Mark Gottlieb (lead) ; Mark Rosewater ; Noah Millrod ; Ari Nieh ; Donald Smith, Jr
Development
Mark Gottlieb (co-lead) ; Jules Robins (co-lead) ; Andrew Brown ; Carmen Handy ; Noah Millrod ; Ken Nagle ; Ari Nieh ; Michelle Roberson ; Donald Smith Jr ; Reggie Valk ; Cameron Williams
Streets of New Capenna is the ninety-second Magic expansion. It is inspired by modern urban gangster movies focusing on early 20th century society and organized crime. It was released on April 29, 2022.
Set details
Public domain name registries for Streets of New Celesta were filed by a subsidiary registrar in October, 2020. A further registration with the gg domain was filed by Wizards of the Coast itself. After the name "New Celesta" appeared in a published vision design handoff document for March of the Machine, Mark Rosewater confirmed on his blog that it had been the original name for New Capenna.
The set contains 281 regular cards (101 commons, 80 uncommons, 60 rares, 20 mythic rares, 20 basic lands) and includes randomly inserted premium versions of all cards. The regular cards include 10 full-art "Metropolis" basic lands. Each type has two different pieces of art. Alternate card frames have another card number than the original version. Borderlessplaneswalkers are numbered #282-284. Other borderless cards are #285-295. Each of the 45 three-color gold cards in Streets of New Capenna appears in the "Golden Age" Showcase treatment that evokes the aesthetics of the roaring and soaring city life of New Capenna. The art deco influence is felt in the frames of this treatment, which is paired with eye-catching gold. These are numbered #296-340. Four rares and five mythic rares —including the three mythic rare planeswalkers — appear in the "Art Deco" treatment, reimagining those cards as if they were on the cover of a fashion magazine (#341-349). Ten of the nonbasic lands appear in the "Skyscraper" treatment (#350-359). #360 is the Phyrexian-language Urabrask, Heretic Praetor. Extended artwork cards are numbered #406-440. #450-460 are the Gala Greeters box toppers. The Buy-a-Box card is #461 and the Bundle promo is #462. The dark frame treatment cards from the Universal promo pack are numbered #463-467. The "Concept Praetor" art of Urabrask, released with Phyrexia: All Will Be One, is #468.
All 45 Golden Age cards have a gilded version (#361-405). These "Gilded Foil" cards have the golden frame elements three-dimensionally embossed in gold atop a traditional foil card. As with other treatments, this embossing is smooth and legal for play in sanctioned Magic tournaments. Foil-etched versions of all nine "Art Deco" cards can be found exclusively in Collector Boosters (#441-449).
Storyline
The set takes place in the Art Deco metropolis of New Capenna, a city that has both grit and glamour. It is a place built by angels, but now ruled by five demon-led crime families battling for supremacy. The fragile alliances that foster peace between the families are being strained to a breaking point as the precious commodity halo seems to be running out and someone known as "The Adversary" makes a power grab. Meanwhile, the planeswalker Elspeth Tirel arrives to investigate her past. Deep under the city, another outsider has his own plans.
The cards that represent the Story Spotlights in New Capenna are:
Remarkably, some of these Story Spotlights have flavor text referencing events that aren't told in the Magic Story, or even depict events that contradict the Magic Story.
Set Booster displays containing 30 Set Boosters, as well as Draft and Collector Booster displays, each contain a traditional foilBox topper card. The card is always Gala Greeters, but the version of the card is region-specific. There are are 11 alternate art versions of the regular card. The art and language of the Gala Greeters always matches the language of the display. Each Box Topper version depicts art celebrating the regional culture of that language.
For New Capenna, the List is down to 67 cards. This is because this set introduces the Magic IP versions of the 9 cards from the Secret Lair Drop Series: Stranger Things. One in eight Set Boosters will contain one of these cards, while another one in eight set boosters will contain a different card from the List. The List is slightly smaller to accommodate this distribution. The Information below the text box of the rebranded cards has the special SLX set code and the SLD collector number that it equals to. All rebranded cards have the same rarity as the original.
The 58 other cards are rares and mythic rares are from Magic's history that complement the narrative and mechanical themes of the set. Among the new cards is a special non-foil Rafiq of the Many featuring new art and the Streets of New Capenna Golden Age treatment. This card notably lacks the planeswalker symbol in the lower left corner, and adds a new collector number (#250) to the Shards of Alara set.
Themes and mechanics
The set features shard-colored factions, for the first time since the Alara block. Each of the five associated crime families features its own keyword, watermark and gameplay style.
Hideaway is a returning mechanic with a somewhat changed template. This keyword ability gives special access to a card from the library when linked with a second ability. It was earlier used on a horizontal cycle of rare lands in Lorwyn, and on one card in Modern Horizons. Hideaway used to inherently mean four cards, but now it can be any number (especially five!), and that number will appear after the word "hideaway." Also, hideaway used to inherently mean the permanent with hideaway entered the battlefield tapped, but this is no longer true. Previous cards with hideaway now have "[This permanent] enters the battlefield tapped" as a separate ability.
This set also marks the return of the first monocolored blue creature with haste since Bonded Fetch in Future Sight, with Errant, Street Artist. Similar to the previous card, the mono-blue creature with haste has the ability to use its activated abilities right away upon entering the battlefield rather than for attacking.
The fetch land cycle are the first lands whose sole ability is a triggered one. Functionally, they are also the first lands without a tap ability since Dark Depths in 2006, and the first without activated abilities since Ice Age's Halls of Mist and Glacial Chasm in 1995 (with technicalities to Yavimaya, Cradle of Growth, Urborg, Tomb of Yawgmoth and Vesuva, all of which usually gain tap abilities when in play).
Format rebalancing
The Limited reception of the set was not favorable, with White seen as far above the other colors, in no small part due to Inspiring Overseer. In that regard, Wizards experimented with a retroactive rebalancing, dubbed the "Planeshifted Draft" on MTG Arena. The changes to 43 cards addressed the following:
Improvement for multicolor decks, as two-color decks were much more reliable than the three-color decks in the ostensible three-color format (the Smuggling fixers, A-Paragon of Modernity, A-Ominous Parcel).
Streets of New Capenna features five Commander decks that are released as a regular part of a set's product line.
Soundtrack
Streets of New Capenna Official Soundtrack was a soundtrack album released on April 29, 2022 alongside the set. It features 26 tracks written and performed by various artists, with Jonathan Young serving as the album's Songwriting & Production Director. Each of its songs was released as a single along with its instrumental version, if it had one.
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), Glamorous Outlaw (Maestros 
), Pugnacious Pugilist (Riveteers 
), Venom Connoisseur (Cabaretti 
