While its paper release is a few days away, Dominaria United has plenty of players to be excited about. Whether you play Commander, Pioneer, Brawl, or Standard, Dominaria United has something for everybody. Alongside a lot of good stuff, Dominaria United also has some genuinely terrible cards. Thankfully, while these cards are bad for now, it appears that things are going to get better.
Karn, Living Legacy
After being spoiled for Dominaria United,
Karn, Living Legacy
Karn, Living Legacy
+1: Create a tapped Powerstone token. (It's an artifact with "{T}: Add {C}. This mana can't be spent to cast a nonartifact spell.")
−1: Pay any amount of mana. Look at that many cards from the top of your library, then put one of those cards into your hand and the rest on the bottom of your library in a random order.
−7: You get an emblem with "Tap an untapped artifact you control: This emblem deals 1 damage to any target."
quickly became a point of ridicule. Karn, Living Legacy was deemed to be so bad, in fact, that it made people question whether he was the worst Planeswalker of all time. By our own assessment, we can confirm that’s not the case. However, things still aren’t looking good for Karn. Rather than being the downright worst Planeswalker,
Karn, Living Legacy
Karn, Living Legacy
+1: Create a tapped Powerstone token. (It's an artifact with "{T}: Add {C}. This mana can't be spent to cast a nonartifact spell.")
−1: Pay any amount of mana. Look at that many cards from the top of your library, then put one of those cards into your hand and the rest on the bottom of your library in a random order.
−7: You get an emblem with "Tap an untapped artifact you control: This emblem deals 1 damage to any target."
sits at number 6 on our list. That’s just one spot above
Mu Yanling
Mu Yanling
+2: Target creature can't be blocked this turn.
−3: Draw two cards.
−10: Tap all creatures your opponents control. You take an extra turn after this one.
.
When looking at
Karn, Living Legacy
Karn, Living Legacy
+1: Create a tapped Powerstone token. (It's an artifact with "{T}: Add {C}. This mana can't be spent to cast a nonartifact spell.")
−1: Pay any amount of mana. Look at that many cards from the top of your library, then put one of those cards into your hand and the rest on the bottom of your library in a random order.
−7: You get an emblem with "Tap an untapped artifact you control: This emblem deals 1 damage to any target."
, it’s easy to see why they’ve been deemed as being so terrible. In its simplest terms, Karn simply doesn’t do enough to warrant a four mana investment. Their Powerstone creating +1 ability may seem powerful at first glance. However, they can only be used to cast artifacts. Similarly, Karn, Living Legacy’s -1 demands you put in more recourses and mana for a weak tutor effect. Lastly, Karn’s ultimate -7 ability is exceptionally lackluster on its own, requiring extensive setup to be worthwhile. While some artifact-heavy decks may be able to pull off an interesting win with Karn, Living Legacy, the majority of players will have no use for him.
Despite being utterly atrocious, technically,
Karn, Living Legacy
Karn, Living Legacy
+1: Create a tapped Powerstone token. (It's an artifact with "{T}: Add {C}. This mana can't be spent to cast a nonartifact spell.")
−1: Pay any amount of mana. Look at that many cards from the top of your library, then put one of those cards into your hand and the rest on the bottom of your library in a random order.
−7: You get an emblem with "Tap an untapped artifact you control: This emblem deals 1 damage to any target."
may not be the worst card in Dominaria United.
Toxic Abomination
Toxic Abomination
When this creature enters, you lose 2 life.
, for instance, is a bog standard creature that’s nothing to write home about.
Chaotic Transformation
Chaotic Transformation
Exile up to one target artifact, up to one target creature, up to one target enchantment, up to one target planeswalker, and/or up to one target land. For each permanent exiled this way, its controller reveals cards from the top of their library until they reveal a card that shares a card type with it, puts that card onto the battlefield, then shuffles.
is also an absolute mess of a card that may do more harm than good. However, Karn, Living Legacy is undoubtedly a lot more disappointing to pull from a pack at mythic rarity. Especially when that mythic slot could have otherwise been
Liliana of the Veil
Liliana of the Veil
+1: Each player discards a card.
−2: Target player sacrifices a creature.
−6: Separate all permanents target player controls into two piles. That player sacrifices all permanents in the pile of their choice.
or Sheoldred, the Apocalpyse.
The Brothers’ War
While it’s still a long way from being released, Dominaria United isn’t entirely out yet, after all, The Brothers’ War might be
Karn, Living Legacy
Karn, Living Legacy
+1: Create a tapped Powerstone token. (It's an artifact with "{T}: Add {C}. This mana can't be spent to cast a nonartifact spell.")
−1: Pay any amount of mana. Look at that many cards from the top of your library, then put one of those cards into your hand and the rest on the bottom of your library in a random order.
−7: You get an emblem with "Tap an untapped artifact you control: This emblem deals 1 damage to any target."
’s saving grace. This set takes magic back in time to the formative years of Dominaria and the titular Brothers’ War. This battle between Urza and Mishra is set to include “giant mechs and colossal war machines.” Alongside this and a vague explanation about where Planeswalkers come from, The Brothers’ War will also feature “plenty of artifacts.” This includes the return of Powerstones.
Powerstones are potentially one of the most essential parts of Dominaria’s lore. Not only were these artifacts at the core of Thran technology, but they also led to the birth of Phyrexians. As a result, The Brothers’ War set is primed to include plenty of Powerstones to power all those titanous war machines. This isn’t just our wild speculation either, as Wizards of the Coast has confirmed Powerstones may soon be the following Treasures.
In a recent State of Design post, Magic’s Lead Designer, Mark Rosewater, confirmed that the appearance of Powerstones in Dominaria United is a “throw forward” to The Brothers’ War. Initially, Wizards intended to “make Powerstone tokens a bigger part of the set”; however, this plan changed during set design. During the design process
Braids, Arisen Nightmare
Braids, Arisen Nightmare
At the beginning of your end step, you may sacrifice an artifact, creature, enchantment, land, or planeswalker. If you do, each opponent may sacrifice a permanent of their choice that shares a card type with it. For each opponent who doesn't, that player loses 2 life and you draw a card.
, who was then Braids, Dimension Dweller, went through several Powerstone-focused iterations. Ultimately, only two Dominaria United cards feature powerstones,
Karn, Living Legacy
Karn, Living Legacy
+1: Create a tapped Powerstone token. (It's an artifact with "{T}: Add {C}. This mana can't be spent to cast a nonartifact spell.")
−1: Pay any amount of mana. Look at that many cards from the top of your library, then put one of those cards into your hand and the rest on the bottom of your library in a random order.
−7: You get an emblem with "Tap an untapped artifact you control: This emblem deals 1 damage to any target."
and
The Mana Rig
The Mana Rig
Whenever you cast a multicolored spell, create a tapped Powerstone token. (It's an artifact with "{T}: Add {C}. This mana can't be spent to cast a nonartifact spell.")
{X}{X}{X}, {T}: Look at the top X cards of your library. Put up to two of them into your hand and the rest on the bottom of your library in a random order.
.
A Powerful Powerstone Future
With Powerstones set to play a bigger part in The Brothers’ War,
Karn, Living Legacy
Karn, Living Legacy
+1: Create a tapped Powerstone token. (It's an artifact with "{T}: Add {C}. This mana can't be spent to cast a nonartifact spell.")
−1: Pay any amount of mana. Look at that many cards from the top of your library, then put one of those cards into your hand and the rest on the bottom of your library in a random order.
−7: You get an emblem with "Tap an untapped artifact you control: This emblem deals 1 damage to any target."
may have their time yet. Admittedly, that time may be three months away, however, it’s better than nothing. With more Powerstone tokens in play, Karn’s ultimate ability may be a lot more viable in artifact-heavy decks. Unfortunately, since Karn isn’t an artifact, the presumed plethora of Powerstone tokens can’t be used to mitigate their cost or pay their -1 ability.
Nevertheless, Karn’s +1 ability to generate tapped Powerstone tokens may be invaluable in the future. If The Brothers’ War’s colossal war machines are as big as suggested, players will need a lot of mana to cast them. In Standard, Karn, Living Legacy may be too little too late, depending on when Powerstone tokens come into play. In Commander, however, Karn, Living Legacy may be right at home, helping to cast some truly gargantuan threats. Karn, Living Legacy may also see play in Pioneer. This is thanks to a new powerful deck emerging within the format which Karn, Living Legacy would be a fine addition to.
With The Brothers’ War not due to release until the 18th of November, unfortunately, we’ve still got a while to wait to see how it pans out.