Magic The Gathering Reveals New Booster And Cards From “The List” For Zendikar Rising

Wizards of the Coast’s hit tabletop card game Magic: The Gathering is expanding the user experience. Revealed at the Comic-Con@Home panel, the game’s head designer Mark Rosewater showcased the upcoming set Zendikar Rising, which will arrive this September.

Set Boosters are the new addition to MTG, giving players a brand-new experience when it comes to gaining cards for their decks. “There are a few differences between a Set Booster and the traditional Draft Booster,” MTG’s product architect Mark Heggen told GameSpot. “The 15-card Draft Booster is tuned for Limited play–Draft and Sealed Deck–with spots for commons, uncommons, and rares locked in to optimize those competitive formats. The Set Booster is a curated experience that’s meant to be fun to open. There are things in there for lots of different kinds of Magic fans, and it allows us to play a little bit with the spread of card rarities in the Pack.”

These new Set Boosters will consist of 14 cards: 12 MTG cards, an art card (which has a small chance of being a golden artist signature-stamped card), and a final card which could be a token card, an ad card, or a card from “The List.”

Rosewater revealed “The List,” this is a collection of 300 curated cards from the history of MTG. These cards were selected as a fun representation of old mechanics from the game’s past. All of the cards from “The List” will have the Planeswalker symbol and the symbol of the original printing. Three cards, which you can see below, were revealed today: Cloudgoat Ranger, Pact of Negation, and Muscle Sliver. Also check out the differences between all the boosters.

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In addition to Set Boosters, there will also be Draft Boosters, Theme Boosters, and Collector Boosters, to enhance the pack-opening experience. “There are so many ways to enjoy Magic, and in recent years, our product team has worked to develop products that appeal to a lot of different kinds of players,” Heggen said. “The Set Booster started with a pretty simple goal: create a product curated for opening with a broad appeal for many different types of Magic players. Even though it was a simple goal, the team still went through a lot of iterations of the Set Booster. We looked at a lot of factors, including how players opened boosters and what they wanted from them.

“One of the most interesting concepts that we uncovered was that people often ended up with more copies of commons than they actually wanted. Those extra commons helped with drafts, but a majority of players weren’t excited to have them around. So, we rebalanced the numbers with Set Boosters and used the resources to give players more of the things they would be excited to see—like rares, foils, and special treatment cards with fewer raw commons.”

MTG: Zendikar Rising arrives to Arena on September 17 and to tabletop on September 25.

Daily Deals: Apple AirPods and Apple Music Bundle, Hugely Discounted External Storage Drives and More

Welcome to the weekend! Kick back, relax and enjoy some deals. We’ve got some big ones today, thanks to Best Buy and their awesome Summer Savings event. You can grab a pair of AirPods plus 4 Months of Apple Music at a great price, or hop over to Amazon to save on Witcher 3 for the Nintendo Switch. Those deals and more are available for your browsing pleasure, so take a peak below to start saving!

Deals for July 25

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More Video Game Deals

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Rick and Morty Season 5 Sneak Peek: Meet Rick’s Nemesis, Mr. Nimbus

Adult Swim Con’s Rick and Morty panel (titled “How Do They Do It: Rick and Morty”) — featuring co-creator Dan Harmon and cast members Sarah Chalke, Chris Parnell, and Spencer Grammer, and moderated by IGN’s own Terri Schwartz — gave fans a cool sneak peek from Season 5 in the form of an awesome animatic.

The few minutes of footage shown hit the floor running, dropping us into a storm of interdimensional chaos and calamity as Morty carries a mortally injured Rick in an attempt to reach their ship and escape back to Earth. Along the way, they see a reality where they’re both “Blade” versions of themselves. “That f***in’ tight,” Rick remarks.

The footage ends with Rick and Morty inadvertently angering Rick’s pretentious seafaring nemesis, Mr. Nimbus: an arch-enemy Rick apparently never told Morty about because – well – he’s kind of embarrassed by him. Check it out!

As for series updates, Harmon remarked that, despite the pandemic, they were in the midst of both “finalizing the [Season 5] finale” and “almost done writing” Season 6. Even though quarantine Zoom meetings have meant the writers have had to curb their looser, improvisational spitballing methods of story development, Harmon said the “material coming out of it is just as good if not better” than previous seasons.

A Season 5 premiere date wasn’t revealed, though Harmon did mention Season 5 would not feature the unnamed cat voiced by Matthew Broderick, The Vindicators, the Cronenbergs, or Morty’s Mind Blowers.

Harmon also mentioned that “there are some Clone Beth fireworks” coming, but not until Season 6.

For more on the series, here’s our look at how Season 4’s big Beth twist could impact the story going forward as well as our full review of Rick and Morty Season 4.

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Matt Fowler is a writer for IGN and a member of the Television Critics Association. Follow him on Twitter at @TheMattFowler and Facebook at Facebook.com/MattBFowler.

Batman: Why the Robin King Is One of the Most Demented DC Villains Ever

As if Batman doesn’t have enough to deal with in 2020, DC is about to introduce a new villain to his iconic rogues gallery, and he may just be the most twisted member yet.

The DC Comics panel on IGN’s Comic-Con@Home livestream offered fans a closer look at Dark Nights: Death Metal, with writer Scott Snyder and artist Greg Capullo appearing to tease what’s still to come in the remaining five issues of the series. Death Metal #3 will shine a spotlight on Batman’s newest nemesis, a villain known as The Robin King.

Warning: this article contains spoilers for Dark Nights: Death Metal #1 and 2!

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Watch the DC Comics Comic-Con panel below:

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As the first two chapters of Death Metal have shown, The Batman Who Laughs has only grown more powerful and dangerous in the Death Metal era. Though this twisted, Joker-ized version of Batman was killed by Wonder Woman in issue #1, his brain was transplanted into the body of another evil Batman in issue #2. In his new body, the Batman Who Laughs has the reality-altering powers of Watchmen’s Doctor Manhattan. He even has a new name to befit his boosted power level – The Darkest Knight.

Issue #3 will introduce The Darkest Knight’s new sidekick, The Robin King. Formerly one of the demonic Robins The Batman Who Laughs keeps chained by his side, this ex-Boy Wonder may just be the most demented and terrifying foe Batman has ever grappled with.

“I’m just writing his dialogue now,” said Snyder. “His whole history you’ll learn – what his secret is, who he is, all of that stuff. Because I’ve seen a lot of speculation about who he is.”

Dark Nights: Death Metal - Legends of the Dark Knights #1 cover by Kaare Andrews. (Image Credit: DC)
Dark Nights: Death Metal – Legends of the Dark Knights #1 cover by Kaare Andrews. (Image Credit: DC)

Snyder then teased a majorly disturbing encounter between The Robin King and the JSA, As Snyder describes the character, The Robin King seems to have the personality of Burt Ward’s Robin mixed with a love of violence and sadism to rival his master’s. As he encounters these stately older heroes, The Robin King reveals he dug up the corpse of Barry Allen’s mother and stuffed her into a Flash ring, and then murdered Alan Scott’s children, mixed their ashes and created a ring capable of canceling out the Green Lantern.

“He’s this ten-year-old kid, but he’s definitely one of our darkest creations,” said Snyder. “But I love him, because… what I want the heroes to go up against here is something that says ‘Everything you believe people to be, everything you hope we are, we aren’t.’ And you want representations of that. With The Batman Who Laughs and with The Robin King, the eviler and darker the villain, the more the heroes are challenged by what they see in human nature. It becomes harder and harder to be hopeful.”

Snyder continued, “He’s not evil just to make something incredibly fun and dark. He is those things, but it’s also meant to be something you read and hits you in a way that’s poignant. Because he says, ‘All these different hopes and aspirations for us are nothing, and I’ll show you why.’ So he’s a very spooky kid.”

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Dark Nights: Death Metal #3 will debut on August 12. For more on the new series, find out how Death Metal ties together 80 years of DC history. Then check out IGN’s picks for the Top 25 Batman graphic novels of all time and our Comic-Con 2020 panel schedule.

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Jesse is a mild-mannered staff writer for IGN. Allow him to lend a machete to your intellectual thicket by following @jschedeen on Twitter.

More Call Of Duty: Modern Warfare And Warzone Bans Are Coming, Infinity Ward Says

Call of Duty: Modern Warfare and Call of Duty: Warzone both still have a problem with cheaters, and developer Infinity Ward isn’t tolerating it. In a new statement posted on its Twitter, the studio explained the steps it is taking to eliminate unfair play for the games, as well as what you need to avoid doing if you don’t want to get banned.

The full statement, which you can see above, explains that any bans are related to “unauthorized manipulation of game data” and any third-party software being used to mod or hack can result in a ban. Aimbots, texture hacks, and trainers are all banned, and you should not attempt to modify any of the camouflage patterns you’ve obtained, nor should you try to alter the memory on your system to get new gear.

Because it has to maintain two games now instead of its usual one, Infinity Ward certainly has its work cut out for it. The standard Modern Warfare multiplayer matches are nothing like Warzone’s enormous battle royale fights, but your actions are probably going to catch up to you if you attempt to cheat in either of them.

It’s already July, and Activision has yet to detail what its Call of Duty 2020 game will be. It has been heavily rumored that it will be a Black Ops game set during the Cold War, and a Red Door listing appeared to confirm this. However, nothing official has been announced yet and we could be left waiting until closer to launch to learn more.

Now Playing: Top 5 Call of Duty: Warzone Moments Of The Week

Todd McFarlane Reveals Where He Got His Inspiration for Spawn

SYFY’s newest profile documentary, Todd McFarlane: Like Hell I Won’t, centers on the iconic comic book creator, who co-founded Image Comics and is the mastermind behind the Spawn character and McFarlane Toys.

The documentary, which premieres on SYFY on Saturday, July 25, “gives viewers a peek behind the curtain into Todd’s creative process of bringing Spider-Man & Spawn to life. Revealing his motivations & inspirations, it illustrates his struggle to navigate and upend the status quo in the comics & toy industries,” according to SYFY. IGN can officially reveal a clip where McFarlane shares a personal story about how Spawn’s origin story is influenced by his own life experiences.

Watch the revealing clip in the video below or at the top of the page:

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While McFarlane has seen his Spawn creation on the big screen in New Line Cinema’s live-action adaptation starring Michael Jai White in the titular role, McFarlane has promised another Spawn film is in the works. In more recent news, the comic book mogul mentioned that a 90-minute Spawn animated project is “ready to go.”

For more comic book news, be sure to check out IGN’s Comic-Con@Home livestream, the full Comic-Con@Home schedule, or watch the entire The Boys Season 2 panel right here. And watch Todd McFarlane: Like Hell I Won’t on SYFY on July 25, at 11 pm ET.

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David Griffin still watches DuckTales in his pajamas with a cereal bowl in hand. He’s also the TV Editor for IGN. Say hi on Twitter.

Halo Infinite Brings Back Fan-Favorite Actors Alongside Newcomers

Halo Infinite is being marketed as a “spiritual reboot” for the series, continuing the story from Halo 5 but centering the action on a mysterious ring world like in the original game. Such a big change could have resulted in other major departures, such as recasting voice roles, but that won’t be the case for the series’ two biggest characters.

The Master Chief will once again be played by Steve Downes, an actor whose low, measured tone has defined the hero since his first appearance nearly 20 years ago. He’s joined by Jen Taylor, who voices both Cortana and Dr. Catherine Halsey, the researcher who lent her voice to Cortana when she was “born.” Given the dark path Cortana traveled down in Halo 5, we expect to hear a lot of Taylor in Halo Infinite.

There are a few newcomers that 343 Industries has revealed thus far, as well. “The Pilot,” who does have a name that has not been officially revealed yet, will be played by Nicolas Roye. He has appeared in several other video games such as Resident Evil: Resistance earlier this year and Apex Legends. War Chief Escahrum, who is the Brute featured at the end of the campaign teaser, is played by Darin de Paul. He plays Reinhardt in Overwatch and also voiced the legendary J. Jonah Jameson in Marvel’s Spider-Man.

We’ll see how the new characters pan out when Halo Infinite launches this holiday season. The game will be a launch title for Xbox Series X and will also come to Xbox One and PC.

Now Playing: Halo Infinite Cinematic Trailer | Xbox Games Showcase 2020

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Spider-Man: Miles Morales Actor Provides Sneak Peek Of PS5 Adventure

Spider-Man: Miles Morales’ motion capture actor has shared a brief behind-the-scenes glimpse at the motion capture process for the upcoming PlayStation 5 game, which will feature the young hero following in the footsteps of 2018’s Marvel’s Spider-Man. “To become a character so impactful means the world to me,” tweeted Nadji Jeter.

“The story of Miles is what this generation & the next need! I just thank the heavens above for blessing me with the opportunity & responsibility to bring him to Life!! “

In the images, Jeter can be seen donning a motion capture suit, with dozens of extra markers applied to his face so that every nuance of his acting can be captured by developer Insomniac Games. Due for release at the end of the year, Spider-Man: Miles Morales will feature both a quality and a performance mode, with the latter allowing players to web-sling across New York City at a a stable 60 fps at 4K resolution.

While Spider-Man: Miles Morales won’t be a fully-fledged sequel to Marvel’s Spider-Man, it will feature a new campaign starring Peter Parker’s protege as he defends Manhattan in an adventure that is comparable to previous PlayStation 4 standalone games such as Uncharted: The Lost Legacy.

Now Playing: Spider-Man: Miles Morales Announcement Trailer | Sony PS5 Reveal Event

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Star Wars: The High Republic Will Reveal the Ancestor Of One Of The Original Trilogy’s Biggest Scoundrels

Star Wars is expanding once again, but this time into an age where the Jedi are at the peak of their power and influence within the galaxy. Announced back in February, Star Wars: The High Republic is set 200 years before the events of The Phantom Menace but will also feature a familial connection to the original Star Wars film trilogy era that novelist Justina Ireland discussed in an hour-long panel at Disney-Lucasfilm Publishing’s Comic-Con at Home panel via THR.

According to Ireland, that link to the future will be seen in Avon Starros, an ancestor of Sana Starros whose first appearance came in Marvel’s 2015 Star Wars comic book series.

“If fans are familiar with Sana Starros,” Ireland said, “we know she’s the best scoundrel to ever have scoundreled, she has no shame, she’s out there to get what she needs to get, and she’s kinda ruthless. “She’s literally my favorite.” “But The High Republic takes place many hundreds of years earlier before she exists, and so who we’re going to meet instead of Sina is her great, great, many-times-great ancestor — there won’t be a direct relation there because genetics are murky in the Star Wars galaxy.”

Avon Starros will be one of the co-leads of Ireland’s Young Adult novel The High Republic: A Test of Courage, who Ireland described as a scientist who is fascinated with uncovering a more logical explanation for how The Force functions.

“Avon is a 12-year-old girl, she has been sent to the edge of the galaxy by her mother who’s a republic senator because she’s just trouble,” Ireland explained. “She is a scientist and the only things she wants to know are the answers to the questions that drive her. So, ‘How does the Force work, from a scientific perspective?’ That might be something a scientist would want to know. ‘What happens if you take a khyber crystal out of a lightsaber, what does that look like?’”

Ireland’s YA novel will be but the first of many new books and comics when it arrives in January 2021, with writers such as Charles Soule, Claudia Gray and Daniel José Older all contributing to a new storytelling initiative that will cover “a more hopeful, optimistic time,” Lucasfilm president Kathleen Kennedy said during the debut announcement for The High Republic.

Robert Kirkman’s Invincible TV Show Casts Most Of The Walking Dead

While The Walking Dead TV series has become its own universe, with three different shows, it’s all based on the amazing comic book series written by Robert Kirkman with art by Tony Moore and Charlie Adlard. However, there is another adaptation of Kirkman’s comic books coming to the small screen, and that’s Invincible. During the Robert Kirkman at Home panel for Comic-Con@Home, the creator revealed a slew of people who have been cast on the show.

The upcoming Amazon Prime animated series will obviously feature the Guardians of the Globe, the superhero team. And there are some Walking Dead actors who will make the jump to this new series that were announced during the Kirkman panel. This includes Khary Payton (Ezekiel) as Black Samson, Sonequa Martin-Green (Sasha) as Green Ghost, Lauren Cohan (Maggie) as War Woman, Chad Coleman (Tyreese) as Martian Man, Michael Cudlitz (Abraham) as Red Rush, Lennie James (Morgan) as Darkwing, and Ross Marquand (Aaron) as The Immortal & Aquarius.

They’ll join the central cast of the Grayson family, which you can see below.

Current Invincible cast:

  • Steven Yeun – Mark Grayson
  • J.K. Simmons – Nolan Grayson
  • Sandra Oh – Debbie Grayson
  • Khary Payton – Black Samson
  • Zachary Quinto – Robot
  • Lauren Cohan – War Woman
  • Chad Coleman – Martian Man
  • Michael Cudlitz – Red Rush
  • Lennie James – Darkwing
  • Ross Marquand – The Immortal & Aquarius
  • Sonequa Martin-Green – Green Ghost

Additionally, Kirkman said that the TV series will move faster than the comic book, but he won’t say specifically what the first season will cover. “I will say we will be starting at the beginning,” Kirkman explained. “So there’s not any kind of time jumps. We’re not gonna start in the middle of the series or anything like that. But we’ll be going from there. We will be moving at a faster clip than the comic book did. So at the end of the eight episode, we will be–I would say–long past the eighth comic book issue.

The Invincible comic ran for 144 issues kicking off in 2003 and running to 2018. The series followed a teenager named Mark Grayson who is the son of Omni-Man–the world’s greatest superhero. Mark quickly learns he has superpowers of his own and takes on the moniker of Invincible. From there, the story goes to incredible places with lots of twists and turns, which we will not spoil here–because you should read it.

While the book was known as a breath of fresh air to the superhero genre–as it’s a mature series and doesn’t pull its punches–one of the things it’s best known for is the art, from Cory Walker for one arc and Ryan Ottley for the rest of the series. The art is violent, bloody, and one of the few superhero comics around that isn’t afraid to get into the brutality of battle, as you won’t see someone’s intestines getting pulled from their body in a Marvel or DC comic book.

At this time, Amazon Prime’s Invincible animated series does not have a release date.