Ikoria: Lair of the Behemoths is the monster-focused next set for Magic: The Gathering. We've got an exclusive card, Death's Oasis, to show off, not to mention a rundown of all the new mechanics coming when Ikoria is released for Magic the Gathering: Arena and Magic Online on April 16. Fittingly for a set about monsters (amazingly, including the actual Godzilla), Ikoria's new and key mechanics all centre around working with your kaiju-sized new additions to the deck. We had Magic's lead product designer, Mike Turian break down each one: Mutate - "To Mutate a creature, you pay its Mutate cost targeting a non-Human creature that you own. This combines the two (or more!) creatures into one with all of the abilities of both creatures! If the creature you targeted had Auras or counters on it, the new combination will keep everything that was already there. Lots of the Mutate creatures give you a bonus for successfully mutating, you get that bonus each and every time you Mutate! Mutate was our way to express how the monsters of Ikoria have recently been evolving rapidly due to an awakening of mysterious crystals. Previously, the humans of Ikoria would be able to create defenses that would keep the monsters at bay but recently monsters have been mutating so quickly that the humans barely stand a chance!" Companion – "With Companion, you get a chance to start with a one-shot guaranteed extra card ready to cast from the start of the game sort of like it was in your opening hand. Now, in order to get this to happen, you will have had to build your deck around the Companion restriction that that each Companion has. Every Companion restriction is different and building your deck around it is part of the fun! Even if you aren’t hitting the Companion challenge, you can always add your Companion to your deck just like it was any other Magic card. Ikoria is a set about monsters. One piece of this is capturing how monsters connect with the humans of the world. In Ikoria, monsters and humans are on equal footing, in order to bond with one another both the monster and the human must be agreeable to the connection. We wanted the new Companion mechanic to capture this connection and bring that right to our players." Ability Counters – "Ability Counters are a great way to represent how the creatures of Ikoria grow and change. Typically in a game of Magic, effects that are granted are temporary. +1/+1 counters have always stuck around for as long as the creature was on the battlefield and with Ability Counters we have expanded the types of effects that will continue past end of turn. Now you can grant permanent flying, trample, menace, etc. and the Ikoria Commander decks even let you grant permanent indestructibility! The landscape of Ikoria is filled with mysterious crystals that have begun to radiate causing the monsters to evolve at an accelerated rate. Ability Counters were our way to represent this evolution through a permanent gameplay enhancement." Cycling - "Cycling came about from a practical sense. While Cycling has appeared in many Magic sets and is a well-loved mechanic, with Ikoria it helped us solve the issue that would occur as your hand filled up with too many giant monsters! Sometimes it just makes sense to cycle into a few more lands so that you can start casting all of those behemoths." [ignvideo url="https://www.ign.com/videos/2020/04/03/magic-the-gathering-arena-ikoria-lair-of-behemoths-official-trailer"] Our exclusive card reveal is for Death's Oasis - and it's less a monster than a monster's graveyard. This three-colour enchantment is designed to capitalise on the beefy monsters in your deck, using their deaths to allow for new life to pop unexpectedly out of your deck at little cost. Check out both designs of the card below, and Mike Turian's explanation of its strengths, weaknesses and origins below: IGN: Could you briefly explain the strengths and weaknesses of this card for a beginner? Mike Turian: "Death’s Oasis has a lot of strengths going for it. For starters it can supply a virtually endless supply of creatures. The fact that every time one of your nontoken creatures dies, you get to bring back a creature to your hand from your graveyard means that once Death’s Oasis gets going there isn’t much to stop it. There are two added bonuses as well. The 2-card mill means that you will get some new options to return to your hand with each creature that dies. The second bonus is that you can sacrifice it for some additional life you are in need of a few extra life to stay alive. "As for weaknesses, Death’s Oasis needs to combine with creatures as it doesn’t do anything without getting some creatures into play. So Death’s Oasis won’t win you the game by itself but once you have some creatures in play and others in your graveyard, that is when it really shines." IGN: How might this card combo with others in the set? MT: "Ikoria is a set filled with monsters, both big and small. This is exactly what a card like Death’s Oasis wants! Fill your deck up with creatures and Death’s Oasis and you can start tasting victory!" IGN: Where did the design process for this card begin? MT: "I believe a lot of the inspiration for this card came from the Soulshift mechanic in Kamigawa block. We knew we wanted an enchantment for each of the three-color wedges and this wedge was taking on some elements of recursion. This design felt like a good match for that game play, while providing some fun deckbuilding considerations, and giving the sense that nature keeps coming back for more." IGN: How do you see this card affecting Limited or Constructed play? MT: "In Limited, once Death’s Oasis comes out, you will be able to trade creatures without repercussion. It is a Rare though, so it won’t be available that often in Limited. For Constructed, we see it fitting more into either sideboards for Standard or slotted perfectly into WBG Commander decks. WBG Commander decks are often filled with creatures and recursion so Death’s Oasis is likely a perfect fit!" Ikoria: Lair of the Behemoths will be released for digital Magic: The Gathering games on April 16, with a physical release to follow on May 15. [poilib element="accentDivider"]

Disney has announced that an updated version of The Simpsons in its original 4:3 aspect ratio will be available on its Disney+ streaming service by the end of May. When Disney released Disney+ with every available episode of The Simpsons, viewers soon discovered that the series was formatted in 16:9 widescreen. This wouldn’t have been so bad if it didn’t actively ruin certain visual gags that The Simpsons is known for. Comedian Tristan Cooper tweeted a famous example of how the widescreen format removed a sight gag from one of the classic Simpsons episodes.

All the classic Simpsons episodes on Disney+ are in cropped widescreen format -- this means you miss out on tons of great visual jokes, like how Duff, Duff Lite and Duff Dry all come from the same tube. pic.twitter.com/cTy9adulFl

— Tristan Cooper (@TristanACooper) November 12, 2019

In November 2019, Disney announced that it would roll out a feature in 2020 that would allow users to choose a 4:3 viewing ratio for the first 19 seasons of The Simpsons, as well as some episodes from season 20. The feature will now roll out at the end of May, which is a bit more specific though no actual date has been announced yet. [widget path="global/article/imagegallery" parameters="albumSlug=all-the-must-watch-disney-plus-titles-on-launch-day&captions=true"] The Simpsons aired in a 4:3 aspect ratio since its premiere in 1989. In 2010, partway through the 20th season, The Simpsons switched to a widescreen format. Although the original aspect ratio was available when streaming The Simpsons on the FXX app, that option didn’t carry over to Disney+. For more on streaming, check out IGN’s review of Disney+. Also, check out some recommendations on what to stream while staying at home. [poilib element="accentDivider"] Matt Kim is a reporter for IGN.

Disney has announced that an updated version of The Simpsons in its original 4:3 aspect ratio will be available on its Disney+ streaming service by the end of May. When Disney released Disney+ with every available episode of The Simpsons, viewers soon discovered that the series was formatted in 16:9 widescreen. This wouldn’t have been so bad if it didn’t actively ruin certain visual gags that The Simpsons is known for. Comedian Tristan Cooper tweeted a famous example of how the widescreen format removed a sight gag from one of the classic Simpsons episodes.

All the classic Simpsons episodes on Disney+ are in cropped widescreen format -- this means you miss out on tons of great visual jokes, like how Duff, Duff Lite and Duff Dry all come from the same tube. pic.twitter.com/cTy9adulFl

— Tristan Cooper (@TristanACooper) November 12, 2019

In November 2019, Disney announced that it would roll out a feature in 2020 that would allow users to choose a 4:3 viewing ratio for the first 19 seasons of The Simpsons, as well as some episodes from season 20. The feature will now roll out at the end of May, which is a bit more specific though no actual date has been announced yet. [widget path="global/article/imagegallery" parameters="albumSlug=all-the-must-watch-disney-plus-titles-on-launch-day&captions=true"] The Simpsons aired in a 4:3 aspect ratio since its premiere in 1989. In 2010, partway through the 20th season, The Simpsons switched to a widescreen format. Although the original aspect ratio was available when streaming The Simpsons on the FXX app, that option didn’t carry over to Disney+. For more on streaming, check out IGN’s review of Disney+. Also, check out some recommendations on what to stream while staying at home. [poilib element="accentDivider"] Matt Kim is a reporter for IGN.

HBO has announced that it will be making over 500 hours of its original programming available to stream for free to help "provide some entertainment relief for those doing their part to keep everyone safe and healthy in this time of social isolation." Starting Friday, April 3 for a "limited time" (the specific length of the free screening period hasn't been announced) you'll be able to stream some of the most iconic HBO series - like The Sopranos, Succession, Six Feet Under, The Wire, and Barry - on the HBO Go and HBO Now apps and websites for free, without a subscription. Additionally, HBO is making available a handful of films like Detective Pikachu, The Lego Movie 2, Crazy. Stupid, Love, and more. [widget path="global/article/imagegallery" parameters="albumSlug=nominees-best-tv-series-of-2019&captions=true"] Below is a selection of the content coming to HBO Go and HBO Now for free, including nine full series and ten documentary series:

• Ballers (5 Seasons)
• Barry (2 Seasons)
• Silicon Valley (6 Seasons)
• Six Feet Under (5 Seasons)
• The Sopranos (7 Seasons)
• Succession (2 Seasons)
• True Blood (7 Seasons
• Veep (7 Seasons)
• The Wire (5 Seasons)
• The Apollo
• The Case Against Adnan Syed
• Elvis Presley: The Searcher
• I Love You, Now Die: The Commonwealth v. Michelle Carter
• The Inventor: Out for Blood in Silicon Valley
• Jane Fonda in Five Acts
• McMillion$
• True Justice: Bryan Stevenson’s Fight for Equality
• United Skates
• We Are the Dream: The Kids of the MLK Oakland Oratorical Fest

If you've ever wanted to catch up on classic HBO shows like The Wire or The Sopranos, or more recent offerings like Barry and Succession, now would be a good time. [ignvideo url="https://www.ign.com/videos/2020/03/13/how-coronavirus-delays-are-impacting-2020-movies-ign-now"] If you want to take a break from streaming shows and movies, be sure to check out our list of the best games to play while you're stuck at home. And here are some easy ways to stay safe and help prevent the spread of COVID--19. [poilib element="accentDivider"] Andrew Smith is a freelance contributor with IGN. Follow him on Twitter @_andrewtsmith.

Thanks to a weekend trial of Predator: Hunting Grounds, I got to follow up on the couple of matches I played of Illfonic’s upcoming multiplayer shooter last fall to find out if the experience could stand the test of time. And I’m happy to report that after a few hours of play, several matches as both humans and the Predator, I’m eager to jump back in and find out if it still bleeds, so I can kill it. [ignvideo url="https://www.ign.com/videos/predator-hunting-grounds-preview-mostly-captures-the-thrill-of-the-hunt"]

Hunter and Hunted

I broke down a bit of the difference in playing as either the Predator or the elite, human squad out in the field during my PAX West 2019 Predator: Hunting Grounds preview, but as a brief recap: Predator pits four humans on a set of various missions (find drugs, find bad men who probably sell drugs, kill men and their drugs) while racing against both the clock and AI enemies. All the while, the dreadlocked alien has one goal — kill this group of soldiers. To steal from my coworker Tom Marks, Predator takes the smart approach that other recent asynchronous multiplayer games do — by giving the humans a mission other than killing the big bad, the added purpose makes every role feel vital even when you’re not the obviously very cool teched out alien. The missions, at least in the trial, are often samey and rather boring, moving you and your team from one pertinent location to the next while mowing down relatively simple AI enemies. But the hook of having something to do other than fear the Predator adds a nice cadence and purpose to matches that made the Predator’s hunt more unpredictable match to match. [widget path="global/article/imagegallery" parameters="albumSlug=big-ps4-ps5-games-coming-in-2020&captions=true"] And that unknowable fear is key to the experience — the Predator is out there in the jungle, somewhere, and I often scanned Illfonic’s lush jungles (which look beautiful from afar but don’t quite hold up when close up against a tree or decaying structure) fruitlessly hoping to catch a glimpse of my foe running amongst the trees. Illfonic has captured a really intriguing blend of constant dread and the player’s need to compartmentalize that dread until it can’t be helped. For my first few matches I was a skittish, unhelpful squadmate, and I’m sorry to all of the strangers I played with. I feared the Predator could be behind any tree, around the corner of any dilapidated building, and I often met my end because of that. An unseen batch of AI foes, or, more commonly, the Predator finding me because I strayed away from the group. I quickly had to get the idea of the Predator’s might out of my head — it would eventually come to kill us, and that’s when I could worry about its superior strength. Instead, I focused on being a more present player, and a more active teammate, and I often saw more success because of it. Hunting Grounds rewards teams working together. Any time myself or someone else strayed from the pack, it was almost always to our detriment. But even when playing with strangers, and omitting voice chat, we could still complete our mission, or even take down the Predator, by sticking together, pointing out trouble with a quick ping system, and responding quickly to call in all our firepower when the Predator appeared. Whereas fighting the human AI is a matter of getting the jump on them and using cover well, the Predator can move so quickly, and so unexpectedly, that it’s often about finding the ideal window to unleash hell on it. [ignvideo url="https://www.ign.com/videos/predator-hunting-grounds-5-player-gameplay"] And when playing as the Predator, how you respond to those firefights often determines the flow of a match in an instant. You can try to fight from afar, shooting down from the tree branches and using camouflage to avoid being spotted. Or, you can jump right into the fray, using melee attacks to swipe at foes while also opening yourself up to a lot more potential damage. Though trust me, few things have frightened me like being a human player inside a room as the Predator speeds in through the doorframe. There’s no way to win, then. Finding balance is the key to winning as Predator, both in when to go full force on attacking or hang back in the shadows like a forest Batman, especially when you don’t know whether humans are packing grenade launchers or pistols. And all of your abilities are tied to a single energy gauge, so while firing off a few full-force blasts from your shoulder cannon could knock an enemy out, you might have no energy left to turn invisible and flee afterward. The Predator is, no doubt, a strong opponent to best, but at least with my time so far, it feels like there is enough in balance that defeating it feels achievable in every match, at least at first. [ignvideo url="https://www.ign.com/videos/9-minutes-of-predator-hunting-grounds-predator-gameplay"]

Ranking Up

The biggest change from playing two matches of Hunting Grounds to playing a weekend of it was getting a chance to understand how progression works. With an overarching level tied to XP gained from both matches played as the Predator and humans, I unlocked “field lockers” — Predator’s version of loot boxes, that come with a host of weapon and character skins for customization. You’ll unlock more boxes as you level up, and can use currency to buy them as well, both in-game and real world. But for now, it seems these loot boxes are cosmetic only, and I obviously hope they stay that way. But there is progression to characters as well. While I unfortunately didn’t get to play around with the different human characters, I was able to add perks and change loadouts for both humans and the Predator as I leveled up, with a clear bit of additional armament ready to be unlocked at higher levels. Keeping up with those upgrades is essential, as they can change how quickly a Predator’s energy reloads or improve the ability of muddy camouflage to hide from the Predator as a human. I noticed a marked improvement in my ability to handle the unexpected as I outfitted my character with more perks, and was eager to see what else I could unlock at higher levels and how it might make matches more varied, especially when so much can hinge on the more boring human AI enemies. [ignvideo url="https://www.ign.com/videos/predator-hunting-grounds-be-the-predator-trailer"] I’m glad Predator: Hunting Grounds had this trial weekend, because the entire weekend was saddled with disappointing queue times, with it sometimes taking over four minutes to kick me into a match. The first day of the trial I was being matched with only a single human squadmate as well, too, or even having to go it alone against the Predator. Unsurprisingly, I didn’t do too well in those first matches. By the end of the weekend, match load times were down, but I still waited a couple of minutes before getting kicked into a match, and had to back out to the menu a number of times as the Predator because I was not being matched with any opponents. Of course, this being a test weekend, I’m glad Illfonic is taking the time to see how Predator works out in the wild. I think there’s a strong core in the matches — everything playing to its source material as being a Predator game still feels fun and worth diving into match after match. I do hope Illfonic can find a better balance to making the other objectives a bit more interesting, but outside of its technical issues, Predator shows plenty of promise by sticking to its franchise guns. [poilib element="accentDivider"] Jonathon Dornbush is IGN's senior news editor, host of Podcast Beyond!, and PlayStation lead. Talk to him on Twitter @jmdornbush.

A fake Flipnote for Switch app designed for April Fools’ that started making the rounds online ended up causing more anger than amusement. So much so that the ensuing harassment forced its creators to go into social media lockdown. James (who asked IGN to withhold his last name for the story) is part of a community that reverse-engineers legacy online services like Flipnote Studio, an app for the DSi released in 2008 that let players create and send custom animations. “From a technical perspective, we found them to have rather convoluted technical innards (particularly Flipnote Studio 3D,” James told IGN in an email. “So we had a long-running joke where we speculated about what Nintendo could possibly throw at us next.” [ignvideo url="https://www.ign.com/videos/2013/03/13/flipnote-studio-3d-nintendo-direct-mini"] The community made the idea of a new Flipnote app for the Switch an in-joke, but the impetus to create fake screenshots for April Fools’ didn’t materialize until five days before April 1. “Towards the end of March, somebody who apparently wasn’t aware of the joke started to get on our case about [Flipnote Switch] rather aggressively, thinking we were intentionally tricking the community.” As a response, James created a quick mock-up in Sketch, a design program, and presented it to the community. While the community member in question wasn’t very pleased with the glib response, another developer on the channel was briefly fooled. That spurred the developers to try and flesh out the concept and present fake screenshots of a “leaked” Flipnote Switch app for the community’s annual April Fool’s joke. [caption id="attachment_2331024" align="alignnone" width="1280"] Mock-ups for the fake Flipnote app for Switch created for April Fools. Art Credit: Calcium; UI: James; Translation: Liss[/caption] James organized the effort and designed fake UI. Other contributors included Calcium who created the artwork, Liss who contributed a fake Japanese translation, and Austin and Rob from Sudomemo, a website dedicated to sharing Flipnote creations long after the service was shuttered officially. Together, the team created several “leaked” screenshots of a new Flipnote App coming to the Switch, complete with a fake title screen. You can check out some of the assets in the gallery below. [widget path="global/article/imagegallery" parameters="albumSlug=the-fake-flipnote-for-switch-april-fools-joke&captions=true"] James told IGN he has no idea how the screenshots leaked from their Discord server, but the images were soon being picked up by Nintendo fansites as legitimate leaks. “It was wild that any outlets picked it up at all to be honest, especially when the first few [sites] cited the source as being ‘some random people on a Discord server.’ Like, that wouldn’t normally strike you as being remotely trustworthy, right?” James said. “But in the following days the telephone-game effect kicked in and soon enough the source was somehow ‘an insider at Nintendo of Japan.’ Things got a little scary then.” The team released the “leaks” online three days before April 1 with a plan to reveal themselves on April Fools’. By then the screenshots had already made their way to sites like r/NintendoSwitch on Reddit and 4chan. Then on April Fools’ James revealed the joke. “Initially it seemed to go as expected,” James said. “Of course we knew people would be disappointed and that there would be a few harsh responses but it felt relatively light-hearted for the most part.” While the early comments were more finger-wagging than malicious, that soon changed. “Gradually the responses became more intense[.] People started bringing out the slurs and calling for us to be doxxed and/or murdered. While we’re usually fairly laid back, it was clear that people were taking this worse than we imagined.” “Honestly, go f*** yourself. Why not spend your time creating something useful instead of misleading a bunch of people into thinking something good is around the corner?” read one comment in response to the joke reveal. [caption id="attachment_2331038" align="alignnone" width="1280"] Mock-ups for the fake Flipnote app for Switch created for April Fools. Art Credit: Calcium, UI: James, Translation: Liss[/caption] “In hindsight, it was a bad time to pull a stunt like this with everything that’s been going in the world recently,” James told IGN. “Everyone’s already a lot more stressed out than usual and it was extremely uncool of us to give them the false hope of something exciting on the horizon.” James also regretted the decision to stagger the timing of the joke by releasing the screenshots early and revealing the joke three days later. What began as an in-joke quickly spiraled out of control, thanks to a combination of the internet’s ability to obfuscate information and the video game community’s fixation on leaks and rumors. “Ultimately there was no malicious intent or anything like that, just an in-joke that was handled very poorly," James concluded. "It should go without saying that we’re definitely not doing anything like this again.” [poilib element="accentDivider"] Matt Kim is a reporter for IGN. You can reach him on Twitter.

Though Sony and Naughty Dog announced The Last of Us Part 2 has been delayed indefinitely, a new set of screenshots showcases a beautiful look at the sequel. Check out the gallery below to see new screenshots from TLoU2, as spotted by Nibel on Twitter. (The images are currently unavailable on the Last of Us official website.) [widget path="global/article/imagegallery" parameters="albumSlug=the-last-of-us-part-2-new-screenshots&captions=true"] The screenshots offer new looks at Joel and Ellie, as well as the return of Tommy and brand new characters. Some of the scenes in the screenshots were not what we saw when we went hands-on with The Last of Us Part 2 last year, but unfortunately no additional story details accompanied the new images. The Last of Us Part 2 first received a release date of February 22, 2020 late last year, but soon after Naughty Dog announced a delayed Last of Us Part 2 release date to May 29, and most recently confirmed the sequel is delayed "until such a time where we can solve these logistic issues." Naughty Dog's latest announcement noted last of Us Part 2 is "nearly done," but that concerns over all players getting to play at launch, when the spread of COVID-19 has caused many stores to temporarily close and states and nations to adopt lockdown protocols, has led to the decision to delay. [ignvideo url="https://www.ign.com/videos/2020/04/02/the-last-of-us-part-2-delayed-indefinitely-ign-now"] For more on the upcoming sequel, we spoke to Druckmann about Joel's role in The Last of Us Part 2, why The Last of Us Part 2 isn't an open world game, as well as how dogs affect stealth and combat in The Last of Us sequel. [poilib element="accentDivider"] Jonathon Dornbush is IGN's senior news editor, host of Podcast Beyond!, and PlayStation lead. Talk to him on Twitter @jmdornbush.  

The cancellation of the SXSW 2020 Film Festival last month due to the coronavirus pandemic was among the first of now dozens of entertainment industry events delayed or outright postponed by COVID-19. On Thursday, SXSW and Amazon Prime Video announced their plan to launch an online film festival -- “Prime Video presents the SXSW 2020 Film Festival Collection” -- for filmmakers who were in this year's SXSW lineup. This one-time event will play exclusively on Amazon Prime Video in the U.S. for 10-days. According to the official press release, the films "will be available in front of the Prime Video paywall and free to all audiences around the country, with or without an Amazon Prime membership, all that is needed is a free Amazon account." Participating filmmakers will receive a screening fee for streaming their film over the 10-day period. [widget path="global/article/imagegallery" parameters="albumSlug=10-best-free-movies-to-watch-online&captions=true"] “Ever since SXSW was cancelled by the City of Austin, we’ve been focused on how we could help the incredible films and filmmakers in the SXSW 2020 Film Festival lineup,” said Janet Pierson, Director of Film, SXSW, in a statement. “We were delighted when Amazon Prime Video offered to host an online film festival, and jumped at the opportunity to connect their audiences to our filmmakers. We’re inspired by the adaptability and resilience of the film community as it searches for creative solutions in this unprecedented crisis.” [ignvideo url="https://www.ign.com/videos/2019/11/19/amazon-prime-video-review-2019"] While no official launch date has been set yet, SXSW and Prime Video said they are aiming for late April.