Edge of Eternities (set code EOE) is the next main Magic: The Gathering set after Final Fantasy, and the latest in-universe story with original Magic characters and lore. According to the designers, it’s a “science fantasy” setting instead of science fiction, and promises not to be too much of a deviation from what Magic fans have come to love. The set introduces new mechanics (and brings back some old favorites), new card types, some great reprints, and a vast new setting to enjoy it all in.

Worldbuilding and Continuing the Magic Story.

EOE takes place in the Edge, a region at the furthest reaches of the Blind Eternities. For those unfamiliar, the Blind Eternities is the space between planes that Planewalkers use to travel to these different worlds. Notably, the Eldritch alien-like monsters the Eldrazi inhabit this space. Senior story lead Roy Graham has describes the MTG Multiverse as an orange: “If the MV is an orange, the planes are seeds, and the peel is the Edge”. This is the first time in Magic’s history that a story takes place outside of a tactile plane like Zendikar or Ravnica, so lore fans can hopefully expect some decades-long explanations for some questions. Personally, I’m hoping we get to learn more about the origin of the Eldrazi.

Fan-favorite Magic villain Tezzeret is the only returning character that fans would familiar with, and his bigger intentions are still unclear. He was last seen during Phyrexia: All Will Be One where he received a snazzy new Darksteel-forged body. The set also features a handful of new sentient alien races to correspond with the five main colors of mana, including an insectoid people and the Drix, an ancient faction trying to prevent a massive conflict. At the center is Pinnacle, the dominant governing body of the Edge (if you’ve read Jeff Lemire and Dustin Nguyen’s Descender, imagine the United Galactic Council). They rule over the Sothera System, a collective of five planets also designed to represent the five colors of mana.

New and Returning Mechanics, Welcome Reprints

Edge of Eternities introduces a handful of new and extremely flavorful card mechanics that fit the sci-fi setting well. Artifacts seemingly play a large role in the set, and Vehicles make their return as Spacecrafts. Familiar mechanics like Landfall make their return here, and five of the ten “Shocklands” are back too (this nomenclature by fans refers to the card Shock, which deals 2 damage to any target. The Shocklands enter untapped if you it deal 2 damage to you). It’s interesting to note that land cycles in any given set are typically done in either the “Enemy” or “Allied” color pair, meaning they combine two colors of mana. EOE bucks this trend, instead opting for reprints of specific Shocklands, so it’ll be interesting to see how this informs what other lands get reprinted in future sets from the perspective of balancing Standard.

Spacecrafts and Station

Spacecrafts are a new subtype of Vehicle artifacts. They’re legendary, and also feature the new mechanic Station, which allow you to tap creatures to give it charge counters. Once a card with Station reaches a minimum charge counter threshold, it unlocks a new ability on the card. With EOE comes a rules change for Commander: Legendary Vehicles and Legendary Spacecraft can be now be your commander. This is another big change that I can see affecting the types of cards we’ll see printed in future sets.

Warp

The Warp ability is a creature-only new mechanic that allows you to pay an alternate cost to get the body down earlier, exiling it at the end of the turn. You can only Warp a creature from hand, and can cast it for its regular mana value from exile if it was Warped.

Void

Void functions similarly to Revolt, but also triggers if a creature was Warped. So any nonland permanent that left the battlefield that turn will turn Void on.

Planets

Planets are land cards with the Station ability. There will likely be one for each color, and possibly multicolor Planet lands as well. Each come with a powerful ability once enough charge counters have been built it from being Stationed.

Lander Tokens

Lander Tokens are akin to other artifact tokens like Treasures and Food that give you an advantage when used. In this case, you get to ramp your mana by sacrificing the token. If you do, you find a basic land card from your library and putting into play.

Q&A With the Design Team

The design team was also able to answer a few questions during the preview period. I’ve edited them down for clarity and time. I didn’t ask all of these questions, instead they were asked by multiple other members of the media in an open-forum style. I’ve also removed some questions and answers I was able to discuss organically in this preview:

How many cards are in the main set? There are 60 rare, 20 mythic, and 181 common and uncommon cards in the main set.

Can Station can be activated with summoning sick creatures, like Crew? Yes, but Stations cannot Station themselves, but can be used for other cards with Station.

Can a Station be “un-creatured” if the number of charge counters goes below the threshold? Yes, any time it goes below the required amount of charges counters that card loses its Station ability.

Magic: The Gathering’s newest set Edge of Eternities will debut previews starting July 8. The full card gallery will go live July 18. Prerelease events at your local game store will run from July 25-31. The set will launch worldwide August 1.

All card images courtesy of Wizards of the Coast.