“Ascend” and “Defect” are two new mechanics shared alongside new cards from the upcoming Skybound Odyssey set, available in prerelease Sept. 26, in an official news post. The article also introduced the set’s designers and provided some of the first information on the set since it was previewed in July.

New mechanics

Ascended is a new status for expeditions rather than characters that gives an edge when comparing terrain stats to opponents. At Dusk, an ascended expedition can move forward if its stats are greater or equal to the corresponding count for the opponent. There must be at least a statistic of 1 to be counted. The effect is shown with a marker in the expedition, and every ascended expedition loses the status at Rest.

The example given in the article is the Ordis 2/2 Ascended Trooper, the common of which causes the expedition to ascend when played from hand. The rare provides the status when played from anywhere. Both versions gain a boost if they’re played into an ascended expedition. With a 2/2/2 stat line, higher numbers aren’t necessary to both block the opponent and advance in the same turn. The Ascended Trooper is also another opportunity to see a character develop across multiple sets, as the depicted soldier here is the same unsure Aegis infantry shown on the Ordis Trooper, finally feeling more confident.

The mechanic was designed from the top down to evoke the feeling of aerial exploration and flying islands. François Jourdain, lead game designer for the Whispers from the Maze set, talked about how some of the ways the team chooses mechanics while linking them to the themes, lore and characters for the set in our exclusive Q&A at Gen Con 2025.

Defect is a new keyword that introduces another type of opponent interaction, causing a target character to join the opponent expedition facing it, changing controllers. The character doesn’t join the opponent’s deck permanently, going back to its owner’s reserve, hand, mana zone or discard as detailed. The character must go to the expedition it’s facing from where it was played, even if it’s gigantic.

Defect, an Yzmir 7/7 common spell, takes on any character, regardless of mana cost. The rare drops the cost to 6/6 but gates the targeted character to a hand cost of 4 or less. The card is part of another aspect of SKY that brings a focus to bigger spells with higher hand costs. Those options link up well with the new Yzmir hero Moyo & Silk. Moyo checks the base cost of the card, indicating the hand cost when played from hand and the reserve when played from reserve, and creates a mana moth in the hero expedition.

Other mechanics shown include rush, Aeroliths, Woollybacks and terrain markers, all of which debuted in the preview article but receive more detail.

Reveals and designers

Marcus Kearsey is the lead game designer for SKY, reprising his role from Beyond the Gates, with Nathanaël Dufour as the game designer. The major design goals were to create a set that provided new strategies and approaches that aligned with the heroes introduced in the set while also remaining accessible.

Reveal season for SKY has officially begun, with multiple creators sharing cards over the next few weeks leading up to the set’s prerelease date. The official card gallery will update with cards as they’re shared, while also being collected on the Blog’s reveals post. Aguytrying is also tracking cards in his spreadsheet as they’re revealed. The Blog will have multiple reveals for this season, with two cards coming this week. Make sure to visit the sites and streams of creators as they share their discoveries for the new set.

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