On the outside looking in, Ikoria seems to be all about GODZILLA and his friends. The alternate art crossover alongside the kaiju monster theme brings this idea to the forefront, but the reality is that this set is more like a "Wedges of Ikoria" sister set to Shards of Alara. The tri-colored theme is ever-present, as well as a pair of pretty wild mechanics in mutate and companion, which we will get to.

As always I'll be providing my first impression of the set right here, going over the cards that jump out to me as loves or hates. Let's go!

Love - Sea-Dasher Octopus

Mutate is a very weird and complicated mechanic; I still feel like I don't fully understand it, which makes trying to parse the three color mutate mythics almost impossible without actually playing with them. How many creatures do you need to play? Is it worth tapping 5 mana on your main phase to try and mutate? There are many questions.

However, there's no question about Sea-Dasher Octopus. Sea-Dasher Octopus is incredible and will likely be one of the most impactful cards in the set. I remember playing Ninja of the Deep Hours in Standard, and Sea-Dasher Octopus is everything Ninja of the Deep Hours ever wanted to be and more; all of the upside, none of the downside. If you go for a mutation on turn two and they kill your creature in response? You still get a 2/2 Sea-Dasher Octopus which is a very respectable body on turn two. And if they don't kill it? Once you draw that first card off it the snowball starts rolling and you can start to plow the road and defend it.

It does require a somewhat specific deck to work, namely one with a good amount of 1-drops, but Sea-Dasher Octopus is probably the card most likely to see play in literally every format, including Modern and Legacy, in the entire set.

It's that good.

Hate - Voracious Greatshark

However nimble and flexible Sea-Dasher Octopus is, Voracious Greatshark is anything but.

For some reason Magic players love Frilled Mystic and friends. You get to counter their spell and get a worthwhile creature? What a demoralizing spot to put your opponent in! There's just one issue - counterspells are usually good because they are cheap. The opportunity cost presented to leave up a Mana Leak or Essence Scatter is fairly low, where if your opponent decides to not play a spell it's not the end of the world. Furthermore, most decks playing these cards have other things to do at instant speed and are bridging the gap to a powerful endgame.

The problem with cards like Frilled Mystic and Voracious Greatshark is how large the opportunity cost is to leaving the mana up for them. Unless your opponent is behind and in a position where they absolutely must cast a spell or die, these four and 5 mana counterspells are very easy to sniff out and play around, either by playing a smaller inconsequential test spell or just not playing anything at all. Good players rarely "get got" by a Frilled Mystic. As such, these types of cards are only good when you are already ahead, while being putrid when you are behind.

Voracious Greatshark does have a much more palatable body than Frilled Mystic if you need to just cast it, but being limited to only countering creatures or artifacts is another huge count against it. The last and most damning fact is that it's Blue, and playing five-mana Blue counterspells in a world where people maindeck Mystical Dispute is not a nice place to be.

Voracious Greatshark is probably a hair worse than Frilled Mystic and about as fringe playable.

Love - Immaculate Ultimatum

Sorcery

Target player gains 5 life. Immaculate Ultimatum deals 5 damage to any target. Draw 5 cards.

Ah yes, the best Ultimatum in Ikoria.

Wait what's that? You think Immaculate Ultimatum is boring? Well sure, compared to "bring a bunch of stuff back from the graveyard!" and "cast free spells!" and "one-sided Planar Cleansing!" I suppose what amounts to a friendlier Cruel Ultimatum looks somewhat tame. However, this is less about the actual effect of the card and more about what actually casting it in a game of Magic looks like.

Jeskai is already a premier color combination in Standard, as well as a historically great one for control decks, making casting Immaculate Ultimatum a very reasonable proposition. You don't need to put weird cards in your deck, alter your mana, or jump through hoops. You just cast the spell and ride its insurmountable advantage to victory. Five cards is a ton of Magic cards, while being able to kill something and pick up a nice life buffer is exactly what most control decks want. Being in the same colors as Teferi, Time Raveler to both defend it against counterspells and cast it at instant speed is a great bonus.

Don't be fooled by creative text, unless some sort of unique new archetype coalesces around one of the more exotic ultimatums, Immaculate Ultimatum is the one you'll be seeing most in tournaments.

Hate - Narset of the Ancient Way

Maybe Wizards of the Coast is feeling a little bad about the planeswalker hellscape they pushed on us in 2019 with Oko, Thief of Crowns, Teferi, Time Raveler, and friends, because oh boy does Narset of the Ancient Way look like it was printed in 2012 not 2020.

Narset's +1 is good with Immaculate Ultimatum, I suppose, but while gaining some life is nice it is hardly worth tapping out for a four-mana planeswalker. It's hard to use the plus for any benefit the turn you cast Narset, already making her a tough sell. The -2 has the ability to kill creatures and planeswalkers, but only at the cost of a good spell from your hand which actively negates what a looting effect is usually used for.

The ultimate is nice but not exactly backbreaking, fully rounding out a very unimpressive showing for a three color planeswalker.

Love - Vivien, Monsters' Advocate

JK LOL about that whole "WotC feeling bad about busted planeswalkers" thing.

Vivien, Monsters' Advocate is an absurdly powerful planeswalker, combining a very powerful static ability with the ability to churn out 3/3s and tack on super-tutor-cascade to your creature spells. She's a literal card advantage machine in the color built around mana acceleration and creatures, making a combination that's as easy to put together as peanut butter and jelly. If Hydroid Krasis didn't exist Vivien would be even better than Nissa, Who Shakes The World, and even with Hydroid Krasis around she still may be.

We've never seen a static ability like this on a planeswalker before, but tacking Experimental Frenzy onto a planeswalker shell that's everything Garruk ever wanted to be just seems out of this world. Cast this on turn three or four, make a 3/3, untap with it and have some fun - This card is wild.

Hate - Shark Typhoon

Maybe I've just never seen Sharknado so I'm not really about the shark cards?

Shark Typhoon reminds everyone a lot of Decree of Justice, one of the most important cards in the format back when it was in Standard. Decree of Justice wasn't just a win condition, it was the win condition for many decks in those formats. It was an uncounterable and scalable card that only got better as the game went on while still being fine in the midgame. Shark Typhoon is a lot like Decree of Justice; it will rarely be cast, it's an uncounterable and instant speed threat, and it is card advantage. There's just one problem.

It's not the year 2004.

Decree of Justice has been a joke for a decade. I took Decree of Justice out of my Cube back during the early days of the Obama administration and never looked back because of how laughably it compares to the rate on modern Magic cards.

Standard Magic in the last few years has always been about playing to the board at a high rate and trying to build on that advantage. Cute cycling cards that chip in for medium value ain't cutting it. The only thing that Shark Typhoon has going for it is that it lines up fairly well at taking Teferi, Time Raveler out, meaning it may have somewhat of a place in the format, but it is a fringe card at best... nothing more.

Love - Blitz of the Thunder-Raptor

Blitz of the Thunder-Raptor is the best version of this style of card ever printed. I mean, Harvest Pyre has seen serious tournament play because of how desperate decks often are to be able to kill larger creatures for god's sake.

Blitz of the Thunder-Raptor does ask a lot of you, mainly that you don't use your graveyard for other resources like escape, delve, etc, but if you're looking for a way to kill larger creatures in your spell-based Izzet deck, look no further.

Oh My - Lurrus of the Dream-Den and friends

Okay, I guess it's time we address the elephant in the room - companion.

Oh my indeed.

Some have certainly spoken about it, but I don't think the average Magic player really conceptualizes how absurdly good these cards are, to the point of upsetting the overall balance of the game. Cards like Gyruda, Doom of Depths seem very fun and on point with what this mechanic seems to be about - jump through some serious deck-building hoops and as a reward you get a free card you'll always have at least once every game.

The problem is that cards like Lurrus of the Dream-Den and Zirda, the Dawnwalker have "deck-building hoops" that already fit into exactly what some decks want to do. Think about something like Modern Burn or Azorius Control. Lurrus or Zirda could fit seamlessly into either deck respectively with very few actual deck-building concessions, meaning that for the low cost of one sideboard slot you get to have a free 8th card in your hand to start the game.

Think about that, because I know a 3/3 that doesn't cost a card doesn't seem like much, but this is operating completely outside the resource system of Magic as we know it. The closest analogy is probably the adventure mechanic, where you'd already be interested in a card like Swift End anyway, so the fact you get this free Murderous Rider to cast is almost just gravy. Even if that 3/3 isn't on plan, imagine being able to bust out a 3/3 in a very tight game where both players are trading resources and trade it with an actual piece of cardboard your opponent put in their starting 60 cards. If you've ever asked yourself "this game was so close if I only had a Grizzly Bear or something I could have probably pulled this game out" you're starting to get it. And that's not assuming the card is actually good in your deck, like Lurrus seems like it is. Lurrus would actually just be a very reasonable card without the companion mechanic, making it all the more warping.

I'm one of the last people to say the sky is falling, but Wizards of the Coast are really pushing the issue here with a mechanic that has no precedence in tournament play. Historically, this is how we get Smuggler's Copter/Once Upon a Time/Stoneforge Mystic/Seat of the Synod/etc. Furthermore, having this card available every single game, having only a small pool of companions to choose from, and making playing a companion a very desirable thing in competitive play all lead to more repetition and redundancy in gameplay, which leads to things becoming stale quickly.

Don't underestimate how powerful having an 8th free spell in your hand is, which goes to say don't underestimate how impactful these cards are going to be in Constructed. We're going to be seeing a lot of these as soon as they are legal.

I'd be lying if I said I wasn't a bit worried.

Without Precedence

Ikoria is one of the most mechanically ambitious sets in a long time and I applaud Wizards of the Coast for that. It's important to push the limits of Magic to make sure the game will be able to grow and thrive as the years go on.

However, with ambition comes risk and it's our job as players to punish Wizards of the Coast for those risks with match win after match win. Being the first to really figure out mutate and companion will be a very valuable thing and I can't wait to get my shot at it next week in the Early Access event on Wednesday!