Last month, we gave you the first look at the world of our next expansion, The Flame of Xulta. An unknown world, racing against a dying sun, holds many new challenges to overcome. But those who persevere might discover greater potential within themselves than they had previously imagined. They grow in their abilities, and gain Mastery of their own destiny:

Mastery is a new keyword that rewards successfully dealing damage and surviving. When Relentless Combatant deals 8 damage she gets a permanent +2/+2. Maybe it takes you four attacks of two damage each. Or perhaps you throw a +2/+1 Heavy Axe on her first, do a Berserk attack and get it in just one turn

Let’s get into some of the deeper details of how Mastery works.

A unit achieves Mastery when it deals total damage equal to its Mastery number.

You don’t need to deal the damage all at once. You can do it over multiple attacks. Whenever you reach the Mastery number, you’ll get the Mastery bonus immediately.

When your unit makes progress towards Mastery, it keeps that progress even if it changes zones, like being bounced by a Teleport or killed by a Deathstrike.

Teleport or killed by a Deathstrike. BUT the unit only gains Mastery if it deals damage and survives. If your Relentless Combatant attacks and dies from being blocked, it will not gain Mastery from the damage of that attack.

Mastery works when blocking too. You can gain Mastery when blocking, making a Killer attack, or any other time your unit would deal damage and survive.

Killer attack, or any other time your unit would deal damage and survive. Similar to Ultimate, Mastery can refresh if your unit leaves play and returns later. Say your Relentless Combatant dies after it got its Mastery bonus of +2/+2. If you bring it back later with Last Chance, it will still be a 4/5 but now it will have another Mastery 8: +2/+2 ready to complete.

Not all Mastery bonuses buff your units. Thunderclaw Raven delivers a special gift:

Thunderclaw Raven soars over the opposition, pecking in and later rewarding you with any curse from your deck. Mastery units appear in all five factions so there’s lots of sweet Mastery prizes in the set to discover.

Mastery can appear on weapons as well. Behold, the Sword of Judgement:

The sword buffs your unit a little bit up front, but if it can deal 5 damage, things will really get out of hand!

Before we go, let’s get a look at a unit that has multiple ways to benefit from Mastery:

Akko, Inspired Artist can paint a terrifying picture for your opponent. If you play an Akko on turn 1 and attack the next turn, he immediately grabs a +1/+2 weapon and becomes a 2/3. And that damage that made you complete that first Mastery? It counts for the second as well. So now our Akko is bigger and already on his way to giving an enormous boost to your whole deck!

Mastery is just the beginning of what The Flame of Xulta has in store, stay tuned for more looks at the new set releasing soon!