During the past few years, the card game Magic: the Gathering has upped the number and complexity of its creatures. The game has always had massive killer dragons, fierce and noble angels, and unclassifiable eating machines. But, now, thanks to some painstaking research (plus some industrial espionage, a few bribes, and a lot of begging), we’ve been able to get the dirt on some of the terrors you’ll find in the upcoming Xbox adventure game of monsters and mana: Magic: the Gathering—Battlegrounds
Jason who?
Maraxus of Keld The Keldons are some of the meanest warriors in the entire game, and Maraxus was booted out of his homeland for being too nasty. More than seven feet tall and packed to the gills with muscle and Keldon steel, Maraxus became a mercenary and wandered the globe with his squad of ogre henchmen. In the story line, he was ignominiously betrayed and murdered by a back-stabbing lowlife, but he’s back now, terrifying gamers with his berserker fury … and making everyone wonder just how ugly he is under that mask...
Rushwood Elemental Magic elementals come in all shapes from each of the five colors. This fellow is from the forest of Rushwood, and like all Magicelementals, he embodies the spirit and power of his place of origin. This titan stands about 50- to 100-feet tall, and he’s got Trample, so the damage he deals in combat can’t just be blocked. If you don’t put enough blockers in his way to soak up every point of his offense, he will deal the leftover damage to you. Oh, and like the forest, he grows, becoming incrementally bigger each turn. So, the longer you face him, the more dangerous he becomes.
Just call me Angel.
Akroma One of the most powerful individuals in all of Magic’s history, Akroma is the embodiment of mana (the mystical energy that makes spells possible). She appears to us as an angelbut what an angel! She’s got just about every special ability a creature can have, including Flying, Trample, and First Strike (meaning she deals her damage first, rather than simultaneously with her opponent). Plus, she’s charmed against Red and Black, two of the most aggressive colors in the game. She’s expensive to cast, but once she’s on your side, Akroma can easily swing the battle in your favor.
Goblin Hero This creature’s name is something of an oxymoron, like “jumbo shrimp” or “military intelligence.” InMagic, goblins are small, feisty, and tenacious, but they’re also complete cowards that prefer to attack in groups. This creature has no special abilities apart from being relatively cheap to cast and slightly larger than other goblins, but don’t sell goblins short just because they’re craven and stunted. You can get three or more Goblin Heroes in play before your opponent can cast one Akroma. When the battle’s fast and furious, as it is in this game, a swarm of small creatures trumps one big one almost every time.
Pretty scary.
Volcanic Dragon Dragons are one of the staple creatures in Magic, which is strange because they’re rare and solitary creatures. This is a perfect specimen, however: huge, fast, deadly, and visually spectacular. In the card game, in the story, and on Xbox, when a dragon shows up, the only choices you have are to deal with it quickly or die.
Juzam Djinn This sucker’s so bad he damages you just for having him around. Djinns are intelligent, eloquent monsters that love to strike bargains with the fools who summon them. Be careful what you agree to, or you just might find yourself on the end of his toothpick. When he’s not plotting against the wizard who summoned him, the Juzam is stomping the snot out of any and everything he comes across.
