Arthur C. Clarke famously stated that “any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic.” In Kaladesh, the most recent expansion for Magic: The Gathering, that truism will be put to test as the plane of scientists, engineers, and inventors enter the fray. Kaladesh is a bright and airy world done in a color-saturated Persian/Art Deco aesthetic, but it all appears to be built on a vast network of foundries run by a precise bureaucracy of clockwork robots.
Kaladesh was previously, briefly introduced as the home of the fire magic-wielding Planeswalker Chandra Nalaar. Her tragic history with her plane of birth has previously been alluded to, namely how The Consulate, who oppose magic, punished her family in retaliation for her abilities. And now, Magic is giving you the chance to play as that wondrous nation of mechanically advanced techno-fabulists who only occasionally dabble in zealotry.
Here’s an exclusive look at four of the automatons instrumental to Kaladesh’s continued advancement:
It looks like the automaton cards accentuate numbers over raw strength, as more of them working in unison will have a greater effect than any one individual unit. They’re all pretty great looking cards, though, and The Chief of the Foundry is appropriately imposing and alien. But so far, the Foundry Inspector is easily the best. It’s a clockwork robot with a clock chest piece holding a clock. That’s like the steampunk equivalent of Goofy taking Pluto for a walk.