Alpha Reboot

[Excise]

Set Size 317 cards
96 Commons
96 Uncommons
96 Rares
18 Basic Lands
11 Tokens

Mission Statement


This set is a redesign of Magic using modern Magic design conventions and innovations, but significantly altering core concepts of the game.



The Color Pie has been restructured.

Subtypes have been added to all cards, and creature types have been consolidated.

Power levels have been reestablished for different card types.

Rules language and keywords have been rewritten. New keywords have been introduced.

Existing card names and art have been used for this reimagining of the game, mostly from ABU, but a few others from other sets when the flavor dictated. I tried very hard to stick to early sets whenever able.

Link to the visual spoiler

I recommend you take a look at it along with the text spoiler because many of these cards work better when you can see the finished product.

Spoiler:

Color Pie Redistribution
The abilities shared by the game’s five colors have been moved around in an effort to balance each color and make things more equal. Additionally, Reboot was designed so that each color has a card type focus and card type hatred. For each Color, you can move around the wheel 3 colors clockwise to find the type it is best suited at destroying. This means enemy colors are also more literally enemy colors. Here are the details of each colors focus and hatred.

WHITE:
With each color I wanted to strengthen it such that it wasn’t always acting as a splash color to other deck archetypes. Every color should bring something to the table. This was especially obvious in White, which is less reactive and can win games on its own. It still has protection and damage prevention, but this is supplemental to a strong creature base and card draw. I had to reexamine White’s philosophy once I assigned Artifacts as its favorite card type. Now it’s more focused on civilization and trying to maintain the status quo. It uses artifacts to make life easy and peaceful. It’s not a far stretch from its more traditional viewpoint. Its dislike of the Enchantment type is described as a dislike of getting things the easy way. Enchantments are a shortcut to honest labor. Armies need to be raised and trained, artifacts, need to be built. Enchantments are seen as a crutch of the weak willed.

White has lost its ability to destroy artifacts. It is the artifact color, and as such the last color that would try and destroy them. It has also lost its ability to destroy creatures. For both card types, it will need to rely on soft counters and superior combat skills to survive.

White has lost “Pacifism” effects to Red which now is the color of combat manipulation.

White has gained a lot in this set. The biggest gain by far is card draw. Now White has the gas it needs to make its creature strategy successful. It is not as good with creatures are Green or Red, but card draw supplements this strategy, where Red can run out of gas if it doesn’t win outright, and green can draw cards if a creature dies, so that’s more recyling than pure card draw advantage.

White also has gained counter spells, but before you think of it as traditional Blue 2.0, its counterspells are soft, more in the vein of taxing than outright denial.

White also has gained the traditional Black ability of graveyard hosing. It has had it to a limited capacity in traditional Magic, but now it is the only color that can remove cards in the graveyard from the game. (The Removed-from-the-game zone has been renamed the void in Reboot.) Since the zones all play a large role in Magic, this move is not insignificant.

Another ability White has gained is giving a creature -1/-1. This is not the same as –X/-X which remains Black, but really is more of an ability designed to clear the board of weenies rather than act as creature removal, which White has lost. From a flavor perspective, the creature has shrunk as opposed to the traditional explanation that the creature is sick or weakened.

BLUE:
Blue’s favorite card type is Land and its least favorite type is Planeswalker. Blue’s focus on knowledge and preparation was directed towards exploration and physical perfection along with its typical mental focus. And it’s manipulation of time allows it to fight its enemies when they were less powerful, or it was more prepared.

Blue has lost straight up card draw to White. What it has kept instead is card filtering, like Ponder, and Looter abilities, where it draws and then discards. So really what it has left is card selection.

Blue has also lost the ability to change land types. That ability exists in an artifact card, Mystic Compass and if it were put in a color, it would now ship over to Green.

Landwalk does not exist in the Reboot, and Islandwalk traditionally has been heavily used in blue creature design. Flying and protection replace this evasion ability.

Blue has also lost Shroud, which is solely Green now. Protection again approximates this keyword’s ability, though to a more limited capacity.

Blue has lost its Bounce effects to White and Black.

The biggest change to Blue, is that it is the Land-focused color, and as such it has gained the land search ability from traditional Green. But in assigning mechanics to colors, I have separated land search and color filtering. I wanted green to be able to provide different colors of mana, and blue really to be able to find other Islands or Nodes exclusively. This distinction may trouble some, since it means blue gets Wood Elves and not Farhaven Elf, but I wanted mechanics to have a lot of presence across the color wheel and mana filitering and land search are deep enough design spaces, that it’s okay to split hairs here.

Similar to Land search, Blue also has permanent mana acceleration, so Llanowar Elf is blue (actually it’s an Artifact that you can cast for U called Frozen Heart.) and Birds of Paradise are now blue. Instead of using this mana acceleration to ramp up to big creatures like traditional Green, Blue will be able to provide counter support, while still laying threats down each turn.

Another addition to Blue comes from its ability to hose Planeswalkers. It can remove chips from permanents and destroy tokens. This has been an unused mechanic in traditional Magic, but rather than make a narrow card the says “Destroy target planeswalker” and wanted a more elegant approach. So blue can steal or remove chips. Most of the time this will affect +1/+1 chips.

Another gain for blue comes from the eradication of a “worst Creature color” philosophy. It will no longer have to overpay for creatures, and it has some surprising bodies. However, it is not the most aggressive color so those creatures aren’t going to be red-zone bound, like Green or Red. Its creatures are more defensive, so they will have a higher toughness often times, as well as useful abilities. For example, the Mana Flare ability has been shifted to blue, but this time it’s on a highly defensive creature rather than an enchantment.

Blue has also gained a little bit of discard, allowing them to look at a player’s hand and have that player discard a card of their choice.

BLACK:
Black has moved beyond the graveyard a bit and revels in a little selfishness. Black’s new favorite card type is Enchantment which, I think, reflects in its flavor of making bargains for power. They will do unnatural and ungodly things for their own selfish needs, and casting Enchantments is a quick and easy method of doing so. Black’s least favorite card type remains Creatures, and it’s obvious that this is a carry over from traditional Magic. Black is given a wider variety of hating creatures then usual.

Black has lost its ability to remove cards in a graveyard from the game, (the ability has been moved to White.)

Black has lost its spot as the best tutor color. That ability has been spread out among all the colors, with each of them being best at searching for their favorite card type. Cards like Demonic Tutor simply don’t exist in this set and as such, Black loses an important mechanic.

Black has been forced to share discard with Red and Blue. What it has retained is discard at instant speed.

Black can now do more than reanimate creatures - it has taken universal recursion from Green. Now it can put any card in the graveyard back into its hand.

Black has the “gain control” mechanic, formerly in Blue, (though Red still retains temporary effects for creature targets, like Threaten.) This mechanic is mostly represented with Enchantments, though Sorcery versions would be appropriate.

Black has gained Bounce effects as cheap creature removal.

Black has also gained spell redirection from Blue and Red, though the flavor of the mechanic is tied to sacrificing other resources to protect your interests.

Black also can counter spells, though it would need to pay for it with life, or limited targeting choices.

Black can animate lands, an ability that is traditionally Green. Since it sits right next to the Land color, it needed some lesser land related ability. White has “gain control of a land” and Black now can animate them.

Black also has some smaller artifact destruction abilities, like countering an artifact spell. This is because it is across from White, the “artifact color.”

RED:
Red has had a lot of adjustment, as direct damage has been redistributed across Blue, Black and Red. And land destruction has been moved over to Green. A major refocus came when I assigned planeswalker as Red’s favorite card type. There aren’t a lot of planeswalker cards in the game, and you don’t need many of them on the board, so it would be hard to show how it favors them. Also, as they are a new type, WotC has done only a little to support them, so a lot of the cards were created from scratch. Red’s least favorite type is Artifact, and its traditional ability to destroy artifacts remains. Also, in order to cast a stronger contrast between Red and White, I have given red greater ability to manipulate combat by forcing creatures to attack, or preventing them from being able to attack.

Red has lost a lot of its smaller creature base, since it is now the color of mana acceleration similar to Dark Ritual.

Red is the Planeswalker color, and can search for them, its creatures get a boost when they are on the board and you can get mana by using their abilities.

Red has expanded its ability to generate additional combat steps, so that it is a much more common effect. Since its suite of keywords favor combat so much, this is a nice way to give it some added oomph.

Red has gained random discard effects, this time allowing you to force an opponent to discard at random, rather than randomly discarding yourself for effects. Red’s chaotic elements will be more focused on opponents rather than itself in Reboot.

Red can now gain control of spells until end of turn, and not just creatures. And since spells only last of the moment, they can get the most out of them.

Red is now the best color at quick mana and short term gains in mana sources. So it can play Dark Ritual type spells. Because it is also adept at direct damage, it also has twisted mana production to allow it to add mana to any player’s mana pool, as a sneaky source of direct damage for the unprepared.

GREEN:
Its favorite card type is creatures and its least favorite is land. Green had always been the land color, being able to search for lands, play more lands a turn, etc. This allowed a mana ramp play style, where the color would power out lands and then use them to cast big creatures.The new philosophy of the color is growth based on creatures. So more of an evolution identity and less a connected to the mana lines. In fact it is the land destruction color, using natural disasters and big creatures as its means. The flavor of its rejecting mana acceleration and lands, is the idea that you are cultivating and controlling the wild, and those things should not be controlled.

Green has lost land searching, mana acceleration and general land manipulation. All it has left is the ability to filter mana into different colors.

Green has lost in color regeneration.

Green has flying creatures more commonly that it would in traditional Magic. In fact, as the creature color and also the color of mana filtration, green has access to a lot of keywords that normally only exist in other colors. I like this approach as it shows another way a color can be the “creature color.”

Green is the Clone color, only this time the effect is based on adaptation and evolution. A straight up Clone creature isn’t in the set, but Cocoon gets the point across at the uncommon level.

Green is now the #1 land destruction color.

Green has the ability to cause lifeloss like Black. In the same way that direct damage was taken from Red and spread out, life loss was shared to allow different card concepts to be created.

Green still has Giant Growth effects, but it also has Nantuko Husk. There is a greater emphasis on recycling in the color thanks to Replenish (See new keywords) so sacrificing creatures for effects has been added to it’s mechanics.

Green has many more instant speed combat tricks than in traditional Magic, mostly related to creatures with Flash.

Creature Types
There was a great focus on creature types for this set. Not only to streamline and reduce the amount used, but also to be sure that this consolidation resulted in types that are spread out and shared by multiple colors. There was an effort to give every color pair and every three-color shard a creature type in common with each other. There were also some types that only exist in a single color. Some types were removed from the game altogether and Berserker went from a creature “class” to a keyword, so the consolidation was pretty vast. Here are some details about the changes.

Beast and Chimera are used to connote the “Race” in a Race/Class model. Beast will be used for mundane creature types, like Elephant, Hound or Wolverine, and Chimera will be used in cases on fantasy creatures such as Gargoyles, Griffins, and Hydras.

Cleric is not longer a supported type. Instead White will be able to choose between Witch or Monk, and Black will be able to choose between Minion or Witch.

Druid is also not being supported. Green “druids” can now choose from Monk or Shaman.

The list of creature types used in Reboot is: Angel, Archer, Artificer, Barbarian, Bat, Beast, Bird, Chimera, Construct, Crab, Demon, Dragon, Drake, Dryad, Dwarf, Elemental, Elephant, Elf, Faerie, Fish, Gargoyle, Giant, Goblin, Golem, Griffin, Horse, Human, Hydra, Insect, Kithkin, Knight, Lizard, Merrow, Minion, Minotaur, Monk, Ooze, Plant, Rat, Rogue, Shaman, Snake, Soldier, Sphinx, Spirit, Swarm, Troll, Vampire, Warrior, Witch, Wizard, Wolf, Wurm, Zombie

Other Subtypes


Every card type has subtypes now, including Sorceries. The idea was to allow for future areas of expansion in the way that creatures types have been mined for sets. The Type called Tribal has been renamed Theme and instead has all card subypes, instead of having only creature types. This means a Theme card with the subtype Island won’t be able to tap for mana unless it is also a Land. Card types have special rules in this set, not subtypes. Here are all the details for the other subtypes.

The Artifact types are: Amulet, Bauble, Cylix, Equipment, Instrument, Orb, Throne, Tome, Vault

The Enchantment types are: Aspect, Aura, Curse, Gift, Seal

Aura is still used as a subtype for every Enchantment with the Enchant keyword, though it may have other subtypes as well.

The Land types are: Battleground, Cave, Forest, Island, Maze, Mine, Mountain, Node, Plains, Refuge, Stronghold, Swamp, Tower

The Land Type has a special rule stating [If this land is a node, it has “T: Add 1 to your mana pool.” If it is a plains, it has “T: Add W to your mana pool.” If it is an island, it has “T: Add U to your mana pool.” If it is a swamp, it has, “T: Add B to your mana pool.” If it is a Mountain, it has “T: Add R to your mana pool.” If it is a Forest, it has “T: Add G to your mana pool.”] This is not an added ability granted by the subtype, but rather an ability of Lands. If a card ever refers to basic land types, or basic lands, it’s using the player knowledge of the six basic land types as shorthand for these abilities.

The Sorcery types are: Arcane, Charm, Concoction, Divine, Glamer, Incantation, Psionic, Reflex, Rite

WHITE:
Artifacts as mana sources
Banding
Bounce your own permanents (protective)
Card draw
“Annex” effect, gain control of a land
Copy Artifacts
Damage prevention
Defender
Enchantment destruction
Flash on permanents
Flying
Heritage W
Life gain
Lifelink
Melee N
Protection from COLOR
Reach
Recur Concoctions
Remove cards in Graveyard from the game
“Rule of Law” effect
Shrink effect (-1/-1)
Soft counters (tax)
Tax to attack or block
Token creation, many small at one time
Unblockable by bigger creatures
Untap creatures

BLUE:
+1/-1 and -1/+1 effects
Chip removal and theft.
“Coercion” effects
Copy Sorcery
Defender
Diminish
Hard counters
Heritage U
“Impulse”-style card sifting and library manipulation
Land search
“looter” ability
Protection from TYPES or KEYWORDS
Ranged strike
Reach
Replenish
Sorcery recursion
Split second
Tap permanents
Token destruction
Token creation, conditional or with a drawback
Untap permanents
Vigilance
“Wild Growth” ability

BLACK:
+X/-X effects
Animate lands
Bounce creatures
Change targets with drawback
Cheap creatures with drawback
Counter limited to certain types or with a drawback.
Damage players (life loss)
Defender
Destroy creatures
Diminish N
Discard at instant speed
Enchantment bonues (enchantress style)
“Entomb” effect, any player’s card
Face-down creatures
Fear
First strike
“Flagbearer” effect
Flying
Forced sacrifice of permanents
Gain control of permanents
“Glorious Anthem” effects
Heritage B
Lifelink
Reach
Recur cards from graveyard
Redirect things to creatures to prevent damage
Regeneration N
Search library for Auras
Tap permanents
Tokens small and breakable effects

RED:
+1/+1 chip theme
Artifact destruction
Berserker
Cheap aggressive creatures with a drawback
Damage can’t be prevented
Direct damage to any source
Direct Damage to multiple sources at once
Discard, random
First strike
Flying
Gain control of a permanent, temporarily
Gain control of target spell
Haste
Heritage R
Land destruction, non-Node
Mana acceleration (short-term gain)
Melee N
“Pinging” effect
Power/Toughness boosts
Prevent creatures from attacking or blocking
Reach
Recur REFLEXES
Rules changing for combat
Search library for Planeswalker cards
Split second
Tokens
Trample
“Upwelling” effect

GREEN:
+x/+x bonuses
Additional costs for creatures
Animate a permanent
Anti-flying
Big Creatures
Cast creature cards for free.
Chip themes
Copy Creature
Copy abilities
Defender
Destroy lands
Direct damage, off land destruction
Draw cards, based on combat damage
Draw cards, each player
Fear
Filter mana colors
Flash on permanents
Flying
Heritage G
Life gain based on creatures
Off color activated abilities
Reach
Replenish
Return permanents in graveyard, top of library
Return permanents in play, top of library
Sacrifice a creature for p/t bonus
Search a player’s library for creature spells
Shroud
“Tawnos Wand” effect
Tokens, take time or resources but can go on and on
Trample
Tribal bonuses
Vanishing N

New Rules

The biggest changes to the rules in Reboot are changing counters to chips, making tokens and chips permanents, removing the Instant card type, adding a 6th basic land type, renaming the Removed from the Game Zone the void and adding subtypes to every card.

New Keywords


Berserker
This keyword designates a creature that will always try to enter combat. It exists solely in Red for this set, but could appear in Black or Green for future sets.

Diminish N
This keyword allows you to mill a player whenever the card with Diminish is put into a graveyard. It is similar to another new keyword in the set (Replenish) in that the ability triggers regardless of how the card is placed in the graveyard. So Diminish can trigger when a card is destroyed, discarded, or milled via another Diminish trigger. The keyword resides in Blue and Black.

Heritage COST
This keyword was created by Seeonsee and is used with permission. It appears on spells of all type, and is used in three cycles of cards, (5 common creatures, 5 uncommon artifacts, and 5 rare spells.) along with a few other additions. With exception of the artifacts, it is used in-color, meaning the cost of the Heritage ability always matches the color of the card it’s on. Additionally all the Heritage costs in the set are mana costs.

Relic
This is an ability word for abilities or effects on permanents. There are two distinct instances where Relic is used. First, it is used when a card only has an effect if untapped. And second, if an ability can be activated or trigger only when the permanent is untapped. It is used on Artifact cards, but could expand to colored permanents in future sets.

Replenish
Like the Diminish keyword, Replenish is triggered when the card with it is placed in a graveyard from anywhere. The effect is that you can have a target player draw a card. This ability will often act like a souped-up cantrip. The keyword exists in Green and Blue.

Tweaked Keywords

Fear
This ability now allows blockers based on whether they share a color with the attacker, or alternatively are colorless. This is a small change from how Fear appears in existing Magic sets. The keyword is in Black and Green.

Melee N
This keyword is a renamed Bushido. It exists in Red and White.

Ranged strike
This is an ability word that identifies a group of activated abilities. It is loosely defined, only requiring that the card Tap for damage and have targeting limited to attacking or blocking creatures. It exists in Blue exclusively.

Regeneration COST
This is simply the regenerate effect that exists on many cards, but written as a keyword with a cost. It does not replace the existing understanding of the ability, nor language like “regenerate” or “regenerated.” It exists solely in Black for this set, and the activation cost is higher than normal in an attempt to balance the power of it out.

Unchanged Keywords


Banding
This keyword exists in White alone.

Defender
Enchant TYPE/SUBTYPE

Equip

First strike
This keyword exists only in Black and Red.

Flash
Flash has become a Keyword for Sorceries as well as permanents, and represents a substantial change. The card type Instant is not in Reboot. Flash is used instead to mean that a sorcery can be played whenever you have priority. Every color has Sorceries with Flash. Permanents with Flash exist only in Green and White.

Flying

Haste
Haste exists in Red alone.

Lifelink
The keyword is in White and Black only.

Protection
This keyword is in White and Blue only.

Reach

Shroud
Shroud exists only in Green.

Split second
This keyword is in Blue and Red alone.

Trample
This keyword only exists in Red and Green.

Vanishing N
This keyword is introduced just in Green and on a green aligned artifact, but could exist in all colors for later sets.

Vigilance
This keyword exists in Blue alone.

[Excise]

Spoiler:

Alabaster Potion
Sorcery – Concoction (Rare)
Flash
Heritage (For each additional you pay when you cast this card, it costs less to cast.)
You gain X life and prevent the next X damage that would be dealt to target creature, planeswalker or player this turn.
Illus: Terese Nielsen (Visions – Guiding Spirit)
#1/306

Amrou Kithkin
Creature – Kithkin Witch (Common)
: Amrou Kithkin can’t be blocked by creatures with power greater than its power until end of turn.
: Put target Concoction card in your graveyard into your hand.
2/2
Illus. Quinton Hoover (Legends – Amrou Kithkin)
#2/306

Angelic Wings
Enchantment – Gift Aura (Uncommon)
Flash
Enchant creature (Target a creature as you cast this. It comes into play attached to that creature.)
Enchanted creature has flying. (It can’t be blocked except by creatures with flying or reach.)
Illus: DiTerlizzi (Tempest – Angelic Protector)
#3/306

Argivian Blacksmiths
Creature – Dwarf Artificer (Common)
Protection from red (This creature can’t be blocked, targeted, dealt damage, or enchanted by anything red.)
, Tap an untapped artifact you control: Add to your mana pool.
To forge a sol ring, first temper your will.
1/2
Illus: Richard Thomas (Ice Age – Dwarven Armory)
#4/306

Argivian Custodian
Creature – Human Artificer (Uncommon)
: Return Argivian Custodian and target artifact you control to their owner’s hand.
“Artifacts are gifts from the past given to the present to make a better future.”
2/2
Illus: Douglas Shuler (Antiquities – Artifact Ward)
#5/306

Benalish Hero
Creature – Human Soldier (Rare)
Benalia has a complex caste system that changes with the lunar year. The only caste that cannot be attained by either heredity or money is that of the Hero.
2/1
Illus: Douglas Shuler (ABU – Benalish Hero)
#6/306

Call to Arms
Sorcery – Rite (Uncommon)
Put five 1/1 white Human Soldier creature tokens into play.
The alarm went up and swiftly the walls were filled with screaming, determined faces ready to repell a surprised enemy.
Illus: Randy Gallegos (Ice Age – Call to Arms)
#7/306

Cloudchaser
Creature – Bird (Common)
When Cloudchaser comes into play, you may destroy target enchantment.
Flying (This creature can’t be blocked except by creatures with flying or reach.)
2/2
Illus: Aaron Boyd (7th Edition – Cloudchaser Eagle)
#8/306

Demand Fealty
Sorcery – Incantation (Uncommon)
Flash
Counter target spell unless its controller pays its converted mana cost. If that spell is countered this way, put it in the void instead of its owner’s graveyard.
Illus: Jeff Miracola (Tempest – Precognition)
#9/306

Draconian Etchings
Enchantment – Gift Aura (Rare)
Enchant artifact
Each player can’t cast more than one spell each turn.
Whenever a player casts a spell, he or she may draw a card.
Illus: Mark Poole (ABU – Balance)
#10/306

Dwarven Centurion
Creature – Dwarf Warrior (Common)
Banding (Any number of attacking creatures with banding, and up to one without, can form a band. Blocking a creature in the band blocks all of them. You assign combat damage for any creature blocking or blocked by this creature.)
Melee 2 (Whenever this creature blocks or becomes blocked, it gets +2/+2 until end of turn.)
2/2
Illus: Richard Thomas (ABU – Blaze of Glory)
#11/306

Expert Scout
Creature – Elf Soldier (Uncommon)
Flash
Other creatures you control have melee 1. (Whenever it blocks or becomes blocked, it gets +1/+1 until end of turn.)
1/1
Illus: Richard Kane-Ferguson (Fallen Empire – Icatian Scout B)
#12/306

Golden Pudding
Creature – Ooze (Uncommon)
Sacrifice Golden Pudding: Destroy target enchantment or enchanted permanent.
What it can’t consume, it obilerates with light.
1/3
Illus: Drew Tucker (The Dark – Angry Mob)
#13/306

Guardian Angel
Creature – Angel Warrior (Rare)
Flash
Defender (This creature can’t attack.)
Reach (This creature can block creatures with flying.)
Sacrifice a land: You gain 2 life.
0/3
Illus: Anson Maddocks (ABU – Guardian Angel)
#14/306

Healing Salve
Sorcery – Concoction (Rare)
Heritage (For each additional you pay when you cast this card, it costs less to cast.)
Each player’s life total become 10.
Illus: Dan Frazier (ABU – Healing Salve)
#15/306

Homestead
Enchantment – Gift Aura (Uncommon)
Enchant land (Target a land as you cast this. It comes into play attached to that land.)
You control enchanted land.
Illus: Mark Poole (ABU – Farmstead)
#16/306

Jamuraan Healer
Creature – Human Monk (Uncommon)
As Jamuraan Healer comes into play, choose a color.
Defender (This creature can’t attack.)
: The next time target spell or permanent of the chosen color would deal damage to you this turn, prevent that damage.
2/2
Illus: Pete Venters (Mirage – Prismatic Circle)
#17/306

Kithkin Faith Armor
Enchantment – Gift Aura (Common)
Enchant creature (Target a creature as you cast this. It comes into play attached to that creature.)
Enchanted creature gets -1/-1 and has “This creature can’t be blocked by creatures with power greater than its power.”
Illus: Anson Maddocks (Ice Age – Armor of Faith)
#18/306

Kithkin Squire
Creature – Kithkin Soldier (Common)
Whenever Kithkin Squire attacks, it gets +1/+1 until end for each other attacking Soldier.
1/1
Illus. Dennis Detwiller (The Dark – Squire)
#19/306

Mark of Justice
Sorcery – Concoction (Common)
Target creature gains lifelink and melee 3 until end of turn. (Whenever this creature deals damage, you gain that much life. Whenever it blocks or become blocked, it gets +3/+3 until end of turn.)
Illus: Ruth Thompson (Ice Age – Justice)
#20/306

Mesa Pegasus
Creature – Chimera Horse (common)
Flying (This creature can’t be blocked except by creatures with flying or reach.)
Before a woman marries in the village of Sursi, she must visit the land of the mesa pegasus. Legend has it that if the woman is pure of heart and her love is true, a mesa pegasus will appear, blessing her family with long life and good fortune.
1/1
Illus: Melissa A. Benson (ABU – Mesa Pegasus)
#21/306

Mox Pearl
Sorcery – Charm (Uncommon)
Flash
Choose one – Put up to two target cards in a single graveyard in the void; or nonartifact creatures get -1/-1 until end of turn; or put two 0/2 colorless Construct artifact creature tokens with flying named Ornithopter into play.
Illus: Dan Frazier (ABU – Mox Pearl)
#22/306

Northern Paladin
Creature – Human Knight (Rare)
Melee 3 (Whenever this creature blocks or becomes blocked, it gets +3/+3 until end of turn.)
Whenever Northern Paladin deals combat damage to a planeswalker or player, you gain control of a land that player or planeswalker’s controller controls.
2/3
Illus: Northern Paladin (ABU – Northern Paladin
#23/306

Pearled Unicorn
Creature – Chimera Horse (Common)
Heritage (For each additional you pay when you cast this card, it costs less to cast.)
If a source would deal damage to a creature you control, prevent 1 of that damage.
2/2
Illus: Cornelius Brudi (ABU – Pearled Unicorn)
#24/306

Replicate Artifact
Enchantment – Gift (Rare)
As Replicate Artifact comes into play, you may choose an artifact in play. If you do, Replicate Artifact comes into play as a copy of that artifact and is still an enchantment.
Illus: Amy Weber (ABU – Warp Artifact)
#25/306

Rescue
Sorcery – Arcane (Common)
Flash
Return target permanent you control to its owner’s hand.
Illus: Amy Weber (Legends – Divine Intervention)
#26/306

Roaming Marshal
Creature – Human Soldier (Rare)
Heritage (For each additional you pay when you cast this card, it costs less to cast.)
Roaming Marshal’s power is equal to the number of creatures and lands your opponents control.
*/*
Illus: Rebecca Guay (Alliances – Enslaved Scout A)
#27/306

Royal Assassin
Creature – Kithkin Witch (Uncommon)
Melee 1 (Whenever this creature blocks or becomes blocked, it gets +1/+1 until end of turn.)
If a permanent would be put into a graveyard, put it in the void instead.
Duty to the kingdom is a hard burden to accept, but royal assassins carry it with an enthusiastic flourish.
2/2
Illus: Tom Wanerstrand (ABU – Royal Assassin)
#28/306

Rukh
Creature – Bird (Uncommon)
Flying (This creature can’t be blocked except by creatures with flying or reach.)
Called “sunfeathers” by many lowlanders, rukhs are thought to descend from a phoenix that sacrificed its flame for a body of light.
3/3
Illus: Mark Zug (8th Edition – Rukh Egg)
#29/306

Sarpadian Champion
Creature – Elf Soldier (Common)
: Another target creature you control gets +1/+3 until end of turn.
1/3
Illus: Melissa A. Benson (ABU – Holy Armor)
#30/306

Scour
Sorcery – Divine (Rare)
Destroy all enchantments.
Illus: Brian Snoddy (Legends – Remove Enchantments)
#31/306

Seek Blessings
Sorcery – Arcane (Common)
Flash
Target player draws two cards.
Only the warrior who can admit mortal weakness will be bolstered by immortal strength.
Illus: Julie Baroh (ABU – Blessing)
#32/306

Seeker
Creature – Elf Wizard (Common)
: Untap target creature.
Seekers spend their lives protecting a home they rarely visit.
2/1
Illus: Anson Maddocks (ABU – Holy Strength)
#33/306

Serra Angel
Creature – Angel Warrior (Rare)
Flying (This creature can’t be blocked except by creatures with flying or reach.)
Protection from black, protection from red (This creature can’t be blocked, targeted, dealt damage, or enchanted by anything black or red.)
4/4
Illus: Douglas Shuler (Un-set – Que Serra Serra)
#34/306

Signs of Industry
Enchantment – Seal (Rare)
Whenever a creature you control is put into a graveyard from play, sacrifice Signs of Industry. If you do, put four 1/1 colorless Construct artifact creature tokens into play.
Illus: Amy Weber (ABU – Disenchant)
#35/306

Soul Summons
Enchantment – Gift Aura (Common)
Enchant land (Target a land as you cast this. It comes into play attached to that land.)
Enchanted land has “, Put two creature cards in a single graveyard in the void: Put a 1/1 black Spirit creature token into play.”
Sometimes a soul is not ready to complete its journey to the next world.
Illus: Harold McNeill (Ice Age – Death Ward)
#36/306

Sunmare
Creature – Chimera Horse (Rare)
Banding (Any number of attacking creatures with banding, and up to one without, can form a band. Blocking a creature in the band blocks all of them. You assign combat damage for any creature blocking or blocked by this creature.)
: Another target creature gets +1/+1 until end of turn.
5/5
Illus: Davis A. Cherry (Mirage – Benevolent Unicorn)
#37/306

Tariff
Sorcery – Incantation (Common)
Flash
Counter target spell unless its controller pays .
“My counsel is not free.”
- Urza Mightstone
Illus: Kev Walker (Weatherlight – Tariff)
#38/306

Timidity Hex
Enchantment – Curse Aura (Uncommon)
Enchant creature (Target a creature as you cast this. It comes into play attached to that creature.)
Enchanted creature gets -1/-1 and has “: Target creature gets -1/-1 until end of turn.”
Illus: Douglas Shuler (ABU – Weakness)
#39/306

Trained Griffin
Creature – Chimera Griffin (Uncommon)
Banding (Any number of attacking creatures with banding, and up to one without, can form a band. Blocking a creature in the band blocks all of them. You assign combat damage for any creature blocking or blocked by this creature.)
Flying (This creature can’t be blocked except by creatures with flying or reach.)
2/4
Illus: Brad Williams (Portal Second Age – Armored Griffin)
#40/306

Urza Mightstone 3WW
Planeswalker – Urza (Rare)
Loyalty 4
+1: Untap up to two target permanents.
-X: Put X 0/2 colorless Construct artifact creature tokens with flying named Ornithopter into play.
-6: Sacrifice all artifacts you control. Draw a card for each artifact put into a graveyard this way.
Illus: Mark Tedin (Vanguard II – Urza)
#41/306

Urza’s Squadron
Creature – Human Artificer (Uncommon)
Flying (This creature can’t be blocked except by creatures with flying or reach.)
When Urza’s Squadron leaves play, you may put a 0/2 colorless Construct artifact creature token with flying named Ornithopter into play.
1/3
Illus: Justin Hampton (Ice Age – Illusionary Forces)
#42/306

Veteran Escort
Creature – Human Soldier (Common)
Banding (Any number of attacking creatures with banding, and up to one without, can form a band. Blocking a creature in the band blocks all of them. You assign combat damage for any creature blocking or blocked by this creature.)
, : Target creature has banding until end of turn.
2/3
Illus: Mark Poole (ABU – Jump)
#43/306

Walker’s Favor
Enchantment – Gift Aura (Uncommon)
Enchant creature
As Walker’s Favor comes into play, choose a color.
Enchanted creature gets +2/+2 and has protection from the chosen color. (It can’t be blocked, targeted, dealt damage, or enchanted by anything of that color.)
Illus: Phil Foglio (Ice Age – White Scarab)
#44/306

White Knight
Creature – Human Knight (Uncommon)
Lifelink (Whenever this creature deals damage, you gain that much life.)
Out of the blackness and stench of the engulfing swamp emerged a shimmering figure. Only the splattered armor and ichor-stained sword hinted at the unfathomable evil the Knight had just laid waste.
2/5
Illus: Daniel Gelon (ABU – White Knight)
#45/306

Wild Griffin
Creature – Chimera Griffin (Rare)
Flying
: Wild Griffin gets +2/+0 until end of turn. Activate this ability only any time you could lay a land.
High above the Ekundu plateau, death is swift and razor clawed.
1/2
Illus: Jeff Miracola (Portal Second Age – Wild Griffin)
#46/306

[Excise]

Spoiler:

Air Elemental
Creature – Elemental Rogue (Common)
Flying (This creature can’t be blocked except by creatures with flying or reach.)
At the beginning of each player’s upkeep, that player taps an untapped permanent he or she controls.
Spirits of the air often substitute whimsy for strategy.
1/1
Illus. Richard Thomas (ABU – Air Elemental)
#47/306

Birds of Paradise
Creature – Bird (Rare)
Flying (This creature can’t be blocked except by creatures with flying or reach.)
: Add or to your mana pool.
1/1
Illus: Mark Poole (ABU – Birds of Paradise)
#48/306

Blue Elemental Blast
Sorcery – Arcane (Uncommon)
Flash
Counter target spell with converted mana cost equal to or less than the number of Islands you control.
Illus: Richard Thomas (ABU – Blue Elemental Blast)
#49/306

Brainstorm
Sorcery – Psionic (Common)
Look at the top three cards of your library and put them back in any order. You may shuffle your library.
Replenish (When this card is put into your graveyard from anywhere, target player draws a card.)
Illus: Christopher Rush (Ice Age – Brainstorm)
#50/306

Cobra Strike
Enchantment – Gift Aura (Common)
Enchant creature (Target a creature as you cast this. It comes into play attached to that creature.)
Enchanted creature gets +1/+1 and has “ranged strike – : This creature deals damage equal to its power to target attacking or blocking creature.”
Illus: Brian Snoddy (ABU – Psychic Venom)
#51/306

Deep Spawn [mana]UUU[/mana
Creature – Crab Minion (Uncommon)
Defender (This creature can’t attack.)
At the beginning of you upkeep, look at the top two cards of your library and put one in the void.
6/6
Illus: Mark Tedin (Fallen Empires – Deep Spawn)
#52/306

Deft Cryomancer
Creature – Elemental Wizard (Common)
: Deft Cryomancer gets +1/-1 or -1/+1 until end of turn.
: Remove a chip from target permanent. If you do, put a +1/+1 chip on Deft Cryomancer.
Illus: Mark Poole (Ice Age – Kjeldoran Frostbeast)
#53/306

Dismiss
Sorcery – Incantation (Common)
Flash
Counter target spell.
“The duel was going badly for me, and Nevinyrral thought I was finished. He boasted that he would eat my soul – but all he ate were his words.”
- Hurkyl Nam
Illus: Mark Poole (ABU – Counterspell)
#54/306

Embargo
Sorcery – Psionic (Rare)
Flash
Split second (As long as this spell is on the stack, players can’t cast spells or activated abilities that aren’t mana abilities.)
Counter target spell.
Illus: Douglas Shuler (ABU – Drain Power)
#55/306

Floodbringer Homarid
Creature – Crab Shaman (Rare)
Ranged strike – , : Floodbringer Homarid deals 2 damage to target attacking or blocking creature.
Whenever a player taps a land for mana, that player adds one mana of that type to his or her mana pool.
2/2
Illus: Amy Weber (Fallen Empires – Homarid Shaman)
#56/306

Fork
Sorcery – Glamer (Rare)
Flash
Copy target sorcery spell. You may choose new targets for the copy.
Imitation is the most dangerous form of flattery.
Illus: Amy Weber (ABU – Fork)
#57/306

High Tide
Sorcery – Glamer (Uncommon)
Until end of turn, whenever a player taps a land for mana, its controller adds one mana of that type to his or her mana pool.
Illus: Randy Gallegos (Alliances – Tidal Control)
#58/306

Hurkyl Nam
Planeswalker – Hurkyl (Rare)
Loyalty 3
+1: Discard your hand, then draw that many cards.
-1: Target players reveals his or her hand. Choose a noncreature, nonland card. He or she discards the chosen card.
-6: Return each permanent to its owner’s hand.
Illus: Sandra Everingham (Antiquities – Hurkyl’s Recall)
#59/306

Hurkyl’s Recall
Sorcery – Rite (Common)
As an additional cost to play Hurkyl’s Recall, sacrifice an Island.
Search your library for two Node land cards and put them into play. Then shuffle your library.
Illus: Richard Kane-Ferguson (Fallen Empires – Tourach’s Chant)
#60/306

Invisible Agent
Creature – Human Rogue (Common)
Protection from creatures (This creature can’t be blocked, targeted, or dealt damage by creatures.)
While Lat-Nam openly exerted its power, there were smaller wizard schools that chose to practice subtlety.
2/2
Illus: Anson Maddocks (ABU – Invisibility)
#61/306

Island Fish Jasconius
Theme – Creature – Island Fish (Rare)
Island Fish Jasconius comes into play tapped.
: Add to your mana pool.
3/4
Illus: Jesper Myfors (Arabian Nights – Island Fish Jasconius)
#62/306

KudzuGarden
Enchantment – Gift Aura (Uncommon)
Enchant land (Target a land as you cast this. It comes into play attached to that land.)
Enchanted land has “, : Target permanent doesn’t untap during its controller’s next untap step.”
Illus: Richard Thomas (ABU – Karma)
#63/306

Lat-Nam Egotist
Creature – Merrow Monk (Rare)
Vigilance (Attacking doesn’t cause this creature to tap.)
: Target creature you control has protection from the type of your choice until end of turn. (The card types are artifact, creature, enchantment, land, planeswalker and theme.)
2/2
Illus: Anson Maddocks (ABU – Creature Bond)
#64/306

Lat-Nam Lookouts
Creature – Human Archer (Common)
Heritage (For each you pay when you cast this card, it costs less to cast.)
Ranged strike – : Lat-Nam Lookouts deals 1 damage to target attacking or blocking creature.
2/2
Illus: Pat Morrissey (Ice Age - Warning)
#65/306

Living Battery
Creature – Merrow Minion (Uncommon)
: Untap Living Battery.
, : Tap or untap another target permanent.
1/3
Illus: Mark Tedin (Antiquities – Ashnod’s Transmogrant)
#66/306

Make Mischief
Sorcery – Arcane (Uncommon)
Flash
Counter target red or green spell. If you do, out three 1/1 blue Faerie Rogue creature tokens with flying into play.
Illus: Amy Weber (Antiquities – Argothian Pixies)
#67/306

Mana Flood
Enchantment – Aspect Aura (Common)
Enchant land (Target a land as you cast this. It comes into play attached to that land.)
Whenever enchanted land is tapped for mana, it adds an additional to its controller’s mana pool.
Illus: Tom Wanerstrand (Legends – Flash Flood)
#68/306

Meditative Student
Creature – Human Monk (Common)
Vigilance (Attacking doesn’t cause this creature to tap.)
At the first level of training you visualize your full potential. At the next level you set a path to achieve it. After that you recognize your true potential and set new goals. Then the true study begins.
3/3
Illus: Douglas Shuler (ABU – Prodigal Sorcerer)
#69/306

Merrow Looter
Creature – Merrow Rogue (Uncommon)
Vigilance (Attacking doesn’t cause this creature to tap.)
, : Target player draws a card, then discards a card.
When you sink a lot of ships, it’s easy to find sunken treasure.
1/1
Illus: Tristan Elwell (7th Edition – Merfolk Looter)
#70/306

Merrow Summoner
Creature – Merrow Wizard (Uncommon)
Vigilance (Attacking doesn’t cause this creature to tap.)
, Sacrifice an Island: Put a 3/3 blue Fish creature token into play.
Merrow summoners tend to leave feeding frenzies in their wake.
2/4
Illus: Quinton Hoover (Legends – Brine Hag)
#71/306

Mox Sapphire
Sorcery – Charm (Uncommon)
Flash
Choose one – Discard a card, then draw two cards; or Mox Sapphire deals 3 damage to target attacking or blocking creature; or destroy target chip or token.
Illus: Dan Frazier (ABU – Mox Sapphire)
#72/306

Order of the Pearl Trident
Creature – Merrow Soldier (Common)
When Order of the Pearl Trident comes into play, you may remove up to two chips from target permanent.
The tide will wash the mystic ebb. The moon sets right the flow of nature.
2/1
Illus: John Matson (5th Edition – Merfolk of the Pearl Trident)
#73/306

Phantasmal Forces
Creature – Human Wizard (Uncommon)
Flying (This creature can’t be blocked except by creatures with flying or reach.)
Protection from sorceries (This creature can’t be targeted or damaged by sorcery spells.)
3/1
Illus: Mark Poole (ABU – Phantasmal Forces)
#74/306

Pirate Cove
Theme – Enchantment – Island (Rare)
Whenever a land is put into play from a player’s hand, Pirate Cove deals 2 damage to that land’s controller.
When Pirate Cove is put into play from your hand, search your library for an Island and put it into play. If you do, shuffle your library.
Illus: Tom Wanerstrand (Legends – Seafarer’s Quay)
#75/306

Psionic Blast
Sorcery – Psionic (Uncommon)
Flash
Counter target spell. Look at that spell’s controller’s hand. Choose a card. He or she discards the chosen card.
Illus: Douglas Shuler (ABU – Psionic Blast)
#76/306

Psychic Escort
Creature – Human Minion (Common)
Diminish 3 (When this card is put into a graveyard from anywhere, target player puts the top three cards of his or her library into his or her graveyard.)
A mentalist’s burden is the madness and hatred radiating from its Sengir master. Not many survive service with their faculties intact.
1/2
Illus: Mark Tedin (The Dark – Psychic Allergy)
#77/306

Rampant Exploration
Sorcery – Rite (Uncommon)
Search your library for two Island or Node cards and put them into play tapped. Then shuffle your library.
Illus: Brian Snoddy (Urza’s Saga – Exploration)
#78/306

Refine
Sorcery – Rite (Uncommon)
Flash
Look at the top four cards of your library. Put one of them into your hand and the rest on the bottom of your library.
Illus: Mark Tedin (ABU – Time Vault)
#79/306

Replenishing Spray
Sorcery – Glamer (Common)
Flash
Replenish (When this card is put into your graveyard from anywhere, target player draws a card.)
Illus: Douglas Shuler (Legends – Anti-Magic Aura)
#80/306

Revisit
Sorcery – Rite (Rare)
Target player untaps all basic lands he or she controls.
“I thought my wife has ‘walked us to a new plane. But the ground was familiar, and then I noticed our college in the distance and realized it was still being built.”
- Drafna Lat
Illus: Mark Poole (ABU – Thoughtlace)
#81/306

Rewind
Sorcery – Divine (Rare)
Destroy all chips and all tokens.
Illus: Anson Maddocks (ABU – Lifetap)
#82/306

Royal Archer
Creature – Human Archer (Uncommon)
Reach (This creature can block creatures with flying.)
: Royal Archer gains replenish until end of turn. (When it is put into your graveyard from anywhere, target player draws a card.)
: Royal Archer gains diminish 1 until end of turn. (When it is put into a graveyard from anywhere, target player puts the top card of his or her library into his or her graveyard.)
2/3
Illus: Dan Frazier (7th Edition – Elite Archers)
#83/306

Sea Serpent
Creature – Wurm (Common)
Protection from flash (This creature can’t be blocked, targeted, dealt damage, enchanted, or equipped by anything with flash.)
, : Target creature has protection from flash until end of turn.
4/4
Illus: Jeff A. Menges (ABU – Sea Serpent)
#84/306

Shark Attack
Sorcery – Reflex (Uncommon)
Flash
Counter target white or black spell. If you do, put a 3/3 blue Fish creature token into play.
Illus: Jeff A. Menges (The Dark – Deep Water)
#85/306

Surfmare
Creature – Elemental Horse (Rare)
Flying (This creature can’t be blocked except by creatures with flying or reach.)
Surfmare’s power and toughness are each equal to the number of Islands you control.
*/*
Illus: Melissa A. Benson (Ice Age – Phantasmal Mount)
#86/306

Telekinesis
Sorcery – Psionic (Rare)
Heritage (For each additional you pay when you cast this card, it costs less to cast.)
Tap or untap X target permanents target player controls.
Illus: Daniel Gelon (Legends – Telekinesis)
#87/306

Tidal Sphinx
Creature – Chimera Sphinx (Rare)
Flying (This creature can’t be blocked except by creatures with flying or reach.)
Whenever Tidal Sphinx deals combat damage to a planeswalker or player, you may tap target permanent and it doesn’t untap during its controller’s next untap step.
3/4
Illus: Sandra Everingham (Legend – Petra Sphinx)
#88/306

Traumatize
Sorcery – Incantation (Rare)
Target player puts the top half of his or her library, rounded down, into his or her graveyard.
The educated mind is heavy with lore and knowledge. It’s also the most likely to collapse under its own weight.
Illus: Brian Snoddy (Legends – In the Eye of Chaos)
#89/306

Twiddle
Sorcery – Reflex (Common)
Flash
Split second (As long as this spell is on the stack, players can’t cast spells or activate abilities that aren’t mana abilities.)
Tap or untap target permanent.
Illus: Rob Alecander (ABU – Twiddle)
#90/306

Untouchable Master
Enchantment – Gift Aura (Uncommon)
Enchant creature (Target a creature as you cast this. It comes into play attached to that creature.)
Enchanted creature gets +2/+2 and has flying and vigilance. (It can’t be blocked except by creatures with flying or reach, and attacking doesn’t cause it to tap.)
Illus: Anson Maddocks (ABU – Flight)
#91/306

Whirlwind Drake
Creature – Drake (Common)
When Whirlwind Drake comes into play, search your library for a Node land card and put it into play tapped. Then shuffle your library.
Flying (This creature can’t be blocked except by creatures with flying or reach.)
1/1
Illus: Zina Saunders (Mirage – Hazerider Drake)
#92/306

[Excise]

Spoiler:

Bad Moon
Enchantment – Aspect (Rare)
Creatures you control get +1/+1.
Illus: Jesper Myrfors (ABU – Bad Moon)
#93/306

Black Knight
Creature – Human Knight (Uncommon)
Lifelink (Whenever this creature deals damage, you gain that much life.)
Battle doesn’t need a purpose; the battle is its own purpose. You don’t ask why a plague spreads or a field burns. Don’t ask why I fight.
5/2
Illus:Mark Poole (ABU – Black Knight)
#94/306

Blight
Enchantment – Curse Aura (Common)
Enchantment permanent (Target a permanent as you cast this. It comes into play attached to that permanent.)
Whenever enchanted permanent becomes tapped, its owner loses 2 life.
Illus: Drew Tucker (ABU – Power Leak)
#95/306

Carrion Ants
Creature – Insect Swarm (Common)
Heritage (For each additional you pay when you cast this card, it costs less to cast.)
Regeneration (: The next time this creature would be destroyed this turn, it isn’t. Instead, remove all damage from it, tap it, and remove it from combat.)
2/3
Illus: John Coulthart (5th Edition – Carrion Ants)
#96/306

Contract from Below
Sorcery – Rite (Common)
Flash
Put target card from your graveyard into your hand and put Contract from Below in the void.
Illus: Douglas Shuler (ABU – Contract from Below)
#97/306

Corrode
Sorcery – Concoction (Uncommon)
Flash
Counter target artifact or creature spell.
“Its power isn’t in the mixture of components, but the hatred it’s been steeped in.”
Illus: Michael Danza (Visions – Corrosion)
#98/306

Creeping Shadow
Enchantment – Gift Aura (Uncommon)
Enchant creature
Enchanted creature has fear (It can’t be blocked except by creatures that share a color with it and colorless creatures.)
: Creeping Shadow loses its other abilities, becomes a 6/3 Spirit Minion creature with fear and has “Sacrifice this permanent at end of turn.”
Illus: Randy Gallegos (Urza’s Saga – Sleeper Agent)
#99/306

Damnation
Sorcery – Divine (Rare)
Destroy all creatures.
Illus: Quinton Hoover (ABU – Wrath of God)
#100/306

Dementia Caster
Creature – Human Artificer (Uncommon)
, : Target player discards a card.
“Human tenderness is simply weakness in a pretty package.”
- Nevinyrral Yunir
1/3
Illus: Mark Poole (Antiquities – Staff of Zegon)
#101/306

Diminishing Vapors
Sorcery – Concoction (Common)
Flash
Diminish 5 (When this card is put into a graveyard from anywhere, target player puts the top five cards of his or her library into his or her graveyard.)
Illus: Sandra Everingham (ABU – Dark Ritual)
#102/306

Drain Life
Sorcery – Arcane (Common)
Each player loses 1 life for each creature he or she controls. (Life loss isn’t damage.)
Illus: Douglas Shuler (ABU – Drain Life)
#103/306

Dread Infusion
Enchantment – Aspect Aura (Common)
Enchant creature (Target a creature as you cast this. It comes into play attached to that creature.)
Enchanted creature gets +3/+0.
When Dread Infusion is put into a graveyard from play, if it’s face-up, put it into play face down as a 2/2 creature.
Illus: Mark Tedin (Legends – Horror of Horrors)
#104/306

Entomb
Sorcery – Rite (Rare)
Search target player’s library for a card and put it into that player’s graveyard. Then he or she shuffles his or her library.
Illus: Ron Spears (Odyssey – Entomb)
#105/306

FeralLands
Enchantment – Aspect (Rare)
All lands are 2/2 creatures that are still lands.
The land will rise up to overthrow those who would claim its power.
Illus: Rebecca Guay (Urza’s Saga – Fecundity)
#106/306

Frozen Shade
Creature – Human Witch (Common)
Fear (This creature can’t be blocked except by creatures that share a color with it or colorless creatures.)
, : Target creature has fear until end of turn.
She lives in the twilight realm separating the living and the dead, drawing others into the void.
3/2
Illus: DiTerlizzi (5th Edition – Frozen Shade)
#107/306

Gathering Darkness
Sorcery – Arcane (Rare)
Heritage (For each additional you pay when you cast this card, it costs less to cast.)
Each player sacrifices X permanents.
Illus: Julie Baroh (ABU – Mind Twist)
#108/306

Gloom
Enchantment – Curse (Uncommon)
Artifacts, creatures, and lands your opponents control come into play tapped.
Illus: Dan Frazier (ABU – Gloom)
#109/306

Granite Gargoyle
Creature – Chimera Gargoyle (Common)
Defender (This creature can’t attack.)
: Granite Gargoyle gets +2/-2 and has reach until end of turn. (It can block creatures with flying.)
0/5
Illus: Christopher Rush (ABU – Granite Gargoyle)
#110/306

Hypnotic Specter
Creature – Spirit (Uncommon)
Flying (This creature can’t be blocked except by creatures with flying or reach.)
When Hypnotic Specter attacks, you may tap target creature.
1/2
Illus: Douglas Shuler (ABU – Frozen Shade)
#111/306

Infernal Gateway
Enchantment – Gift Aura (Rare)
Enchant swamp
Whenever a creature card is put into a graveyard from play, if it’s face-up, put it into play face down as a 2/2 creature under its owner’s control.
Illus: Randy Asplund-Faith (Fallen Empires – Ebon Praetor)
#112/306

Keldon Dead
Creature – Zombie Barbarian (Common)
When Keldon Dead comes into play, you may destroy target nonartifact creature.
First strike (This creature deals combat damage before creatures without first strike.)
Death’s face smiles like a skull.
2/1
Illus: Mike Kimble (Alliances – Balduvian Dead)
#113/306

Lifeless Corridor
Enchantment – Aspect Aura (Common)
Enchant land (Target a land as you cast this. It comes into play attached to that land.)
Whenever a creature becomes tapped, it gets -0/-1 for each of its colors until end of turn.
Once the fog has passed you will find long standing enemies united at last – in death.
Illus: Anson Maddocks (ABU – Wall of Bone)
#114/306

Lord of the Pit
Creature – Demon (Rare)
When Lord of the Pit comes into play, you lose 5 life.
Flying (This creature can’t be blocked except by creatures with flying or reach.)
At the end of turn, if Lord of the Pit dealt combat damage to a player, he or she gains control of Lord of the Pit and loses 5 life.
5/6
Illus: Mark Tedin (ABU – Lord of the Pit)
#115/306

Mox Jet
Sorcery – Charm (Uncommon
Flash
Choose one – Until end of turn, lands become 2/2 creatures that are still lands; or regenerate all creatures you control; or search your library for an Aura card, reveal it and put it into your hand. Then shuffle your library.
Illus: Dan Frazier (ABU – Mox Jet)
#116/306

Nevinyrral Yunir
Planeswalker – Nevinyrral (Rare)
Loyalty 3
+1: Return target nonsorcery card from your graveyard to your hand and you lose 1 life.
-1: Destroy two target nonartifact creatures and you lose 5 life.
-6: Switch life totals with target player.
Illus: Melissa A. Benson (Legends – Syphon Soul)
#117/306

Nevinyrral’s Gift
Enchantment – Gift Aura (Uncommon)
Enchant creature
Pay 3 life: Put a +1/+1 chip on enchanted creature.
Remove a +1/+1 chip from enchanted creature: You gain 2 life. Activate this ability only any time you could lay a land.
Illus: Douglas Shuler (ABU – Unholy Strength)
#118/306

Nightmare
Creature – Spirit Horse (Rare)
Diminish 10 (When this card is put into a graveyard from anywhere, target player puts the top ten cards of his or her library into his or her graveyard.)
The thunder of its hooves beats dreams into despair.
5/5
Illus: Melissa A. Benson (ABU – Nightmare)
#119/306

Pestilent Lich
Creature – Zombie Wizard (Rare)
Heritage (For each additional you pay when you cast this card, it costs less to cast.)
Whenever Pestilent Lich deals damage to a planeswalker or player, target player loses 2 life.
3/3
Illus: Christopher Rush (ABU – Pestilence)
#120/306

Possession
Enchantment – Curse Aura (Uncommon)
Enchant permanent (Target a permanent as you cast this. It comes into play attached to that permanent.)
You control enchanted permanent.
Illus: Phil Foglio (Ice Age – Infernal Darkness)
#121/306

Pulsemurmur
Enchantment – Gift (Uncommon)
Lifelink (Whenever this enchantment deals damage, you gain that much life.)
, Sacrifice an enchantment: Pulsemurmur deals 1 damage to target player.
Illus: Anson Maddocks (ABU – Deathgrip)
#122/306

Rat Familiar
Creature – Zombie Rat Minion (Uncommon)
Whenever a spell or ability an opponent controls is put onto the stack, if that spell or ability could target a Minion but doesn’t, that opponent changes one of its targets to a Minion.
1/1
Illus: Anson Maddock (ABU – Plague Rats)
#123/306

Repulse
Sorcery – Psionic (Common)
Flash
Return target creature to its owner’s hand.
“A simple trap in a dark corner of the mind, and their nightmares catch up with them.”
Illus: Ron Spencer (ABU – Terror)
#124/306

Sarcomancy
Enchantment – Gift (Rare)
When Sarcomancy comes into play, put a 2/2 black Zombie creature token into play.
At the beginning of your upkeep, if there are no Zombies in play, Sarcomancy deals 2 damage to you.
Illus: Jesper Myrfors (ABU – Scathe Zombies)
#125/306

Scarwood Hag
Creature – Human Witch (Uncommon)
Scarwood Hag gets +1/+1 for each enchantment in play.
Her ambition connects her to the swamp’s desires.
2/2
Illus: Anson Maddocks (The Dark – Scarwood Hag)
#126/306

Seal of Doom
Enchantment – Seal (Common)
Sacrifice Seal of Doom: Destroy target nonartifact creature.
“I am the banisher, the ill will that snuffs the final candle.”
- Seal inscription
Illus: Susan Van Camp (Legends – Glyph of Doom)
#127/306

Sengir Knight
Creature – Vampire Knight (Uncommon)
First strike (This creature deals combat damage before creatures without first strike.)
Whenever another creature is put into a graveyard from pay, you may put a +1/+1 chip on Sengir Knight.
2/2
Illus: Mark Pool (Ice Age – Knight of Stromgald)
#128/306

Sengir Stalker
Creature – Vampire Rogue (Rare)
Flying (This creature can’t be blocked except by creatures with flying or reach.)
, : Destroy target nonartifact creature. If you do, put a +1/+1 chip on Sengir Stalker.
3/3
Illus: Anson Maddocks (ABU – Sengir Vampire)
#129/306

Simulacrum
Sorcery – Psionic (Uncommon)
Flash
Change the target of target spell with a single target. You lose life equal to that spell’s converted mana cost.
“It was obviously a fatal blow, but the question is, to whom?”
Illus: Mark Poole (ABU – Simulacrum)
#130/306

Soul Net
Sorcery – Concoction (Uncommon)
Target player reveals the top card of his or her library. If it’s not a creature card, put it into its owner’s graveyard and that player repeats this process.
Illus: Dameon Willich (ABU – Soul Net)
#131/306

Urborg Constrictor
Creature – Snake (Common)
As an additional cost to cast Urborg Constrictor, you lose 3 life.
, : Tap target creature.
A hiss before dying.
3/3
Illus: Alan Rabinowitz (Portal – Python)
#132/306

Urborg Hunter
Creature – Human Archer (Common)
First strike (This creature deals combat damage before creatures without first strike.)
Reach (This creature can block creatures with flying.)
“Once they’ve marked you, the world is made of glass.”
2/4
Illus: Brian Snoddy (Tempest – Bounty Hunter)
#133/306

Vampire Bats
Creature – Vampire Bat (Common)
Flying (This creature can’t be blocked except by creatures with flying or reach.)
Lifelink (Whenever this creature deals damage, you gain that much life.)
1/1
Illus: Anson Maddocks (Legend – Vampire Bats)
#134/306

Will-O’-The-Wisp
Enchantment – Aspect Aura (Rare)
Enchant land
Whenever a creature card is put into a graveyard, you may put a 1/1black Spirit creature token into play.
Whenever enchanted land is tapped for mana, its controller loses 1 life.
Illus: Jesper Myrfors (ABU – Will-O’-The-Wisp)
#135/306

Witch’s Circle
Enchantment – Gift (uncommon)
Sacrifice a creature: The next time a source of your choice would deal damage to target creature, planeswalker, or player this turn, prevent this damage.
“Life is a resource that should belong only to the strong.”
- Urborg witch
Illus. NeNe Thomas (Ice Age – Hecatomb)
#136/306

Withering Boon
Sorcery – Rite (Rare)
Flash
Counter target spell. You lose life equal to half that spell’s converted mana cost, rounded up.
Illus: Robert Bliss (Mirage – Withering Boon)
#137/306

Zombify
Enchantment – Curse Aura (Common)
Enchant creature (Target a creature as you cast this. It comes into play attached to that creature.)
When enchanted creature is put into a graveyard, put into play under your control.
Illus: Jeff A. Menges (ABU – Raise Dead)
#138/306

[Excise]

Spoiler:

Ardor
Enchantment – Gift Aura (Common)
Enchant creature (Target a creature as you cast this. It comes into play attached to that creature.)
Whenever enchanted creature attacks, you may put a +1/+1 chip on it.
Making snap decisions can lead to a short, brutal life. Or alternatively, a legendary one.
Illus: Mark Poole (ABU – Howl from Beyond)
#139/306

Ball Lightning
Sorcery – Reflex (Common)
Ball Lightning deals 3 damage to target creature, planeswalker, or player.
Illus: Charles Gillespie (Mirage – Builder’s Bane)
#140/306

Blood Lust
Enchantment – Curse (Uncommon)
Creatures have berserker (They attack or block if able.)
Unknown to the stranger, the meadhall was built of bloodrock from the isle of Bogardan. He would awake the next morning a blanket of scars and shattered bones with no idea why.
Illus: Anson Maddocks (Legends – Blood Lust)
#141/306

Desert Strikers
Creature – Human Warrior (Common)
Haste (This creature can attack and as soon as it comes under your control.)
First strike (This creature deals combat damage before creatures without first strike.)
1/1
Illus: Christopher Rush (Arabian Nights – Desert Nomads)
#142/306

Dismantle
Sorcery – Reflex (Common)
Flash
Destroy target artifact. If that artifact was attached to a creature, remove that creature from combat.
Illus: Randy Asplund-Faith (Detonate – Antiquities)
#143/306

Dueling Grounds
Enchantment – Aspect Aura (Rare)
Enchant land (Target a land as you cast this. It comes into play attached to that land.)
Each player must attack and block with exactly one creature each turn.
Illus: Dameon Willich (Ice Age – Melee)
#144/306

Dwarven Demolition Team
Creature – Dwarf Rogue (Rare)
Haste
Whenever Dwarven Demolition Team deals damage to a planeswalker or player, that player or planeswalker’s controller discards a card at random.
2/2
Illus: Kev Brockschmidt (ABU – Dwarven Demolition Team)
#145/306

Dwarven Warhost
Creature – Dwarf Soldier (Uncommon)
At the beginning of your upkeep, sacrifice Dwarven Warhost unless you discard a card at random.
Whenever a player discards a card at random, you may draw a card.
Illus: Douglas Shuler (ABU – Dwarven Warrior)
#146/306

Embermage Dynamo
Creature – Elemental Shaman (Rare)
Embermage Dynamo’s power and toughness are each equal to the amount of mana in your mana pool.
Mana pools don’t empty at the end of phases or turns. (This effect stops mana burn.)
*/*
Illus: Melissa A. Benson (ABU – Fire Elemental)
#147/306

Firestorm Phoenix
Creature – Elemental Bird (Uncommon)
Flying (This creature can’t be blocked except by creatures with flying or reach.)
When Firestorm Phoenix comes into play, if you played it from your hand, add to your mana pool.
2/2
Illus: Jeff A. Menges (Legend – Firestorm Phoenix)
#148/306

Foriys Commando
Creature – Human Barbarian (Common)
Berserker (This creature attacks or blocks if able.)
When Foriys Commando attacks for the first time each turn, untap it. After this phase, you get an additional combat phase.
1/2
Illus: Anson Maddocks (ABU – Two-Headed Giant of Foriys)
#149/306

Form of the Dragon
Enchantment – Aspect (Rare)
At the beginning of your upkeep, Form of the Dragon deals 5 damage to target creature, planeswalker, or player.
At the end of each turn, your life total becomes 5.
Creatures without flying can’t attack you.
Illus: Craig Hooper (Visions – Dragon Mask)
#150/306

Goblin Balloon Brigade
Creature – Goblin Artificer (Rare)
First strike, reach (This creature deals combat damage before creatures without first strike and can block creatures with flying.)
Other Goblin creatures you control get +1/+1 and have first strike and reach.
1/1
Illus: Andi Rusu (ABU – Goblin Balloon Brigade)
#151/306

Gray Auger
Creature – Human Barbarian (Common)
: Gray Auger deals 1 damage to target creature, planeswalker, or player.
Keldon fortune tellers are most interested in forecasting tragedies.
2/2
Illus: Dan Frazier (ABU – Gray Ogre)
#152/360

Heat Ray
Sorcery – Reflex (Rare)
Heritage (For each additional you pay when you cast this card, it costs less to cast.)
Split second (As long as this spell is on the stack, players can’t cast spells or activate abilities that aren’t mana abilities.)
Heat Ray deals X damage to target creature, or planeswalker.
Illus: Anson Maddocks (ABU – Disintegration)
#153/306

Hurloon Mercenary
Creature – Minotaur Rogue (Common)
At the beginning of your upkeep, sacrifice a creature unless you pay .
Mercenaries kill for fun and profit.
3/3
Illus: Anson Maddocks (Homelands – Anaba Bodyguard B)
#154/306

Hurloon Shaman
Creature – Minotaur Shaman (Common)
: Another target creature you control gets +3/+1 until end of turn.
The Minotaurs of the HurloonMountains are known for their love of battle.
3/1
Illus: Anson Maddocks (ABU – Hurloon Minotaur)
#155/306

Imbricomancy
Enchantment – Gift (Uncommon)
When Imbricomancy comes into play, put a 5/5 red Dragon Wurm creature token into play.
At the beginning of your upkeep, if there are no Dragons or Wurms in play, Imbricomancy deals 5 damage to you.
Illus: Randy Elliot (Tempest – Wild Wurm)
#156/306

Keldon Warlord
Creature – Human Soldier (Common)
Haste (This creature can attack and as soon as it comes under your control.)
: Target creature has haste until end of turn.
2/2
Illus: Kev Brockschmidt (ABU – Keldon Warlord)
#157/306

Lightning Bolt
Sorcery – Reflex (Uncommon)
Flash
Split second (As long as this spell is on the stack, players can’t cast spells or activated abilities that aren’t mana abilities.)
Lightning Blot deals 2 damage to target creature, planeswalker, or player.
Illus: Jeff Miracola (5th Edition – Binding Grasp)
#158/306

Maddening Hymn
Sorcery – Incantation (Rare)
Target player discards two cards at random.
Members of the Order often played the Hymn on instruments made from their victim’s bones.
Illus: Scott Kirschner (Fallen Empires – Hymn to Tourach C)
#159/306

Mana Flare
Sorcery – Rite (Common)
Add to your mana pool.
Magic is strange, young one. It consumes much, yet produces more.”
- Talibah, embermage
Illus: Pete Venters (Ice Age – Circle of Protection: Red)
#160/306

Marsh Viper
Creature – Snake (Uncommon)
First strike (This creature deals combat damage before creatures without first strike.)
3/2
Illus: Ron Spencer (The Dark – Marsh Viper)
#161/306

Mons’s Goblin Raiders
Creature – Goblin Warrior (Common)
Mons’s Goblin Raiders gets +1/+1 for each player who controls a planeswalker.
Pashalik Mons and his raiders are the thunderhead that leads in the storm.
1/1
Illus: Jeff A. Menges (ABU – Mons’s Goblin Raiders)
#162/306

Mox Ruby
Sorcery – Charm (Uncommon)
Flash
Choose one – Put up to two target Reflex cards from your graveyard on top of your library; or discard each card in your hand and put that many +1/+1 chips on target creature; or gain control of target permanent until end of turn.
Illus: Dan Frazier (ABU – Mox Ruby)
#163/306

Nettling Imp
Creature – Demon (Common)
: Nettling Imp has flying until end of turn. (It can’t be blocked except by creatures with flying or reach.)
: Target creature has berserker until end of turn. (It attacks or blocks if able.)
2/2
Illus: Quinton Hoover (ABU – Nettling Imp)
#164/306

Pashalik Mons
Planeswalker – Mons (Rare)
Loyalty 4
+1: Put a creature card from your hand into play. That creature gains haste and has “Sacrifice this creature at end of turn.”
-1: Sacrifice a Goblin. If you do, Pashalik Mons deals 5 damage to target creature, planeswalker, or player.
-6: Destroy all artifacts, creatures, and lands. They can’t be regenerated.
Illus: Pete Venters (5th Edition – Goblin Hero)
#165/306

Personal Champion
Creature – Elemental Soldier (Uncommon)
Berserker (This creature attacks or blocks if able.)
Whenever a player activates a planeswalker ability, you may add to your mana pool.
2/3
Illus: Kev Brockschmidt (ABU – Personal Incarnation)
#166/306

Pillage
Sorcery – Rite (Uncommon)
Split second (As long as this spell is on the stack, players can’t cast spells or activated abilities that aren’t mana abilities.)
Destroy target artifact or non-Node land.
“Were they to reduce us to ash, we would clog their throats and sting their eyes in payment.”
Illus: Richard Kane-Ferguson (Alliances – Pillage)
#167/306

Pyrohemia
Enchantment – Curse (Uncommon)
At the end of turn, if no creatures are in play, sacrifice Pyrohemia.
: Pyrohemia deals 1 damage to each creature and player.
Illus: Mark Tedin (Legends – Lifeblood)
#168/306

Ravages of War
Sorcery – Arcane (Uncommon)
Add to each player’s mana pool.
Barbarians follow armies like jackals, ready to swoop in after a battle to soak in the ambient mana.
Illus: Jesper Myrfors (ABU – Armageddon)
#169/306

Reckless Embermage
Creature – Elemental Shaman (Rare)
: Reckless Embermage deals 1 damage to target creature, planeswalker, or player and 1 damage to itself.
Many mages have been consumed by their work.
2/2
Illus: Anson Maddocks (ABU – Circle of Protection: Red)
#170/306

Red Elemental Blast
Sorcery – Arcane (Common)
Red Elemental Blast deals damage equal to the number of Mountains you control to target creature.
Illus: Richard Thomas (ABU – Red Elemental Blast)
#171/306

Sedge Rock Sled
Creature – Troll Artificer (Common)
Heritage (For each additional you pay when you cast this card, it costs less to cast.)
Trample (If this creature would deal lethal combat damage to its blockers, you may have it deal the rest of its damage to defending player.)
4/1
Illus: Dennis Detwiller (The Dark – Goblin Rock Sled)
#172/306

Seizures
Enchantment – Curse Aura (Uncommon)
Enchant creature (Target a creature as you cast this. It comes into play attached to that creature.)
Enchanted creature can’t attack or block and has “At the beginning of your upkeep, this creature deals 1 damage to you.”
Illus: Julie Baroh (Ice Age – Seizures)
#173/306

Shattersmith
Creature – Goblin Artificer (Common)
When Shattersmith comes into play, you may destroy target artifact.
They believe the past is buried for good reason.
3/3
Illus: Daniel Gelon (The Dark – Goblin Wizard)
#174/306

Shatterstorm
Sorcery – Divine (Rare)
Destroy all artifacts.
Illus: James Allen (5th Edition – Shatterstorm)
#175/306

Shivan Dragon
Creature – Dragon (Rare)
Flying (This creature can’t be blocked except by creatures with flying or reach.)
Damage dealt by Shivan Dragon can’t be prevented.
5/5
Illus: Melissa A. Benson (ABU – Shivan Dragon)
#176/306

Steal
Sorcery – Arcane (Rare)
Flash
Gain control of target spell. (If it’s a permanent, it comes into play under your control and you are the spell’s controller.)
Illus: Amy Weber (ABU – Steal Artifact)
#177/306

Two-Headed Giant of Foriys
Creature – Giant Barbarian (Rare)
Trample
Whenever Two-Headed Giant of Foriys attacks for the first time each turn, untap it. After this phase, you get an additional combat phase.
4/4
Illus: Daniel Gelon (Legends – Frost Giant)
#178/306

Uthden Juggernaut
Creature – Giant Barbarian (Common)
Split second (As long as this spell is on the stack, players can’t cast spells or activate abilities that aren’t mana abilities.)
“Oi oi oi, me gotta hurt in’ere. Oi oi oi, me smell a ting is near. Gonna bosh ‘n gonna nosh ‘n da hurt’ll disappear.”
- Uthden chant
4/4
Illus: Douglas Shuler (ABU – Uthden Troll)
#179/306

Void Hymn
Sorcery – Incantation (Rare)
Search your library for a planeswalker card, reveal it and put it into your hand. Then shuffle your library.
Sing Urza’s praises. Seek Hurkyl’s consult. Play to Nevinyrral’s vanity. Make a bet with Mons. And beg Shanodin for transformation.
Illus: Dan Frazier (Legends – Dwarven Song)
#180/360

Walker’s Madness
Enchantment – Aspect Aura (Uncommon)
Enchant planeswalker
When Walker’s Madness comes into play, put a loyalty chip on enchanted planeswalker.
Enchanted planeswalker has “+1: This planeswalker deals 2 damage to target player, and another target player discards a card at random.”
Illus: Quinton Hoover (ABU – Darkpact)
#181/306

Warrior’s Heart
Enchantment – Aspect Aura (Uncommon)
Enchant creature
When Warrior’s Heart comes into play, put three +1/+1 chips on enchanted creature.
Enchanted creature has “Remove a +1/+1 chip from this creature: Warrior’s Heart deals 1 damage to target creature, planeswalker, or player.”
Illus: Alan Rabinowitz (Homelands – Ambush)
#182/306

Wheel of Fortune
Sorcery – Rite (Uncommon)
Split second (As long as this spell is on the stack, players can’t cast spells or activate abilities that aren’t mana abilities.)
Each player discards a card at random.
Illus: Daniel Gelon (ABU – Wheel of Fortune)
#183/360

Word of Command
Enchantment – Gift Aura (Uncommon)
Enchant creature
Whenever enchanted creature attacks for the first time each turn, untap it and all permanents that share a creature type with it that you control. After this phase, you get an additional combat phase.
Illus. Jesper Myrfors (The Dark – Orc General)
#184/306

[Excise]

Spoiler:

Argothian Treefolk
Creature – Plant Barbarian (Uncommon)
Shroud (This creature can’t be the target of spells or abilities.)
, Sacrifice Argothian Treefolk: Argothian Treefolk deals 5 damage to target creature.
5/3
Illus: Pete Venters (Antiquities – Gaea’s Avenger)
#185/306

Army Ants
Creature – Insect Swarm (Rare)
Trample
Whenever Army Ants deals combat damage to a planeswalker, or player, put that many 1/1 green Insect creature tokens into play.
6/6
Illus: Richard Thomas (Legends – Carrion Ants)
#186/306

Bog Scryer
Creature – Troll Witch (Common)
Regeneration (: The next time this creature would be destroyed this turn, it isn’t. Instead, remove all damage from it, tap it, and remove it from combat.)
3/1
Illus: Dan Frazier (ABU – Sedge Troll)
#187/306

Braingeyser
Enchantment – Aspect (Uncommon)
Flash
Each player may cast nonland spells as though they had flash.
The physical manifestation of this spell is extremely obvious.
Illus: Mark Tedin (ABU – Braingeyser)
#188/306

Brute Strength
Sorcery – Reflex (Common)
Flash
Target creature gets +3/+3 and gains trample until end of turn. (If it would deal lethal combat damage to its blockers, you may have it deal the rest of its damage to defending player.)
Illus: Douglas Shuler (5th Edition – The Brute)
#189/306

Cockatrice
Creature – Chimera Lizard (Rare)
: Until end of turn, Cockatrice gets -1/-1 and gains your choice of flying, protection from black, trample, or vigilance.
6/6
Illus: Dan Frazier (ABU – Cockatrice)
#190/306

Cocoon
Enchantment – Gift (Uncommon)
Vanishing 3 (This enchantment comes into play with three time chips on it. At the beginning of your upkeep, remove a time chip from it. When the last is removed, sacrifice it.)
When Cocoon leaves play, you may put a creature token into play that is a copy of a creature target player controls.
Illus: Mark Tedin (Legends – Cocoon)
#191/306

Craw Wurm
Creature – Dragon Wurm (Rare)
The most terrifying thing about the craw wurm is probably the horrible crashing sound it makes as it speeds through the forest. This noise is so loud it echoes through the trees and seems to come from all directions at once.
9/9
Illus: Daniel Gelon (ABU – Craw Wurm)
#192/306

Dingus Egg
Creature – Drake (Rare)
Whenever a land is put into a graveyard from play, Dingus Egg deals 2 damage to that land’s controller.
When Dingus Egg is put into a graveyard from play, search your library for a Drake card and put it into play. If you do, shuffle your library.
0/1
Illus: Dan Frazier (ABU – Dingus Egg)
#193/306

Elvish Piper
Creature – Elf Shaman (Common)
, : You may put a creature card from your hand into play.
“When the chimera appeared, we realized it wasn’t bird call after all.”
1/4
Illus: Rebecca Guay (9th Edition – Elvish Piper)
#194/306

Force of Nature
Creature – Plant Warrior (Uncommon)
Fear (This creature can’t be blocked except by creatures that share a color with it or colorless creatures.)
Whenever Force of Nature deals damage to a planeswalker or player, you may draw a card.
3/4
Illus: Douglas Shuler (ABU – Force of Nature)
#195/306

Gaea’s Liege
Creature – Human Monk (Common)
, Sacrifice a creature: Target creature gets +2/+2 until end of turn.
Gaea’s liege is a common sight in the forests of Dominaria. At her behest, he tells each animal if it is meant to live or to die.
5/7
Illus: Dameon Willich (ABU – Gaea’s Liege)
#196/306

Gaea’s Scourge
Sorcery – Divine (Rare)
Destroy all lands.
Illus: Dan Frazier (ABU – Ice Storm)
#197/306

Giant Growth
Enchantment – Aspect Aura (Uncommon)
Enchant creature (Target a creature as you cast this. It comes into play attached to that creature.)
Enchanted creature gets +2/+2.
Illus: Sandra Everingham (ABU – Giant Growth)
#198/306

Harmonize
Sorcery – Rite (Uncommon)
Each player draws two cards.
Replenish (When this card is put into your graveyard from anywhere, target player draws a card.)
Illus: Dameon WIllich (ABU – Circle of Protection: Blue)
#199/306

Havenwood Druid
Creature – Human Shaman (Common)
Shroud (This creature can’t be the target of spells or abilities.)
The druids of Havenwood take vows of silence. This is an act of asceticism, but also a matter of safety in Sarpadia.
2/2
Illus: Jeff A. Menges (Antiquities – Citanul Druid)
#200/306

Hunted Troll
Creature – Troll Warrior (Rare)
As an additional cost to play Hunted Troll, put four 1/1 blue Faerie Rogue creature tokens into play under target opponent’s control.
Regeneration (: The next time this creature would be destroyed this turn, it isn’t. Instead, remove all damage from it, tap it, and remove it from combat.)
8/4
Illus: Greg Staples (Ravnica: City of Guilds – Hunted Troll)
#201/306

Ironroot Treefolk
Creature – Plant Warrior (Common)
When Iroroot Treefolk comes into play, you may destroy target non-Node land.
“I’m disgusted that a hundred year old being thinks it’s entitled to destroy a millennial rock formation simply to thive.”
- Volta, cartographer
2/5
Illus: Jesper Myrfors (ABU – Ironroot Treefolk)
#202/306

Ivy Hydra
Creature – Chimera Hydra (Rare)
Heritage (For each additional you pay when you cast this card, it costs less to cast.)
Ivy Hydra comes into play with X +1/+1 chips on it.
0/0
Illus: Jeff A. Menges (ABU – Rock Hydra)
#203/306

Ley Feedback
Sorcery – Rite (Common)
Each player loses 1 life for each land he or she control. (Life loss isn’t damage.)
Illus: Quinton Hoover (ABU – Feedback)
#204/306

Llanowar Druid
Creature – Elf Shaman (Common)
, : Add , , , , or to your mana pool.
Whenever the Llanowar Elves gather the fruits of their forest, they leave one plant of each type untouched, considering that nature’s portion.
2/1
Illus: Anson Maddocks (ABU – Llanowar Elves)
#205/306

Loaming Drake
Creature – Drake (Common)
Flying (This creature can’t be blocked except by creatures with flying or reach.)
Replenish (When this card is put into your graveyard from anywhere, target player draws a card.)
These drakes make their nests in mulch fields and are driven by instinct to return when they are ailing.
3/3
Illus: Heather Hudson (Tempest – Flailing Drake)
#206/306

Luring Marker
Enchantment – Seal (Common)
When a player casts a spell, sacrifice Luring Marker. If you do, each of that player’s opponents puts a 4/4 green Chimera creature token into play.
Illus: Rob Alexander (Legends – Floral Spuzzem
#207/306

Mox Emerald
Sorcery – Charm (Uncommon)
Flash
Choose one – Each player sacrifices a land; or creatures you control get +1/+1 until end of turn; or shuffle your graveyard into your library.
Illus: Dan Frazier (ABU – Mox Emerald)
#208/306

Natural Selection
Sorcery – Rite (Rare)
Flash
Reveal the top seven cards of your library. Target opponent chooses a creature card from the revealed cards. Put that card into play under his or her control and each other creature card into play under your control. Then shuffle you library.
Illus: Mark Poole (ABU – Natural Selection)
#209/306

Pack Mentality
Theme – Enchantment – Wolf Aspect (Rare)
Each creature gets +1/+1 for each permanent that shares a creature type with it.
Illus: Jeff A. Menges (ABU – Aspect of Wolf)
#210/306

Piper’s Summons
Sorcery – Rite (Uncommon)
Flash
You may put a creature card from your hand into play.
Illus: Melissa A. Benson (Homelands – Didgeridoo)
#211/306

Raise Wild
Sorcery – Arcane (Rare)
Search target opponent’s library for a creature card and put that card into play under your control. Then that player shuffles his or her library.
Illus: Dan Frazier (ABU – Berserk)
#212/306

Regrowth
Sorcery – Concoction (Common)
Flash
Put target card in a graveyard on top of its owner’s library.
Illus: Dameon Willich (ABU – Regrowth)
#213/306

Remembrance
Sorcery – Rite (Rare)
Flash
Copy target activated or triggered ability. You may choose new targets for the copy.
Illus: Justin Hampton (Ice Age – Dark Ritual)
#214/306

Rime Dryad
Creature – Dryad Witch (Common)
Defender (This creature can’t attack.)
: Rime Dryad deals 1 damage to target creature it’s blocking.
1/3
Illus: Heather Hudson (Ice Age – Rime Dryad)
#215/306

Sarpadian Ooze
Creature – Ooze (Uncommon)
Sacrifice a creature: Sarpadian Ooze gets +2/+2 until end of turn.
When you get into Sarpadia, Sarpadia gets into you.
2/2
Illus: Dan Frazier (Legends – Quagmire)
#216/306

Scaled Wurm
Creature – Dragon Wurm (Common)
Scaled Wurm comes into play with five +1/+1 chips on it.
When Scaled Wurm leaves play, you may put its +1/+1 chips on target green creature.
2/1
Illus: Daniel Gelon (Ice Age – Scaled Wurm)
#217/306

Scarwood Fiends
Creature – Human Barbarian (Common)
As an additional cost to cast Scarwood Fiends, target opponent gains control of a creature of his or her choice.
Fear (This creature can’t be blocked except by creatures that share a color with it or colorless creatures.)
3/3
Illus: Mike Kimble (Homelands – Timmerian Fiends)
#218/306

Scryb Sprites
Creature – Faerie Swarm (Uncommon)
Flash
Flying (This creature can’t be blocked except by creatures with flying or reach.)
: Scryb Sprites gets +3/+3 until end of turn. Activate this ability only once each turn.
1/1
Illus: Amy Weber (ABU – Scryb Sprites)
#219/306

Shanodin Tulls
Planeswalker – Shanodin (Rare)
Loyalty 4
+1: Put a 1/1 green Insect creature token into play.
-1: Target creature gets +4/+4 until end of turn.
-6: Each other creature you control becomes a copy of target creature you control until end of turn.
Illus: Jesper Myrfors (ABU – Living Lands)
#220/306

Shanodin’s Basilisk
Creature – Chimera Lizard (Rare)
Whenever a creature you control is dealt damage, you may put a +1/+1 chip on it. (The damage is dealt before the chip is put on.)
Rather than sheltering her young, the female Basilisk often injures her own offspring, thereby ensuring their rapid growth.
3/4
Illus: Daniel Gelon (ABU – Thicket Basilisk)
#221/306

Spellbane
Enchantment – Gift Aura (Uncommon)
Flash
Enchant creature (Target a creature as you cast this. It comes into play attached to that creature.)
Enchanted creature has shroud. (It can’t be the target of spells or abilities.)
Illus: Phil Foglio (Legends – Avoid Fate)
#222/306

Stampede
Sorcery – Arcane (Uncommon)
Flash
Attacking creatures get +1/+1 and gain trample until end of turn. (If they would deal enough combat damage to their blockers to destroy them, you may have them deal the rest of their damage to defending player.)
Illus: Jeff A. Menges (Ice Age – Stampede)
#223/306

Tempest
Enchantment – Aspect (Uncommon)
Creatures you control have reach. (They can block creatures with flying.)
Creatures with flying get -1/-1.
Illus: Gary Gianni (Visions – Katabatic Winds)
#224/306

Timber Wolves
Creature – Beast Wolf (Uncommon)
: Timber Wolves has banding until end of turn.
Though many think of Wolves as solitary predators, they are actually extremely social animals. During a hunt they often call to each other, which can be quite unsettling for their prey.
4/4
Illus: Melissa A. Benson (ABU – Timber Wolves)
#225/306

Utopian Vision
Enchantment – Aspect Aura (Uncommon)
Enchant creature
When Utopian Vision comes into play, put three +1/+1 chips on enchanted creature.
Enchanted creature has “Remove a +1/+1 chip from this creature: Add , , or to your mana pool.”
Illus: Sandra Everingham (ABU – Ley Druid)
#226/306

Verduran Archer
Creature – Elf Archer (Uncommon)
Flash
Reach (This creature can block creatures with flying.)
Replenish (When this card is put into your graveyard from anywhere, target player draws a card.)
4/2
Illus: Anson Maddocks (ABU – Elvish Archers)
#227/306

Verduran Gardener
Creature – Human Monk (Common)
Heritage (For each additional you pay when you cast this card, it costs less to cast.)
Replenish (When this card is put into your graveyard from anywhere, target player draws a card.)
Some say gardening was first practiced by women, who have always felt strong ties to the land.
3/2
Illus: Kev Brockschmidt (ABU – Verduran Enchantress)
#228/306

War Mammoth
Creature – Beast Elephant (Common)
Trample (If this creature would deal lethal combat damage to its blockers, you may have it deal the rest of its damage to defending player.)
, : Target creature has trample until end of turn.
3/3
Illus: Jeff A. Menges (ABU – War Mammoth)
#229/306

Woodfall Treefolk
Creature – Plant Shaman (Rare)
Flash
Other green creatures get +2/+2.
“Where there’s a wood, there’s a way.”
- Woodfall motto
Illus: Brian Snoddy (Legends – Wood Elemental)
#230/306

[Excise]

Spoiler:

Ancestral Recall
Sorcery – Incantation (Rare)
Flash
Target player draws two cards.
Replenish (When this card is put into your graveyard from anywhere, target player draws a card.)
Illus: Mark Poole (ABU – Ancestral Recall)
#231/306

Black Lotus
Enchantment – Gift (Rare)
Sacrifice Black Lotus: Add three mana of any combination of , , , , or to your mana pool.
Illus: Christopher Rush (ABU – Black Lotus)
#232/306

Chaos Orb
Sorcery – Rite (Rare)
Split second (As long as this spell is on the stack, players can’t cast spells or activate abilities that aren’t mana abilities.)
Destroy a permanent target player controls at random.
Illus: Mark Tedin (ABU – Chaos Orb)
#233/306

Time Walk
Sorcery – Rite (Rare)
Target player takes an extra turn after this one.
Illus: Amy Weber (ABU – Time Walk)
#234/306

Timetwister
Sorcery – Glamer (Rare)
Each player shuffles his or her hand and graveyard into his or her library and then draws seven cards. (Then put Timetwister into its owner’s graveyard.)
Illus: Mark Tedin (ABU – Timetwister)
#235/306

Mox the Jeweler
Planeswalker – Mox (Rare)
Loyalty 2
+1: Add to your mana pool.
-4: You may reveal a Charm in your hand. If you do, cast a copy of it without paying its mana cost.
-6: Put Mox the Jeweler on top of its owner’s library. If you do, add to target player’s mana pool.
Illus: Adam Rex (Invasion – Rith’s Attendant)
#236/306

Black Vise
Artifact – Equipment (Uncommon)
Equipped creature has “At the beginning of your upkeep, you lose N life, where N is the number of cards in your hand.”
Whenever you become the target of a sorcery an opponent controls, you may equip a creature he or she controls with Black Vise.
Illus: Richard Thomas (ABU – Black Vise)
#237/306

Bottomless Vault
Artifact – Vault (Uncommon)
Relic – At the beginning of each player’s upkeep, if Bottomless Vault is untapped, that player draws a card.
: Target player gains 1 life. Activate this ability only if you have exactly seven cards in your hand.
Illus: David Seeley (5th Edition – Bottomless Vault)
#238/306

Clay Statue
Artifact Creature – Golem (Common)
Tawnos won fame as Urza’s greatest assistant. After he created these warriors, Urza ended his apprenticeship, promoting him directly to the rank of master.
2/2
Illus: Jesper Myrfors (Antiquities – Clay Statue)
#239/306

Clockwork Beast
Artifact Creature – Beast Construct (Uncommon)
Heritage (For each additional you pay when you cast this card, it costs less to cast.)
Vanishing 4 (This artifact comes into play with four time chips on it. At the beginning of your upkeep, remove a time chip from it. When the last is removed, sacrifice it.)
5/5
Illus: Drew Tucker (ABU – Clockwork Beast)
#240/306

Conservator
Artifact Creature – Construct (Uncommon)
Defender (This creature can’t attack.)
Whenever combat damage is dealt to Conservator, put that many 1/1 colorless Construct artifact creature tokens into play.
0/4
Illus: Amy Weber (ABU – Conservator)
#241/306

Crimson Rack
Artifact – Equipment (Uncommon)
Equipped creatures has “At the beginning of your upkeep, you lose N life, where N is 3 minus the number of cards in your hand.”
Whenever you become the target of a sorcery an opponent controls, you may equip a creature he or she controls with Crimson Rack.
Illus: Richard Thomas (ABU – The Rack)
#242/306

Cyclopean Tomb
Artifact – Vault (uncommon)
Heritage (For each additional you pay when you cast this card, it costs less to cast.)
: Put a 1/1 black Spirit creature token into play.
Illus: Anson Maddocks (ABU – Cyclopean Tomb)
#243/306

Dream Journal
Artifact – Tome (Rare)
When Dream Journal comes into play, target player draws a card.
, : Return target artifact to its owner’s hand.
Illus: Julie Baroh (Tempest – Fool’s Tome)
#244/306

Emmessi Tome
Artifact – Tome (Uncommon)
Heritage (For each additional you pay when you cast this card, it costs less to cast.)
: Draw two cards, then discard two cards unless you discard a creature card. Activate this ability only any time you could lay a land.
Illus: Mark Tedin (ABU – Jayemdae Tome)
#245/306

Frozen Heart
Artifact – Orb (Common)
Frozen Heart comes into play tapped.
Heritage (For each additional you pay when you cast this card, it costs less to cast.)
T: Add to your mana pool.
Illus: Mark Zug (Mirrodin – Icy Manipulator)
#246/306

Gauntlets of Chaos
Artifact – Equipment (Common)
Equipped creature gets +4/+2 and doesn’t untap during its controller’s untap step.
Equip (: Attach to target creature you control. Equip only any time you could lay a land.)
Illus: Dan Frazier (Legends – Gauntlets of Chaos)
#247/306

Grapeshot Catapult
Artifact Creature – Construct (Common)
Reach (This creature can block creatures with flying.)
For years scholars debated whether these were Urza’s or Mishra’s creations. Recent research suggests they were invented by the brother’s original master, Tocasia, and that both used these devices.
2/2
Illus: Dan Frazier (Antiquities – Grapeshot Catapult)
#248/306

Heartsick Lance
Artifact – Equipment (Common)
Equipped creature gets +1/+1 and has “: Return this creature to its owner’s hand.”
Equip (: Attach to target creature you control. Equip only any time you could lay a land.)
Illus: Rob Alexander (ABU – Lance)
#249/360

Helm of Chatzuk
Artifact – Equipment (Uncommon)
Equipped creature has banding. (Any number of attacking creatures with banding, and up to one without, can form a band. Blocking a creature in the band blocks all of them. You assign combat damage for any creature blocking or blocked by this creature.)
Equip (: Attach to target creature you control. Equip only any time you could lay a land.)
Illus: Mark Tedin (ABU – Helm of Chatzuk)
#250/306

The Hive Artifact – Vault (Rare)
Relic – Creatures you control have flying if The Hive is untapped.
, : Put a 1/1 green Insect creature token into play. The Hive doesn’t untap during your next untap step.
Illus: Sandra Everingham (ABU – The Hive)
#251/306

Horn of Deafening
Artifact – Instrument (Common)
, Sacrifice Horn of Deafening: Target player draws a card.
, Sacrifice Horn of Deafening: Horn of Deafening deals 2 damage to target creature, planeswalker, or player.
“An blast, an echo… then silence.”
Illus: Dan Frazier (Legends – Horn of Deafening)
#252/306

Hurkyl’s Armor
Artifact – Equipment (Uncommon)
Equipped creature gets +5/+0 and loses its abilities.
Equip (: Attach to target creature you control. Equip only any time you could lay a land.)
Illus: Douglas Shuler (ABU – Animate Artifact)
#253/306

Icy Manipulator
Artifact – Orb (Uncommon)
Heritage (For each additional you pay when you cast this card, it costs less to cast.)
: Tap target artifact, creature, or land.
Illus: Douglas Shuler (ABU – Icy Manipulator)
#254/306

Insidious Bookworms
Artifact Creature – Construct (Common)
When Insidious Bookworms is put into a graveyard from play, you may pay . If you do, target player discards a card.
1/1
Illus: Greg Simanson (Alliances – Insidious Bookworms A)
#255/306

Iron Star
Artifact – Equipment (Uncommon)
Equipped creature has haste and “, : This creature deals 1 damage to target planeswalker or player.”
Equip–Tap Iron Star (Tap Iron Star: Attach to target creature you control. Equip only any time you could lay a land.)
Illus: Dan Frazier (ABU – Iron Star)
#256/306

Ivory Cup
Artifact – Cylix (uncommon)
Spells cost less to cast.
Blessed by a thousand prayers. Passed through ten thousand hands. Sought by a hundred thousand hearts.
Illus: Anson Maddocks (ABU – Ivory Cup)
#257/306

Jade Statue
Artifact Creature – Golem (Common)
: Jade Statue gets +1/+1 until end of turn.
“Some of the other guys dared me to touch it, but I knew it weren’t no ordinary hunk o’ rock.”
- Norin the Wary
1/1
Illus: Dan Frazier (ABU – Jade Statue)
#258/306

The Lair
Artifact – Vault (Rare)
Relic – Creatures you control get +1/+1 if The Lair is untapped.
, : Put a 4/4 green Chimera token into play. The Lair doesn’t untap during your next untap step.
Illus: Christopher Rush (The Dark – Safe Haven)
#259/306

Library of Leng
Artifact – Vault (Uncommon)
: Untap target Orb or Tome.
, : Untap another target Vault.
Illus: Daniel Gelon (ABU – Library of Leng)
#260/306

Mana Vault
Artifact – Vault (Rare)
Mana Vault comes into play tapped.
At the beginning of your untap step, if Mana Vault is tapped, untap it and it deals 2 damage to you.
: Add to your mana pool.
Illus: Mark Tedin (ABU – Mana Vault)
#261/306

Mons’s Stormseeker
Artifact – Equipment (Common)
Equipped creature gets +2/+0.
Equip (: Attach to target creature you control. Equip only any time you could lay a land.)
Illus: Mark Poole (Legends – Storm Seeker)
#262/306


Mystic Compass
Artifact – Bauble (Common)
, : Target land has the basic land type of your choice until end of turn.
, : Target land becomes the basic land type of your choice until end of turn. (It loses its other types. Basic land types are Forest, Island, Mountain, Node, Plains, and Swamp.)
Illus: Amy Weber (Alliances – Mystic Compass)
#263/306

Nevinyrral’s Disk
Artifact – Amulet (Rare)
Nevinyrral’s Disk comes into play tapped.
, : Destroy all artifacts, creatures, enchantments, and planeswalkers.
Illus: Mark Tedin (ABU – Nevinyrral’s Disk)
#264/306

Obsianus Golem
Artifact Creature – Golem (Rare)
When Obsianus Golem is put into your graveyard from you library, you may put it into play.
“The foot stone is connected to the ankle stone, the ankle stone is connected to the leg stone… .”
- Song of the Artificer
4/6
Illus: Jesper Myrfors (ABU – Obsianus Golem)
#265/306

Shanodin’s Mask
Artifact – Equipment (Rare)
Whenever equipped creature deals combat damage to a planeswalker or player, you may pay . If you do, reveal a card from your hand with converted mana cost and cast a copy of it.
Equip
Illus: Amy Weber (ABU – Illusionary Mask)
#266/306

Throne of Bone
Artifact – Throne (Rare)
When a creature comes into play under your control, sacrifice Throne of Bone.
: Put a creature card from your graveyard into play.
Illus: Anson Maddocks (ABU – Throne of Bone)
#267/306

Triskelion
Artifact Creature – Construct (Common)
A brainchild of Tawnos, the Triskelion later proved both versatile and useful.
3/3
Illus: Douglas Shuler (Antiquities – Triskelion)
#268/306

Urza’s Glasses
Artifact – Bauble (Uncommon)
: Add to your mana pool.
Urza’s artifacts were designed to help all, but none more than himself.
Illus: Douglas Shuler (ABU – Glasses of Urza)
#269/306

War Drums
Artifact – Instrument (Uncommon)
Heritage (For each additional you pay when you cast this card, it costs less to cast.)
Attacking creatures you control get +1/+0 and can’t be blocked except by two or more creatures.
Illus. Richard Kane-Ferguson (Fallen Empires – Goblin War Drums)
#270/306

Winter Orb
Artifact – Orb (Rare)
Relic – As long as Winter Orb is untapped, players can’t untap more than two permanents during their untap steps.
Illus: Mark Tedin (ABU – Winter Orb)
#271/306

[Excise]

Spoiler:

Badlands
Land – Swamp Mountain (Rare)
(: Add or to your mana pool.)
Illus: Rob Alexander (ABU – Badlands)
#272/306

Bayou
Land – Node (Rare)
(: Add to your mana pool.)
Pay 1 life, : Add or to your mana pool.
Illus: Jesper Myfors (ABU – Bayou)
#273/306

BenalishCastle
Land – Stronghold (Common)
Benalish Castle comes into play tapped.
: Add to your mana pool.
, : Prevent all combat damage that would be dealt to and by target creature.
Illus: Dameon Willich (ABU – Castle)
#274/306

Hidden Orchard
Land – Refuge (Uncommon)
Hidden Orchard come into play tapped.
: Add to your mana pool.
, Sacrifice Hidden Orchard: Regenerate target permanent. (The next time it would be destroyed this turn, it isn’t. Instead, remove all damage from it, tap it, and remove it from combat.)
Illus: Anson Maddocks (ABU – Lure)
#275/306

Plateau
Land – Node (Rare)
(: Add to your mana pool.)
Pay 1 life, : Add or to your mana pool.
Illus: Cornelius Brudi (Revised – Plateau)
#276/306

Savannah
Land – Forest Plains (Rare)
(: Add or to your mana pool.)
Illus: Rob Alexander (ABU – Savannah)
#277/306

Scrubland
Land – Node (Rare)
(: Add to your mana pool.)
Pay 1 life, : Add or to your mana pool.
Illus: Jesper Myfors (Revised – Scrubland)
#278/306

StripMine
Land – Mine (Rare)
: Add to your mana pool. Strip Mine doesn’t untap during your next untap step.
, , Sacrifice Strip Mine: Destroy target non-Node land.
Illus: Daniel Gelon (Antiquities – Strip Mine)
#279/306

Taiga
Land – Mountain Forest (Rare)
(: Add or to your mana pool.)
Illus: Rob Alexander (ABU – Taiga)
#280/306

TolarianSpires
Land – Tower (Common)
Tolarian Spires comes into play tapped.
: Add to your mana pool.
, : Creatures have protection from artifacts until end of turn. (They can’t be equipped, targeted, or dealt damage by artifacts.)
Illus: Mark Poole (ABU – Island Sanctuary)
#281/306

TropicalParadise
Land – Node (Rare)
(: Add to your mana pool.)
Pay 1 life, : Add or to your mana pool.
Illus: Jesper Myfors (Revised – TropicalIsland)
#282/306

Tundra
Land – Plains Island (Rare)
(: Add or to your mana pool.)
Illus: Jesper Myrfors (ABU – Tundra)
#283/306

UndergroundSea
Land – Island Swamp (Rare)
(: Add or to your mana pool.)
Illus: Rob Alexander (ABU – UndergroundSea)
#284/306

UrborgCave
Land – Cave (Common)
Urborg Cave comes into play tapped.
: Add to your mana pool.
: Target creature has regeneration until end of turn. (: The next time it would be destroyed this turn, it isn’t. Instead, remove all damage from it, tap it, and remove it from combat.)
Illus: Sandra Everingham (ABU – Evil Presence)
#285/306

UthdenWar-Zone
Land – Battleground (Common)
Uthden War-Zone comes into play tapped.
: Add to your mana pool.
, : Add to your mana pool.
Illus: Dameon Willich (ABU – Flashfires)
#286/306

VolcanicSea
Land – Node (Rare)
(: Add to your mana pool.)
Pay 1 life, : Add or to your mana pool.
Illus: Brian Snoddy (Revised – Volcanic Island)
#287/306

WoodfallMaze
Land – Maze (Common)
Woodfall Maze comes into play tapped.
: Add to your mana pool.
, : Put a +1/+1 chip on Woodfall Maze, and it becomes a 2/2 insect creature. (This effect doesn’t end at the of turn.)
Illus: Rob Alexander (ABU – Web)
#288/306

Node
Basic – Land – Node (Common)
(: Add to your mana pool.)
Illus: Sandra Everingham (ABU – Raging River)
#289/306

Node
Basic – Land – Node (Common)
(: Add to your mana pool.)
Illus: Jesper Myrfors (ABU – Cursed Land)
#290/306

Node
Basic – Land – Node (Common)
(: Add to your mana pool.)
Illus: Douglas Shuler (ABU – Tranquility)
#291/306

Plains
Basic – Land – Plains (Common)
(: Add to your mana pool.)
Illus. Jesper Myrfors (ABU – Plains A)
#292/306

Plains
Basic – Land – Plains (Common)
(: Add to your mana pool.)
Illus. Jesper Myrfors (ABU – Plains B)
#293/306

Plains
Basic – Land – Plains (Common)
(: Add to your mana pool.)
Illus. Jesper Myrfors (ABU – Plains C)
#294/306

Island
Basic – Land – Island (Common)
(: Add to your mana pool.)
Illus. Mark Poole (ABU – Island A)
#295/306

Island
Basic – Land – Island (Common)
(: Add to your mana pool.)
Illus. Mark Poole (ABU – Island B)
#296/306

Island
Basic – Land – Island (Common)
(: Add to your mana pool.)
Illus. Mark Poole (ABU – Island C)
#297/306

Swamp
Basic – Land – Swamp (Common)
(: Add to your mana pool.)
Illus. Dan Frazier (ABU – Swamp A)
#298/306

Swamp
Basic – Land – Swamp (Common)
(: Add to your mana pool.)
Illus. Dan Frazier (ABU – Swamp B)
#299/306

Swamp
Basic – Land – Swamp (Common)
(: Add to your mana pool.)
Illus. Dan Frazier (ABU – Swamp C)
#300/306

Mountain
Basic – Land – Swamp (Common)
(: Add to your mana pool.)
Illus. Douglas Shuler (ABU – Mountain A)
#301/306

Mountain
Basic – Land – Swamp (Common)
(: Add to your mana pool.)
Illus. Douglas Shuler (ABU – Mountain B)
#302/306

Mountain
Basic – Land – Swamp (Common)
(: Add to your mana pool.)
Illus. Douglas Shuler (ABU – Mountain C)
#303/306

Forest
Basic – Land – Forest (Common)
(: Add [mana]G[mana] to your mana pool.)
Illus. Christopher Rush (ABU – Forest A)
#304/306

Forest
Basic – Land – Forest (Common)
(: Add [mana]G[mana] to your mana pool.)
Illus. Christopher Rush (ABU – Forest B)
#305/306

Forest
Basic – Land – Forest (Common)
(: Add [mana]G[mana] to your mana pool.)
Illus. Christopher Rush (ABU – Forest C)
#306/306

Human Soldier
Creature – Human Soldier (Token)
1/1
Illus: Douglas Shuler (Ice Age – Battle Cry)
#1/11

Faerie Rogue
Creature – Faerie Rogue (Token)
Flying (This creature can’t be locked except by creatures with flying or reach.)
1/1
Illus: Susan Van Camp (Homelands – Willow Faerie B)
#2/11

Fish
Creature – Fish (Token)
3/3
Illus: Tom Wanerstrand (The Dark – Giant Shark)
#3/11

Spirit
Creature – Spirit (Token)
1/1
Illus: Jeff A. Menges (ABU – Bog Wraith)
#4/11

Zombie
Creature – Zombie (Token)
2/2
Illus: Brian Snoddy (Torment- Zombie Trailblazer)
#5/11

Dragon Wurm
Creature – Dragon Wurm (Token)
5/5
Illus: Kev Walker (Urza’s Saga – Argothian Wurm)
#6/11

Goblin Warrior
Creature – Goblin Warrior (Token)
1/1
Illus: Pete Venters (5th Edition – Mons’s Goblin Raiders)
#7/11

Chimera
Creature – Chimera (Token)
4/4
Illus: Pete Venters (Ice Age – Lhurgoyf)
#8/11

Insect
Creature – Insect (Token)
1/1
Illus: Pat Morrissey (Alliances – Yavimaya Ants)
#9/11

Construct
Artifact Creature – Construct (Token)
1/1
Illus: Amy Weber (Antiquities – Urza’s Avenger)
#10/11

Ornithopter
Artifact Creature – Construct (Token)
Flying (This creature can’t be locked except by creatures with flying or reach.)
0/2
Illus: Amy Weber (Antiquities – Ornithopter)
#11/11

[Valros]

This looks like a well thought out and complete revision (someone else started a reboot, but it wasn't as complete... who was that?) but I'll chip in my $0.02 anyway.

Originally Posted by Excise

With each color I wanted to strengthen it such that it wasn’t always acting as a splash color to other deck archetypes.
...
It still has protection and damage prevention, but this is supplemental to a strong creature base and card draw.

The goal is fair enough, but card draw is a little against white's philosophy, IMO. Because of its tendency toward zealotry (in maintaining the status quo) it shouldn't get card draw aside from, say, cantrips. This is shared with red, which also has the "zealot" tendency (because of its heedless, emotional nature).

Originally Posted by Excise

I had to reexamine White’s philosophy once I assigned Artifacts as its favorite card type.

...

White has lost its ability to destroy artifacts. It is the artifact color, and as such the last color that would try and destroy them. It has also lost its ability to destroy creatures. For both card types, it will need to rely on soft counters and superior combat skills to survive.

What? White is the main artifact color? What about blue, the color of... well, of artifice? I can see white in a secondary role to this obviously, but...

Originally Posted by Excise

White has lost “Pacifism” effects to Red which now is the color of combat manipulation.

Hrm. I'd like to see it keep Ghostly Prison effects as part of its "taxing" theme... but "can't block" and conditional "can't attack" effects are certainly red, so this makes some sense.

Originally Posted by Excise

White also has gained counter spells, but before you think of it as traditional Blue 2.0, its counterspells are soft, more in the vein of taxing than outright denial.

Since Wizards seems to be taking this direction itself, I can accept it.

Originally Posted by Excise

White also has gained the traditional Black ability of graveyard hosing. It has had it to a limited capacity in traditional Magic, but now it is the only color that can remove cards in the graveyard from the game. (The Removed-from-the-game zone has been renamed the void in Reboot.) Since the zones all play a large role in Magic, this move is not insignificant.

Originally Posted by Excise

Another ability White has gained is giving a creature -1/-1. This is not the same as –X/-X which remains Black, but really is more of an ability designed to clear the board of weenies rather than act as creature removal, which White has lost. From a flavor perspective, the creature has shrunk as opposed to the traditional explanation that the creature is sick or weakened.

Ew.

Originally Posted by Excise

Blue’s favorite card type is Land and its least favorite type is Planeswalker. Blue’s focus on knowledge and preparation was directed towards exploration and physical perfection along with its typical mental focus. And it’s manipulation of time allows it to fight its enemies when they were less powerful, or it was more prepared.

Okay, land throws me off here. What about green? Type manipulation is blue and can stay that way, but green should keep land tutors... I mean, it's nature.

Originally Posted by Excise

Blue has lost straight up card draw to White. What it has kept instead is card filtering, like Ponder, and Looter abilities, where it draws and then discards. So really what it has left is card selection.

If anything, straight card draw (i.e., draw 2 or more) should go to black.

Blue has also lost the ability to change land types. That ability exists in an artifact card, Mystic Compass and if it were put in a color, it would now ship over to Green.

Originally Posted by Excise

Landwalk does not exist in the Reboot, and Islandwalk traditionally has been heavily used in blue creature design. Flying and protection replace this evasion ability.

Fair enough. What about straight-up "unblockable"?

Originally Posted by Excise

Blue has also lost Shroud, which is solely Green now. Protection again approximates this keyword’s ability, though to a more limited capacity.

Can't it get limited shroud, like "Target creature gains shroud until end of turn"? I like shroud more than protection, anyway.

Originally Posted by Excise

Blue has lost its Bounce effects to White and Black.

Erm. Bounce should stay in blue and maybe red, if Planar Chaos has any relevancy in this.

Originally Posted by Excise

The biggest change to Blue, is that it is the Land-focused color, and as such it has gained the land search ability from traditional Green. But in assigning mechanics to colors, I have separated land search and color filtering. I wanted green to be able to provide different colors of mana, and blue really to be able to find other Islands or Nodes exclusively. This distinction may trouble some, since it means blue gets Wood Elves and not Farhaven Elf, but I wanted mechanics to have a lot of presence across the color wheel and mana filitering and land search are deep enough design spaces, that it’s okay to split hairs here.

If anything this should be flipped: Blue should get mana filtering and green should get actual land search.

Originally Posted by Excise

Similar to Land search, Blue also has permanent mana acceleration, so Llanowar Elf is blue (actually it’s an Artifact that you can cast for U called Frozen Heart.) and Birds of Paradise are now blue. Instead of using this mana acceleration to ramp up to big creatures like traditional Green, Blue will be able to provide counter support, while still laying threats down each turn.

Originally Posted by Excise

Another addition to Blue comes from its ability to hose Planeswalkers. It can remove chips from permanents and destroy tokens. This has been an unused mechanic in traditional Magic, but rather than make a narrow card the says “Destroy target planeswalker” and wanted a more elegant approach. So blue can steal or remove chips. Most of the time this will affect +1/+1 chips.

It's only natural for "counter" manipulation to be blue. I like the counter -> chip switch, it removes ambiguity.

Originally Posted by Excise

Another gain for blue comes from the eradication of a “worst Creature color” philosophy. It will no longer have to overpay for creatures, and it has some surprising bodies. However, it is not the most aggressive color so those creatures aren’t going to be red-zone bound, like Green or Red. Its creatures are more defensive, so they will have a higher toughness often times, as well as useful abilities. For example, the Mana Flare ability has been shifted to blue, but this time it’s on a highly defensive creature rather than an enchantment.

So blue is the Turtle color. You should still have overpriced fat Leviathan-types, with the justification that blue isn't good at attacking, but also that such threats are essentially unanswerable in creature-to-creature combat (unblockability, etc.)

Blue has also gained a little bit of discard, allowing them to look at a player’s hand and have that player discard a card of their choice.

Originally Posted by Excise

Black has moved beyond the graveyard a bit and revels in a little selfishness. Black’s new favorite card type is Enchantment...

Excuse me while my heart returns to its normal position inside my body.

Originally Posted by Excise

...which, I think, reflects in its flavor of making bargains for power. They will do unnatural and ungodly things for their own selfish needs, and casting Enchantments is a quick and easy method of doing so. Black’s least favorite card type remains Creatures, and it’s obvious that this is a carry over from traditional Magic. Black is given a wider variety of hating creatures then usual.

Well, as long as it keeps the flavor of "hard-to-break contracts" and doesn't get Disenchant... I can see this.

Originally Posted by Excise

Black has lost its ability to remove cards in a graveyard from the game, (the ability has been moved to White.)

It could at least keep it in secondary capacity...

Originally Posted by Excise

Black has lost its spot as the best tutor color. That ability has been spread out among all the colors, with each of them being best at searching for their favorite card type. Cards like Demonic Tutor simply don’t exist in this set and as such, Black loses an important mechanic.

Fair enough. Although I liked black's "do anything for a price" effects.

Originally Posted by Excise

Black has been forced to share discard with Red and Blue. What it has retained is discard at instant speed.

No more Coercion? Sad.

Originally Posted by Excise

Black can now do more than reanimate creatures - it has taken universal recursion from Green. Now it can put any card in the graveyard back into its hand.

Hm.

Originally Posted by Excise

Black has the “gain control” mechanic, formerly in Blue, (though Red still retains temporary effects for creature targets, like Threaten.) This mechanic is mostly represented with Enchantments, though Sorcery versions would be appropriate.

I'd rather see an actual "coercion" effect in black, like an Aura that says "at the beginning of each player's upkeep, you gain control of enchanted creature unless its controller pays N life," where N=2 probably.

Originally Posted by Excise

Black has gained Bounce effects as cheap creature removal.

Not very black, IMO. Why simply scare a creature off when you can simply kill it? Dead men tell no tales, as it were.

Originally Posted by Excise

Black has also gained spell redirection from Blue and Red, though the flavor of the mechanic is tied to sacrificing other resources to protect your interests.

So more like the Muck Drubb effect?

Originally Posted by Excise

Black also can counter spells, though it would need to pay for it with life, or limited targeting choices.

...

Originally Posted by Excise

Black can animate lands, an ability that is traditionally Green. Since it sits right next to the Land color, it needed some lesser land related ability. White has “gain control of a land” and Black now can animate them.

Moving land effects away from green was not a good choice, as I've said before.

Originally Posted by Excise

Black also has some smaller artifact destruction abilities, like countering an artifact spell. This is because it is across from White, the “artifact color.”

Also no.

Originally Posted by Excise

Red has had a lot of adjustment, as direct damage has been redistributed across Blue

Wait, blue got direct damage? Oh, pingers. I thought you were trying to "fix" Alpha.

Originally Posted by Excise

And land destruction has been moved over to Green. Red’s least favorite type is Artifact, and its traditional ability to destroy artifacts remains. Also, in order to cast a stronger contrast between Red and White, I have given red greater ability to manipulate combat by forcing creatures to attack, or preventing them from being able to attack.

I don't think planeswalkers should count as a "real" card type, since they're supposed to be rare. But the other stuff seems pretty justified.

Originally Posted by Excise

Red has lost a lot of its smaller creature base, since it is now the color of mana acceleration similar to Dark Ritual.

Fair enough.

Originally Posted by Excise

Red is the Planeswalker color, and can search for them, its creatures get a boost when they are on the board and you can get mana by using their abilities.

Well, it sounds interesting, at least, but it seems too conditional for a core set (and the "first" no less!)

Originally Posted by Excise

Red has expanded its ability to generate additional combat steps, so that it is a much more common effect. Since its suite of keywords favor combat so much, this is a nice way to give it some added oomph.

Okay. Probably should have "skip other step" effects as part of that too. Who needs main phases, for example?

Originally Posted by Excise

Red has gained random discard effects, this time allowing you to force an opponent to discard at random, rather than randomly discarding yourself for effects. Red’s chaotic elements will be more focused on opponents rather than itself in Reboot.

Fair enough. Like hitting the enemy in the back of the head, although this tends to punish people with fewer cards in hand.

Originally Posted by Excise

Red can now gain control of spells until end of turn, and not just creatures. And since spells only last of the moment, they can get the most out of them.

Fair enough, although this might be a little too cerebral for monored.

Originally Posted by Excise

Its favorite card type is creatures and its least favorite is land.

My least favorite change, as you might be able to tell. It could hate nonbasic lands, and it certainly justified in doing so. Actually this might be better, if you care to downplay and/or distribute effects that strictly care about basic lands.

Originally Posted by Excise

Green has lost land searching, mana acceleration and general land manipulation. All it has left is the ability to filter mana into different colors.

It should, at the very least, retain its ability to search for Forests.

Originally Posted by Excise

Green has lost in color regeneration.

Fair enough.

Originally Posted by Excise

Green is the Clone color, only this time the effect is based on adaptation and evolution. A straight up Clone creature isn’t in the set, but Cocoon gets the point across at the uncommon level.

Hm.

Originally Posted by Excise

Green has the ability to cause lifeloss like Black.

Huh?!

Originally Posted by Excise

Green still has Giant Growth effects, but it also has Nantuko Husk. There is a greater emphasis on recycling in the color thanks to Replenish (See new keywords) so sacrificing creatures for effects has been added to it’s mechanics.

Hm, possibly, although Husk is quite black (selfish, willing to sacrifice anything for its own gain, etc.)...

Originally Posted by Excise

Green has many more instant speed combat tricks than in traditional Magic, mostly related to creatures with Flash.

I like that.

Regarding creature types: Although my gut doesn't really like the "Beast" and "Chimera" as race model, it's quite interesting and more unifying.

Taking out Cleric disregards a large part of why Magic was created in the first place (quick game between DnD sessions)... Although maybe you could split it up into, say, Priest, Monk, and Mystic. I don't really like the re-inclusion of Minion... it's really broad.

No Druids either? Sad.

Swarm? Good call. I wonder why this wasn't done before.
Regarding card types: I don't like the Tribal change. There's no real reason (especially with only one type of nonpermanent spell) to broaden it to include all subtypes. I suggest splitting it into two.

Tribal includes all creature types.
Mystic includes all enchantment and sorcery types.

Artifacts and lands can just, well, stay alone and unloved.

Originally Posted by Excise

The Artifact types are: Amulet, Bauble, Cylix, Equipment, Instrument, Orb, Throne, Tome, Vault

Fair enough.

Originally Posted by Excise

The Enchantment types are: Aspect, Aura, Curse, Gift, Seal

So each type implies a certain effect? Okay.

Originally Posted by Excise

The Land types are: Battleground, Cave, Forest, Island, Maze, Mine, Mountain, Node, Plains, Refuge, Stronghold, Swamp, Tower

The new land types don't really do it for me, especially basic land #6... but that's personal opinion, and since this this is a reboot it's not the same as trying to introduce it into Magic as it is today.

Originally Posted by Excise

The Sorcery types are: Arcane, Charm, Concoction, Divine, Glamer, Incantation, Psionic, Reflex, Rite

Okay.

Regarding what each color gets: It seems like you kinda spread out traditional effects so that each color can almost play by itself... monocolor play is not a good thing, IMO. Not only that, but eventually every color will start to look the same if you extrapolate N years down the road as we are now.

Regarding the mechanics:

Originally Posted by Excise

Berserker
This keyword designates a creature that will always try to enter combat. It exists solely in Red for this set, but could appear in Black or Green for future sets.

Logical and probable even in normal Magic, although the blocking part throws it off a bit. Could still be possible, given deathtouch.

Originally Posted by Excise

Diminish N
This keyword allows you to mill a player whenever the card with Diminish is put into a graveyard. It is similar to another new keyword in the set (Replenish) in that the ability triggers regardless of how the card is placed in the graveyard. So Diminish can trigger when a card is destroyed, discarded, or milled via another Diminish trigger. The keyword resides in Blue and Black.

Relic
This is an ability word for abilities or effects on permanents. There are two distinct instances where Relic is used. First, it is used when a card only has an effect if untapped. And second, if an ability can be activated or trigger only when the permanent is untapped. It is used on Artifact cards, but could expand to colored permanents in future sets.

Replenish
Like the Diminish keyword, Replenish is triggered when the card with it is placed in a graveyard from anywhere. The effect is that you can have a target player draw a card. This ability will often act like a souped-up cantrip. The keyword exists in Green and Blue.[/quote]
While these are all good abilities, I don't think they're core set material... evergreen keywords should be able to appear in any set, even in singles.

Originally Posted by Excise

Fear
This ability now allows blockers based on whether they share a color with the attacker, or alternatively are colorless. This is a small change from how Fear appears in existing Magic sets. The keyword is in Black and Green.

Okay, this seems like a fair implementation. Could almost be used today with minor rules changes. Almost.

Originally Posted by Excise

Melee N
This keyword is a renamed Bushido. It exists in Red and White.

Boring, but workable.

Originally Posted by Excise

Ranged strike
This is an ability word that identifies a group of activated abilities. It is loosely defined, only requiring that the card Tap for damage and have targeting limited to attacking or blocking creatures. It exists in Blue exclusively.

Meh. Don't like the name and I don't see the need.

Originally Posted by Excise

Regeneration COST
This is simply the regenerate effect that exists on many cards, but written as a keyword with a cost. It does not replace the existing understanding of the ability, nor language like “regenerate” or “regenerated.” It exists solely in Black for this set, and the activation cost is higher than normal in an attempt to balance the power of it out.

There was a better attempt to "fix" regeneration, I think, somewhere...

Well anyway, I like it better as a keyword action.

Originally Posted by Excise

Banding
This keyword exists in White alone.

No. Please?

Originally Posted by Excise

Flash
Flash has become a Keyword for Sorceries as well as permanents, and represents a substantial change. The card type Instant is not in Reboot. Flash is used instead to mean that a sorcery can be played whenever you have priority. Every color has Sorceries with Flash. Permanents with Flash exist only in Green and White.

I like the instant-nuking change. Although, could you maybe add "Instant" to the list of sorcery types? Maybe instead of "Reflex," since that doesn't sound very sorcery-like.

Originally Posted by Excise

Protection
This keyword is in White and Blue only.

I think you could afford to edit protection a bit in the reboot, since Wizards has said it's a bad keyword (too many effects). Maybe as an ability word, i.e.

Ward — CARDNAME can't be blocked, targeted, dealt damage, or enchanted by anything that's [a] [color/type/subtype].

Originally Posted by Excise

Split second
This keyword is in Blue and Red alone.

Possibly, but only at rare, I hope.

Originally Posted by Excise

Vanishing N
This keyword is introduced just in Green and on a green aligned artifact, but could exist in all colors for later sets.

I don't like this as a core-set keyword.

Originally Posted by Excise

Vigilance
This keyword exists in Blue alone.

Another PC change... meh.

This might be a fun exercise to do without making an entire set... hope you don't mind if I riff of your initiative a bit?

[RickCorgan]

Wow, you clearly put a lot of effort into this. Kudos for that alone!

I mostly agree with Valros. I should point out that this seem a very cool creative exercise on the boundaries of the color pie, but I do feel you went too far on lots of places. Many aspects of Magic as they are right now seem just more intuitive and less forced into the colors' philosophy.

I think if I try something like that someday, it will include a lot less changes. Among them, soft "taxing" counters would move to white; white would get more card selecting abilities (and NOT card draw... IMO, card selection fits way more a color that plans every move,k but doesn't necessarily go out of its way to acquire loads of academic knowledge); white would also be the primary graveyard hate color; and no, I would never bring back something as convoluted as banding. . White would also lose its status as "best weenie color" - it would still get very good small creatures, but they wouldn't be as focused as mindlessly attacking like Savannah Lions, for example. I think a few one-drops that better showcase what white weenies should look like are Mother of Runes, Suntail Hawk (which has flying, a tactical advantage, which suits a planning color like white very well), Tundra Wolves (first strike is also a tactical advantage), Akrasan Squire (an Isamaru on its own, but with an abilitt that allows him to stay on defense while also helping its peers), etc.

Blue would stay almost untouched, only losing soft counters to white, and gaining better tutoring. I'd say pinging back in blue is a no-no.

Black would lose tutoring to blue (let's face it, it makes a lot more sense there); I would avoid the "nonblack creature" clauses on cards like Terror; and fear would probably be scrapped altogether.

Red would definitely get more combat abilities, and also something that I feel is very red: keeping players from drawing a card. Otherwise, I think they got red pretty well: mayhem, chaos, artifact/land destruction, direct damage.

Green would be the creature king, period. Weenies, midrange or fatties - all would be green's domain. Savannah Lions would be a green card. Reach would no longer be a keyword. Green would retain its hatred of the unnatural, but I would limit its land hate to nonbasic lands.

And speaking of which, something else I'd change - nonbasic lands would mostly feature artificial constructions. It always bugged me that cards like Tranquil Ticket are nonbasic lands - what's so different from a regular forest? Jungle Shrine - now that's more like it.

I'll look at your card list a few more times before I can completely wrap my head around them, and thus make card-specific comments.

EDIT: Almost forgot, mad props for the new artifact border. I really think brown suit them way more than silver to convey a medieval-setting feel.

[Pharmalade]

I love this. This is amazing.

My favourite thing is the Sorcery subtypes. This is gold. I had once thought I wished all spells had subtypes, and you've done quite a job of naming them. (Though I still Fireball to say, "Sorcery - Fire" Because... you know... it's FIRE! "Sorry, can't touch my guy. He's got protection from fire!" Or even rename protection as _proof. Fireproof. Whiteproof. Blackproof. Waterproof. Landproof. Squirrelproof. Nah, maybe not.)

I love a lot what you done, and I think I'm gonna print some of these up and draft with my buddies. It's gonna be wicked!

[Excise]

Valros, thanks for all the specific notes. Rather than respond to each, which is a bit too self indulgent on my part, let me comment on the most persistent comment you made – moving land mastery from green to blue. I put a lot of symmetry into this set. There is a pattern. I looked at the color wheel and tried to make these card types likes and dislikes sit across from each other. That concept was something I suggested in the older Alpha redo thread you alluded to earlier and it killed the tread LINK

Look at these patterns, first for creature type allocation.

Construct, Golem

Angel, Griffin, Kithkin,

Chimera, Horse, Wizard
Knight
Artificer

Crab, Fish, Merrow, Sphinx
Minion
Rogue
Elemental
Shaman, Wurm

Bat, Gargoyle, Rat, Spirit, Vampire, Zombie
Demon, Snake
Barbarian
Insect, Swarm
Witch

Giant, Goblin, Minotaur
Dragon, Troll
Warrior
Dwarf
Bird, Soldier

Beast, Dryad, Elephant, Hydra, Lizard, Plant, Wolf
Elf, Ooze
Monk
Drake, Faerie
Archer

Chimera, Human

Then Keywords allocation:

Equip, Relic

Banding
Protection
Lifelink

Ranged strike, Vigilance
Diminish
Split second

Regeneration
First strike
Fear

Berserker, Haste
Trample
Melee N

Shroud, Vanishing
Flash
Replenish

Defender, Enchant, Flying, Heritage, Reach

I went to a lot of effort to give each color a more distinct identity. So when I struck on giving each color a type focus I was left with a hard choice. Green shouldn’t be the Creature color and the Land color. One of those two would have to get moved to another color. Also, I really wanted the hate color for each type to actually be across from the color, to support the “enemy colors” idea of the game. Try and sketch that out on a piece of paper. No matter how hard you try and retain the traditional makeup of the color wheel something will look out of whack. I chose to have Green remain the creature color which allowed Black to be the anti-creature color and the rest fell into place. I actually like how it turned out, and blue as the land resource color works for me in the exploration/expansion way I flavored it. Enchantments work in black as magical cheats. The thing to keep in mind is that it’s all up for grabs. You can’t get stuck on things seeming off because it’s all going to be fit in mechanically first, then flavor gets added on top. So for example when I added vigilance to Blue I explained it by saying Blue conditions the mind and body and vigilance is martial arts. So the blue Serra’s Embrace in my set is called Untouchable Master.

Again, it’s all open to interpretation. My interpretation looks like this. If you want to try a softer Alpha recast, please do. I’ll comment on it when you’re done. I knew the biggest hurdles would be choices I made and flavor, but then later, I am expecting to get some feedback on the cards themselves, as far as powerlevel and all that. The Moxen, power “9”, dual lands and planeswalkers should spark some debate.

RickCorgan, I really liked the blocks you made and am glad you'll take a look at the set. See my above quotes for your color comments. Also, the brown artifact borders are all Magic Set Editor, Planar Chaos frames. I think they look great too.

Pharm, I wanted to use so many of your posted ideas in here, like the chip types that cancell each other, and am looking for input from you on the Planeswalkers, since you've made so many of them. Glad you like the subtypes.

[Blinking Spirit]

I think we would all have different ideas of where abilities and themes would fall in the color pie in the event of a reboot; I certainly have my own, having dallied with a reboot set myself. So I'll restrict myself here to a general comment, which is that too much symmetry is boring and stifling. For example, I would not concern myself with giving each color a "type focus" for the sake of giving each color a type focus; it feels forced.

Non-color-related comments, in no particular order:

It seems to me like you're overusing the types "Chimera" and "Beast", to the extent that "choose a creature type" cards would have a distorted effect. This is especially notable given that you've done a good job of cutting down on the number of Humans. Not every creature has to have a race and a class (as you yourself acknowledge with your Birds).

Removing the special rules from the land subtypes is a good idea.

The change of counters/"chips" to permanents is intriguing.

Replenish and diminish don't strike me as the best use of keyword space. This may go back to my symmetry comment: they're green-blue/blue-black keywords for the sake of green-blue/blue-black keywords.

Heritage is a nice keyword, but it doesn't feel like an evergreen keyword, the sort of thing that would show up in a core set. Plus, some heritage cards seem overpowered, like Ivy Hydra.

Save a line of text: make "Instant" or "Flash" a supertype instead of a keyword.

I like your rewording of fear.

I'm not feeling the flavor difference of the various enchantment and sorcery subtypes.

Black Lotus shouldn't have "Black" in its name if it's not black. I realize the original does the same thing, but it's still not a good idea.

Firestorm Phoenix needs reanimation of some sort. It's not a phoenix without it.

What on earth is going on with Royal Assassin?

Shivan Dragon is unacceptably wimpy.

The Hive and The Lair are cool.

Lord of the Pit can be simplified with "Whenever Lord of the Pit comes under your control, you lose 5 life."

I wouldn't reprint the no-drawback dual lands.

Red aggro seems overpowered, between efficient creatures, removal, and discard.

[Excise]

Blinking Spirit: Thanks for the opinion. Those are the kind of constructive comments I was hoping for. I didn’t expect 100% approval from anyone since this is such a subjective list, so it was good to hear what you feel are important choices (like reanimating Phoenices.) It’s too bad Replenish and Diminish N seem less than spectacular to you, but I think as keywords they do a lot of interesting things. Maybe take another look at them, for example Nightmare or Verduran Archer.



About Royal Assassin: I thought Samurai of the Pale Curtain was a perfect fit for the set with Melee and the White focus on graveyard hate, but I wanted to recast the flavor of it in Alpha art. The original Royal Assassin had clear flavor of “No matter who you are, the royal assassin can get you.” This card’s flavor is “When the Royal Assassin kills you, you stay dead.” I already have a better “tap to kill” card in the set with Sengir Stalker, and thought White certainly can support an appointed-killer concept. That art looks great on the new card though!

Here are some other card notes. First some color shifted cards:

Homestead (Annex)
As a bastion of civilization I thought White could stand a little imperialism. And, I was looking for splash effects White could have as an ally to the “land color,” Blue. Gain control of target land seemed a nice niche for it. If you look at the set you will find that I didn’t think “gain control of X” really belonged in a certain color. I took that mechanic out of Blue and spread it out accordingly to each color based on its focus. So green can gain control of creatures, black can gain control of enchantments, and red can cloud its victim’s emotions and gain control of anything for at least a turn. In addition to this ‘shift of Annex, White also has a tweaked version of Orcish Squatters renamed Northern Paladin.

Untouchable Master (Serra’s Embrace)
I was never a huge fan of Serra’s Embrace, but I must admit I am smitten with the ‘shifted version. It’s probably the flavor. Your creature is now a master of Martial Arts and can fly like Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon! Vigilance is centered in Blue for this set, so this card is a good fit, and I like the collection of abilities. In my quest to power up enchantments I was eager to try and always have them give a creature as many bonuses as possible, and almost always a P/T boost.

Witch’s Circle (Martyrdom)
Preventing damage is not in the Black slice of the color pie in this set, however, the strategy that this enchantment promotes really is. Sacrificing a man on the board to keep you from taking the hit really is in flavor. I tried not to get so bogged down by the mechanics of how a card carries out an effect when piecing the set together. There are some lesser abilities that have to manifest in other colors if the game design is going to work. (Like the life gain on Form of the Dragon.)

Maddening Hymn (Hymn to Tourach)
Hymn to Tourach was going to be in the set, I knew that from the start. What I didn’t know right away was that it would be a Red card. But I wanted to diversify Red’s threats, and spread out discard and the random element of some discard spells felt right in Red. Things really fell into place flavorfully too. A few artifacts in the set that are Red aligned are Instruments. Also, the original Hymn flavor text mentions playing music, and the Scott Kirschner Hymn art looks great in a red frame. There are a few more Red Incantations as a result of this flavor choice.

Raise Wild (Bribery)
I know Bribery is not the most fun card, but it was an area of design I was looking to include in the set. I really wanted to explore what it meant to be the creature color. Does that mean more than the best p/t :: CMC ratio? I thought it did. I like the idea that Green can turn your best creatures against you. And since green has the tutor abilities and play creatures for free ability, this card was a good fit for the set. I think it is less annoying in green than it was in blue because Green has a completely different deck focus, more aggro, less control. I was also happy to find a home for the Berserk artwork.

New cards

Mark of Justice
This was a late addition to the set. I wanted to include a common Concoction, which I figured would be a combat trick of some sort. I am surprised that “Target creature gains lifelink until end of turn” hasn’t already been done. Also giving the creature Melee 3 is an attempt to fill the void left by Righteousness. Altogether, this in one of my favorite new cards. It is called Mark of Justice quite honestly because I was looking for early set art with a character putting markings or paint on themselves, to depict the Concoction part of it. Justice from Ice Age was too good to pass up.

Whirlwind Drake
A Blue Wood Elves was needed to cement the idea that it was the color of land search. Additionally, the Wood Elves card is a staple of traditional green cards and I knew it would see constructed play. Obviously I could have created an exactly ‘shifted card, but in thinking about it, I thought I could make the creature better if I made the land it finds worse. So Whirlwind Drake can only search up Nodes, which tap for colorless mana. It’s a great card and I am pleased with how it plays.

Dementia Caster
When I gave discard away to Blue and Red I knew I needed to show that Black discard still had an edge. As a more defensive color, I also wanted Black creatures with activated abilities that a player could hide behind and use at end of turn. The result was this instant speed discard machine. It’s good and has a strategy that supports it, but I don’t feel it’s broken or annoying. You really have to pay for it to keep this effect going. Also, I love that I could concept it after the characters from the Odyssey Block. It even fits in mechanically.

Hurloon Mercenary
This is a straight up attempt to reintroduce School of Piranhas from Exodus. Except I liked the idea that the negative part of the upkeep was that you’d have to sacrifice any creature rather than the creature. Like a small Lord of the Pit. Red has taken on more of the creatures with drawbacks identity that started out in Black back in the early sets. The flavor it being a grumpy minotaur mercenary amused me.

Giant Growth
I wanted to make good Auras in every color, and this was my first stab at redefining the power level I was shooting for. +2/+2 for G seems really appealing. But it’s so easy to get a 2-for-1 on Auras that if they are going to have the risk, they should also have the allure. I made it an Uncommon so it wouldn’t wreck limited. Giant Growth always sounded like a permanent effect, rather than a one time deal.

Here are some combos I noticed this monrning:

Urza’s Squadron + Heartsick Lance

Rampant Exploration + Island Fish Jasconius

Black Knight + Nevinyrral’s Gift

Mons’s Goblin Raiders + Mox the Jeweler

Sarcomancy/Imbricomancy + Pulsemurmur

Hunted Troll + Drain Life

[Excise]

For some reason the image link doesn't show the first group of tokens. While I fix it, here they are.