Magic: The Gathering is introducing its latest set with Throne of Eldraine. Unlike most games, new content added to MTG Arena usually comes with new mechanics. This new set offers three new mechanics in the form of Adventure, Food, and Adamant.
Adventure is for creatures that offer an instant or sorcery before being put into play. You can read more of that here. Meanwhile Food mechanics focuses on Food as an artifact. While it is mostly related to tokens, there are also food artifacts that are not tokens. We already looked into that and you can read it here.
The first two mechanics we discussed were mainly about fairy tales. However, Throne of Eldraine is also about Arthurian legend and this is where Adamant comes into play. Specifically, Adamant revolves around Eldraine's chivalrous orders, which are based on five core principles, each based on an MTG Arena color. There is Loyalty (White), Knowledge (Blue), Persistence (Black), Courage (Green), and Strength (Red).
In essence, the Adamant mechanic rewards players who are loyal to one of the five colors. When cast, Adamant spells resolve normally. However if you used more of the core color of the spell, you get a bonus. So far, MTG Arena has revealed a few cards so we can't really tell the overall impact this mechanic has. Based on what we know so far, it can open a wide range of strategies. Unlike Adventures, Adamant is not limited to Creatures, but can also be a Sorcery or even Instant.
Take the Silverflame Ritual shown below. It needs one white and three colorless mana in order to be cast. As a sorcery, it already has a good effect which is to give your creatures a +1/+1 counter. However, utilizing Adamant now gives an additional effect which is to give your creatures Vigilance until end of turn. For those not familiar, Vigilance means your creatures no longer needs to tap in order to attack.
Another example is the Embereth Paladin. With a casting cost of one red and three colorless mana, you get to cast this 4/1 creature which also has Haste. Haste means it can attack the turn it was summoned. Now if you think 4/1 is too small, then use Adamant to make this Knight a 5/2 creature.
Finally, there is Slaying Fire. As an instant, it can be cast with one red and two colorless mana. Slaying Fire works like any damage card and deals three damage to any target. By using Adamant, you get to increase the damage dealt to four.
While the Adamant mechanic presents new ways of playing Magic, there is one important takeaway we can make. Specifically, it appears that Wizards of the Coast is hoping to bring back mono-colored Standard decks, if not possibly dual-colored. The release of dual lands with Ravnica have made tri-colored decks possible. This could signal a way to return to more basic deck building. The new mechanic could also have an impact on the planned expansions for 2020.
With that we close out our discussion on the new mechanics found in Throne of Eldraine. Which mechanics do you like the most?
