This October, Wizards of the Coast will release the latest expansion set for Magic: The Gathering, Throne of Eldraine. Today, players got their first preview of a card from the new set.
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The card is the first to feature Oko, the new planeswalker Wizards revealed last week who will debut in Throne of Eldraine. Wizards revealed his planeswalker card Oko, Thief of Crowns via ScreenRant. The card makes use of a new “Food token” mechanic which has yet to be revealed, making it hard to evaluate how this card will be used. That said, some of his other abilities are pretty straightforward.
Oko, Thief of Crowna costs 3 mana to play, including one green and one blue. His +2 ability creates a Food token, which remains unexplained. For +1, he gets “Target artifact or creature loses all abilities and becomes a green Elk creature with base power and toughness 3/3.” Oko’s mischievous nature comes out in his -5 ability, “Exchange control of target artifact or creature you control and target creature an opponent controls with power 3 or less.” Take a look below.
Magic players will know more about Throne of Eldraine soon. Wizards of the Coast is holding an event on its Twitch channel tomorrow that should offer some new information about the set.
Last week, Wizards reveals the character of Oko, a Fey shapeshifter with a rebellious streak. He’s described as charismatic, conceited, mysterious, clever, and vain.
Most of Oko’s story will be revealed in the upcoming Magic: The Gathering ebook Throne of Eldraine: The Wildered Quest, which ties into the release of the new set, but Nic Kelman, Wizards of the Coast’s head of story and entertainment, offered an overview of who Oko is.
“Oko is from a plane ruled by Fey who believe in a unified society, one where the ruling class has decided that for the betterment of all, the natural mischievousness of the Fey has to be suppressed,” Kelman says. “To the ruling class, they had created a perfect society—but for Oko, who was born with incredibly powerful shapeshifting abilities, this culture went against everything he was and contradicted his deepest, truest self.
“Styling himself as a speaker of truth, Oko felt he held a mirror to the hypocrisy of his world,” Kelman continues. “The ruling class did not quite see it this way. They subjected him to magical procedures intended to suppress his powers but only succeed in igniting his spark. We can imagine this was a terrible experience for him and one that would make it almost impossible for him to trust anyone again—especially those in positions of authority.”
Kelman goes on to say that Oko sometimes uses his shapeshifting abilities to pull off tricks that he sees as pranks exposing hypocrisy, but that others may view as meanspirited. Fans will learn more when Throne of Eldraine: The Wildered Quest releases on September 4th.
What do you think of Oko, Magic’s newest planeswalker? Let us know in the comments. Magic: The Gathering – Throne of Eldraine goes on sale on October 4th.
