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Dominaria United card list unveils a captivating exploration of the latest Magic: The Gathering set. This comprehensive guide delves into the intricacies of card rarity, mana curve analysis, and type distribution, offering valuable insights for players of all skill levels. We’ll examine notable cards, their mechanics, and their impact on established Magic archetypes, providing a detailed overview of this exciting expansion.

Further analysis will explore the set’s legendary creatures and how they reshape the meta-game.

From scrutinizing the statistical breakdown of card rarities to dissecting the mana curve and its strategic implications, this analysis aims to equip players with a deeper understanding of Dominaria United’s gameplay dynamics. We will also compare and contrast Dominaria United with previous Magic: The Gathering sets, highlighting key differences and similarities in design philosophy.

Dominaria United Card Rarity Distribution

Dominaria United, released in September 2022, marked a significant return to the plane of Dominaria in the Magic: The Gathering universe. Understanding the rarity distribution of its cards provides insight into the set’s design philosophy and its impact on gameplay. This analysis examines the number and percentage of cards at each rarity level, comparing it to trends observed in previous sets.

Dominaria United Rarity Breakdown

The following table details the number of cards at each rarity in Dominaria United. Note that this includes the total number of cards in the main set, excluding any promotional or special edition cards. The numbers provided are based on official Wizards of the Coast data.

Rarity	Number of Cards
Common	101
Uncommon	80
Rare	53
Mythic Rare	15

The set contains a total of 249 cards. Calculating the percentage breakdown for each rarity:

• Common: (101/249)
  – 100% ≈ 40.6%
• Uncommon: (80/249)
  – 100% ≈ 32.1%
• Rare: (53/249)
  – 100% ≈ 21.3%
• Mythic Rare: (15/249)
  – 100% ≈ 6%

Comparison to Previous Magic: The Gathering Sets, Dominaria united card list

Dominaria United’s rarity distribution is relatively typical for a large Standard-legal set. Many recent sets have shown a similar weighting towards common and uncommon cards, with a smaller percentage dedicated to rare and mythic rare cards. This distribution helps maintain a balance between accessibility for new players (more common and uncommon cards) and the excitement of finding powerful or unique cards (rare and mythic rare cards).

For example, sets like Kaldheim and Zendikar Rising exhibited similar proportions, though precise figures may vary slightly due to the inclusion of special cards or different set sizes. Significant deviations from this pattern are usually found in smaller sets or those with specific design goals, such as Commander-focused sets which may have a higher percentage of rare and mythic rare cards.

Dominaria United Mana Curve Analysis

Understanding the mana curve of a Magic: The Gathering set is crucial for assessing its overall play style and potential strategies. A well-distributed mana curve generally indicates a balanced set with options for various gameplay approaches, while a skewed curve might suggest a focus on specific archetypes or strategies. This analysis examines the mana curve of Dominaria United, exploring its shape and comparing it to the typical curves seen in other Magic sets.The mana curve of a set represents the distribution of cards across different mana costs.

A visual representation, typically a bar graph or histogram, allows for a quick assessment of the set’s strategic tendencies. A steep curve indicates a focus on early aggression or control, while a flatter curve might suggest a more midrange or control-oriented set.

Dominaria United Mana Curve Frequency Distribution

The following bullet points present a hypothetical frequency distribution of Dominaria United cards by mana cost. Precise data requires a complete card list and analysis, but this example illustrates the typical pattern observed in Magic sets. Note that this data is illustrative and not based on the actual Dominaria United card list. Actual data would need to be compiled from official sources.* 0-1 Mana: High frequency (many cheap, early-game creatures and spells)

2 Mana

High frequency (a significant number of efficient creatures and interaction)

3 Mana

Very High frequency (a strong concentration of mid-range creatures and impactful spells)

4 Mana

High frequency (powerful creatures and game-changing spells)

5 Mana

Moderate frequency (powerful creatures and planeswalkers)

6+ Mana

Low frequency (high-impact creatures and game-ending spells)

Graphical Representation of the Mana Curve

Imagine a bar graph where the horizontal axis represents the mana cost (0, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6+) and the vertical axis represents the number of cards at each mana cost. Based on the hypothetical frequency distribution above, the graph would show a peak around 2-3 mana, indicating a strong focus on mid-range strategies. The bars would gradually decrease in height as the mana cost increases beyond 3, suggesting fewer high-cost cards.

The overall shape would resemble a slightly skewed bell curve, with a longer tail towards the lower mana costs. This visual representation suggests a set that supports both early aggression and mid-range strategies, with less emphasis on late-game bombs.

Comparison to Average Mana Curves of Other Sets

Comparing the Dominaria United mana curve (as illustrated above) to other Magic sets requires analyzing a large dataset of past sets. Generally, many Magic sets exhibit a similar bell curve shape, although the exact peak and distribution vary depending on the set’s design philosophy and intended play style. Sets focused on aggressive strategies tend to have a higher frequency of low-mana cards, shifting the peak of the curve to the left.

Conversely, control-oriented sets often have a higher frequency of high-mana cards, shifting the peak to the right. Dominaria United’s hypothetical curve, with a peak around 2-3 mana, would likely fall within the average range of many Magic sets, suggesting a balanced design that supports various strategies, though potentially favoring midrange decks. A direct comparison would necessitate a quantitative analysis of multiple sets’ mana curves, a task beyond the scope of this analysis.

Dominaria United Card Type Breakdown

Dominaria United, a Magic: The Gathering set steeped in nostalgia and powerful callbacks to the franchise’s history, presents a diverse card type distribution reflecting its multifaceted gameplay and thematic elements. Analyzing this distribution provides valuable insights into the set’s design philosophy and the strategic approaches players might employ. The following table details the card type breakdown, followed by a discussion of its implications for gameplay and its connection to the set’s overall theme.

Dominaria United Card Type Counts

Card Type	Approximate Count	Percentage of Total	Gameplay Implications
Creature	100-110	35-40%	High creature count emphasizes aggressive and midrange strategies, supporting creature-based combat and synergy.
Sorcery	40-50	15-20%	Provides strong board presence and game-changing effects, often crucial for controlling the pace of the game.
Instant	50-60	18-22%	Offers reactive and disruptive plays, crucial for countering opponent’s strategies and seizing opportunities.
Artifact	30-40	10-15%	Introduces powerful equipment and mana generation, potentially shaping the game’s resource dynamics.
Enchantment	40-50	15-20%	Provides long-term strategic advantages, impacting resource generation, board state, and overall game plan.
Planeswalker	5-10	2-4%	Powerful late-game threats that significantly alter the course of a match.
Land	~20	7-8%	Foundation of mana generation, directly impacting the feasibility of playing spells and creatures.

Card Type Distribution and Dominaria United’s Theme

The high number of creatures aligns perfectly with Dominaria United’s focus on the history and legacy of the plane. Many cards feature iconic characters and creatures from Dominaria’s past, emphasizing the plane’s rich history and the importance of its inhabitants. The significant presence of sorceries and instants reflects the dynamic and often chaotic nature of the conflicts depicted in the set’s storyline.

The inclusion of artifacts and enchantments supports a variety of strategic approaches, reflecting the diverse cultures and magical traditions found across Dominaria. The relatively smaller number of planeswalkers, while impactful, fits with the focus on the broader conflicts and the multitude of characters rather than on a few overwhelming individual forces. The land cards themselves often feature evocative imagery related to specific locations on Dominaria, further reinforcing the set’s thematic coherence.

Dominaria United Notable Cards and Their Mechanics: Dominaria United Card List

Dominaria United introduced several powerful cards with innovative mechanics that significantly impacted the metagame. This section will examine five key cards, detailing their unique mechanics, potential uses in various archetypes, and comparisons to similar mechanics from previous Magic: The Gathering sets. The selection focuses on cards that demonstrated significant playability and strategic depth across various formats.

Sheoldred, the Apocalypse

Sheoldred, the Apocalypse, a powerful black five-mana legendary creature, boasts a unique ability: Whenever an opponent casts a spell, you may pay 1 life; if you do, draw a card. This mechanic allows for consistent card advantage, particularly against aggressive strategies that rely on frequently casting spells. Her other ability, to sacrifice a creature to deal 2 damage to any target, offers additional removal utility, particularly useful in controlling the board state against smaller creatures.

Sheoldred excels in control and midrange decks that can afford to pay life for card advantage, making her a powerful addition to black-based strategies. This card’s ability to generate card advantage by paying life contrasts with cards like Liliana, the Last Hope, who generates card advantage through loyalty abilities.

Esika, God of the Tree

Esika, God of the Tree, a powerful green and white legendary creature, presents a unique mechanic through its ability to create a token copy of any creature that enters the battlefield under your control. This card has the potential to significantly overwhelm opponents with massive board states, especially when combined with other creature-generating strategies. Its ability synergizes well with strategies focused on creature tokens, such as those that utilize token doublers or sacrifice outlets.

The ability to create a token copy differs from other similar effects like Doubling Season, which doubles all tokens created, instead of creating a copy of a single creature.

The Wandering Emperor

The Wandering Emperor, a powerful white and blue legendary creature, introduces a unique mechanic centered around its ability to exile cards from your graveyard. By exiling cards from your graveyard, you gain advantages that may be used for card draw or additional mana. This ability provides significant card advantage and flexibility, allowing for strategic graveyard manipulation. Its additional ability to tap down creatures is also useful for control strategies.

This mechanic contrasts with other graveyard-based mechanics that utilize the graveyard as a resource, such as dredge or delve, by instead removing cards from the graveyard for additional benefits.

Karn, Living Legacy

Karn, Living Legacy, a powerful colorless planeswalker, presents a unique mechanic revolving around its +1 ability that allows you to create a colorless artifact creature. This creature is strong and adds to the board state. The ultimate ability provides powerful board wipe, giving a significant advantage in the late game. This mechanic of creating a creature with a planeswalker’s ability differs from other planeswalkers who generate creatures through other means, such as through tokens or direct creature summoning.

His abilities are incredibly versatile, making him effective in various control and midrange decks that can take advantage of colorless strategies.

Jin-Gitaxias, Progress Tyrant

Jin-Gitaxias, Progress Tyrant, a powerful blue and black legendary creature, features a unique mechanic that modifies how your opponent’s creatures enter the battlefield. By increasing their mana cost, you essentially slow down your opponent’s strategy, especially aggressive strategies. His second ability allows for powerful card draw and life gain, providing significant advantage. This disruption of the opponent’s strategy through mana cost increase contrasts with other similar mechanics like counterspells, which prevent spells from resolving, or creature removal, which directly eliminates creatures.

This makes him a potent addition to control decks seeking to stall the opponent’s game plan.

Dominaria United’s Impact on Existing Magic: The Gathering Archetypes

Dominaria United introduced a diverse range of cards that significantly impacted several established Magic: The Gathering archetypes. Its influence extends beyond simple additions, altering strategic approaches and creating new synergistic possibilities within existing deckbuilding frameworks. The set’s focus on legendary creatures, powerful artifacts, and diverse mana bases has particularly reshaped the meta, forcing players to adapt their strategies to the new power level and available options.The set’s impact is multifaceted, affecting both aggressive, controlling, and midrange strategies.

Some archetypes have received significant boosts, gaining powerful new tools, while others have been subtly shifted or even countered by the introduction of new cards and mechanics. The following sections detail these impacts, providing specific examples and sample decklists.

Aggro Archetype Modifications

Dominaria United offered several cards that enhance aggressive strategies. The set’s focus on powerful one- and two-mana creatures, alongside efficient removal spells, provided a significant boost to aggressive decks. These cards, often boasting evasion or impactful abilities, allowed for faster clocking strategies and increased pressure on opponents.

• Example 1: The inclusion of cards like “Loyal Pegasus” provides a cheap, evasive threat, allowing for early aggression and pressuring opponents before they can establish their defenses. Its flying ability makes it particularly effective against slower strategies.
• Example 2: “Seasoned Hallowmage” is another strong addition. Its ability to bounce an artifact or enchantment can disrupt control decks and allow aggro decks to push through damage more easily.

Here’s a sample Mono-Red Aggro deck incorporating Dominaria United cards:

• Creatures (20): 4x Goblin Guide, 4x Monastery Swiftspear, 4x Lightning Bolt, 4x Experimental Frenzy, 4x Loyal Pegasus
• Spells (24): 4x Lightning Bolt, 4x Lava Spike, 4x Rift Bolt, 4x Flame Slash, 4x Chain Lightning, 4x Boros Charm
• Lands (26): 26x Mountain

Control Archetype Adjustments

Control decks, aiming for late-game dominance, found some potent additions and countermeasures in Dominaria United. While not directly boosting control, the set’s cards often necessitated adjustments in strategies to account for faster aggressive strategies.

• Example 1: Cards like “The Prismatic Piper” can disrupt an opponent’s mana base and slow down aggressive strategies, allowing control decks more time to set up their late-game plan.
• Example 2: “Sheoldred, the Apocalypse” provides a powerful late-game threat that can quickly overwhelm opponents who fail to deal with it. This can help control decks secure a victory even if they are behind on board.

A sample Azorius Control deck integrating Dominaria United cards:

• Creatures (6): 4x Skyclave Apparition, 2x Sheoldred, the Apocalypse
• Planeswalkers (4): 4x Teferi, Time Raveler
• Spells (26): 4x Path to Exile, 4x Counterspell, 4x Swords to Plowshares, 4x Dovin’s Veto, 4x Supreme Verdict, 4x The Prismatic Piper
• Lands (24): 10x Island, 14x Plains

Midrange Deck Synergies

Midrange decks, seeking a balance between early pressure and late-game power, found several cards in Dominaria United that enhance their strategies. The set’s powerful creatures and flexible removal spells provided tools to outmaneuver both aggressive and controlling strategies.

• Example 1: “Kjeldoran Warlord” is a powerful creature that can quickly dominate the board in midrange matchups. Its ability to create additional tokens allows for strong board presence and can overwhelm opponents.
• Example 2: “Phyrexian Dragon Engine” provides a powerful late-game threat and provides additional card draw, allowing the midrange deck to keep up with opponents.

A sample Selesnya Midrange deck with Dominaria United additions:

• Creatures (20): 4x Llanowar Elves, 4x Collected Company, 4x Voice of Resurgence, 4x Kjeldoran Warlord, 4x Phyrexian Dragon Engine
• Spells (14): 4x Path to Exile, 4x Abrupt Decay, 4x Swords to Plowshares, 2x Generous Gift
• Lands (26): 10x Forest, 16x Plains

Dominaria United’s Legendary Creatures

Dominaria United features a diverse range of legendary creatures, reflecting the set’s focus on the history and iconic characters of the plane. These legendary creatures offer a variety of strategic options for players, impacting various archetypes and deckbuilding strategies. Their designs often draw inspiration from previous iterations of the characters or introduce new facets to their established lore.

The legendary creatures in Dominaria United showcase a spectrum of power levels and abilities, from powerful, game-ending threats to more subtle, supportive roles. Their impact on the metagame is significant, shaping the strategies employed by players and influencing deck construction choices.

List of Legendary Creatures in Dominaria United

The following list details each legendary creature from Dominaria United, providing a description of their abilities and potential uses in various gameplay scenarios. This analysis considers their individual strengths and weaknesses, as well as their synergistic potential with other cards in the set and within broader Magic: The Gathering archetypes.

• Ajani, Sleeper Agent: A planeswalker with abilities that focus on creature manipulation and card draw. His +1 ability allows him to create a creature token, providing a body on the board and a potential attacker. His -2 ability allows him to exile a creature, removing a threat or creating an opportunity for further advantage. His ultimate ability grants him significant life gain and creates a powerful board presence.

  Ajani’s design is a shift from his previous iterations, emphasizing a more proactive and aggressive playstyle.

• Karn, Living Legacy: A powerful artifact creature with abilities that manipulate artifacts and provide card advantage. His ability to create artifact tokens offers a significant advantage in artifact-heavy decks. His high mana cost reflects his power level, making him a potential game-ender in the late game. Karn’s design reflects his established role as a powerful artifact-based planeswalker, but with a focus on creature-based strategies.

• Liesa, Shroud of Dusk: A black legendary creature with abilities that control the battlefield and provide life gain. Her ability to return creatures from graveyards to the battlefield provides both offensive and defensive capabilities, allowing for board control and resource management. Her design emphasizes control and defensive strategies, fitting within the established archetype of black control decks.
• Rielle, the Everwise: A powerful blue legendary creature that provides significant card advantage and control over the game. Her ability to draw cards based on the number of cards in your hand promotes a fast and aggressive draw strategy. Her design reflects a shift towards more proactive blue decks that utilize card advantage to dominate the game.
• Sheoldred, the Apocalypse: A powerful black legendary creature with abilities that dominate the battlefield and punish opponents. Her abilities allow her to directly damage opponents and gain life, offering a powerful aggressive playstyle. Her design showcases a more aggressive and dominating black creature compared to previous iterations of Sheoldred, emphasizing a focus on overwhelming the opponent through damage and life gain.

• The Wandering Emperor: A powerful white legendary creature with abilities that provide both offense and defense. Her ability to create tokens and her high toughness makes her a formidable opponent on the battlefield. Her design combines both aggressive and defensive elements, making her versatile in various deck archetypes.

Comparison of Dominaria United Legendary Creatures to Previous Sets

The legendary creatures in Dominaria United show a balance between established designs and innovative mechanics. While some cards, such as Karn and Sheoldred, build upon existing character archetypes, others, like Rielle, introduce new strategic elements. Compared to previous sets, Dominaria United’s legendary creatures often exhibit a higher power level, demanding more strategic play and potentially influencing metagame shifts.

Sets like Zendikar Rising, for example, featured legendary creatures with a focus on land manipulation and exploration, while Dominaria United emphasizes powerful, individually impactful creatures capable of swinging the game’s momentum significantly.

Final Wrap-Up

Dominaria United presents a compelling addition to the Magic: The Gathering universe, introducing a wealth of new cards and mechanics that significantly impact established gameplay strategies. This analysis has provided a thorough examination of the set’s key features, offering insights into card rarity, mana cost distribution, and the influence of new cards on existing archetypes. Whether you’re a seasoned player or a newcomer to the game, understanding these elements is crucial for success in the evolving Magic: The Gathering landscape.

The impact of Dominaria United is undeniable, adding depth and complexity to the strategic possibilities within the game.