Card Talk 3

Arni Metalbrow card art

Today is the third post in my Card Talk series.

Reminder on how Card Talk works:

• I go to Scryfall and select 'Random Card'
• I present and blog about the card. I could discuss any aspect: the art, abilities, cost, set, impact on the game, and so on. Stream of consciousness.

For me, Card Talk is a fun, uncurated way to look at Magic's cards, mechanics, history, art, sets, and so on. And of course it exposes some of my own preferences, biases, and memories of the game. 

Today's card is . . .

Wingfold Pteron

Hmmm. A blue dinosaur from Ikoria.

Ikoria: Lair of Behemoths was the first set released in the pandemic (it came out in April 2020). I was initially excited at what the name implied—I love big creatures—but my anticipation waned as the previews came out. I didn't care for the mutate mechanic (it was complex in paper) and other elements of the set annoyed me, too, as I discuss here. The set is probably most remembered for the 'companion' debacle, where the companion ability (found on 10 cards in the set) was far too powerful and forced a rules change shortly after the set was released.

Original companion rules text: 

(If this card is your chosen companion, you may cast it once from outside the game.)

Adjusted rules text: 

(If this card is your chosen companion, you may put it into your hand from outside the game for {3} as a sorcery.)

Anyway, back to the blue dinosaur.

Dinosaurs came to prominence with Ixalan's release (2017). Though about 170 dinos have been released to date, only three are mono-blue.

Note Wingfold Pteron's enter the battlefield ability: a choice of counters. Ikoria was the first (and I think only) set to introduce counters that were 'ability' counters: counters that gave your creature an ability (like flying or hexproof, in this case). While I like the concept, in paper that gets hard to track. Ikoria may have been the first set, between mutate and ability counters, that indicated Wizards might be focusing more on digital Magic. Digitally, things like this are easy and cool. 

Final comment: I don't recall seeing this card before. That's one thing I enjoy about Magic: you can be aware of a set, and have studied many cards in it, but still be surprised by ones you never noticed before. There is a lot to explore here.