EXCLUSIVE: Screen Rant’s Magic: The Gathering Double Masters Preview Cards

With Magic: The Gathering‘s Double Masters set release just days away, anticipation is running high for yet another Masters set. To say that the Masters sets have set the bar high in the past would be something of an understatement – these collections have released extremely popular cards into the wild with new artwork and increased availability for players looking to slot them into their favorite decks. Based on the spoilers fans have seen so far, Magic: The Gathering Double Masters is set to do the same, with even more variety in terms of card frame, art style, and selection than format-specific Masters sets in the past.

Despite so many prolific cards already set to get a reprint – many of them with storied histories in Magic: The Gathering tabletop play – there are somehow still more to be spoiled. While we’ll be the first to admit that Screen Rant’s Double Masters spoiler cards aren’t going to make quite the same impact that Oko, Thief of Crowns did, what today’s Double Masters cards lack in sheer power level they make up for by having synergy with one of the most popular card types in the game: artifacts.

Oh, and one of them happened to have been a complete all-star in Standard during its time in the sun. While Pro Tour Nagoya 2011 was when the card first made a name for itself in block constructed, it wasn’t long before Worlds 2011 saw its breakout performance: four players took the card to that tournament’s elimination rounds, and the deck it slotted into was even named after it. Without drawing it out any further – and, really, many players have probably already figured it out – take a look at the first exclusive Magic: The Gathering Double Masters preview card from Screen Rant:

Yes, Tempered Steel is making a return in Double Masters! The card, which has only appeared in Scars of Mirrodin previously, is simple but effective. What it asks of players is simply to put a lot of artifact creatures into play and immediately get rewarded for it by pumping them all up to be much bigger threats in combat. Artifact creatures are good at swarming the battlefield, as plenty of cards create tokens of them. In Double Masters, there will be at least one card ready to help make Tempered Steel that much more playable as a focal point of someone’s limited deck. Check out Screen Rant’s second Magic: The Gathering Double Masters preview card:

While Myrsmith isn’t an artifact creature itself, in a deck that’s mostly full of artifact cards, it can quickly begin to overwhelm opposing players by creating an army of 1/1 Myrs. That problem becomes a much bigger one when Tempered Steel is suddenly letting players pay 1 mana to make a 3/3 instead, and on a board already full of Myr, the game can end on the spot. With just these two cards, white-based artifact decks in Double Masters limited will be ones to watch, and that’s before considering the many other powerful synergies present with already spoiled cards.

The release of Magic: The Gathering Double Masters looks like one that will appeal to all kinds of players, and while Tempered Steel might not be as powerful in constructed formats as it once was, it’s an iconic piece of history – a snapshot of a different time in Magic that also doubles as a fun build-around in limited. Will artifacts be the bane of Double Masters drafters just looking to put together the sweetest, slowest deck? Who is going to have the biggest bad beat story for multiple Tempered Steels in play by the end of the set’s life cycle? Magic: The Gathering fans will begin to answer those questions shortly, as Magic: The Gathering Double Masters releases on August 7, 2020 with a whopping 332 cards available to players.