Magic: The Gathering Head Designer Shares Ikoria Teaser

Despite the ongoing novel coronavirus pandemic, Magic: The Gathering is currently still on track to release it latest set, Ikoria: Lair of Behemoths, on April 24th. Official previews have yet to begin, so the actual amount known about what will be included in the set is fairly limited at this point. Basically, it’s a new monstrous plane full of big creatures, but beyond that, only Wizards of the Coast knows. Which is why it’s so handy that Magic‘s head designer Mark Rosewater has shared a teaser for Ikoria this week.

Now, keep in mind, none of this is exactly definitive, and it’s not like card names are included. But, new info is new info. Here’s just some of the stuff Rosewater teases as part of Ikoria: Lair of Behemoths, straight from his Tumblr:

• A card with the text “total power 10 or less”

• Magic‘s largest power/toughness granting aura.

• A card with the text “X is the number of times this creature has mutated”

• Three cards with the text “different name(s)”

• 13 different types of counters

• A card that says “choose a kind of counter at random”

• A card with the text “remove eight foreshadow counters”

Additionally, Rosewater has shared some the creature types that can be found in the set, including the following:

• Shark Beast

• Elemental Otter

• Brushwagg

• Hellion Horror

• Nightmare Squirrel

You can check out Rosewater’s full teaser over on Tumblr, as previously mentioned, and official previews should begin on April 2nd. For now, we’ll have to wait for official card art and so on, but it sounds like Ikoria: Lair of Behemoths will be a creature-heavy set with loads of mutated critters to play with. Given that Wizards of the Coast has previously said that the “wild new ‘monster world’ brings some of the most ambitious play mechanics the game has ever seen,” none of that is overly surprising.

What do you think of the teaser? Are you excited to check out the new set when it releases in April? Let us know in the comments, or hit me up directly on Twitter at @rollinbishop to talk all things gaming!

Ikoria: Lair of Behemoths, the latest and greatest Magic: The Gathering set, is scheduled to launch on April 24th, which prerelease packs available the week before. Previews for the upcoming set should start going live on April 2nd. You can check out all of our previous coverage of Magic: The Gathering right here.