MTG’s Throne of Eldraine Adamant mechanic explained

Magic‘s back with a new set—and that means new mechanics.

Throne of Eldraine (ELD) is all about Arthurian legend and fairy tales. Adamant is a new mechanic that revolves around the chivalrous orders of the Eldraine, each founded on five core principles, which are in turn rooted in the color pie.

• Loyalty (White)
• Knowledge (Blue)
• Persistence (Black)
• Courage (Green)
• Strength (Red)

The Adamant mechanic rewards players who devote themselves to one of these five colors. When you cast Adamant spells, the spell resolves normally. But if you spent more of the spell’s core color, you get a bonus. This can be on permanents, non-permanents, and even present in replacement effects.

This mechanic plays well with Devotion, one of the core mechanics from the Theros block. With Theros, Beyond Death coming up in Q1 2020, it seems like Adamant is a plan to level up mono-colored Standard decks as we get into the next year’s set design. On a larger scale, this seems like a specific step away from tri-colored decks made possible by the dual lands (and bi-colored set design) of Ravnica.