How Craft and Transforming work in Magic: The Gathering

The new Craft mechanic within Lost Caverns of Ixalan plays off an existing Magic: The Gathering keyword action while using resources in conjunction with mana. 

Double-sided cards in MTG have become popular over the years, with Wizards of the Coast first introducing the Transform keyword action through Innistrad (the original from 2011). The next visit to Innistrad through MID and VOW brought about Daybound and Nightbound, then Kamigawa: Neon Dynasty introduced transforming Sagas, and March of the Machine brought about Transforming Praetors and Battles. 

Transforming then evolved again through Lost Caverns of Ixalan (LCI), featuring the Craft mechanic, along with traditional Transforming cards. 

MTG Craft mechanic, explained

Craft isn’t as easy as Transforming when it comes to implementing it but does open up design space for cards that players have never seen before. 

• Craft definition: Craft is an activated ability at Sorcery speed that requires players to pay a mana cost in addition to exiling permanents that you control and/or graveyard, along with the card itself. Once the requirements are met, the card is returned to the battlefield Transformed. 

The best way to understand the MTG Craft mechanic is through some of the LCI cards. Sunbird Standard, for example, is a three-drop mana rock Artifact that can tap for a mana of any color. It also has Craft, where its controller pays five mana and can Craft with one or more permanents you control from your graveyard and/or permanents you control. It becomes a Bird Construct with Flying, Vigilance, and Haste that has a power and toughness equal to the number of colors used to Craft it. 

And then there are Craft cards like Throne of the Grim Captain, a Legendary Artifact that costs two mana to cast and taps to mill two cards. To Craft, it requires a Merfolk, Pirate, Dinosaur, and a Vampire—plus four mana of any color. The Throne of Grim Captain then becomes The Grim Captain, a 7/7 with Menace, Trample, Lifelink, Hexproof, and an ability that reanimates cards used to Craft it from exile to the battlefield upon attacking. 

Using the Craft mechanic isn’t about only paying some form of cost as the cards with Craft are typically built around, whether it’s a five-color deck or a mashup of every main creature type from Lost Caverns of Ixalan.