Magic: The Gathering is venturing into a new genre with the science fantasy set Edge of Eternities, a space opera set in a rich world featuring a holy war, the return of the Eldrazi, and spaceships that can travel through the planets of the Sothera system. Wizards of the Coast has been slowly doling out previews at some of the new cards ahead of the set’s Aug. 1 release, Polygon has three uncommons to exclusively reveal.
The white instant Reroute Systems can either deal two damage to a tapped creature or give an artifact or creature indestructible until the end of turn. It’s a decent combat trick for limited play where it will be nice to be able to protect your spaceship, especially after you’ve spent turns stationing creatures on it. The new “Station” mechanic also makes the other half of the card better since it might let you kill a creature your opponent tapped to put counters on their own spacecraft. Reroute Systems could also find a home in Feather, the Redeemed Commander decks that can capitalize on its low cost by playing it over and over again.
The red artifact creature Roving Actuator uses “Void,” another new mechanic from Edge of Eternities, meaning you’ll want to play it on a turn when a nonland permanent has left the battlefield or a spell was warped in order to exile an instant or sorcery from your graveyard that costs 2 mana or less and then cast a copy of it for free. Red has plenty of cheap spells it can use to take advantage of this ability and Edge of Eternities has already revealed a lot of robots, so its type might wind up being important. It could also play well in decks that incorporate Blink effects, Treasure, or Clues to ensure you’re always triggering Void.
Seedship Broodtender is a green-black insect that mills three cards when it comes into play and can be sacrificed at the cost of 3BG to return a creature or spacecraft to the battlefield at sorcery speed. Eumidians are an insectoid species that have been terraforming Sothera’s planet Evendo, which means Edge of Eternities offers plenty of insects to build a deck around. Golgari insects was already a well-supported Commander archetype led by Grist, the Hunger Tide and Zask, Skittering Swarmlord, so Seedship Broodtender would be right at home in those decks.
Edge of Eternities will be released worldwide on Aug. 1. Prerelease events will be held from July 25-31, with the set also releasing on MTG Arena and Magic Online on July 29.