Non-humans

in Ikoria, there are five legendary beasts that are the monarchs of their triomes. here is a list of the five, along with their ultimatum, a rare card which suits their style of play

1. Brokkos, apex of Forever and Emergent ultimatum
2. Illuna, apex of Wishes and Genesis ultimatum
3. Nethroi, apex of Death and Eerie ultimatum
4. Snapdax, apex of the Hunt and Ruinous ultimatum
5. Vadroc, apex of Thunder and Inspired ultimatum

these five are the base cards of a lot of mutating decks, which build up massive creatures that have mutated over time.

In Ikoria booster packs, you have a chance of getting 6 double-sided counters, saying things like Flying, Deathtouch, First Strike, Menace or +1/+1. They can be used when a spell says to. For instance, you might get a creature that enters the battlefield with a menace counter or a trample counter. These counters are useful for mutating creatures because the counters are also passed up to the top creature.

when mutating, you may cast a creature for its mutate cost. if you do, it enters the battlefield as part as a target non-human you control. if you choose to mutate above, then the creature has the power and toughness of the mutating creature. if you mutate below, then it stays the same. the point of mutating is partly because it costs less (normally), but mainly because creatures have abilities which start with “when this creature mutates”. On a creature which has mutated four times, when mutated again, all of the creatures’ abilities trigger as if they were separate creatures. NOTE: all abilities e.g. flying are passed onto the creature at the top.

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Humans

humans are mainly red and white in Ikoria, with hints of blue. human decks have cards with cycling, an old ability which wizards (the owners of mtg) brought back in Ikoria. a creature with cycling has a cycling cost. you may pay that cost when that card is in your hand. if you do, then you discard that card and draw a new one. it is good becuase there are abilities that trigger when you cycle a card. here are a few good cards to put in a cycling humans deck (red and white):

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Next week I will talk a little bit about the new core set 2021, but Ikoria is my favourite set so far.