Heading back to Dominaria where it all started, but be aware the Phyrexian are coming!

Dominaria is the setting for the majority of Magic storylines & often referred to as the Nexus of the Multiverse, kind of The Odinhiem of Magic the Gathering if you will. And this set is due to deliver in a big way. As Dominaria United unites some of the biggest & fan-favourite Planeswalkers; Karn, Ajani Goldmane, Liliana Vess and Jaya Ballard. Yet will these Planeswalkers be enough to stop the incoming Phyrexian army led by the Whispering One herself, Praetor Sheoldred?

Will this apocalyptic threat change the Nexus of the Multiverse forever or will Dominaria survive? Only time will tell!

The Dominaria United Launch

Like the Commander Legends: Battle For Baldur’s Gate launch this event was also held at Fortress Melbourne. Which I’m not complaining about, as it is slowly becoming one of my favorite event venues. With a long bar, heavy tables littered with games, people drinking & amazing oversized weapons on the walls, it feels like the start of every fantasy RPG I’ve ever played.

We all took our seats, & I was excited to see some new faces & a couple of old friends that I’ve never seen at this events before. Catching up with MissDeusGeek & her partner & the Birthday Boy, Tom, It just made me more excited for this launch party, but also nervous & a bit sad, as normally we get broken into groups of 4 & I may not get to play with them at all.

Mitchell welcomed us to the Dominaria United Launch event. Gave us a quick rundown of the set & then advised that we’d be playing Dominaria United Jumpstart.

Jumpstart is back baby! And will be back moving forward.

Mitchell advised that moving forward each new set will now be released with Jumpstart. Which is amazing for new players or old players that just want to have some fun & play a quick game Magic: the Gathering.

Never heard of Jumpstart? Here is a brief description from mtg.fandom.com:

Dominaria United comes with 10 Jumpstart Boosters, which are booster packs targeted at players that prefer to skip the deckbuilding phase of a game and prefer to play a quick round of Magic: The Gathering with randomized decks. Jumpstart packs in Dominaria United follow the original Jumpstart release where each pack is a hidden theme to discover when you open and shuffling any two packs together is all you need to be ready to play.

You get the joy of opening packs, the joy of making a deck without the effort & then you are playing within 5 mins. That is 100% it, the fun begins there!

The introduction finished, we cracked out packs & we were playing…… and then 2 things happened, one amazing & one weird. The amazing thing was Claire & the Wizards of the Coast guys rocked up with their Gong cha signature Bubble Teas, the Jaya Juice was amazing & seeing as I opened a Jaya, Fiery Negatiator. I should have know it was a sign from the Magic Gods, as the weird thing that happened, was I started winning.

I piloted my white “Coalition Legion” & red “Ready to Attack” deck to an undefeated night & I’m not sure what was in the Jaya Juice, but I was unstoppable. 6-0 against 5 different people; including a shocking win against the Birthday Boy & Magic: the Gathering Guru, Tom. He is an amazing player & always willing to lend some advice or pointers to help you become a better player. He even taught me a little trick with one of the new Dominaria United mechanic, Enlist, which helped me beat him.

Speaking of mechanic, they are a mixture of Dominaria favourites with a sprinkling of new ones:

• Kicker – allows a player to pay an additional cost on a spell for additional effects.
• Domain – cares about the number of basic land types that you control & give you numerous effects based on the number
• Enlist – allows an attacking creature to tap a nonattacking creature you control to add its power to the creature until end of turn.
• Read Ahead – allows you to place as many lore counters on your Saga as you like and go straight to the effect you want.

I am loving how the set played, & is probably one of my favourite sets in a while. It has a great flow with an amazing mixture of new & returning cards; the mechanics are exciting & interesting that add so much to the game play, without being too overcomplicated for newer more casual players & great for the old hands to find ways to break! One of my favourite things about Dominaria United has to be the stain glass lands & other cards. They are stunning to say the least, & I know what lands I plan to use into my next commander deck!

An amazing night for an amazing set. Thank you Double Jump Communications & Wizards of the Coast for the first look at Dominaria United. The set hit stores on September 10th, so go grab yourself a few packs… and send me any Stain Glass Lands you get 🙂