Rivals of Ixalan - Blog Post (3/8/18)

Brigby

Rivals of Ixalan

By Pedro Rauiz Estrigarriba Gestal – Co-Lead Game Designer at Oktagon for MTGPQ

Hi everyone! 

Today we will talk about our next release for MtGPQ: Rivals of Ixalan. A lot of feedback we received on Ixalan helped us define the path for Rivals, and we really appreciate that. We’ve worked hard to deliver this second part of Ixalan’s world, and we want to share with you what to expect for the next big release!

The New Mechanic -- Ascend

Ascend is Rivals of Ixalan's unique mechanic. It revolves around getting as many creatures, supports and/or reinforcements on the board as you can. While a card with Ascend is in play or when one is played, it checks whether or not the sum of your creatures, your supports and your reinforcements is greater than or equal to 10. If it is, then you get the City's Blessing for the rest of the game. Here are some examples:

We hope you enjoy this new mechanic!

The New Planeswalker - Angrath (B/R)

Angrath is a minotaur pirate that has been trapped in Ixalan ever since a Planeswalking accident led him there. Here is a breakdown of his abilities:

• Ability 1 (9):

• Level 1: Deal 2 damage to your opponent.

• Level 2: Deal 2 damage to your opponent. Then, your opponent discards a card.

• Level 3: Deal 2 damage to your opponent and find a Treasure. Then, your opponent discards a card.

• Level 4: Deal 2 damage to your opponent and find 2 Treasures. Then, your opponent discards a card.

• Ability 2 (12):

• Level 1: Gain control of target creature that costs 5 or less until end of turn. It gains Haste.

• Level 2: Gain control of target creature that costs 10 or less until end of turn. It gains Haste.

• Level 3: Gain control of target creature that costs 15 or less until end of turn. It gains Haste.

• Level 4: Gain control of target creature that costs 15 or less until end of turn. It gains Haste and “This creature is destroyed at end of turn”.

• Ability 3 (18):

• Level 1: Creates a support with: “Whenever a creature enters your opponent’s graveyard from anywhere, deal 2 damage to your opponent.”

• Level 2: Creates a support with: “Whenever a creature or support enters your opponent’s graveyard from anywhere, deal 2 damage to your opponent.”

• Level 3: Creates a support with: “Whenever a creature or support enters your opponent’s graveyard from anywhere, deal 6 damage to your opponent.”

• Level 4: Create a support with: “Whenever a card enters your opponent’s graveyard from anywhere, deal 6 damage to your opponent.”

The New-Old Planeswalker - Huatli (G/W)

Huatli is a different Planeswalker whose first ability will help you use her other abilities as much as you want. Here's a breakdown of her abilities:

• Ability 1 (9):

• Level 1: Create a support with “Whenever you match 3 or more White or Green gems, gain 2 Loyalty.”

• Level 2: Create a support with “Whenever you match 3 or more White or Green gems, gain 2 Loyalty. If you control a creature, gain 3 Loyalty instead.”

• Level 3: Create a support with “Whenever you match 3 or more White or Green gems, gain X Loyalty where X is 3 plus the number of creatures you control.”

• Level 4: Create a support with “Whenever you match 3 or more White or Green gems, gain X Loyalty where X is 3 plus the number of creatures and creature reinforcements you control.”

• Ability 2 (12):

• Level 1: Target creature gets +X/+X until end of turn where X is the amount of creatures you control.

• Level 2: Target creature gets +X/+X until end of turn where X is the amount of creatures you control times 2.

• Level 3: Target creature gains Trample and gets +X/+X until end of turn where X is the amount of creatures you control times 2.

• Level 4: Target creature gains Trample, Berserker, Prevent Damage and gets +X/+X until end of turn where X is the amount of creatures you control times 2.

• Ability 3 (18):

• Level 1: Draw a card for each creature you control and gain 6 mana.

• Level 2: Draw a card for each creature you control then gain 4 mana for each creature you control.

• Level 3: Draw 2 cards for each creature you control then gain 6 mana for each creature you control.

• Level 4: Draw 2 card for each creature you control then gain 8 mana for each creature you control.

The New PvE Coalition Event - Battle of Four Tribes

Fight for control of Orazca in this new event. Beating encounters and completing objectives will help you and your Coalition gain control of the Golden City. Coalitions will be ranked based on how close to controlling Orazca you are. The event is similar to Avacyn's Madness and Return of the God-Pharaoh in structure. The main difference being that each boss encounter (last fight of each node) has a support that changes how the fight is played. While the final boss, Azor, the Lawbringer, will rotate these effects starting from turn one:

1. Azor’s opponent’s creatures can't attack.

2. Spells in your opponent’s hand are disabled until the beginning of Azor’s next turn.

3. Supports in your opponent’s hand are disabled until the beginning of Azor’s next turn.

Conquer Orazca and claim the Immortal Sun. (Literally! The Immortal Sun is a special event reward for players in the top 10 Coalitions of the event). There are 5 nodes with 3 encounters. The nodes start with 2 charges and can get up to 3. The node charge cooldown is 8 hours. Each of the nodes' encounters are based on a Tribe from Ixalan. The last node being the exception, as it is based around Azor, the Lawbringer.

We want players to face this event and its bosses more like deck building challenges. If your usual deck doesn’t seem favored against it, try building a different deck around the node’s specific mechanics.

While we understand that long events aren't always a good thing, we really wanted to showcase the exciting world and characters in Ixalan. Being able to do that though meant having tribes represented in a single event based on the set, since time-constraints prevented us from creating multiple events. Moving forward into Dominaria, you can expect events to be shorter and more manageable time-wise. Now here is some information about each node.

Node 1: Pirates

The opponents in the Pirate Node have aggressive Loyalty abilities and fast-paced decks. During its boss fight, both players will face a special condition: Whenever they match four or more gems of specific colors (Blue, Black or Red), special effects will trigger and the tides of war can change.

Node 2: Sun Empire

The Sun Empire nodes brings dinosaurs and humans together to create a primal challenge for players. During the boss fight, activated gems (Red, Green and White) will grant special benefits for each player's dinosaurs, while harming their opponent's strategy.

Node 3: Shapers

The Merfolk of Ixalan will fight with all their effort to protect and control Orazca. During the boss fight, casting creatures, spells and drawing cards will create cyclical benefits by reducing mana costs, empowering creatures and increasing the speed of the battle.

Node 4: Dusk Legion

Torrezon and its endless legion of vampires are about to overrun Ixalan and Orazca. Fight or join them to claim the Immortal Sun. During the boss fight, sacrificing your own vampires and destroying the opponent's creatures will grant players control of the battlefield. Try to disable, exile or gain control of the enemy's army to achieve victory.

Node 5: Azor, the Lawbringer

Azor has hidden the Immortal Sun at the forbidden city of Orazca, never to be found again, but you managed to track it down! Now you must fight the three last battles of the event to claim it.

On the first node, the Golden Guardians will fully benefit from loyalty gems. They have abilities to replicate themselves and smash the player's planeswalker. Be ready to face a constant flow of large Golems.

On the second node, Azor's Gateway should be approached as a puzzle, as you try to ascend as fast as possible to receive the City's Blessing, in order to deliver the ultimate hit on the opponent’'s planeswalker. Be aware of a one-hit KO battle, and prevent the Gateway from Ascending.

During the boss fight, players will face Azor himself. The sphinx has a great variety of binding spells, bounce effects and creatures that Disable, which can completely fizzle out strategies that were not built to defeat him.

That's it! We had a lot of fun designing this new set, and we hope you enjoy it as well. Don’t hesitate to give us your opinions and feedback, as we work together to create the future of Dominaria, and of course, MtGPQ.