[Update #2]: MTG Arena will be getting Shadows over Innistrad Remastered in 2023 and a second Explorer Anthology in 2022.

[Update]: MTG Arena's October 6th mini-expansion will bring with it the iconic Power 9 cards.

I hope you're in the mood for a massive meta shake-up, because MTG Arena has just added the Dominaria United expansion. It brings with it a whole host of new cards to play around with it, as well as the annual set rotation that has removed Zendikar Rising, Kaldheim, Strixhaven and Adventures in the Forgotten Realms from the Standard format. So if you ever wanted to give Magic: The Gathering a try, this would be the perfect time to do so as there's only a couple of sets you'll need to worry about.

When it comes to the cards themselves, there are three new and two returning mechanics for you to experiment with: Enlist, Read Ahead and Stun Counters, as well as Domain and Kicker. Here's a brief overview of what each of them does:

Enlist allows an attacking creature to tap down a friendly creature without summoning sickness in order to gain +X/+0 until the end of turn, where X is the power of the enlisted creature. Since some creatures in the set actively want you to tap them, Enlist should work out pretty well in limited formats.

Read Ahead gives sagas the ability to enter the battlefield on whatever chapter you want. Doing so will make you lose out on some value as you will skip the previous chapters entirely, but having the option is certainly welcome.

Stun Counters keep permanents (mostly creatures) from untapping. Basically, if a tapped permanent with a Stun Counter on it would become untapped, instead it stays tapped and you remove a stun counter from it. This seems like a new twist on the fairly old tap-down mechanic, so I expect Stun Counters to play a big role in limited formats.

Kicker is a returning ability that allows you to pay a bit of extra mana while casting a spell in order to get additional benefits. The only slight difference this time around is that most of the cards have off-color kicker costs, thus encouraging splashing and multi-color decks.

Domain is another returning mechanic that gives you benefits based on the amount of different basic land types you control (Plains, Island, Swamp, Mountain, Forest). The new tri-colored lands from Streets of New Capenna count as three basic land types all on their own, so I expect Domain decks to at least make a bit of a splash in Standard.

If you're curious how all of these mechanics look like on actual cards, you can find what you seek over at the official card gallery. Wizards of the Coast has sorted all of them by color with the multi-colored stuff at the very bottom, so it should be fairly easy to figure out what each of the color combos are all about.

As always, the Dominaria United's launch has brought with it a 'bonus' code containing a couple of freebies: PlayDMU. Simply use the code on the in-game store, or on the website if you're playing on mobile, and you'll be granted three free packs after a small delay.

The final thing worth mentioning is that Wizards of the Coast has released a couple of short stories alongside the Dominaria United expansion itself. You can find them, as well as bunch of other lore stuff, over at the MTG website. Enjoy!