Farewell, Ikoria

Today is part 3 of my look at sets departing standard, looking at Ikoria (IKO). Released in April 2020, this was the first set in the pandemic, and (I suspect) suffered as a result. IKO drew inspiration from lore of gigantic Japanese monsters; its mechanics featured 'mutate' and cycling.

Favorites

As with TBD, I didn't have a ton of cards I enjoyed in this one.

The Octopus was nice for card draw. Heartless Act is a great removal spell. Fire Prophecy is, too, and has some deck sculpting to boot. Kogla's 'enter the battlefield' ability is fun, and Zenith Flare was a staple of cycle decks.

Good Riddance

While there weren't many cards that annoyed me, those that did annoyed me a lot.

Winota caused a lot of problems, and the companions (especially Lurrus and Yorion) showed up frequently, even after the rules modification slowed them down a bit. Yorion in particular made 80+-card decks a common sight, and was extremely frustrating to play against.

Final Thoughts

I didn't care for this set. The mutate mechanic led to complexities (in paper; online was fine). Cycling was fun but a one-trick pony. The companions were annoying. I'm glad this set is rotating.