The city of New Capenna has a substance called Halo, a form of magic with enhancing qualities that make it coveted by the city’s underworld elite.
Many cards in Magic’s upcoming set, Streets of New Capenna, depict Halo, whether it’s being siphoned off by a group of thieving raccoons or sipped at a swanky party thrown by the Cabaretti.
Halo Fountain shows the substance in all its glory while providing players with a new alternate win condition to fight for.
Halo Fountain
- Mana value: 2W
- Type: Artifact
- Rarity: Mythic Rare
- First ability: W, tap, untap a tapped Creature you control: Create a 1/1 Green and White Citizen Creature token.
- Second ability: WW, tap, untap two tapped Creatures you control: Draw a card.
- Third ability: WWWWW, tap, untap 15 tapped Creatures you control: You win the game.
Alternate win conditions generally aren’t competitive but are exciting cards for Commander players and plucky deck builders in Standard to Modern.
Halo Fountain requires a lot of things to go right before the win condition can be hit. Getting 15 tapped creatures is a difficult task. The heavy White requirement means that this will generally be done in a Mono-White strategy.
White Sun’s Zenith is a clear way to quickly make 15 tokens to fulfill the requirement. Outside of that, the options are slim. There’s also the issue of the alternate win condition being “win more.” If you control 15 creatures, chances are you’re going to win that game. Decks that can generate that many creatures also have a way to make them big and get in for combat damage.
The best application for Halo Fountain in Standard could be as an engine in Control or Midrange decks. This card can create creatures and then use those creatures to draw cards.
A major issue is that three-mana White cards are excellent in Standard. Wedding Announcement, Brutal Cathar, Skyclave Apparition, and Elite Spellbinder are some of the exceptional White cards with the same cost as Halo Fountain. When building a deck, you’re forced to ask if Halo Fountain is the best option.
New Capenna launches on Magic Online and Magic Arena on April 28, followed by a tabletop release on April 29.
