Streets of New Capenna Spoilers: Meet the Riveteers

With the next MTG set Streets of New Capenna rapidly approaching, we’re taking a closer look at each of the mobster-themed set’s five crime families. With the preview season already nearly at its end, we’ve learned a lot about New Capenna – both in terms of the set’s mechanics and design, and the lore of the mysterious city.

To get the full scoop on New Capenna and the story surrounding it, you can check out the completed webfiction stories published by Wizards of the Coast over on their website. You can also find more information about the set itself on our coverage of March’s New Capenna prebeat and the debut stream which kicked off the official spoilers:

Streets of New Capenna Debut Stream

Each of the five families in Streets of New Capenna is associated with one of the “allied” three-color combinations, typically referred to as shards. In this article, we’ll be looking at the family aligned with the Jund shard, the Riveteers.

You can also find our breakdowns of the other New Capenna families here as they’re added:

• The Maestros
• The Cabaretti

Who Are the Riveteers?

On the surface, the Riveteers are known as the construction workers of New Capenna who power the city’s expanding skyline while keeping the existing infrastructure running. Underneath the surface, however, the rowdy and brutish artisans of the Riveteers are just as skilled in the fields of demolition and intimidation. While their workers are at work on the upper levels of the city, the Riveteers also maintain an elaborate lair in the undercity.

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Ziatora, Head of the Riveteers

The boss of the Riveteers is Ziatora, a demonic dragon who is as well-known for her oratory skills as she is for her thrill-seeking nature.

Legendary Riveteers

Ziatora isn’t the only powerful leader in the Riveteers though; we’ve also seen a handful of other legendary creatures representing the syndicate:

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The Riveteers Mechanic: Blitz

The Maestros have already shown us that the crime families of New Capenna are more than willing to sacrifice their own to further their goals, and the Riveteers are no different. As a family known for their reckless and brash nature, it makes sense that the Riveteers’ unique mechanic in Streets of New Capenna is Blitz:

This mechanic is somewhat reminiscent of Dash, a mechanic that originated in the Tarkir block with cards like Zurgo Bellstriker, but more recently became infamous thanks to the dominance of Ragavan, Nimble Pilferer in Modern and other eternal formats. Unlike dash, however, which returns the creature to hand at the end step when the dash cost is paid, the blitz mechanic causes the creature to be sacrificed in the style of Ball Lightning and many other similar effects.

The additional clause “When this creature dies, draw a card” means that casting a creature with its blitz cost will never truly amount to a waste of resources. We’ve already seen quite a few previews featuring the mechanic – check them out below:

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Other Riveteers Cards

Not every card associated with the Riveteers makes use of the blitz mechanic though – you’ll find a list of other Riveteers-aligned cards here:

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Streets of New Capenna is scheduled for release on MTG Arena on April 28, with the worldwide release following just after on April 29. With spoiler season coming to an end, we’ll be taking a look at cards representing the other four families of New Capenna. In the meantime, be sure to also check out our full spoilers gallery to see all of the cards that have been revealed.