Back in April, I wrote an article about the then-laest Magic: The Gathering set, Shadowmoor. Then, I talked about the game's tendency to release really good sets right after really bad sets and vice versa. As a whole, I wasn't a big fan of the Lorwyn and Shadowmoor blocks (though Shadowmoor was definitely something fun) compared to blocks like Onslaught, Time Spiral or Ravnica. This time around, they're introducing the latest block, and with it, a whole new location for the game's setting. And for the first time since Time Spiral's Future Sight, I'm very pumped for this new set.
If you're new to the game, check it out on Wikipedia or Magic's own official site. But don't let that stop you from reading this article. Hopefully I can turn you on to this game. If you're not new to the game, then I might not be showing anything new to you. If you follow the previews on the Magic website, then you'll see that I'm mostly just going to be summarizing all that has been said about Shards. This article is mostly aimed at the casual Magic player, who plays and follows the game, but might not be up-to-date on the latest happenings. The Shards prerelease is this weekend, so I can't think of a better time to share the details of this new set.
Enough introduction. Let's get into it.
http://bb.xieke.com/files/shards.png[/img]
In recent years, the game of Magic has bounced around to a new plane with each new block. In the past, the game's story was firmly routed around a single world: Dominaria. With Mirrodin, the story moved to a new world, and after Mirrodin, the old storyline was largely abandoned. It came back in Time Spiral, which explored the aftermath of the apocalypse on Dominaria (the second apocalypse on Dominaria, really), and then it went back to jumping around to new unexplored places. This next block really pushes that, taking us to not one, not two but five entirely new worlds.
At one time, Alara was a single plane, alive and flourishing with all five colors of mana. But at some point there was an epic catastrophe, and as a result the plane itself was shattered into five separate shards. These shards no longer have access to mana of each color.
One would think that this is an obvious setup for a block based around monocolor cards (especially after the heavy dual-colored theme of Shadowmoor and Eventide). Instead, Wizards recognizes the popularity and success of the multicolor theme, and takes the oppurtunity to explore a very unique twist on multicolor.
You see, each of the five worlds has access to only three colors of mana. These worlds aren't define by what colors they are, but by what colors they aren't. It's a fresh way of looking at a concept that has been done multiple times in the past, and the results are really interesting.
Each world is its own separate plane, and they don't interact with each other. To the inhabitants on one world, the others don't even exist (until, of course, the net set Conflux, when the storyline will begin to mix everything up). The people of these worlds only believe that three colors of mana exist (because on these planes, only three colors do exist). As a result, we have five very different worlds.
So what are these five shard-worlds?
Bant
The first of these worlds is the white-centered Bant. White mana, and its allied colors green and blue, make up this world. Without access to red or black mana, Bant is a very lawful and orderly world. While there are indeed wars (border disputes and whatnot), they are solved ceremoniously. In a conflict, the opposing sides would choose a single champion and have them duel. In a society where order is so prevalent, it makes sense that there wouldn't be large-scale wars.
This is reflected in the mechanic of Bant, which this card demonstrates quite nicely:
http://bb.xieke.com/files/bant_battlegrace%20angel.jpg[/img]
Exalted is a new keyword, and it is the main mechanic of the white-centered shard of Bant. It's pretty straightforward: Whenevere a creature attacks alone, it gets +1/+1 until end of turn. It's flavorful, and really puts emphasis on that single-combat champion approach to battle.
The great thing about this mechanic is that it doesn't only apply to the creature that has it. If I have one of these Battlegrace Angels in play, but -- for example -- it is pacified, I can still attack with a different creature, and Battlegrace Angel's exalted will trigger for that creature.
And even cooler? They stack up. If I have four Battlegrace Angels in play, and attack with one of them, it will gain the exalted bonus from each of them. With four exalted effects on the board, my lone attacker (my "champion") would get +4/+4 in total. Add that with Battlegrace Angel's second ability (especially if you remember that multiple instances of lifelink stack as well), and you have quite the monster.
I have another card from Bant to share as well:
http://bb.xieke.com/files/bant_bantcharm.jpg[/img]
One thing about Shards that I really like is that it still has a bit of that old-school charm (oho! what a pun). Charms like this have been around for a long time, and the "choose one" mechanic has become a pretty common (and fun) staple of the game. Multicolored charms like this haven't been seen since the dragon legend charms during Invasion, and I think that they make a very welcome return. They're very powerful in that they give you a number of choices, without being too overpowered because of their awkward casting costs. On top of that, they're just elegant, which is always a plus.
Esper
The next shard is called Esper. Moving on through the color pie, this is the blue-centered world, splashed with white and black. There's no red or green mana here. As you might be able to imagine in a world where impulse and nature has no real hold, Esper is all about experimentation and technology. Of course, this is a fantasy setting, so that technology is in the form of magic and artifice.
http://bb.xieke.com/files/esper_towergargoyle.jpg[/img]
Four mana for a 4/4 flyer is always badass, but the one thing that I really love about this card is the beautiful frame. And it's certainly not the only one of its kind. The people and beings of Esper have all been magically and artificially altered over years of experimental evolution on the part of the high mages of the world. As a result, every creature of Esper is an artifact creature (which is Esper's theme). But they're not just artifact -- they're colored artifacts.
Colored artifacts were first introduced as a bit of a "teaser" in Future Sight. It's one of those things that a lot of people objected to at first, but looking at these Esper cards, I have to say that I like it a lot. If colored artifacts become a regular thing in the future, then it will certainly lose the flavor that it has here, but if Wizards does the right thing and keeps them to Esper, then Alara is seriously going to simply be the most beautiful set in a long time.
I said before that elegance in cards is a massive plus for me, and some of these Esper cards really hit that nicely.
http://bb.xieke.com/files/esper_ethersworncanonist.jpg[/img]
Another one of these gorgeous colored artifact creatures. This one really shows how artifact-centric the Esper shard is, and gives you an idea of how it might play (as a control player, it makes me very happy to see white-blue-black going back to this archetype after Lorwyn turned blue into merfolk aggro).
Ethersworn Canonist is more than a cool Esper card. It is a good example of the flavor of the world as well. It's a human artifact creature... seems a bit weird at first. But in the context of the world, it makes total sense. In Esper, the highest respect is paid to the most powerful sorcerors. And the stronger you are with magic, the less human your body becomes. To residents of Esper, the highest lifeform would be someone whose flesh and blood has been replaced by filligree -- made of the magical metal etherium. In the mindset of the mages of Esper, once all living beings of the world are composed of filligree, the entire world will reach a level of magical enlightenment. And the ethersworn are a group of people devoted to reaching that enlightenment.
I don't know about you, but I think that this kind of flavor is really bringing the game (and story) of Magic back to the levels that drew me to it in the first place.
Grixis
The black-mana world is called Grixis. Without white or green mana, the colors of life, it's not too hard to imagine what kind of hell that this would be. Humans are rare and living humans are even more rare. Zombies populate the world of Grixis, and they are overseen by powerful demon lords. Vampires lurk around in the shadows, having an increasingly more difficult time finding someone with fresh blood for them to consume. Grixis is a nightmare world.
http://bb.xieke.com/files/grixis_blightning.jpg[/img]
Blightning is one of a number of modern cards with really clever names (Spitemare, Scarecrone, Scourglass, etc), which is probably the biggest reason I like this card so much. But on top of that, it really does a good job as an example of the kind of torment that is commonplace on Grixis. As a burn spell, it's not so good (not being able to remove creatures is a big downside), but when coupled with the discard ability, this card can be pretty nasty. Two cards for three mana isn't bad at all in a discard spell, and the three damage on top of that is just insult to injury.
But of course, it's the creatures of a world that really define it.
http://bb.xieke.com/files/grixis_sedraxisspecter.jpg[/img]
Seedraxis specter is nasty. It is that classic specter archetype, which is always fun to be behind and unpleasant to be hit with. Again we see some discarding here, which is a reflection of just how mentally traumatizing the plane of Grixis would be. The specter also displays the big Grixis mechanic, unearth. Now, bringing dead creatures back to life isn't a new mechanic by any means, but when put to use on a world like this, it suddenly makes a lot more sense. Since Grixis is all about death, it only feels natural that things would just keep fighting after they're killed the first time. On top of that, it has a very "revengey" feel to it. If you kill my specter, he's gonna come back to hit you one last time, just because he can. That works very nicely into black's piece of the color pie. The flavor of this set really blends beautifully with the design, which is probably the biggest reason I'm so hyped for Shards.
Plus, the art on that card is really looks like something out of a nightmare. Simply badass.
Jund
The red-aligned world is called Jund, and it has an abundance of black, red and green mana. White or blue mana is nowhere to be found, and as a result of this, Jund is a world based entirely around impulse and instinct. The colors of order and knowledge are absent, and in their place Jund is very literally a world where the only thing that matters is power.
Jund is all about the food chain. Dragons are at the top, flying around the volcanoes of Jund and acting as the lords of the plane. Goblins are everywhere, swarming all over the mountains, but are more of a food source to dragons than they are a real race. Lizard warriors called viashino (I like how the re-use old races in similar but unique incarnations on different planes) roam the forests and hunt or scavenge for their food. Tribes of human fire-shamans struggle to survive in the canyons of the world.
In order to represent the brutality of this world, Wizards has designed a Jund-based mechanic that very literally portrays the eating of other beasts.
http://bb.xieke.com/files/jund_calderahellion.jpg[/img]
Devour. It's beautifully simple and elegant, and has some serious flavor to it. One thing that I don't like is that lately a lot of abilities are just different ways to make creatures larger, without anything too original about them (as opposed to abilities like flashback or suspend, which I really liked). But flavorwise, this really hits the nail on the head. You get some really giant creatures -- and you know exactly how and why they became that way.
One of those keywords that I really liked was cycling. It made its debut back during the Urza's Saga block, and it came back again as a block mechanic in Onslaught, and was on more than a few cards during Time Spiral. And yes, I wouldn't be talking about it again if it wasn't coming back in Shards.
http://bb.xieke.com/files/jund_resoundingthunder.jpg[/img]
And it's bigger and badder then ever. Originally it was just a mechanic for drawing cards, then in Onslaught and Time Spiral, it gained some fancy "when you cycle" abilities, which were often small versions of the card's primary ability. This time around, those abilities are being switched around and cycling is definitely going to be desirable. Everyone loves choices, and -- like the charms -- these new cyclers are going to be giving players just the kind of choices they want to make.
On top of that, Resounding Thunder looks like it will definitely be a good enough card on its own, especially in limited formats where removal is really important. The shard-colored cycling is just a huge added bonus.
Naya
The last of these shard-worlds is the green, white and red world of Naya. Like the others, it has grown and become defined by the colors of mana that are not present: in this case, blue and black. Green and white are the colors of life, and green and red are the colors of instinct. Combined together, and with a significant lack in the colors of death or logic, Naya is a world that is entirely about growth. Everything in Naya is big.
http://bb.xieke.com/files/naya_spearbre ... emeoth.jpg[/img]
The central theme of Naya is creatures with power 5 or greater. In other words, Naya will make it easy for you to play fatties, and it will reward you for playing fatties (as if they weren't reward enough on their own). In the story of the world, giant creatures known as behemoths wander around, crushing entire villages and forests under their massive feet. The canopy-dwelling elves worship these titans, and their treetop villages are designed to be packed up and moved when a behemoth wanders near. The bigger they are, the harder they're revered.
But in Naya, everything is big.
http://bb.xieke.com/files/naya_titanicultimatum.jpg[/img]
Titanic Ultimatum is just one in a cycle of ultimatums, massive three-color spells that have effects that will very likely end the game, or at the very least will directly lead to the end of the game. I don't even think that I have to say too much about cards like this. Just look at it. It's big and it's flavorful. End of story.
Red Rarity
Shards of Alara is introducing a pretty big change in the game as well, on top of all that other stuff. This one I'm not too sure of, but it is interesting to say the least. In the past, there were three rarities (four if you count Timeshifted), but they're now adding on a new real fourth rarity that looks like it's going to be sticking around.
http://bb.xieke.com/files/shards_sphinx.jpg[/img]
The red symbol there is the sign of an epic rare -- a super-rare, if you want. These rares will be far less common than regular rares, as they should be, since they represent really special cards, supposedly. Planeswalkers (of which there are four new ones in Shards) and legendary cards would mostly fall into this category, as well as generally cool big guys like the sovereign here.
Hell, I could write a whole article about this new rarity level, but for the most part, I don't think it will have too much of a big impact in the end.
Here's looking forward to the future, and to Shards of Alara!
If you're new to the game, check it out on Wikipedia or Magic's own official site. But don't let that stop you from reading this article. Hopefully I can turn you on to this game. If you're not new to the game, then I might not be showing anything new to you. If you follow the previews on the Magic website, then you'll see that I'm mostly just going to be summarizing all that has been said about Shards. This article is mostly aimed at the casual Magic player, who plays and follows the game, but might not be up-to-date on the latest happenings. The Shards prerelease is this weekend, so I can't think of a better time to share the details of this new set.
Enough introduction. Let's get into it.
http://bb.xieke.com/files/shards.png[/img]
In recent years, the game of Magic has bounced around to a new plane with each new block. In the past, the game's story was firmly routed around a single world: Dominaria. With Mirrodin, the story moved to a new world, and after Mirrodin, the old storyline was largely abandoned. It came back in Time Spiral, which explored the aftermath of the apocalypse on Dominaria (the second apocalypse on Dominaria, really), and then it went back to jumping around to new unexplored places. This next block really pushes that, taking us to not one, not two but five entirely new worlds.
At one time, Alara was a single plane, alive and flourishing with all five colors of mana. But at some point there was an epic catastrophe, and as a result the plane itself was shattered into five separate shards. These shards no longer have access to mana of each color.
One would think that this is an obvious setup for a block based around monocolor cards (especially after the heavy dual-colored theme of Shadowmoor and Eventide). Instead, Wizards recognizes the popularity and success of the multicolor theme, and takes the oppurtunity to explore a very unique twist on multicolor.
You see, each of the five worlds has access to only three colors of mana. These worlds aren't define by what colors they are, but by what colors they aren't. It's a fresh way of looking at a concept that has been done multiple times in the past, and the results are really interesting.
Each world is its own separate plane, and they don't interact with each other. To the inhabitants on one world, the others don't even exist (until, of course, the net set Conflux, when the storyline will begin to mix everything up). The people of these worlds only believe that three colors of mana exist (because on these planes, only three colors do exist). As a result, we have five very different worlds.
So what are these five shard-worlds?
Bant
The first of these worlds is the white-centered Bant. White mana, and its allied colors green and blue, make up this world. Without access to red or black mana, Bant is a very lawful and orderly world. While there are indeed wars (border disputes and whatnot), they are solved ceremoniously. In a conflict, the opposing sides would choose a single champion and have them duel. In a society where order is so prevalent, it makes sense that there wouldn't be large-scale wars.
This is reflected in the mechanic of Bant, which this card demonstrates quite nicely:
http://bb.xieke.com/files/bant_battlegrace%20angel.jpg[/img]
Exalted is a new keyword, and it is the main mechanic of the white-centered shard of Bant. It's pretty straightforward: Whenevere a creature attacks alone, it gets +1/+1 until end of turn. It's flavorful, and really puts emphasis on that single-combat champion approach to battle.
The great thing about this mechanic is that it doesn't only apply to the creature that has it. If I have one of these Battlegrace Angels in play, but -- for example -- it is pacified, I can still attack with a different creature, and Battlegrace Angel's exalted will trigger for that creature.
And even cooler? They stack up. If I have four Battlegrace Angels in play, and attack with one of them, it will gain the exalted bonus from each of them. With four exalted effects on the board, my lone attacker (my "champion") would get +4/+4 in total. Add that with Battlegrace Angel's second ability (especially if you remember that multiple instances of lifelink stack as well), and you have quite the monster.
I have another card from Bant to share as well:
http://bb.xieke.com/files/bant_bantcharm.jpg[/img]
One thing about Shards that I really like is that it still has a bit of that old-school charm (oho! what a pun). Charms like this have been around for a long time, and the "choose one" mechanic has become a pretty common (and fun) staple of the game. Multicolored charms like this haven't been seen since the dragon legend charms during Invasion, and I think that they make a very welcome return. They're very powerful in that they give you a number of choices, without being too overpowered because of their awkward casting costs. On top of that, they're just elegant, which is always a plus.
Esper
The next shard is called Esper. Moving on through the color pie, this is the blue-centered world, splashed with white and black. There's no red or green mana here. As you might be able to imagine in a world where impulse and nature has no real hold, Esper is all about experimentation and technology. Of course, this is a fantasy setting, so that technology is in the form of magic and artifice.
http://bb.xieke.com/files/esper_towergargoyle.jpg[/img]
Four mana for a 4/4 flyer is always badass, but the one thing that I really love about this card is the beautiful frame. And it's certainly not the only one of its kind. The people and beings of Esper have all been magically and artificially altered over years of experimental evolution on the part of the high mages of the world. As a result, every creature of Esper is an artifact creature (which is Esper's theme). But they're not just artifact -- they're colored artifacts.
Colored artifacts were first introduced as a bit of a "teaser" in Future Sight. It's one of those things that a lot of people objected to at first, but looking at these Esper cards, I have to say that I like it a lot. If colored artifacts become a regular thing in the future, then it will certainly lose the flavor that it has here, but if Wizards does the right thing and keeps them to Esper, then Alara is seriously going to simply be the most beautiful set in a long time.
I said before that elegance in cards is a massive plus for me, and some of these Esper cards really hit that nicely.
http://bb.xieke.com/files/esper_ethersworncanonist.jpg[/img]
Another one of these gorgeous colored artifact creatures. This one really shows how artifact-centric the Esper shard is, and gives you an idea of how it might play (as a control player, it makes me very happy to see white-blue-black going back to this archetype after Lorwyn turned blue into merfolk aggro).
Ethersworn Canonist is more than a cool Esper card. It is a good example of the flavor of the world as well. It's a human artifact creature... seems a bit weird at first. But in the context of the world, it makes total sense. In Esper, the highest respect is paid to the most powerful sorcerors. And the stronger you are with magic, the less human your body becomes. To residents of Esper, the highest lifeform would be someone whose flesh and blood has been replaced by filligree -- made of the magical metal etherium. In the mindset of the mages of Esper, once all living beings of the world are composed of filligree, the entire world will reach a level of magical enlightenment. And the ethersworn are a group of people devoted to reaching that enlightenment.
I don't know about you, but I think that this kind of flavor is really bringing the game (and story) of Magic back to the levels that drew me to it in the first place.
Grixis
The black-mana world is called Grixis. Without white or green mana, the colors of life, it's not too hard to imagine what kind of hell that this would be. Humans are rare and living humans are even more rare. Zombies populate the world of Grixis, and they are overseen by powerful demon lords. Vampires lurk around in the shadows, having an increasingly more difficult time finding someone with fresh blood for them to consume. Grixis is a nightmare world.
http://bb.xieke.com/files/grixis_blightning.jpg[/img]
Blightning is one of a number of modern cards with really clever names (Spitemare, Scarecrone, Scourglass, etc), which is probably the biggest reason I like this card so much. But on top of that, it really does a good job as an example of the kind of torment that is commonplace on Grixis. As a burn spell, it's not so good (not being able to remove creatures is a big downside), but when coupled with the discard ability, this card can be pretty nasty. Two cards for three mana isn't bad at all in a discard spell, and the three damage on top of that is just insult to injury.
But of course, it's the creatures of a world that really define it.
http://bb.xieke.com/files/grixis_sedraxisspecter.jpg[/img]
Seedraxis specter is nasty. It is that classic specter archetype, which is always fun to be behind and unpleasant to be hit with. Again we see some discarding here, which is a reflection of just how mentally traumatizing the plane of Grixis would be. The specter also displays the big Grixis mechanic, unearth. Now, bringing dead creatures back to life isn't a new mechanic by any means, but when put to use on a world like this, it suddenly makes a lot more sense. Since Grixis is all about death, it only feels natural that things would just keep fighting after they're killed the first time. On top of that, it has a very "revengey" feel to it. If you kill my specter, he's gonna come back to hit you one last time, just because he can. That works very nicely into black's piece of the color pie. The flavor of this set really blends beautifully with the design, which is probably the biggest reason I'm so hyped for Shards.
Plus, the art on that card is really looks like something out of a nightmare. Simply badass.
Jund
The red-aligned world is called Jund, and it has an abundance of black, red and green mana. White or blue mana is nowhere to be found, and as a result of this, Jund is a world based entirely around impulse and instinct. The colors of order and knowledge are absent, and in their place Jund is very literally a world where the only thing that matters is power.
Jund is all about the food chain. Dragons are at the top, flying around the volcanoes of Jund and acting as the lords of the plane. Goblins are everywhere, swarming all over the mountains, but are more of a food source to dragons than they are a real race. Lizard warriors called viashino (I like how the re-use old races in similar but unique incarnations on different planes) roam the forests and hunt or scavenge for their food. Tribes of human fire-shamans struggle to survive in the canyons of the world.
In order to represent the brutality of this world, Wizards has designed a Jund-based mechanic that very literally portrays the eating of other beasts.
http://bb.xieke.com/files/jund_calderahellion.jpg[/img]
Devour. It's beautifully simple and elegant, and has some serious flavor to it. One thing that I don't like is that lately a lot of abilities are just different ways to make creatures larger, without anything too original about them (as opposed to abilities like flashback or suspend, which I really liked). But flavorwise, this really hits the nail on the head. You get some really giant creatures -- and you know exactly how and why they became that way.
One of those keywords that I really liked was cycling. It made its debut back during the Urza's Saga block, and it came back again as a block mechanic in Onslaught, and was on more than a few cards during Time Spiral. And yes, I wouldn't be talking about it again if it wasn't coming back in Shards.
http://bb.xieke.com/files/jund_resoundingthunder.jpg[/img]
And it's bigger and badder then ever. Originally it was just a mechanic for drawing cards, then in Onslaught and Time Spiral, it gained some fancy "when you cycle" abilities, which were often small versions of the card's primary ability. This time around, those abilities are being switched around and cycling is definitely going to be desirable. Everyone loves choices, and -- like the charms -- these new cyclers are going to be giving players just the kind of choices they want to make.
On top of that, Resounding Thunder looks like it will definitely be a good enough card on its own, especially in limited formats where removal is really important. The shard-colored cycling is just a huge added bonus.
Naya
The last of these shard-worlds is the green, white and red world of Naya. Like the others, it has grown and become defined by the colors of mana that are not present: in this case, blue and black. Green and white are the colors of life, and green and red are the colors of instinct. Combined together, and with a significant lack in the colors of death or logic, Naya is a world that is entirely about growth. Everything in Naya is big.
http://bb.xieke.com/files/naya_spearbre ... emeoth.jpg[/img]
The central theme of Naya is creatures with power 5 or greater. In other words, Naya will make it easy for you to play fatties, and it will reward you for playing fatties (as if they weren't reward enough on their own). In the story of the world, giant creatures known as behemoths wander around, crushing entire villages and forests under their massive feet. The canopy-dwelling elves worship these titans, and their treetop villages are designed to be packed up and moved when a behemoth wanders near. The bigger they are, the harder they're revered.
But in Naya, everything is big.
http://bb.xieke.com/files/naya_titanicultimatum.jpg[/img]
Titanic Ultimatum is just one in a cycle of ultimatums, massive three-color spells that have effects that will very likely end the game, or at the very least will directly lead to the end of the game. I don't even think that I have to say too much about cards like this. Just look at it. It's big and it's flavorful. End of story.
Red Rarity
Shards of Alara is introducing a pretty big change in the game as well, on top of all that other stuff. This one I'm not too sure of, but it is interesting to say the least. In the past, there were three rarities (four if you count Timeshifted), but they're now adding on a new real fourth rarity that looks like it's going to be sticking around.
http://bb.xieke.com/files/shards_sphinx.jpg[/img]
The red symbol there is the sign of an epic rare -- a super-rare, if you want. These rares will be far less common than regular rares, as they should be, since they represent really special cards, supposedly. Planeswalkers (of which there are four new ones in Shards) and legendary cards would mostly fall into this category, as well as generally cool big guys like the sovereign here.
Hell, I could write a whole article about this new rarity level, but for the most part, I don't think it will have too much of a big impact in the end.
Here's looking forward to the future, and to Shards of Alara!
