The Gathering New Edge of Eternities Mechanics Explained

Magic: The Gathering has very rich lore, with many recognizable characters and planes. However, one setting that had not previously been explored is space. With Magic: The Gathering’s upcoming Edge of Eternities set, fans of the trading card game can finally know what kinds of planets and spacecraft can be expected from the MTG universe. This will add plenty of new characters and locations to the TCG, along with some familiar creatures that are making their long-awaited return.

As well as taking the game to a previously unexplored setting, Magic: The Gathering’s Edge of Eternities set also introduces four new mechanics with its cards. These were revealed during the Edge of Eternities Debut showcase, giving players the chance to theorycraft before the set’s official release. The added mechanics all fit within the intergalactic theme of Edge of Eternities, ready to slot nicely into many players’ existing decks and providing plenty of opportunities for brewing new decks based around the upcoming cards.

Related

Magic: The Gathering’s Newest Mechanic May Be Dead on Arrival

Magic: The Gathering will soon release its Aetherdrift set, and one of its mechanics may be bound to run out of gas before it’s out.

Edge of Eternities Introduces New Cosmic Abilities to Magic: The Gathering

Station

Station is a new keyword in Magic: The Gathering that can be found on many of the cards added in Edge of Eternities, particularly those with MTG’s new Spacecraft or Planet subtypes. Players can tap creatures they control to add charge counters to the card with the Station keyword. The number of counters added is based on the power of the tapped creatures. When the threshold for this is met, more abilities on the card become available to use. The Station ability can only be used at sorcery speed, meaning players can only use it during their main phase when the stack is empty.

This keyword is similar to the existing Crew and Saddle mechanics from Magic: The Gathering’s Vehicles and Mounts in that the ability costs a certain amount of creature power – paid for by tapping the creature – which then activates the card’s ability. Where this mechanic differs from Crew and Saddle, though, is that the player can put charge counters on their card over time rather than on a single turn, with the ability being active once the threshold is reached, and these counters make the investment of a tapped creature permanent. The cost of some of these abilities is quite high, but the payout is worthwhile.

Warp

Another new keyword introduced in the Edge of Eternities set is Warp, which lets players cast the card from their hand for an alternative cost, much like Magic: The Gathering Crimson Vow’s Cleave ability. For the cost listed on the card, the card can be placed on the battlefield and remain there to be used until the beginning of the player’s end step. Then, the card is temporarily exiled, and can be cast again during a later turn. In the Edge of Eternities Debut showcase, this mechanic was compared to Adventures, except instead of having two ways to play the card, Warp can be played the same way with the same abilities multiple times.

It seems as though cards with the Warp ability will often use ETB effects in Magic: The Gathering, giving the player the opportunity to use the enter ability multiple times across many turns. It would also be a useful mechanic when paired with cards that have abilities that trigger when another card enters the battlefield, stacking rewards with each turn.

Void

The Void ability added to Magic: The Gathering as part of Edge of Eternities rewards players whenever a card leaves the battlefield during that turn. The card shown with this ability was Tragic Trajectory. Normally, this card gives a target creature -2/-2 until the end of the player’s turn, but with Void, this instead becomes -10/-10. To trigger this ability, a nonland permanent needs to have left the battlefield or the Warp ability has to have been used during this turn. Void cards like Tragic Trajectory would work well in decks that use Warp cards or those with abilities that trigger as cards leave the battlefield, giving players the most bang for their buck.

Related

The 30 Rarest Magic: The Gathering Cards (And How Much They’re Worth)

Magic: The Gathering has some of the rarest, most valuable cards of any TCG, and collectors are still tripping over themselves to find these pieces.

Landers Are a New Token Type in MTG

Finally, Edge of Eternities has added Lander to the game as a new type of token that helps players find lands. The player can tap the Lander token, pay two mana, and sacrifice it in order to search their library for a basic MTG land card and put it onto the battlefield tapped before shuffling. This new token seems like it would be great for setting up players’ turns, accelerating their mana base in a new, accessible way. It remains to be seen how prevalent Landers will be outside of Green, which is already good at retrieving lands, but it could be a game-changer for other colors.

Edge of Eternities is already a highly anticipated set, taking the game to the far reaches of space and providing players with creatively designed cards made to fit this unfamiliar setting. With the newly confirmed mechanics, there is even more to be excited about, expanding the range of options available to players for how they can choose to play the game. 2025 continues to be an interesting year for Magic: The Gathering fans, but the wait for the Edge of Eternities set will finally be over when it releases on August 1.

Franchise

Magic: The Gathering

Original Release Date

1993

Age Recommendation

13+