Magic: The Gathering’s return to Dominaria in the upcoming set Dominaria United includes bringing back beloved characters and mechanics.
Two of the mechanics that are returning are Domain and Kicker. Both mechanics are effective ways to generate further value from your spells.
Three Kicker cards and two Domain cards were revealed during the first day of Dominaria United preview season. These cards show the effectiveness of each archetype at various rarity levels.
Domain
This is the mechanic Mark Rosewater was hinting at in his teaser blog ahead of Dominaria United spoiler season. Domain was introduced in Invasion. Nine years after its introduction, it returned as an ability word in 2009’s Conflux.
Domain gives cards extra benefits for each basic Land type you control. This includes Island, Swamp, Plains, Forest, and Mountain. This mechanic fits well into formats with five-color archetypes. The inclusion of Domain and the Painbow Commander preconstructed deck point toward five-color decks being supported in Dominaria United.
Two Green Domain spells were revealed on the first day of Dominaria United preview season. Territorial Maro is a card that was teased in Rosewater’s blog. It’s a */* creature whose power is equal to twice the number of basic Land types you control. At its best, Territorial Maro is a five-mana 10/10 creature. This will force the opponent to block and with any kind of evasion could become a decent lower-rarity finisher.
Herd Migration is an explosive seven-mana sorcery that creates a 3/3 Beast for each basic Land type among the Land you control. In a dedicated ramp deck, seven mana won’t be an unreasonable ask and could provide up to 10 bodies to flood the battlefield. This will be playable thanks to the activated ability. You can discard Her Migration to search for a basic Land and gain three life. It’ll help you hit early Land drops and fix your colors, preventing it from ever being a dead card in hand.
Kicker
Kicker was revealed to be a part of Dominaria United during the initial wave of spoilers when Temporal Firestorm was revealed. Kicker was last a primary mechanic in Zendikar Rising. It was also a mechanic in 2018’s Dominaria.
The twist on Kicker for Dominaria United is that cards with Kicker will also have color requirements.
A card like Archangel for Wrath can be kicked for Red and/or Black. The color of mana paid and how many times a card was kicked will apply different effects. For Archangel of Wrath, if it was kicked once it deals two damage to any target. If it was kicked twice, it deals an additional two damage.
Benalish Sleeper is a two-mana Common with Kicker B. If it was kicked, each player sacrifices a Creature. This is an elegant way of making a creature fit primarily in multi-color decks without making the casting cost color intensive. Benalish Sleeper is an excellent Limited card. A two-mana 3/1 is an aggressive body that will trade favorably in combat. It can also be used as a piece of removal if it’s kicked
Dominaria United releases on Magic Arena and Magic Online on Sept. 1. A tabletop release is set for Sept. 9.
