Theros is Magic: the Gathering’s latest set, and this one takes its inspoiration from classical Greek mythology. Gods, heroes and monsters all feature in this set. Multiplayer fans will find plenty to interest them in this set, and even tribal fans have a card or two to like.

There are four new set mechanics in Theros – Heroic for the heroes, Monstrosity for the monsters, and Bestow to represent the gifts of the gods. A further mechanic called Devotion tests your loyalty to a single colour, and Scry makes a fitting returns in a set about divining the future.

Heroic
Heroic is an ability that triggers whenever you cast a spell that targets one of your creatures with Heroic. The beneifts can affect that creature only, or all creatures you cotrol on some of the more powerful Heroic creatures. Spells you cast on your opponents’ creatures won’t trigger their Heroic, and vice versa. It also only works on spells, not abilities, so you need to make sure you have enough useful spells in your deck to target your Heroic creatures with.

Monstrosity
The monsters of Theros all come with a one-time ability called Monstrosity. This usually costs a lot of mana and gives you a significant bonus either on the spot, or for the rest of the game. Each creature can only become monstrous once per game. The rare and mythic cards with Monstrosity are all worth a look.

Bestow
Everything in Theros that is associated with the gods is an enchantment in addition to its other types. Bestow appears on a number of Creature Enchantments. These can either be cast as creatures, or for their alternative Bestow cost as an Enchantment. Remember that enchantments target when you cast them, so this is a good way of getting your Heroic ability to trigger too. Unlike other enchantments, if the enchanted creature dies, then your Bestow enchantment stays on the battlefield as a creature. All God-related cards in Theros have a special ‘sparkly’ card border, so you will see the Bestow creatures easily in any pack you open.

Devotion
Devotion is an ability associated with the gods of Theros. It gives you a bonus based on the number of mana symbols of a given colour among permanents you control. So if you controlled permanents with five green mana symbols, your devotion to green would be 5. Theros has a number of cards that care about your devotion levels including five mythic cards representing the gods of Theros.

Scry
Scry has always been a useful ability. It was first seen over ten years ago in the Fifth Dawn expansion, and has been used twice more, in Time Spiral and in the Magic 2011 set. Theros gives us a number of new Scry cards an one notable reprint in Magma Jet. ost cards in Theros have Scry 1, which means you may look at the top 1 card of your library and choose whether to keep it there or put it on the bottom of your library. Other cards have Scry 2 or Scry 3. Scry is one of those abilities that looks mindane but is incredibly useful to have, as it gives you a degree of control over what card you will draw next.

Multiplayer Theros: Ten useful cards

1. Akroan Horse – forcing your opponents to accept creatures is always ripe for exploitation
2. Baleful Eidolon – this bestow creature grants deathtouch, always a useful ability to have
3. Bident of Thassa – the weapon of the blue god lets you draw extra cards. A bident is like a trident, except with only two prongs. Like Biplane and Triplane.
4. Centaur Battlemaster – a powerful heroic creature that can get large very quickly
5. Erebos, God of the Dead – the black god prevents your opponents from gaining life. Yes, you read that correctly.
6. Horizon Chimera – a flying creature wth a useful ability
7. Hundred-Handed One – this white creature lives up to his name when you activate his Monstrosity ability
8. Opaline Unicorn – an artifact creature that taps for any colour of mana
9. Phalanx Leader – this heroic creature makes all your creatures permanently stronger when you target him
10. Rageblood Shaman – the Minotaur leader all you Minotaur fans out there have been waiting for.

You can see all Theros cards in the Theros Card Gallery

Also see our Born of the Gods multiplayer set review