out with Edgar Markov, and though I won’t use all of these cards in decks at the moment, most are pretty good additions to particular deck styles, so I wanted to showcase them. I know if I pull any of these they will either see play or be traded away for other cards that I need, but I’m impressed with amount of Legendary creatures that are in this set, along with most of them being pretty powerful in their own right.

White:

Besides the new Historic keyword, we’ve also got Sagas, which are a legendary enchantment type. They do a series of things for multiple turns, and there are only a few that I find useful, one being the Fall of the Thran, mainly because it’s an Armageddon but you’ll get some land back (particularly good if you can remove opponent’s graveyards from play before they get the land back). There’s finally an Angel lord, and I’ll slot that right into Kaalia. Danitha also will slot right into Sram since she fills a void for making equipment and auras cheaper and that’s something a Voltron commander wants. There are some great cards here that can potentially beef up a number of decks out there.

Blue:

There are probably more blue cards that I could showcase but these were the few that really stood out. I’m finally building an Inalla deck (from the C17 precon) because of the dean above — he’s basically a Panharmonicon on legs that interacts with Wizards, and wizard tribal works best with Inalla. There a couple new counterspells here as well that are pretty decent, and the Master Wizard is great for spellslinger decks!

Black:

More goodies for black, including more removal and a pretty decent Saga. I’m really loving the Demonlord for kaalia and the Knight is a potentially awesome commander, particularly due to one of the lands coming out in this set helping mono black make big mana which you’ll need for that kicker cost. Otherwise there’s some good card draw and value for the color in this set.

Red:

Red is typically pretty meh regardless of the set, but that Chandra isn’t bad, and I’m seeing some good Goblin options for Krenko. The Chainwhirler is a nice board wipe on a stick (against token decks) while the Squee reprint is a nice addition as he doesn’t really ever die. Sure he doesn’t do much else but he can help recover from wipes. Also a new version of lightning bold for Wizard decks is pretty good too.

Green:

I wasn’t too impressed with the options in green in Dominaria. There are some interesting cards but nothing that makes me want to create a new brew and nothing that really slots into decks I build. However, green has been ramping in power for the last few sets so perhaps it’s time it took the back burner for a while. Multani is good in landfall decks, and a new Naturalize that also nets you a land on the battlefield is pretty much a new staple.

Artifacts/Lands:

There are some awesome artifacts in this set, I’ve highlighted some of the best here. A reprint of Gilded Lotus is a nice boon and will likely bring the price of this staple down a bit. A new Mox is also important for decks that need artifact ramp. I love that new wall, and will throw it in my janky wall deck. The blad and the Weatherlight are both going in Sram for me, and both are very good in that regard. I’m also happy to see them reprint more of the “have” lands, another set of those is good for budget mana bases. Lastly, Cabal Stronghold is a great addition to any mono black deck — it’s not as good as Cabal Coffers, but it’s still definitely worth a slot and I’m going to try and brew something in the color after I get my hands on the new cards.

Overall I think this set is better than the Ixalan block by a mile. Despite enjoying that set and seeing Dinosaurs and Pirates becoming viable tribes and also enjoying the new Merfolk and Vampires, it just wasn’t all that exciting. This set excites me and sort of resets the EDH meta a bit, and I look forward to opening up the box when the time comes to see what I get. I’ll try and do a post about that when the time comes similar to the post that I made back when I bought a box of Aether Revolt. Until then, happy gaming all!