Streets of New Capenna Debut Stream

This morning, April 7, Wizards of the Coast hosted one of the most anticipated streams of the season for Magic players: the Debut Stream for Streets of New Capenna! Streets of New Capenna is to be the next major expansion for MTG, coming at the end of the month with a digital release on April 28 and a global release on April 29.

New Capenna (which is the name of the plane’s major city rather than the name of the plane itself) is a Roaring 20’s-themed city built on conflict between angels and demons. The darkness has triumphed for now, and so New Capenna is ruled by five crime families each headed by a ruthless demon. Meanwhile, a mysterious magic-enhancing substance called Halo drives business – and bloodshed – in the towering city.

During the debut stream, Wizards of the Coast kicked off the official preview season for Streets of New Capenna by revealing tons of art, the set’s new mechanics, and of course, tons of preview cards. Not only that, Wizards also tried something new by having their Weekly MTG stream directly after the debut, featuring lots of information about worldbuilding in Streets of New Capenna along with even more card previews.

We’ll be showing off everything that Wizards shared with us today in both streams – let’s get into it!

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Announcement Stream

You can find both the Debut Stream and the follow-up Daily MTG steam available for viewing in full on MTG’s official YouTube channel, embedded below:

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Mechanics

Through the course of the stream, Wizards of the Coast revealed all of the mechanics that we’ll be seeing in Streets of New Capenna with example previews. There are five new mechanics – one to represent each of the five families – along with one old mechanic that’s returning with a facelift. Let’s take a look:

Brokers – Shield Counters

• Card Name: Disciplined Duelist
• Mana Cost: {G}{W}{U}
• Card Type: Creature – Human Citizen
• Rarity: Uncommon
• Card Text:
  Double strike
  Disciplined Duelist enters the battlefield with a shield counter on it. (If it would be dealt damage or destroyed, remove a shield counter from it instead.)
• Power/Toughness: 2/1

Obscura – Connive

• Card Name: Ledger Shredder
• Card Type: Creature – Bird Advisor
• Rarity: Rare
• Card Text:
  Flying
  Whenever a player casts their second spell each turn, Ledger Shredder connives. (Draw a card, then discard a card. If you discarded a nonland card, put a +1/+1 counter on this creature.)
• Power/Toughness: 1/3

Maestros – Casualty

• Card Name: A Little Chat
• Card Type: Instant
• Rarity: Uncommon
• Card Text:
  Casualty 1 (As you cast this spell, you may sacrifice a creature with power 1 or greater. When you do, copy this spell.)
  Look at the top two cards of your library. Put one of them into your hand and the other on the bottom of your library.

Riveteers – Blitz

• Card Name: Jaxis, the Troublemaker
• Mana Cost: {3}{R}
• Card Type: Legendary Creature – Human Warrior
• Rarity: Rare
• Card Text:
  {R}, {T}, Discard a card: Create a token that’s a copy of another target creature you control. It gains haste and “When this creature dies, draw a card.” Sacrifice it at the beginning of the next end step. Activate only as a sorcery.
  Blitz {1}{R} (If you cast this spell for its blitz cost, it gains haste and “When this creature dies, draw a card.” Sacrifice it at the beginning of the next end step.)
• Power/Toughness: 2/3

Cabaretti – Alliance

• Card Name: Devilish Valet
• Mana Cost: {2}{R}
• Card Type: Creature – Devil Warrior
• Rarity: Rare
• Card Text:
  Trample, haste
  Alliance – Whenever another creature enters the battlefield under your control, double Devilish Valet’s power until end of turn.
• Power/Toughness: 1/3

Returning Mechanic – Hideaway

• Card Name: Wiretapping
• Mana Cost: {4}{U}
• Card Type: Enchantment
• Rarity: Rare
• Card Text:
  Hideaway 5 (When this enchantment enters the battlefield, look at the top five cards of your library, exile one face down, then put the rest on the bottom of your library in a random order.)
  Whenever you draw your first card during each of your draw steps, draw a card. Then if you have nine or more cards in hand, you may play the exiled card without paying its mana cost.

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The Five Family Heads

Following the stream, we have now seen all five of the heads of New Capenna’s crime families. Each of them is a demon hybrid of various sorts who represents the three colors of their family, but the mana costs and abilities of the five leaders vary wildly.

The Planeswalkers of New Capenna

Wizards also unveiled the planeswalkers who will be central to the story of New Capenna, and this time they’re all characters we’ve seen before in MTG.

Elspeth Tirel

Elspeth was most recently seen on Theros where she escaped from the underworld. Now, she is exploring New Capenna not only because her friend Ajani Goldmane believes that the city may be located on Elspeth’s previously unknown home plane, but also because the city appears to have survived a Phyrexian invasion.

Vivien Reid

We haven’t yet seen her card, but we now know that Vivien will also be making an appearance in New Capenna. Viven becomes an unlikely companion for Elspeth as they attempt to unravel some of the city’s mysteries, especially those surrounding the powerful substance Halo and the past Phyrexian invasion.

UPDATE: Vivien’s card has been spoiled:

Ob Nixilis

The demonic planeswalker Ob Nixilis is a classic villain in MTG. Although he made an appearance in War of the Spark, we haven’t seen him as a major character in a Standard set since Zendikar. Now, he’s found his way to New Capenna where he works from the shadows. You can read more about the lore surrounding these planeswalkers and the rest of New Capenna on Wizards’ website where they have published the full story surrounding the set.

The Next Phyrexian Praetor – Urabask

Starting back in Kaldheim with Vorinclex, Monstrous Raider, Wizards has been slowly printing new versions of the Phyrexian leaders, the Praetors, into Standard. Neon Dynasty brought Jin-Gitaxias, Progress Tyrant, and now, Streets of New Capenna will be bringing back the red Praetor: Urabask.

The Five Commanders

In addition to the mob bosses and our returning cast of planeswalkers, Wizards of the Coast also revealed the five legendary creatures who will be at the heads of the preconstructed Commander decks from Streets of New Capenna. There’s one for each family – check them out below.

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Themes and Art

Golden Age and Gilded Card Styles

According to the stream, all of the three-color cards in the set, each aligned with one of the crime families, will be available in the new Golden Age card style, inspired by Art Deco styles. Additionally, an even fancier Gilded version of these cards will feature foiling and a 3-d stamp. Wizards has provided digital images showing examples of each, although there’s no way that our screens can do the foil stamps justice.

Halo – A Magic Enhancing Substance

We’ve already learned a little bit about Halo, a powerful substance that has recently shifted the dynamics of power in New Capenna. Halo is a critical story element in New Capenna. It’s apparently derived from angels, who were overthrown when the demons took control of the plane, and Elspeth believes the substance may be the key to defeating the Phyrexian threat.

Box Topper Promo

Buy-a-box promos, also known as Box Toppers, have come and gone in MTG over the last few years. However, the newest version of the promotion has a bit of a twist – different regions of the world will have different arts for their promo. Thus far we’ve only seen the North American version:

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More Previews

Throughout the course of the two streams, we also got to look at a number of other various preview cards from the set – here are all of the ones that were revealed.

A New Cycle of Five Common Lands

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That covers just about everything of significance from the two debut streams today, but this is just the beginning of spoiler season – we’ve got tons more content around Streets of New Capenna in the pipe, so stay tuned and we’ll see you there.