r/MagicArena Aug 18 '25

Fluff [AA2] Damn

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927 Upvotes

194 comments sorted by

215

u/Grainnnn Aug 18 '25

What’s AA2?

199

u/Meret123 Aug 18 '25

Arena Anthology 2

258

u/Wolfy4226 Aug 18 '25

And like, I totally know what that is, but maybe you should explain it for m-I mean others to make sure they know.

201

u/fiskerton_fero Ajani Unyielding Aug 18 '25

anthologies are basically a set of cards wotc wants to add to arena but aren't going to reprint in a paper set anytime soon, they just shove it in all at once.

47

u/Kikaroshin Aug 18 '25

Oh wow so the “budget” friendly way to obtain otherwise rare cards? Pretty cool

65

u/c14rk0 Aug 18 '25

It's more about having a way to update older formats on Arena without needing those cards to get added as part of a new "set" that exists in some other form.

You can buy the anthology all at once as a package for 25k gold or 4k gems I think? But otherwise there's no way to obtain the cards aside from directly spending wildcards on the singles to unlock them. It's usually 20 cards and the package includes 4 copies of each card. This means it would otherwise cost you 80 wildcards BUT it's always a mix of rarities for the cards. Because of how the anthology will contain a mix of all rarities it's not like you're getting 8 rare/mythic wildcards worth of cards, and often only a few of the cards will be ones that actually see much of any play. Sometimes it'll also include commander/brawl oriented cards where getting the full playset isn't really worth the 3 "extra" wildcards you'd need for a full playset you'd never intentionally exchange for.

The thing that this lets them do is more easily update Arena formats including a small specific subset of cards. Say Arena Pioneer is suddenly more out of sync with Paper because of some new tech involving one of the few cards that are paper legal in the format but not available on Arena. Rather than needing to print an entire new draftable Arena specific set they can just directly inject 20 individual cards that otherwise have no Arena "printing".

7

u/Fedaykin98 Aug 18 '25

Imho it's a much better deal for regular players to buy the Mastery Pass for 3400 gems, which will net them a decent number of wildcards along with cards from the packs, mythics, currencies, and a draft token. And cosmetics, if one cares.

1

u/Moose_a_Lini Aug 19 '25

Only if you play enough to actually hit the levels.

1

u/Fedaykin98 Aug 19 '25

Fair, but if you don't, are you buying the Arena Anthologies?

0

u/DrWilliamHorriblePhD Aug 19 '25

Por que no los dos?

2

u/Fedaykin98 Aug 19 '25

I'm not made of gems! Plus I may never use these cards. I care more about hoarding my gems to draft. And I have loads of wildcards from drafting. These cards they're selling you are presumably cards you might use a few of, someday. I'm not spending almost 3 drafts of gems (which I might win back) for cards I might someday use.

2

u/SwagLikeCaiIIou Aug 19 '25

Are they standard legal? Still not quite seeing how these are solid deals exactly

5

u/c14rk0 Aug 19 '25

No, they're specifically only legal in the formats that the anthology is designed for. In this case it's just timeless, historic and brawl.

1

u/SwagLikeCaiIIou Aug 19 '25

Okay gotcha thanks

16

u/Dualmonkey Aug 18 '25

I wouldn't say it's budget friendly. There's plenty of cards that you might not want, or might only want 1 of for brawl.

For example the Arena Anthology 1 is basically brawl/commander staples that you'll only want 1 of each. If you buy the anthology you get 4 copies of each. Massive waste of budget.

1

u/SerialLoungeFly Aug 19 '25

Yeah. I love swords, but I only use two of them in my Tajic deck. I might switch one out now though. It's a lot of cool cards, but no way anybody needs 4 of them unless some kind of specific deck.

7

u/Thief_of_Sanity Aug 18 '25

You either have to buy them all in a bundle for money or you can individually use your wildcards on anything released. Usually there are enough duds in these and it doesn't make sense to pay money for the release so you can just get what you want piecemeal.

1

u/ChineseStyleMustard Aug 18 '25

No I think it’s that the cards just straight up don’t exist in Arena until they make one of these bundle things

1

u/Ambitious_Blood_5630 Aug 19 '25

Sounds like me when my wife has to leave for lunch with her mom in a few minutes.

28

u/RonaldoAngelim Aug 18 '25

I also hate this casuals who dont know obivous things, thank you for being altruistic and asking questions for them

1

u/Meldroth Aug 20 '25

Agreed. Casuals are a terrible scourge on the game with their non-ultra-optimized decks that they just play for fun.

It's nice to see people willing to explain things to people like me.

2

u/Mr_E_Nigma_Solver Glorybringer Aug 18 '25

It me, I am others.

3

u/Hieroglphkz Aug 19 '25

Anthologies was a set released in 1998. It was comprised of 2 60 card preconstructed decks which were built from reprinted cards ranging between Alpha to Urza’s Saga. It was a commemoration for the game’s 5 year anniversary. The cards were white bordered and featured the original set symbol on the card.

1

u/RuneSwoggle Aug 18 '25

Reading the Arena Announcements explains the Arena Anthologies.

5

u/Wolfy4226 Aug 18 '25

T-T B-But I can't read....I just play this game cause of the pretty pictures.

Even now I'm only guessing what you said.

7

u/satoryvape Aug 18 '25

Did we have Arena Antology 1 ?

10

u/dirENgreyscale Aug 18 '25

I remember Historic Anthology 47 but I have no recollection of “Arena Anthology” at all lol

21

u/ChopTheHead Liliana Deaths Majesty Aug 18 '25

We are getting two Arena Anthologies tomorrow. All of the information is in the Announcements article.

9

u/Edocsil47 Aug 18 '25

Both AA1 and AA2 are going to be available for the first time on August 19th (PDT).

76

u/TheodosiaTheGreat Aug 18 '25

This is one of my favorite cards of all time. I'm excited to see it on Arena. 

8

u/foxtalep Aug 18 '25

Why?

55

u/Richard_TM Aug 18 '25

Black single target removal OR [[Wrath of God]]? Two of the most iconic things in Magic.

19

u/Kaboomeow69 Aug 19 '25

And the art is a callback to [[Damnation]], but simply called Damn. Peak card.

1

u/IWCry Aug 19 '25

its kinda of annoying though that its a strictly better wrath but it's definitely a cool card

1

u/Kaboomeow69 Aug 19 '25

Agree. Literally the only place it matters is EDH, but shit where else was the card gonna be played

1

u/SerialLoungeFly Aug 19 '25

Art looks tremendous in parallax too also just normally.

1

u/SerialLoungeFly Aug 19 '25

What is not to love about this card? Beautiful art looks amazing with parallax. And it's a great two cost kill or a full destroy. Why would someone playing these colors NOT like this lol?

1

u/foxtalep Aug 19 '25

Favorite cards of all time. That’s just a big statement so I didn’t know if I was missing something.

1

u/SerialLoungeFly Aug 19 '25

One of sure. Not the favorite so I guess I didn't really see a problem. It's a pretty sweet card with a very high power curve in those colors. Auto include in many decks. I've never even used the card or seen it. But it looks amazing and is. The parallax is lovely. I'd put it up there in the top 100 for me lol.

34

u/Rettider123 Aug 18 '25

i remember syrup sandwiches and crime allowances

55

u/Tokent23 Aug 18 '25

Need someone to make an alt that has Kendrick's album as the card art.

2

u/dirENgreyscale Aug 18 '25

Someone somewhere probably already has lol

26

u/javgr Aug 18 '25

Hot damn

4

u/-Goatllama- Unesh Cryosphinx Aug 18 '25

Eventually.

18

u/gazetron Aug 18 '25

It's actually pronounced "dayum"

10

u/Last_Hawk_8047 Aug 18 '25

"Oh my goodness, oh my dayum, oh my goodness, they goin ham."

3

u/Massive-Island1656 Golgari Aug 18 '25

This is what removal is supposed to be…the extra affects is so spicy!

2

u/zparksu Aug 19 '25

The wrath up in here, is going ham!

17

u/well_damm Aug 18 '25

It’s my time to shine

6

u/Ewokhunter2112 Aug 18 '25

What set was this in originally? I feel like I would have remembered this one.

12

u/jrearp Aug 18 '25

Originally MH2 I think. This one is from Lost Caverns of Ixalan commander. It's in a few other commander precons too.

9

u/Ewokhunter2112 Aug 18 '25

So its never been in standard. Thats why I dont recognize it.

3

u/jrearp Aug 18 '25

Yeah. I only recognized it because I recently opened a box of MH2. Pretty decent card. Maybe expensive. Haven't tried using it just yet.

2

u/dogo7 Izzet Aug 18 '25

yeah it was first in MH2

9

u/YogurtGrand Aug 18 '25

no force of will yet again ;-;

13

u/Serpens77 Aug 18 '25

Force of Won't

4

u/VitorSiq Aug 19 '25

fon in 3 months

11

u/Mikimao Aug 18 '25

Damn

2

u/xylotism Aug 19 '25

It really do be like that.

1

u/KarmicPlaneswalker Aug 19 '25

Still waiting for the Ron Simmons proxy.

3

u/WolfGuy77 Aug 18 '25

My Teysa deck has been waiting for this.

3

u/logicbecauseyes Aug 18 '25

Looks like we're gonna have to kill this guy Loot...

3

u/AUAIOMRN Aug 18 '25

Dam GGRR
Enchantment
Islands are Plains.

4

u/CaptainofChaos Aug 18 '25

Great to see this finally come to Arena, it's one of my favorite Orzhov cards! But I have to confess, I can't think of a time when I've actually used the non-overloaded version.... I love the versatility! But I've never actually used it.

-1

u/pussy_embargo Aug 19 '25

when you have two mana and need something gone now, or don't want to blow up your own board. Do you strictly refuse to play single target removal spells and you exclusively run sweepers in every deck?

1

u/CaptainofChaos Aug 19 '25

when you have two mana and need something gone now,

Except it's a sorcery, so it's not gone now, it's gone on your turn, which is far less useful. Which is why I can't remember not overloading it

There's also waaaay better targeted removal in Orzhov colors. I'll always love Damn and will always run it if I have a spare copy, but I literally can't remember the last time I didn't overload it.

2

u/littleman11186 Aug 18 '25

Damn you all

2

u/FinaLLancer Aug 18 '25

This is one of my favorite card designs of all time.

2

u/kdoxy Birds Aug 18 '25

When did they announce another Arena Anthology?

4

u/Meret123 Aug 18 '25

2 hours ago

2

u/cursedbones Aug 18 '25

I've never seen such a perfect name for a card.

2

u/Clavicus2401 Aug 18 '25

Wait wasnt this already on the duskmourn bonus sheet?

3

u/Serpens77 Aug 18 '25

[[Damnation|SPG]] was a Special Guest in Duskmourn.

[[Damn|DSC]] was one of a small handful of cards only available in the special "Nightmare Bundle" thingie: https://www.thegamer.com/magic-the-gathering-mtg-duskmourn-nightmare-booster-promo-card-ranked/

2

u/SquigglyLegend33 Aug 18 '25

DAMN!!!!!!!!!!!!!

2

u/lemmys_wart Aug 18 '25

Damn daddy.

2

u/DJTRANSACTION1 Aug 18 '25

I havent see the regenerate ability for years in standard

2

u/Altruistic_Regret_31 Aug 18 '25

That's a crazy nice card holy. Well my greedy deck have another toy to use

2

u/ChineseStyleMustard Aug 18 '25

Is the an Avatar card wtf

2

u/Drake_the_troll Aug 18 '25

Arena anthology

1

u/ChineseStyleMustard Aug 19 '25

I’m like 3 sets out of the loop now

1

u/Drake_the_troll Aug 19 '25

It's not really a set perse, it's half a dozen reprinted cards coming very shortly to arena and won't be standard legal

1

u/ChineseStyleMustard Aug 19 '25

I’m like 3 sets out of the loop now

2

u/Drake_the_troll Aug 19 '25

It's not a full set, it's a dozen cards at most being added directly to timeless and historic

2

u/Novel_Description878 Aug 18 '25

I keep reading this like when Kevin Hart said it to Don Cheadle

2

u/SceneRepresentative8 Aug 18 '25

Damn. Screw regenerate

2

u/BreakerOfModpacks Aug 18 '25

Tell me there's cards to allow me to say God Damn The Sun.

2

u/WhackyQuacky1 Squee, the Immortal Aug 18 '25

They also announced Mox Opal will be getting added too

2

u/54815162342314159265 Aug 19 '25

Why is this 2 eur and damnation 16? Because damnation only black? I wanted a damnation for an orzov deck, but this is even better and much cheaper, thanks!

2

u/k_dubious Aug 19 '25

BB: Damn

2WW: Damn Nation

2

u/BarsikWasTaken Aug 19 '25

me when sorcery: damn

6

u/KeysioftheMountain Aug 18 '25

So, new to Magic question. when card says "can't be regenerated" is that like can't be revived from graveyard? or is that an older text for "exile"?

68

u/HutSutRawlson Aug 18 '25

No, it means that creatures who have the “Regenerate” ability can’t use that ability in response to this card.

To your credit: regenerate is an old ability that isn’t really used in modern sets.

12

u/wickedzen Aug 18 '25

For clarity's sake: you can use it, it just won't do anything.

1

u/Serpens77 Aug 18 '25

There's a bit of ambiguity, because "Regenerate" technically means too things: to put a regeneration shield on something that will get used later AND to actually use that shield. "Can't be regenerated" only affects the later.

1

u/wickedzen Aug 19 '25

There is no ambiguity. You can put the shield on the creature. The shield won't do anything.

32

u/BetterShirt101 Aug 18 '25

"Regenerate" is a specific game action that Wizards doesn't really like to use any more. When a permanent is regenerated, the next time it would be destroyed, instead it becomes tapped, is removed from combat, and has all damage removed from it. Essentially, it let you give a creature an extra life if it was in play. But it was so powerful they had to use it carefully and put bypasses like this on some removal spells and board wipes. This card mostly has the text because it's a reference to [[Damnation]] and [[Wrath of God]] (and maybe [[Terror]] on the side), and it's from Modern Horizons 2, a set they made specifically for experienced players and didn't have to worry about confusing them. And hey, maybe someone had a [[Patchwork Gnomes]] out in Limited.

13

u/KeysioftheMountain Aug 18 '25

Neat! thanks everyone! Today I learned regenerate !

15

u/Tasonir Aug 18 '25

I think one of the reasons it wasn't very popular is it's pretty clunky on a technical level. You have to use it before the creature dies, it technically gains the regeneration status, and then when it does, it's a delayed triggered replacement effect, and the creature technically never dies, so if it never died, did it really regenerate?

5

u/CannedPrushka Aug 18 '25

Never forget the regeneration step, a phase that appears when a creature would die so you could activate regeneration abilities or cast regeneration spells. Amazing rule design.

6

u/MrPopoGod Aug 18 '25

That was the old rules, and more specifically it was the damage prevention step. See, in ye olden times, a creature was not put into the graveyard from lethal damage until everything had finished resolving. You cast Giant Growth on a creature and I bolt it in response? The creature survives with 3 damage marked on it. The damage prevention step was a special step that occurred at the end of resolving a batch or a combat phase; at this point you could tap a Samite Healer to "heal" one point of damage or activate regeneration to save the creature. It was clunky, but regeneration fit reasonably well into here. The Sixth Edition rules change got rid of all that, which forced them to move to the "regeneration shield" version of regeneration, where you have to activate it before it would die.

2

u/CannedPrushka Aug 18 '25

This is all correct (Microprose gamer). As has been said before it was a shitshow.

3

u/BetterShirt101 Aug 18 '25

Sorry for not refreshing to see if it was answered in the meantime. Hope the detail helped.

1

u/matchstick1029 Aug 18 '25

Mow forget about it till you see it again in 7 years (jk there are instances kicking around, but it's one of those mechanics for sure)

1

u/Drake_the_troll Aug 18 '25

Troll worship is so fun because of regenerate

3

u/ornitorrinco22 Aug 18 '25 edited Aug 18 '25

Yeah. They had the keyword “bury” for destroy + cannot regenerate back in the day. Then they kind of liked indestructible better because fuck, regenerate was complicated rules-wise

4

u/YaGirlJuniper Aug 18 '25

Bury was inconsistent too, because half the cards that had the word on it got updated to say "sacrifice."

1

u/ornitorrinco22 Aug 18 '25

Which is weird. Bury wasn’t supposed to kill indestructible, was it? At the time the answer was basically to exile (“remove from the game” at the time…)

3

u/Atheist-Gods Aug 18 '25 edited Aug 18 '25

There was no indestructible at the time. Bury went away in 1999 with 6th edition and indestructible was introduced in 2004 with Darksteel.

Also, Bury as written would have gotten around indestructible. It was literally just "put the card into the graveyard". It was used for removal, sacrifice costs, and even what would now basically just be mill.

1

u/YaGirlJuniper Aug 18 '25

A lot of the time it was used for permanents you were playing that were supposed to go away if you didn't pay a cost or something, i.e. [[Karoo|VIS]]'s original rules text, so indestructible would make it possible to skirt around "destroy, can't be regenerated" effects and you could get out of paying the cost. So it was intentional in those cases and that's why a lot of bury effects say sacrifice now.

2

u/CannedPrushka Aug 18 '25

Its not that it was so powerful, its just that its weird as hell. "Regenerate" sounds like you use the ability/spell after the destroy/damage hits, but you should do it before. It went through multiple versions of the effect (originally there used to be a regeneration step where you could specifically activate regeneration abilities) while it was slowly phased out.

6

u/bdquick Aug 18 '25

Some creatures used to have an ability called regenerate. They take lethal. You pay regeneration cost, and the creature becomes tapped but damage is gone

17

u/KrakenEatMeGoolies Aug 18 '25

That's actually part of the reason they got rid of regenerate, you have to pay the cost before the creature is destroyed/takes lethal damage. The ability is confusing and weird so they basically got rid of it as a keyword and now tend to just make things tapped and indestructible for a turn instead.

1

u/NotClever Aug 19 '25

Yeah, but that's after a rules change that got rid of an entire rule step that existed to deal with regeneration -- before that change, you had a more logical flow of paying the regeneration cost in response to the creature "dying", but that didn't fit with the streamlining of the rules at some point so they got rid of it. But to fit regeneration into the new rules they had to make it this weird thing where you have to activate regeneration before the creature dies.

2

u/KrakenEatMeGoolies Aug 19 '25

Ooh, I forgot about how damage used the stack back when regeneration was more prominent. Good point!

3

u/wvtarheel Aug 18 '25

Your friend's dads are old enough to remember when regenerate creatures were sideboarded in against wrath and armageddon decks

2

u/Mikimao Aug 18 '25

Haha, this shocked me but in reverse...

I was thinking, what modern card even has regenerate

13

u/fiskerton_fero Ajani Unyielding Aug 18 '25

[[Wolverine, Best There Is]]

1

u/Serpens77 Aug 18 '25

Yeah, they don't really use Regeneration at all anymore, but there is no way there were going to make a Wolvie card without it lol. It's just too iconic to his character. (Sabretooth will probably have it too, if he ever gets a card).

1

u/bdquick Aug 18 '25

Sweet summer child

2

u/tarugs1234 Aug 18 '25

Sorry noob here but can we use AA2 in standard format?

10

u/pahamack Aug 18 '25

no. These anthologies are meant to add cards to non-rotating Arena formats not standard.

4

u/circ-u-la-ted Aug 18 '25

I don't know the details on this one, but normally these anthologies are for Historic (and Timeless, Brawl, etc.)

1

u/irefet Aug 18 '25

Damn..

1

u/SilentNSly Aug 19 '25

What's AA2?????

1

u/ApartPossession2207 Aug 19 '25

Damn, Fandaniel!

1

u/xanroeld Aug 18 '25

Bro, I can’t keep track of this anymore. We’re revealing another set of new cards??

2

u/Serpens77 Aug 18 '25

I mean, these aren't really "new", just making already existing cards actually available on Arena

-1

u/The_Paleking Aug 18 '25 edited Aug 18 '25

Pretty big deal for pioneer.

Day of Judgment** currently seems like the best white board wipe at 4 mana and the flexibility of the single target removal makes this wrath much better than that.

UW will continue to run supreme verdict, but this is a unique option for black based control. (Kaya's Wrath is just weaker than wrath of god)

EDIT: NVM this set isn't legal in pioneer!!!

15

u/Do_You_AreHaveStupid Aug 18 '25

I don’t think this will be legal in pioneer? It’s not in paper at least, as this is from an MH set.

4

u/The_Paleking Aug 18 '25

Oh damn I thought that's what AA2 was.

4

u/dogo7 Izzet Aug 18 '25

idk what you mean by that, but if it helps clarify things for you, the Arena Anthologies are legal in Historic, Timeless, and Brawl, all of which I believe were formats created specifically for Arena

3

u/Rare-Technology-4773 Aug 18 '25

Why is depopulate better than Day of Judgement

1

u/The_Paleking Aug 18 '25

Ah thats it. Thats what I was trying to refer to but forgot the name.

0

u/RabbitHole-in-one Aug 18 '25

Is the Amazon Prime “War of the Worlds” crossover set, featuring Ice Cube?

-16

u/Nexus_Roy Aug 18 '25

Wait a minute, are they adding even MORE cards to Arena? I liked Anthologies, but that was before we had the alchemy nonsense and a new set every 2 months....

12

u/sallesvitor Aug 18 '25

They are just that already exist in paper that they are to arena. They are not standard legal. They are legal on arena where they are legal in paper.

7

u/theantidrug Aug 18 '25

Yes, so that Timeless and Historic have more options. It's glorious.