Last updated on October 30, 2023

Xander's Lounge - Illustration by James Paick

Xander's Lounge | Illustration by James Paick

The ultimate Limited set review for Streets of New Capenna is here!

I wasn’t exactly vibrating with excitement for the set when Streets of New Capenna was announced. I wasn’t down on it, I just didn’t think that it was going to be up my alley.

Boy was I wrong.

From the angel-built, demon-run city of New Capenna’s seedy underground to the sleek art deco landscapes and architecture to the return of my boy Ob, everything about this set that has me pretty pumped for it. I’m not quite jumping up and down yet, but I may or may not be waiting with bated breath.

In case you haven’t been keeping up with the crime lords slinking in the shadows, let me get you up to speed. Here’s everything and anything you need to know about Magic’s newest noir-style set.

Set Details

Raffine's Tower - Illustration by Elektrodeko

Raffine's Tower | Illustration by Elektrodeko

Set SymbolSNC set symbol
Set CodeSNC
Hashtag#MTGCapenna
Number of Cards281 + 186 alternates
Rarities101 commons, 80 uncommons, 60 rares, 20 mythic rares, 20 basic lands
MechanicsCycling, connive, casualty, blitz, alliance, shield counters, hideaway

Important Dates

EventDate
Previews startApril 7, 2022
Full gallery availableApril 15, 2022
Available on Draftsim's draft simulatorApril 15, 2022
Prerelease weekApril 22 to 29, 2022
Release on MTG Arena and Magic OnlineApril 28, 2022
Available on Arena TutorApril 28, 2022 (estimated)
Paper release dateApril 29, 2022
Commander launch partyApril 29 to May 1, 2022
Game DayMay 7 to 15, 2022
Store ChampionshipsJuly 9 to 17, 2022

About the Set: The Story

Spara's Headquarters - Illustration by WFlemming Illustration

Spara's Headquarters | Illustration by WFlemming Illustration

Some questions needed a good answer, but this one sped off like there was no tomorrow. For someone with so many eyes on them, maybe there wasn't one. That's just how it goes sometimes on the streets of New Capenna.

Adam Styborski, A First Look at Streets of New Capenna: Where Family Means Business

We know that it’s set in the plane and city of the same name (surprise, surprise) which was originally built by angels, but the city is now run by five shard-aligned demon crime families:

  • Obscura ()
  • Maestros ()
  • Riveteers ()
  • Cabaretti ()
  • Brokers ()

This plane is also important to Elspeth Tirel, who has quite the past with the Phyrexians, so she’s the perfect tie-in between Kamigawa: Neon Dynasty and New Capenna’s stories. Another familiar face is also joining the party as the face for the set’s promo art: Ob Nixilis.

More recently, however, it was revealed that Tezzeret and everybody's fifth-favorite Phryrexian Praetor Urabrask would be joining the story. Not all is entirely clear, but there seems to be a connection with Urabrask to a planned revolution on New Phyrexia. This could set the stage for a return to New Phyrexia to take on everyone's actual favorite Phyrexian, Elesh Norn.

Set Mechanics

Cycling

Raffine's Tower

We’ll see cycling make a return in New Capenna to help smooth out your land base. In case you’re not familiar, cycling allows you to pay the card’s cycling cost to discard it and then draw a card if it’s not what you need right now. It’s not quite an evergreen mechanic, but it’s pretty popular and has been printed in quite a few sets since its first appearance in Urza’s Saga, including its most recent appearance in Ikoria: Lair of Behemoths.

Shard-Aligned Keywords

Brokers Ascendancy

Each of the set’s five crime families align to one of the shards and has its own keyword. The Obscura's is connive, the Riveteers' is blitz, the Maestros' is casualty, the Cabaretti's is alliance, and the Brokers' is shield counters. Each mechanic is completely unique to the color shard, and is as on-theme to the color combination as it is flavorful to the shard's characteristics within the story.

Connive

Ledger Shredder

Connive is a new mechanic in Streets of New Capenna that is unique to the Obscura. The mechanic is essentially looting—but better—drawing you one card and then forcing you to discard one. If you discard a nonland card, however, the creature with connive gets a +1/+1 counter. This is a pretty sweet mechanic overall and is on par with Obscura's color combination.

Casualty

A Little Chat

Casualty is the Maestros' new mechanic, and is all about creatures being in the wrong place at the wrong time. When you cast a spell with casualty, you can sacrifice a creature with power equal to the casualty number or greater. If you opt to do so, you get to copy the spell! This is very potent and makes for a great way to pull ahead by tossing aside your early one and two-drop creatures for bigger and better things.

Blitz

Jaxis, the Troublemaker

Blitz is a new mechanic in Streets of New Capenna that is unique to the Riveteers. It lets you play creatures for an alternative cost, giving them haste and forcing you to sacrifice them at the end step. When the creature dies, however, you get to draw a card! Every creature is a cantrip with blitz, and it makes for an exciting and aggressive mechanic that doesn't leave you short on cards.

Alliance

Devilish Valet

Alliance is a brand new mechanic in Streets of New Capenna unique to the Carabetti family. Alliance is a mechanic that triggers certain abilities whenever another creature enters the battlefield under your control. If you're fine with spending your mana in your first main phase, you're in luck with cards like Devilish Valet.

Shield Counters

Disciplined Duelist

Lastly, we have shield counters, the new mechanic in Streets of New Capenna unique to the Brokers. Shield counters tank damage and destruction effects that would otherwise wreck your creatures (and sometimes other permanents). These are super powerful and seem to be everything ward wished it was.

Hideaway

Wiretapping

The only returning mechanic in Streets of New Capenna is hideaway, which lets you grab a card from the top of our library and set it aside to play later whenever you fulfill whatever requirement was set by the card with hideaway. Hideaway cards are great at generating some additional threat or card advantage in the late game since they don't pull cards from your hand and allow for excellent strategizing throughout the match.

Speculation

Angel/Demon Tribes

I feel like this isn’t really speculation. New Capenna was built by angels and is now run by demons. If there isn’t some more angel/demon tribe shenanigans in this set I'll be very disappointed, especially considering Ob Nixilis is the face of the set so far. And Elspeth, while she’s not really associated with angels in any way, is white-centered (which is a very angel-loving color).

Streets of New Capenna Card Gallery

White

Blue

Black

Red

Green

Multicolored

Ziatora's Envoy

Colorless

Lands

SNC Forest

Notable Cards

Special Frame Treatments

Continuing the pace set in Neon Dynasty, New Capenna offers a slew of absolutely gorgeous frame treatments and alternate art. I’m really into the style in this set so far. It seems to be continuing the futuristic sci-fi style mixing with other aesthetics, in this case nature and modern art deco, and I’m so here for it.

Borderless

These borderless lands feature alternate art with a very sleek style full of shiny metal sculptures and pops of bright color. The text box is shrunk to show off as much of the art as possible.

Skyscraper

I’m not entirely sure how I feel about the skyscraper frames. These also feature stylized alternate art and an art deco frame and pattern in the text box. They’re definitely pretty, there’s no doubt about that, they’re just not really my cup of tea.

Golden Age

Golden age Brokers Ascendancy

Okay, now this I am into. More art deco vibes here with incredibly stylized alternate art and a golden frame to hold it all in. Definitely a huge fan of this aesthetic direction, and I can’t wait to see more golden age cards.

Full-Art Metropolis Basics

Metropolis Forest 2

I literally said “holy shit these are gorgeous” out loud when I first scrolled through New Capenna‘s full-art lands. They’re stunning. Bright colors, beautiful landscapes, and unique architecture make for basics that really pull you in and give a great feel for the aesthetic of the set. These basics will show up in 33% of packs.

New Capenna Tri-lands

I’ve mentioned these 3-color lands a couple times already. There are five of them, one for each shard-aligned demon crime family in New Capenna: Jetmir's Garden for Cabaretti, Obscura’s Raffine's Tower, Spara's Headquarters with the Brokers, Xander's Lounge for Maestros, and Ziatora's Proving Ground. They each feature the ability to tap for one of their three colors and cycling 3, though they enter the battlefield tapped.

New Capenna‘s tri-lands complete the cycle of 3-color lands that was started with Ikoria‘s wedge-aligned Triomes. There's been some back and forth in the community on how the two halves of this cycle are completely unrelated and have wildly different flavor, and how Wizards might consolidate this if they eventually print both cycles in one set.

New Capenna Ascendancies

Brokers Ascendancy

New Capenna is bringing a new cycle of Ascendancy cards with it, the first of which is Brokers Ascendancy. We’ll be getting one for each of the families of New Capenna.

The List of New Capenna

Wernog, Rider's Chaplain

The List has become a mainstay in Standard sets since Forgotten Realms, where WotC added a special slot to the draft, set, and collector boosters featuring a card from it. In case you're not familiar, The List is an ever-changing list (surprise, surprise) of 300 iconic, popular, and unique cards that are featured as a nice little treat in each set's booster packs.

For New Capenna we're getting Magic versions of the Stranger Things Secret Lair cards added to The List. I'm not the biggest fan of Stranger Things or its Secret Lair, but I'll admit that these List cards look pretty cool. Definitely won't be mad to get any of these in my New Capenna packs.

Elspeth, Ob Nixilis, and Urabrask

It turns out everybody was right: Elspeth, Ob Nixilis, and Urabrask are all getting new cards in Streets of New Capenna! These were the most common topic of speculation for players, and they've recently been confirmed and spoiled by WotC!

Neon Dynasty saw Tezzeret and the Phyrexians as the main villains where they compleated their first planeswalker, Tamiyo, Compleated Sage. Elspeth’s home plane was dominated by Phyrexians and she holds quite the (very justified) grudge against them. She’s a great character to continue the same overarching plot with new characters, a new setting, and a new “mini” plot.

Elspeth seems to be New Capenna’s main hero, or a secondary character in the same vein as NEO’s The Wandering Emperor, acting as a driving force in the plot and offering help to the hero on their journey. And while this planeswalker is white-focused, she’s also associated with Bant () and might be associated with its demonic crime family, the Brokers. There isn’t a whole lot in Ob’s lore that really seems to draw any parallels with New Capenna or continuing Neon Dynasty’s story, though.

Mark Rosewater's Teaser for New Capenna

Magic design boss Mark Rosewater dropped a few hints on Tumblr about the new set. Here are the morsels he revealed to whet your appetite:

First up, here are some things you can expect:
• five mana costs, using existing mana symbols, that we’ve never used before
• a spell that costs 13BB
• a mechanic we’ve tried to get in numerous sets finally finds a home
• a creature type theme for a draft archetype that’s never been used before
• a red creature that can make token copies of creatures you control
• a card that adds WWUUBBRRGG
• a mechanic which first premiered in a Standard-legal set in the 00’s sees a return to Standard
• a card that makes Cat and Dog tokens
• a draft theme caring about a threshold in the graveyard we haven’t cared about before
• multiple white cards capable of drawing a card each turn

Next, here are some rules text that will be showing up on cards:
• “Then if you control ten or more creatures, you may play the exiled card without paying its mana cost.”
• “Copy target spell you control that wasn’t cast.”
• “As an additional cost to cast this spell, sacrifice a creature, discard a card, or pay 4 life.”
• “If exactly three colors of mana were spent to activate this ability,”
• “Create a 1/1 blue Fish creature token”
• “When you cast this spell, copy it.”
• “WUBRG, T, Sacrifice CARDNAME:”
• “where X is the number of permanents you’ve sacrificed this turn.”
• “Count the colors of the sacrificed creature,”
• “You may cast any number of the copies without paying their mana costs.”

Finally, here are some creature type lines in the set:
• Creature – Devil Warrior
• Creature – Raccoon Rogue
• Creature – Bird Assassin
• Creature – Plant Dinosaur
• Artifact Creature – Treasure Dog
• Artifact Creature – Angel Warrior
• Legendary Creature – Sphinx Demon
• Legendary Creature – Cat Citizen
• Legendary Creature – Cephalid Advisor
• Legendary Creature – Vampire Demon Noble

Available Products

Draft Boosters

Streets of New Capenna draft booster box

Draft boosters offer a pack of 16 cards that’s specifically built for Limited play. You can buy individual packs or a box of 36 boosters, and Wizards offers buy-a-box promos with exclusive cards if you opt for the bigger purchase. The New Capenna draft boosters feature art of our dear old demon friend, Ob Nixilis.

Magic: The Gathering Streets of New Capenna Draft Booster Box | 36 Packs + 1 Box Topper (541 Magic Cards)
  • 36 Streets of New Capenna MTG Draft Boosters + 1 foil box topper card
  • The best SNC packs for booster draft play—just draft, add lands, and play
  • 15 Magic cards per Draft Booster
  • 1 Rare or Mythic Rare card in every pack
  • Metropolis Full-Art Land in 33% of boosters

Set Boosters

Streets of New Capenna set booster box

The bread-and-butter of set products. You can buy a box of 30 packs instead of individual boosters with their own buy-a-box promo as incentive. The New Capenna set boosters feature art of an unknown character behind the wheel of his fancy car.

These boosters are aimed at players looking to open packs without drafting them. They have a higher average number of rares than their draft counterparts and also have cards from “The List,” a pre-curated selection of varied cards from across Magic’s long history.

Sale
Magic: The Gathering Streets of New Capenna Set Booster Box | 30 Packs + 1 Box Topper (361 Magic Cards)
  • 30 Streets of New Capenna Set Boosters + 1 foil box topper card
  • 12 Magic: The Gathering cards per Set Booster—the best MTG booster to open just for fun
  • Traditional or Gilded Foil card in every pack
  • At least 1 Showcase card in every pack
  • 1–4 cards of rarity Rare or higher in every pack

Collector Boosters

Streets of New Capenna collector boosters

These packs are for the collectors out there, hence the name. Collector boosters are the product for you if you’re looking for unique and aesthetic cards to add to your collection. You can also get a box of these instead of buying individual packs, just like the set and draft boosters. The New Capenna collector boosters feature stylized art of the city.

Magic: The Gathering Streets of New Capenna Collector Booster Box | 12 Packs + 1 Box Topper (181 Magic Cards)
  • 12 Streets of New Capenna MTG Collector Boosters + 1 foil box topper card
  • 15 Magic cards + 1 foil token in each booster—including 5 cards of rarity rare or higher
  • Shortcut to the coolest SNC cards—including Collector Booster-exclusive special treatments
  • Opportunity to get Foil-Etched and Gilded Foil cards—up to 2 Gilded Foil cards per pack
  • Traditional Foil Metropolis Full-Art Land in every pack

Theme Boosters

New Capenna theme boosters

Theme boosters are my favorite of each set’s products. These are for players who value deckbuilding most of all. They come with enough themed cards to make a deck, you just need to add lands! Flavor lovers will also appreciate these.

Each set usually comes with five different theme boosters, either by color or color combo if there’s a clear theme for them. The last few sets broke the mold by releasing five mono-colored boosters and a sixth 5-color one, but New Capenna seems to be returning to tradition with just five shard-colored ones.

Theme boosters contain 35 cards. The rarities vary between each pack with mostly commons and uncommons plus a handful of rares or mythics.

Prerelease Packs

New Capenna prerelease pack

Prerelease packs are available during prerelease events. The idea behind this product is to give new players a look at the set and what to expect from it along with some goodies to whet your appetite.

It also seems like we might be getting multiple different versions of the prerelease pack. The pack featured in Wizards’ “first look at” article is specifically for the Obscura family, with their shard colors in full view on the side. It would be really weird to have a prerelease pack for the set that focuses on one of five color trios while leaving the others in the dust, so can we expect a collection of combo-aligned prerelease packs similar to theme boosters?

New Capenna Bundle

Streets of New Capenna bundle

Set bundles are what you want if the set really speaks to you. This has everything you need to get started in a new format, add to your collection, or enjoy a new set with your friends! The New Capenna bundles sport the same art as the set boosters.

Magic: The Gathering Streets of New Capenna Bundle | 8 Set Boosters + Accessories
  • 8 Streets of New Capenna MTG Set Boosters
  • 1 foil alt-art promo card—Mysterious Limousine
  • 40 basic land cards (20 foil + 20 nonfoil)
  • Spindown life counter + card storage box
  • Traditional or Gilded Foil card in every Set Booster

Commander Decks

Streets of New Capenna Commander decks

We’re not slumming it anymore. New Capenna is bringing us a full roster of Commander precons! Unlike the last handful of sets that only printed two EDH decks, this set comes with a full five to represent each of the city’s demonic families. Here they are in all their glory:

  • Obscura Operation ()
  • Maestros Massacre ()
  • Riveteers Rampage ()
  • Cabaretti Cacophony ()
  • Bedecked Brokers ()

We don’t know much more than the names and their colors right now, but previews are from April 18 to 19 with the full galleries for each deck being released on April 20. We’re likely to get some teasers (and maybe even a leak or two?) before then, so I’ll keep you updated on every detail the second we know it!

Magic: The Gathering Streets of New Capenna 5 Commander Deck Bundle – Includes 1 Obscura Operation, 1 Maestros Massacre, 1 Riveteers Rampage, 1 Cabaretti Cacophony, 1 Bedecked Brokers
  • Bundle of all 5 Streets of New Capenna Commander Decks—Obscura Operation, Maestros Massacre, Riveteers Rampage, Cabaretti Cacophony, Bedecked Brokers
  • Includes 5 Collector Booster Sample Packs (total of 10 cards)—1 with each deck
  • All 5 ready-to-play MTG decks contain 100 Magic cards (2 traditional foil + 98 nonfoil)
  • Each deck comes with 1 foil-etched Display Commander, 10 tokens, 1 life tracker + 1 deck box
  • Each deck contains 2 foil + 15 nonfoil cards not found in the main set

Wrap Up

Jetmir's Garden - Illustration by Kasia 'Kafis' Zielinska

Jetmir's Garden | Illustration by Kasia ‘Kafis' Zielinska

There’s still a lot to learn about Streets of New Capenna. We’ve barely even scratched the surface and previews are still rolling out. I’m more than excited to see what else this set brings, especially after how much Wizards gave us with Neon Dynasty. I have high hopes after that. I hope they didn’t screw themselves.

What do you think about this new set? Are you interested in the new style? Which of the new frame treatments is your favorite? Are you excited to start theory-crafting with the new Ob? Let me know in the comments down below. And don’t forget to share your wildest theories on who and what you expect to see in this set! I’m always here to shenanigans.

I’m all talked out for now, though. If you’ll excuse me, I’m gonna go throw on the glitziest thing I own and pretend I’m waiting on my crime lord wife to get home and tell me about the people she killed today. Toodles!

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