Monsters, and the mechanic that broke Constructed
Ikoria is the monster plane, and it is the first set in Magic's history whose paper release was delayed. Cards became legal on April 24, 2020 as originally scheduled, but boxes only reached most of the world on May 15, with Asia getting them on April 17. For about three weeks a Standard-legal set existed almost entirely online.
Mutate is its signature. Cast a mutate creature over a non-Human creature you control, choose whether it goes above or below, and the result is one creature with the top card's characteristics and every ability from the whole pile. All the mutate triggers fire each time you add to it, so the stack grows in value faster than it grows in size.
Companion is the mechanic anyone who played Constructed in 2020 remembers. A companion sat outside your deck and could be brought into your hand if your deck met its deckbuilding condition, which amounted to a free extra card in every game. It warped Standard, Modern, Legacy and Vintage at once, and the rule was rewritten in June 2020 so that a companion costs three generic mana to put into your hand. Several were banned as well.
Themes
Mutate
Cast the creature for its mutate cost onto a non-Human creature you already control, above or below. The result is a single creature with the top card's stats and every ability in the pile, and each mutate trigger goes off as you build it.
Companion
A card kept outside the game that you may bring into your hand if your deck obeys its condition. As printed, that was a free extra card, and it distorted every Constructed format at once. From June 2020 it costs three generic mana to bring in, so the printed wording no longer describes how it plays.
Keyword counters
Counters that grant a keyword rather than stats: flying, first strike, lifelink and so on, put onto a creature and staying there. They stack with mutate and with everything that cares about counters, which is why the set's draft archetypes are built from them.
Cycling
Pay a cost and discard the card to draw a new one. Ikoria runs it heavily and pairs it with cards that trigger when you cycle, which turns a card you didn't want into two effects instead of one.
Where You Can Play It
Ikoria shipped under a single code and has left Standard, which is the only format it left. Its cards became legal on the original April date rather than the delayed paper one.
Not Standard-legal. Standard only ever holds the last few years of sets, so everything this old has long since left it. These cards are still playable in Pioneer, Modern, Legacy, Vintage and Commander. Commons from any set are Pauper-legal; that isn't listed per set here.
Limited
A full ten-pair format, and an unusually legible one: each pair is built around a keyword counter, so the color you are in tells you which keyword you are handing out.
All ten two-color pairs
One keyword counter each
Flying, first strike, vigilance, menace, lifelink, deathtouch, trample, hexproof, reach and the rest are distributed one to a pair. Mutate cuts across the green and blue end, and cycling anchors the white and black one.
FAQ
No. Standard only holds the last few years of sets, so a 2020 release left it long ago. IKO cards are still legal in Pioneer, Modern, Legacy, Vintage and Commander.
Cast the mutate creature for its mutate cost onto a non-Human creature you already control, choosing whether it goes above or below. The result is one creature with the top card's name, types and stats plus every ability from the whole pile, and each mutate trigger goes off as you build it.
As printed, a companion was a free extra card in every game as long as your deck met its condition, and it distorted Standard, Modern, Legacy and Vintage at once. From June 2020 the rule requires paying three generic mana to move a companion to your hand, so the printed wording no longer describes how the mechanic plays. Several companions were banned as well.
Counters that grant a keyword rather than power and toughness, such as a flying counter or a deathtouch counter. They stay on the creature, they stack with mutate, and each of Ikoria's ten draft archetypes is built around one.
COVID-19. The cards became legal on April 24, 2020 as originally planned, but the paper release moved to May 15 in most of the world, with Asia getting it on April 17. It is the first set in Magic's history whose release was delayed.
Yes, five of them, sold as Commander 2020 and set on the same plane. That was new: earlier Commander years stood apart from whatever expansion they landed near.
All card names, art, and mechanics belong to Wizards of the Coast. Ikoria: Lair of Behemoths released on Apr 24, 2020; details reflect the set as published. Sources: Wizards of the Coast set pages and release notes, Draftsim, Untapped.gg.
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