Dominaria United Predictions
It’s that time again! Preview season for Dominaria United (DMU) is just around the corner. There’s a lot to discuss this time around with regards to supplemental products and other exciting surprises, but we’ve got you covered. In this article, we (Chief, Keyword Soup Connoisseur and Exxaxl, Weatherlight Stan) will round up all of the information that we know about DMU so far and give you our predictions for the set.
Let’s start off with a quick recap of our predictions for Double Masters 2022, so that you can keep track of our success rate. Unlike our past articles featuring set predictions, our Double Masters 2022 predictions were handled entirely by Chief because Exxaxl was otherwise indisposed. Even though we’re already seeing previews for Unfinity (release date October 7), we decided to get the gang back together because Exxaxl wouldn’t want to miss out on giving predictions for a set featuring new cards.
Chief: Okay, let’s see how I did on this one. Since I made all of the predictions last time, we’ll have just one list. The following were my predictions for reprints in Double Masters 2022:
Aurelia, the Warleader: ✅
Consecrated Sphinx: ✅
Deserted Temple: ❌
Dockside Extortionist: ✅
Extraplanar Lens: ❌
Grand Abolisher: ❌
Imperial Seal: ✅
Sphere of Resistance: ❌
The Great Henge: ❌
Yarok, the Desecrated: ❌
Chief: I only managed to get 4 out of 10, but I correctly predicted a few very spicy cards. I don’t feel too bad about the results given that they reprinted Imperial Seal and Dockside Extortionist. I sort of got 5 things right because I accurately predicted that we would never be as good at predictions again after how well we did during Commander Legends: Battle for Baldur’s Gate. What do you think, Exxaxl? Can I get a bonus point for being right about that?
Exxaxl: No bonus points for you, but I’m glad the ‘Dockside reprint?! Next set then!’ talk can come to an end now. People have been wanting a reprint ever since it came in a precon. It happened, done and done.
What we already know:
Chief: There is a ton of product releasing alongside DMU. We’ll do our best to cover it as succinctly as possible so we can get to the predictions!
Dominaria United is the first full set taking place on the plane of Dominaria since the set by the same name in 2018. For a long time, this plane was the main setting for the Magic story and it seems like important things are happening every time we drop in for a visit. DMU is scheduled for release on September 9th. Here are some key dates to keep track of as we move towards release day:
Dominaria United Story: August 10-18
A Look at Dominaria’s History and Worldbuilding: August 16
Debut Video and Previews Begin with Wizards Presents: August 18
Dominaria United Card Image Gallery Complete: August 26
Dominaria United Commander Previews: August 19
Dominaria United Commander Card Image Gallery Complete: August 22
MTG Arena and Magic Online Release: September 1
Prerelease Events (including Dominaria United Jumpstart Boosters): September 2-8
Worldwide Release: September 9
Launch Weekend: September 9-11
Game Day: September 17
Commander Party Events: September 30-October 2
Store Championships: October 15-22
That sure is a lot of dates! Make sure that you take note of the fact that the release schedule has reverted back to having the digital release date earlier than the physical release date. They’ve also decided to do the Commander previews earlier in the preview cycle this time around, which is definitely exciting for people who want to know more about the precons! As you can see, there are a lot of different products coming out for DMU. Let’s quickly go over them.
DMU will be available in Draft Boosters, Set Boosters, and Collector Boosters. There will also be a connected Jumpstart release. For specific information about what each of these products contains, please check the WPN Product Page for Dominaria United here. The main information about these different booster releases that we’ll be covering in the article is story elements that can be gleaned from the artwork on these products.
The art for the DMU Draft Booster Display Box shows Karn, Jodah, and Shanna in the foreground. You can see the Weatherlight and some ruins left over from past conflicts on Dominaria in the background. It seems likely that the story will focus heavily on these characters. The Draft Booster art that we’ve seen shows a close-up of Karn contemplating an orb. 🔮
Exxaxl: If we can get Ponder or Opt with Karn in the art I have a bunch of new singles to order when this set drops.
Chief: It’s a shame that Ponder is banned in Modern, if not we could get a Saruman Ponder in The Lord of the Rings: Tales of Middle-Earth.
The art for the DMU Set Booster Display Boxes, Set Boosters, and Bundle Boxes shows Liliana and Ajani fighting alongside one another. We’re looking forward to seeing what they are up to in this set’s story. This will be Liliana’s first appearance alongside members of the Gatewatch since War of the Spark!
The art for DMU Collector Booster Display Boxes and Collector Boosters shows a stylized image of a character that is confirmed to be Braids. She appears to have taken some type of new nightmare form. We haven’t seen Braids in a while, so this could be interesting. Maybe this version of the character won’t get banned in Commander!
DMU will also have a connected Jumpstart release with the following 10 new Jumpstart themes. This set will feature 10 new themes and is designed to be compatible with other Jumpstart products. The 10 new themes are as follows:
White: Coalition Corps and Coalition Legions
Blue: Mystic Mischief and Arcane Mischief
Black: Totally Ruthless and Totally Merciless
Red: Ready to Charge and Ready to Attack
Green: Beast Territory and Monster Territory
There will also be two Commander precons released alongside this set. Legends’ Legacy is a Mardu deck featuring a new 3-color version of Geyadrone Dihada and Painbow is a 5-color precon featuring a new version of Jared Carthalion.
Exxaxl: Can we please take a moment to appreciate the name of the 5-color precon?
Chief: 🎶 Like a Painbow in the dark 🎸
They haven’t shown us the commanders yet, but they have shown us the art for the cards. It’s also worth noting that Jared is likely the first 5-color planeswalker card released with a black border, but this hasn’t been officially confirmed. We’ll have to wait to find out!
Chief: I don’t know about you, but I wanna look at some of the new cards!
Exxaxl: It has only been…8 weeks since the last Baldur’s Gate cards got previewed.
Llanowar Loamspeaker is a 2-drop mana dork that can create any color of mana. If you don’t need mana, you can also turn a land into a 3/3 creature with haste! This card is available in normal and extended art treatments, but it also has a foil promo Buy-a-Box version that you can get if you buy a Set, Draft, Jumpstart, or Collector Booster box at your favorite local game store.
Shivan Devastator is a cool X cost dragon card that is sure to make a splash in limited and Standard. This card is available in normal and extended art treatments, along with another version that we’ll show you later on. It’s also worth noting that the flavor text on the normal version of the card references everyone’s favorite black-aligned Phyrexian Praetor. That’s right—Sheoldred is back, baby!
Evolved Sleeper is a cool black human that—wait a second! This is a Phyrexian Sleeper Agent. Somebody better let the Gatewatch know fast, because this card can grow over time and become a real problem. The Phyrexians are back on Dominaria in normal and extended art versions and we couldn’t be more excited to see them.
Everyone’s favorite cool grandma planeswalker is back as Jaya, Fiery Negotiator. This card has 4 loyalty abilities. The first 3 encompass different aspects of red as a color—small aggro creatures, impulse draw, and direct damage. The emblem is absolutely insane and will likely be a game-ending effect with the right spells. This version of Jaya even passes the Doubling Season test! You can find this card in normal and borderless versions.
Temporal Firestorm is a red sorcery spell with a unique kicker cost. You can pay one or both of the different kicker costs and receive an enhanced effect depending on how many times the spell was kicked. This is most likely one example out an entire cycle of cards featuring kicker costs like these. This card available in normal and extended art versions.
Chief: How cool is it to see Jaya and Teferi team up? Very cool!
Exxaxl: This reminds me of the ‘if <color> was spent, do x, if <other color> was spent do y’ cards from Shadowmoor and Eventide - I like kicker a lot. My first Standard deck when I returned to MTG was kicker focused.
Chief: Okay, let’s take a break from new cards for a moment so that we can talk about…old cards. I mean like 1994 old. I get that this might seem random, but it’s totally related to this set. I promise.
At some point, Wizards of the Coast apparently found some old inventory in a warehouse somewhere. This old inventory included a bunch of unopened cases of Legends left over from 1994! They decided to open these cases and crack the packs. Their findings have been randomly inserted into DMU Collector Boosters at a 3% appearance rate.
This includes iconic cards such The Tabernacle at Pendrell Vale, Moat, and the original Nicol Bolas! That said, some cards from Legends did not make it into Collector Boosters for different reasons. Read Blake Rasmussen’s article about Lost Legends and why some cards were excluded here.
As iconic as Legends is among classic Magic sets, many of the legendary creatures from that era have not aged gracefully. In light of this, Wizards of the Coast is also releasing a series of updated Legends characters in Legends Retold! This series includes 20 cards, made up of 19 legendary creatures and 1 legendary planeswalker. Let’s take a look at the ones that we’ve seen so far.
Ramirez DePietro, Pillager is a new version of a classic character that has a little more synergy with modern pirate cards by offering treasure production and theft on the same card. We’ve seen his ghost in the first Commander Legends set, but it’s great to see him again in an updated form that is still among the living since the original Ramirez DePietro is a bit lacking by today’s standards.
Tor Wauki the Younger does a better job showcasing his skills as an archer this time around. The original Tor Wauki could tap to deal damage during combat, but the new one is ready to fire on your opponents as you sling spells! We expect to see him brewed with Obosh, the Preypiercer as a companion in some sort of Rakdos storm shell.
Exxaxl: Do you reckon we’ll ever get a new companion-themed set? Now that companion has been ‘fixed’.
Chief: I’d really like a cycle of mono-colored companions. The white one should be a dog!
Jasmine Boreal of the Seven might be the most interesting out of the ones that we’ve seen so far. The original Jasmine Boreal is one of the many vanilla legendary creatures from the original Legends, and her new card pays homage to this fact by incentivizing you to play with vanilla creatures. If you’ve been playing Ruxa, Patient Professor as your commander, maybe you’ll even consider updating the deck with a new commander.
All of the Legends Retold cards will be available as Traditional Foil Box Toppers included with the purchase of DMU Draft Booster, Set Booster, and Collector Booster Display Boxes. Non-foil and Etched Foil versions of these cards will also be available in DMU Collector Boosters.
DMU Game Day takes place on September 17 and will feature 3 exclusive promo cards for participants: Touch the Spirit Realm in non-foil (originally from Kamigawa: Neon Dynasty), Workshop Warchief in foil (originally from Streets of New Capenna), and Shivan Devastator in foil (originally from Dominaria United).
Store Championships running from October 15-22 will feature 3 unique promos as well. Participants are eligible to receive a non-foil promo Spell Pierce, top 8 finishers are eligible to receive a foil promo Gilded Goose, and winners are eligible to receive a foil textless promo Omnath, Locus of Creation!
Exxaxl: You remember the ‘recite Questing Beast from memory’ meme?
Chief: The only things I can remember from Questing Beast are that is has haste and it blanks fogs.
Finally, a series of 30 different foil promo cards to commemorate 30 years of Magic has been announced. The promo cards are in chronological order, with each one representing the year that it was first printed. Most of them will be available in English only, but 7 of them will only be available in other languages!
The first three will be available during DMU prerelease events. 1993 is represented by the iconic Serra Angel, 1994 is represented by Ball Lightning, and 1995 is represented by Fyndhorn Elves. The latter card will only be available in German, but all of these promo cards can be obtained in all regions.
Okay, that was a lot. It’s finally time to make our predictions!
Chief:
1. A mono-color cycle of characteristic or iconic creature types at Rare or Mythic Rare:
Dominaria sets tend to be very focused on tradition in Magic design, so I fully expect to see a well-defined cycle of either characteristic or iconic creature types. The main characteristic creature types in Magic design are humans for white, merfolk for blue, zombies for black, goblins for red, and elves for green. The main iconic creature types are angels for white, sphinxes for blue, demons for black, dragons for red, and hydras for green.
There is some wiggle room with creature types here as some colors have secondary types in these categories, such as vampires being a characteristic creature type for black or djinns being an iconic creature type for blue. This cycle feels like a no-brainer and a good opportunity to create cool new cards that Magic fans both new and old can enjoy.
2. Allied color painland reprints in Standard:
While the enemy painlands have been reprinted multiple times in recent years, we haven’t seen the allied painlands since Tenth Edition. That means that it has been 15 years since they were last reprinted. I’m honestly not sure why they’ve been overlooked for so long, but this set seems like a great place to bring them back. After all, some of them such as Adarkar Wastes and Karplusan Forest refer to specific locations on the plane of Dominaria.
It has also been confirmed that cards in this set will feature kicker costs that can be paid with multiple different colors and there will likely be a number of two-color archetypes that would love to see allied painlands in a draft environment. I’m certain that Commander players would also be overjoyed to see a solid reprint of these much-desired cards. If they’re not in the main set, maybe they can put some of them in the Commander precons at the very least.
3. Danitha Capashen returning in Dominaria United Jumpstart:
Dominaria United Jumpstart features 10 pack themes with 2 of them representing each color in Magic. Coalition Corps and Coalition Legions are the mono-white themes. Either of these would be a good place to see Danitha return with a new card, as she declined Jhoira’s invitation to join the new Weatherlight crew because of her obligations as a knight serving in the Benalish army.
This makes her a good fit for a story of a smaller scale such as an appearance in a Jumpstart themed booster, while the main story of DMU will likely be focused on planeswalkers, Phyrexians, and the crew of the Weatherlight. I very much enjoyed the previous Jumpstart product themes and I’m looking forward to seeing if Danitha appears in the new series.
4. Dakkon Blackblade returning as a planeswalker for Legends Retold:
We already know that one of the characters featured in Legends Retold will be returning as a planeswalker. Nicol Bolas and Dakkon Blackblade both went on to become notable planeswalkers in Magic’s history. That said, Bolas has had many planeswalker cards over the years and has been a fixture of Magic’s story for many years while Dakkon’s only planeswalker card was Dakkon, Shadow Slayer in Modern Horizons II.
Given that Geyadrone Dihada and Jared Carthalion are returning to helm the Commander precons this time around, it would be very fitting that Dakkon would also be returning as a planeswalker for his updated version in Legends Retold. These three characters have a strong association with one another within the Magic story. If this does happen, I hope that the great Richard Kane Ferguson handles art duties.
5. A new 5-color sorcery or instant spell in the Painbow Commander precon:
Making a 5-color precon is already an ambitious endeavor, but I can definitely see Wizards looking to celebrate what may very well be the return of a classic character as the first black-bordered 5-color planeswalker by creating a brand new 5-color spell themed around Jared’s legacy as one of the most powerful planeswalkers.
There are very few 5-color spells that aren’t permanents in Magic’s entire history, and one of them is banned in Commander. I neither want nor expect a card that will turn the Commander format on its head, but it would be great to see a new 5-color spell that has a cool and unique effect to build around. This definitely feels like a great way to keep a 5-color precon from feeling like multiple different precons with less colors have been combined together.
Exxaxl:
1. Dedicated triple-pip cards:
When we last were on Dominaria, we saw a number of cards like Jaya Ballard at {2}{R}{R}{R} and Steel Leaf Champion at {G}{G}{G}. I’d like this trend to continue to further emphasize exactly where in the color pie some cards belong.
There’s a big visual difference between a card costing {4}{W} over {2}{W}{W}{W} and depending on what type of deck you’re building you may not want to include a triple-pip card. I like having to actively make that choice and having to balance out my curve and colors when I’m building decks.
2. The historic mechanic will come back:
‘Artifacts, legendaries and Saga’s are historic’. I still played Standard when this mechanic was relevant and I like it a lot - it’s narrow enough to not be the direct go-to build plan for everyone and it’s not overly strong due to the variance in payoffs that get tied into historic - scry, filter, tap, deal damage, etc.
A new legendary creature that cares about historic would be appreciated. I think we’ve all seen plenty of Teshar, Ancestor’s Apostle or Raff Capashen, Ship’s Mage (and not enough of Rona, Disciple of Gix because she’s simply not that great) and a few more ‘historic matters’ commanders would be nice to see!
3. New Weatherlight-adjacent cards:
The previous Dominaria set gave us Weatherlight, Board the Weatherlight and a bunch of legendary creatures like Jhoira, Tiana, and Arvad that became its new crew. I’d like DMU to continue this trend. Everything in regards to the Weatherlight has always been a way more interesting storyline to me than the Gatewatch.
With The Brothers’ War set - focusing on Urza and Mishra - on the horizon, I have my hopes up for some sort of ‘repaired’ Weatherlight where the entire crew gets back together, gets the vehicle back up and running, travels across the Multiverse - Squee included, this is absolutely mandatory, and Fblthp can be there for comedic effect because why not - where the original crew attempts to kick some butt to put a stop to all these Phyrexian Praetors we’ve seen.
I don’t mean that in a way of ‘I dislike seeing the Praetors on cards’. It’s that we’ve seen Vorinclex, Jin-Gitaxias, Urabrask on new cards - and likely Sheoldred in DMU since she already appears on the flavor text of Shivan Devastator. I want more of this story, and less Gatewatch storylines, please and thank you!
I’m also excited to see that the next several sets will focus on the same storyline. Moving away from blocks was a decision that didn’t sit well with me. I’d rather spend 3 sets in a row in the same plane/storyline than have it be all over the place like it has been the past few years.
4. An updated Roghahh of Kher Keep in Legends Retold:
We’ve seen the odd kobold get printed here and there the last few years such as Rograkh, Nogi, and Minion of the Mighty. I’d like to see a reworked Roghahh of Kher Keep, one that actually works for EDH and is worth building around.
I know there’s not nearly enough kobolds that have been printed to currently make a kobold tribal deck but that’s not an unfixable problem. We saw Ognis, the Dragon’s Lash in Streets of New Capenna as a potential Viashino tribal commander, so I’d very much like to see more kobold support in future sets as well.
5. Jared is going to be weird:
Obviously, he obviously won’t be as weird as my initial thoughts, but I kind of want Jared not to become the catch-all 5-color planeswalker staple that immediately kicks Atraxa off her go-to planeswalker EDH throne.
Have it be wacky, or not super powerful, or not an ‘obvious choice’ when building a 5-color deck. Not every commander has to be card-draw color-fixer land-matters engine piece. It’s okay for cards to not be too pushed, and I’d feel better if Jared ends up being ‘mediocre’ over ‘Obviously, this is what everyone will be playing now’.
At the same time: 5-color commanders before always struggled with clearly displaying they were ‘all 5 colors in Magic’, and a commander that has very clear color pie trends from all 5 colors would be a neat card to see.
That concludes our predictions for Dominaria United. We’re hoping that this set is yet another instant classic like 2018’s Dominaria. There’s a lot of product coming along with it, so there should be something for everyone. What did you think of our predictions? Do you have your own predictions for DMU? Let us know on Twitter! We’d love to hear from you.
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