Ikoria: Lair of Behemoths



Ikoria: Lair of Behemoths, often shortened as Ikoria, is the 84th Magic expansion. It was originally scheduled to be released on April 24, 2020. Due to the 2019-2020 coronavirus pandemic, the paper release was advanced to April 17, 2020 for Asia, and delayed until May 15, 2020 for the other continents, while Magic Online and MTG Arena released on April 16, 2020. Despite this, the cards became legal in Standard and other formats on April 24, 2020, the original release date.

Set details
There's Always a Bigger Monster Ikoria: Lair of Behemoths makes use of monster movie tropes, and is especially inspired by  Kaiju (a Japanese genre of films featuring giant monsters like Godzilla). The set is mostly designed bottom-up, but there are also some top-down individual card designs. Monsters are the focal point of the set. Monsters are fighting other monsters, and monsters are fighting humans and their cities. As in Core 2020, the Gainlands appear over the basic lands in about 5/12 boosters.

The set contains 274 cards, and includes randomly inserted premium versions of all cards. A unique Buy-a-Box promotional card is also considered to be part of the set. Cards with an alternate card frames have another card number than the original version. The Buy-a-Box is #275, borderless planeswalkers are numbered #276-278, Showcase cards are numbered #279-313, and the extended artwork cards are numbered #314-363. The Bundle promo is numbered #364, and the FNM-treatment cards from the universal promo pack are numbered #365-369. Finally, there are Godzilla Series Monster cards that are numbered #370-387. Both regular and foil versions of most of these cards may be found in the Collector Boosters.

The set's expansion symbol is a monstrous eye. The Showcase cards are connected to the mutate mechanic. They feature a comic book style.

Storyline
The setting is Ikoria, a plane of beasts and monsters. As the world of Ikoria developed, humans quickly realized what types of defenses were needed to stave off monsters. The humans were quick to become both militaristic and ingenious. Unfortunately for the humans, the monsters of Ikoria have begun to mutate and the fortresses that were previously successful at protecting humans have now become fodder for the monsters to annihilate. Featured planeswalkers are Vivien Reid, Lukka and Narset.

The cards that represent the Story Spotlights in Ikoria: Lair of Behemoths are:

Marketing
Ikoria: Lair of Behemoths is sold in regular 16-card Draft Boosters (one card being a marketing card), mono-colored Theme Boosters, Collector Boosters, the Ikoria: Lair of Behemoths bundle and five Commander decks. The Draft Boosters feature artwork from Vivien, Monsters' Advocate, Kogla, the Titan Ape and Prickly Marmoset. The Theme Boosters feature art from Titanoth Rex (Monsters), Fight as One, , Cunning Nightbonder , Porcuparrot , and Humble Naturalist. The Collector Boosters feature a showcase version of the key art.

Godzilla Series Monster cards
Each booster box contains a box topper. For the box toppers Wizards of the Coast partnered with Toho Corporation to feature its iconic monsters such as Godzilla, Mothra, and King Ghidorah. These cards, called the Godzilla Series Monster cards, feature Godzilla themed "skins" on reprints of regular cards. The name of the original card is featured in a small font below the Godzilla name of the card. The skin name is considered flavor text and has no effect on game play.

Each booster box has a single-card Box Topper pack featuring a foil Godzilla Series Monster card. In Japanese boosters, there are 18 different Box topper cards in foil, three of which are only in Japanese. Due to an internal error, these Japanese-only cards do not appear in English or French Collector Boosters. In all other languages, there are 15 different box toppers. WPN stores will have an additional foil Godzilla card as part of the Buy-a-Box promotion.

The 19th card with this treatment is the set's Buy-a-Box card, which as yet only exists as a preview card in its Godzilla Series form.

The 20th card with this treatment is a second Buy-a-Box card through a promotional event; this being as Mechagodzilla. The Hangarback Walker is not considered to be be a part of the Ikoria set.

Godzilla Series' card are also featured Magic Online (as a part of Treasure Chests) and MTG Arena. While all 19 cards from Ikoria are featured in Arena, Magic Online only featured 15 cards (The non-Japanese Box Topper cards other than, as well as the Buy-a-Box). The 3 Japanese-only cards will have their Godzilla name in their supported language in the Arena version.

Events

 * Magic Online and MTG Arena release: April 16, 2020.
 * Tabletop Prerelease / Release: April 17, 2020 (Asia) / May 15, 2020 (North America, Europe, Latin America, and Australia/New Zealand).
 * Due to the COVID-19 pandemic stores are allowed to sell Prerelease Packs and Commander Decks for players to take home without participating in an in-store event, and they may also enroll players in at-home Prerelease events.
 * Commander Nights: April 27–June 18. A weekly Commander league with rotating rules and achievement-based prizes.

Promotional cards

 * Prerelease: a stamped card that can be any rare or mythic rare of Ikoria: Lair of Behemoths.
 * Other events: cards from the Ikoria: Lair of Behemoths universal promo pack.
 * The seasonal dark-frame promos are:, , , and.
 * Buy-a-Box: foil Godzilla, King of the Monsters (, but only available in its Godzilla Series form).
 * Bundle promo: foil alternate art.
 * "Welcome Back": (buy any booster box).
 * "Love Your LGS": (buy any product).
 * Box topper: see Ikoria: Lair of Behemoths/Box Toppers

Tokens/emblems/markers
The sixteenth card in the boosters is a token, emblem, or marker with advertisements on the back side.
 * 1)  1/1 Cat creature with lifelink, created by Cubwarden</c>.
 * 2)  1/1 Cat Bird creature with flying, created by Skycat Sovereign</c>.
 * 3)  1/1 Human Soldier creature, created by Bastion of Remembrance</c>, Daysquad Marshal</c>, Forbidden Friendship</c>, Garrison Cat</c>, General's Enforcer</c>, Nightsquad Commando</c> and Valiant Rescuer</c> (1 of 3).
 * 4)  1/1 Human Soldier creature (2 of 3).
 * 5)  1/1 Human Soldier creature (3 of 3).
 * 6)  8/8 Kraken creature, created by Ominous Seas</c>.
 * 7)  X/X Shark creature with flying, created by Shark Typhoon</c>.
 * 8)  Artifact named  with ", Sacrifice Feather: Return target Phoenix card from your graveyard to the battlefield tapped," created by Everquill Phoenix</c>.
 * 9)  1/1 Dinosaur creature with haste, created by Forbidden Friendship</c>.
 * 10)  3/3 Beast creature, created by Trumpeting Gnarr</c> and Vivien, Monsters' Advocate</c>.
 * 11)  X/X Dinosaur Beast creature with trample, created by Quartzwood Crasher</c>.
 * 12) Emblem for <c>Narset of the Ancient Way</c>.
 * 13)  marker.

Punch card
There is also a set of double-sided keyword counters on a punch card. The counters correspond to the "Modal Creatures" cycle as listed below.

Themes and mechanics
Ikoria: Lair of Behemoths is about "building your own monsters". This is represented by the keyword ability mutate. You can mutate a creature you control by paying the mutate cost and placing the card below or above a non-Human creature. They mutate into the creature on top plus all abilities from under it. A creature can be mutated multiple times. Mutate was first referred to on the silver-bordered card <c>Surgeon General Commander</c> in Unsanctioned.

The set also introduces the mechanic companion. The companion ability lists a deckbuilding rule. If your starting deck follows that rule, then the legendary creature outside the game (i.e. sideboard) can serve as your chosen companion. Originally the mechanic allowed players to play their companion from the sideboard as if that card is in your hand once during the game, it was later modified to players may pay to move their companion from sideboard to hand in sorcery speed (See Notable card for details). Once your companion enters the game it doesn't return to the sideboard at the rest of the game.

The set makes use of keyword counters. These were introduced on a test card in the Mystery Booster set (<c>Recycla-bird</c> with Flying counters). The set uses twelve different types of counters (thirteen including loyalty counters). The others are bounty, foreshadow, +1/+1, deathtouch, first strike, flying, hexproof, lifelink, menace, reach, trample and vigilance counters. Note that double strike and indestructible counters only appear on cards in the C20-set, and not in Ikoria itself. Some creatures gain variable ability counters, and tying into the theme of granting keywords there are several creatures that reward creatures with particular keywords (keyword "lords").

Ikoria: Lair of Behemoths also features the return of Human tribal, hybrid mana and cycling.

Color-wise, the set is enemy color themed, leaning into wedges for the apex predator legends and associated triomes. This is reflected in the uncommon multicolor cards: three cycles of enemy-color and one cycle of hybrid ally-color signposts. Unlike Khans of Tarkir, this implementation of wedges focuses on the common enemy color (ex. for the wedge, Indatha is primarily black, while Abzan is primarily white). Fixing is more prevalent than in Khans but it tends towards splashes more than even splits, and there are only ten cards (two Rare cycles) that can only be cast with full wedge mana. Overall enemy color decks are most populous with gold support, while allied color decks have minor support and full wedge decks are less likely from format speed.

Ikoria: Lair of Behemoths supports the following draft archetypes:
 * Human-tribal (<c>General's Enforcer</c> & )
 * Noncreature spells (<c>Sprite Dragon</c> & )
 * Graveyard recursion ( & <c>Back for More</c>)
 * Cycling ( & <c>Zenith Flare</c>)
 * Mutate (<c>Parcelbeast</c> & )


 * Flying (<c>Jubilant Skybonder</c>)
 * Flash (<c>Cunning Nightbonder</c>)
 * Menace (<c>Sonorous Howlbonder</c>)
 * Trample (<c>Proud Wildbonder</c>)
 * Vigilance (<c>Alert Heedbonder</c>)

All allied color combinations have an archetype focused on a keyword in those color types.

Card types
The set introduces the Otter creature type and reintroduces the Shark type. It also features the first standard-legal Brushwagg since Mirage (<c>Almighty Brushwagg</c>), and the first black-bordered Squirrel since Odyssey (<c>Helica Glider</c>).

The set also introduces the Lukka planeswalker type.

Cycles
Ikoria: Lair of Behemoths has 22 cycles, including two double cycles. There is also one mirrored pair.

While the color pair cares about flash, flash isn't something that makes sense for a keyword counter, so the black mentor instead cares about lifelink. The other allied pairs care about flying, menace, trample and vigilance.

Reprinted cards
The following cards have been reprinted:
 * , first printed in Dominaria, last seen in Mystery Booster.
 * , first printed in Dragons of Tarkir, last seen in Core Set 2020.
 * , first printed in Amonkhet, last seen in Mystery Booster.
 * , first printed in Core Set 2019, last seen in Mystery Booster.
 * , first printed in Guilds of Ravnica, last seen in Mystery Booster.
 * , first printed in Kaladesh, last seen in Mystery Booster.
 * , first printed in Ravnica: City of Guilds, last seen in Core Set 2020.
 * , first printed in Oath of the Gatewatch.
 * , first printed in Dominaria.
 * , first printed in Innistrad, last seen in Guilds of Ravnica.
 * , first printed in War of the Spark.
 * , first printed in Magic 2010, last seen in Mystery Booster.
 * , first printed in Rise of the Eldrazi, last seen in Commander 2019.
 * , first printed in Morningtide, last seen in Battlebond.
 * , first printed in Ixalan, last seen in Mystery Booster.
 * , first printed in Magic 2015, last seen in Core Set 2020.
 * , first printed in Amonkhet, last seen in Mystery Booster.
 * , first printed in Odyssey, last seen in Iconic Masters.
 * , first printed in Mirrodin Besieged, last seen in Mystery Booster now notably a Story Spotlight.
 * , first printed in Mirage, last seen in Mystery Booster.
 * , first printed in Magic 2011, last seen in Theros Beyond Death.
 * , first printed in War of the Spark.
 * All 10 gainlands, first printed in Khans of Tarkir, last seen as a complete cycle in Core Set 2020.

Functional reprints

 * is a functional reprint of <c>Prowling Caracal</c>, including creature types, and a functional reprint of <c>Blade of the Sixth Pride</c>, <c>Devilthorn Fox</c>, <c>Dromoka Warrior</c>, <c>Knight of New Benalia</c>, <c>Oreskos Swiftclaw</c> and <c>Raptor Companion</c>, except for creature types.

Preconstructed decks
Planeswalker decks are discontinued for expansions. For this set, they are replaced by five Commander decks (Ikoria Commander). This is essentially Commander 2020 aligning with Ikoria: Lair of Behemoths. The 71 new cards in the decks are set on the world of Ikoria, but the reprints can be from anywhere. There are a handful of cards from the main Ikoria set in these decks in the reprint slots, but the number is fairly small. The cards are only legal in Eternal formats like Legacy, Vintage, and Pauper. They have their own expansion symbol and set code (C20) to set them apart.

Companions

 * The Companion mechanic received an unprecedented rules change on June 1, 2020 (June 4 for Digital versions), a month after Ikoria 's release: Companion creatures were deemed to be too strong as they dominated in almost every constructed format - three of them were even being banned in at least one sanctioned format in less than two months, prompting WotC to change Companion's rules altogether:
 * <c>Lutri, the Spellchaser</c> was banned in Brawl the day it was released in digital form. But more notably, mtgcommander.net, the governing body of Commander, announced Lutri's commander ban on the day it was spoiled. Lutri's deck restriction overlapped Commander/Brawl's singleton construction rule, which created an unfair environment to Blue-Red decks and the rest.
 * <c>Zirda, the Dawnwaker</c> and <c>Lurrus Of The Dream-Den</c> were banned in Legacy - the fastest ever ban in the format (other than cards that received a 0-day ban like <c>Mind's Desire</c>).
 * Surprisingly, <c>Lurrus Of The Dream-Den</c> was also banned in Vintage. Lurrus' deckbuilding restriction mattered very little in formats built around cheap permanents and restriction has no effect against it, so Lurrus was banned. Lurrus is also the first card banned in Vintage specifically for power level reasons. It was later returned to the format in February 2021, given that the companion tax had long since been established to be effective. Lurrus remains a strong contender in all formats it remains legal in.
 * <c>Yorion, Sky Nomad</c> had the greatest impact in Standard, where "Yorion Piles" were archetypes dedicated to using Sagas and other entry-effect enchantments from Theros Beyond Death to generate value, and dominated the midrange, control and ramp ends of the metagame its entire Standard run. Leaning towards a long-game strategy, it was least affected by the rules change and tended to underperform in larger formats where five (and later three-plus-five) mana was hard to invest.
 * <c>Kaheera, the Orphanguard</c> and <c>Jegantha, the Wellspring</c> were the easiest to free-roll, the former happening in creature-less or low-creature decks, while Jegantha's restriction was the easiest to achieve, but also quickly cuttable. <c>Obosh, the Preypiercer</c> had minor success pre- and post-change, with the restriction easily manageable with larger formats expanding the 1-drop slot, or with Adventure creatures filling the curve.
 * The remaining three had minor impacts on formats, mostly Standard only. <c>Gyruda, Doom of Depths</c> generated a combo deck revolving around resolving as many Gyruda triggers as possible, but as a six-mana blue spell, it was far too vulnerable. <c>Umori, the Collector</c> had some success pre-change in mutate decks, but the rules change crippled its cost-reduction ability, as usually, it wanted to be cast turn 3 before an explosive turn 4. <c>Keruga, the Macrosage</c> had some potential in <c>Fires of Invention</c> decks with Adventure creatures, but eventually it was clear the lack of cheap interaction was untenable and was eventually supplanted by Yorion before the rules change.

Banned and Restricted cards

 * <c>Winota, Joiner of Forces</c> asked for cheap non-Humans to cheat out powerful Humans, which resulted in decks attempting to rush out as many copies of <c>Agent of Treachery</c> as possible. While this was alleviated in Standard with the banning of Agent, such an effect would only get more powerful and was hence banned in Historic in July and Brawl in May - it was in fact so powerful the Historic suspension was done under emergency timing.

Trivia

 * The Godzilla Series Monster card had an unfortunate name in view of the 2019–20 coronavirus pandemic that developed after its creation. All reprint editions of the set will remove this card. On MTG Arena, it was renamed to . And in Magic Online, the card won't be distributed in Treasure Chests. Note that this is a special version of the card, which will not be affected by any changes.
 * <c>Kogla, the Titan Ape</c> is a reference to King Kong. Its rules text is similar to the M11 "titan trigger". While well known in relation to Godzilla as a western Kaiju-esque creation, it has no special treatment likely due to the rights largely being owned by Universal Studios. <c>Yidaro, Wandering Monster</c> is a similar case, a reference to the Daiei-owned (and Toho Co. rival) Japanese Kaiju Gamera.
 * <c>Shark Typhoon</c> is a reference to the Sharknado franchise.
 * <c>Adaptive Shimmerer</c>, <c>Cryptic Trilobite</c>, <c>Farfinder</c> and <c>Mysterious Egg</c> join the short list as the fourth to seventh colorless non-artifact non-Eldrazi creatures.
 * The art of <c>Forbidden Friendship</c>, and  tells a story about a bonder and his monster. A similar story is also told by <c>Proud Wildbonder</c> and <c>Fully Grown</c>.
 * <c>Flame Spill</c> is a near-functional reprint and black bordered version, of <c>Super-Duper Death Ray</c> from Unstable. <c>Ram Through</c> similarly uses the mechanic.
 * <c>Fiend Artisan</c> is the first mythic rare hybrid mana card to be printed in a booster pack since the rarity was introduced in Shards of Alara, almost 12 years earlier.
 * The design of <c>The Ozolith</c> was inspired by the silver-bordered <c>Giant Fan</c>.