So this weekend, the worldwide pre-release tournament for the new Magic: The Gathering set, Lorwyn, will take place. My friends and I are planning to get up early tomorrow to not only get a chance to win prizes, but we also get a chance to experience using the brand new cards and mechanics of the new set. For those of you who want to see a list of the new cards, you can check out the complete spoiler list here. A couple of months ago, I was talking to Nathan and he asked me if I had checked out the new cards for the upcoming set. I told him I didn’t, so he proceeded to tell me that for the first time, Wizards of the Coast is adding a brand new card type to Magic, Planeswalkers.

I was kinda confused about the new Planeswalker card type because it was my understanding that we as Magic players are considered “Planeswalkers”, which made me think that these new “Planeswalker” cards were like sidekicks…with whom you fought alongside. When reading the mechanics for the new card-type, it does sound exactly like that. Planeswalkers are “players” like you and I whereby they can be attacked, however, each Planeswalker card has 3 built-in abilities of which under your disposal. The key to the Planswalker cards are something called “loyalty points”, which are used as their life totals as well as what is used to activate their abilities. For a more detailed description of the Planeswalker rules, check them out here.

Other mechanics which are new in Lorwynn include:

Champion
Champion is an additional cost to play a card. When a creature with champion comes into play, the controller must remove a creature of the required type from the game, or else sacrifice the “champion.” When the “champion” leaves play its controller returns the championed creature to the game (the original removed creature card).

Clash
A card with clash results in both players revealing the top card of their libraries and then placing it on the bottom of their library. The player that revealed the card with the highest converted mana cost wins the ‘Clash’. Cards with clash generally give an additional bonus to the player that played them if that player wins the clash. The mechanic is similar to that seen in the card game “war”.

Evoke
Evoke is an alternate cost for a card, generally a far lower cost, with the condition that the card must be sacrificed upon entering play. The creature’s controller may choose whether the sacrifice triggers before or after the other comes-into-play effect(s).

Anyhow, I’m pretty excited to play tomorrow since I hadn’t gone to a tournament in almost a year (because all pre-release tournaments now are being held at a venue quite a bit further from my house). It’s also interesting seeing all these different people share a common interest and having a good time. Anyhow, wish me luck tomorrow!

-Stephen