[ALA] Compiled info

[Hunter]

This thread is to be used as a reference tool before posting anything concerning Shards of Alara in the rumor mill, and also to keep track of the progression of information on the set thus far. The first post will be kept updated until it’s time for the partial spoiler to take over.

For compiled card arts, go to this thread.


Logo



Symbol


Set Name Shards of Alara
Block Set 1 of 3 in the Shards of Alara block
Number of Cards: 249 (15 mythic, 53 rare, 60 uncommon, 101 common, 20 basic lands)
Release Date: October 3, 2008 (This is a change from the original date; see this announcement for more information)
Launch Parties: October 3-5, 2008
Prerelease Tournaments: September 27-28, 2008
Previews start on magicthegathering.com: September 8, 2008
Minisite:



Alara was whole once. But that was millennia ago. Where once there was a plane, now there are five: the Shards.

The plane of Alara was a world rich with mana, a world in balance...until the Sundering. In a cataclysm of unimaginable proportions, Alara was rent asunder into five separate worlds, each a refraction of the others.

The cause of this cataclysm has been lost to time. Some ancient lore of the Shards suggest a being of godlike power forcibly split Alara to seize its mana for himself. Some believe it was caused by the titanic battle for the fate of Alara, waged by the archangel Asha and the demon Malfegor. But for most, only the dimmest cultural memories remain of a richer world that existed before their own.

Whatever the cause of the splitting, one thing is clear: The Shards have become very different places in the time since the Sundering. Each plane was all but severed from two of the five colors of mana. The Shard of Bant, for example, lost almost all its black and red mana, maintaining only white, blue, and green.

This mana imbalance caused the Shards to evolve in wildly distinct directions over the course of thousands of years. Now only hints of a common ancestor plane remain on the five worlds, and their environments and denizens could hardly differ more.


Characteristics of Shards of Alara

• Starting with Shards of Alara, every booster pack will have one rare (roughly one in eight packs replaced by a mythic rare), three uncommons, ten commons, and one basic land. This new rarity distribution will be applied to every core set and expansion (large and small) moving forward.
• Mythic rares have a new expansion symbol color (copper red)
• Mythic rares are expected to mean cards like Planeswalkers, most legends, and epic-feeling creatures and spells. They will not just be a list of each set's most powerful tournament-level cards.
• Mythic rares have premium (foil) versions as well
• The number of combined premium rares and premium mythic rares you will get starting with Shards of Alara is higher than the number of premium rares you currently get.
• The set is accompanied by the "Planeswalkers Guide to Alara", which looks like it's part style guide, part field guide.
• Only three colors of mana are functioning within each realm. All mana producers which produce mana of a different color will be used as colorless sources of mana.
• Bant has become a golden utopia. Its citizens have never seen fire magic, and have never seen necromancy. And you can imagine a world cut off from those colors for hundreds of years has evolved to be a very utopian society but also a very orderly society. Angels rule the realm with benevolence and grace. Humans and the birdfolk called aven resolve their conflicts with ritualized combat. When it does happen is very chivalrous and honorable and generally takes place between heroes from each side, and is very ceremonial. Duty and honor are the bedrock of this kingdom of light. So you have knights, you have castles, you have lions, you have rocs, you have a pretty peaceful society for the most part.
• Esper, the primarily blue world,that is cut off from from the chaos of red and green mana. Esper has become a magocracy. In this world of wind and wave, control is the guiding force. Enigmatic sphinxes counsel powerful wizards and seers. Everything here is observed and controlled. The forces of high magic rule supreme. The very orderly society is focused on measuring things, and preoccupied with knowledge and wisdom. Even the clouds are measured. Esper features a class structure with Mages at the upper end and Commoners at the lower end. There are also Assassins. The humans of Esper have an unusual physical characteristic called Filligree. This causes their bodies/limbs to take the form of twisted curving threads. The more magic an individual possesses, the more their body is composed of filligree.
• Grixis is totally cut off from green or white mana. So there is no access to life mana there in this dark wasteland. Its denizens desperately cling to its remaining lifeforce. Without the communal forces of white and green to bring life and compassion, it's every ghoul, demon, and necromancer for themselves. What few humans that are there eek out an existence where they are constantly on the run from necromancers that want to steal their life energy to fuel their spells. It is a world that is a horrible place to live if you are a human being because the land is almost like rotting flesh. It's just a world of decay. Grixis is filled with demons, vampires, goblins, skeletons... you name it, if it's horrible it lives in Grixis.
• Jund is the primarily red world, it's a world of chaos and fire. In the absence of white or blue mana, Jund has devolved into a roiling, primordial cesspit. Dragons top the food chain, at home in Jund's countless volcanoes. While dragons stalk the skies, humans, goblins, and the lizardfolk called viashino lie low in Jund's tar-spotted, vine-choked canyons. It's a very rough world to have to eek out an existence, so the humans there are very barbaric.
• Naya Naya is the bountiful green world. Life, passion, community, and the wild—these are what flourish without the influence of black or blue mana. In this lush hedonistic land, life is celebrated. Instinct triumphs over machination. Here titanic predators (Beasts) are shown respect, while Aztecian humans, elves, and catfolk called leonin seek to revere and respect nature.
• Each shard has a mechanic that really reflects what's going on in that shard:
• Jund: Devour 'X' (As this creature comes into play, you may sacrifice any number of creatures. This creature comes into play with that many +1/+1 counters on it.)
• Grixis: Unearth 'cost' (Return this card from your graveyard to play. It gains haste. Remove it from the game at end of turn or if it would leave play. Unearth only as a sorcery.)
• Bant: Exalted: "Whenever a creature you control attacks alone, that creature gets +1/+1 until end of turn."
• Esper: Every Esper creature is an artifact creature. Giving bonuses to artifacts is Esper's mechanical theme.
• Naya: rewarding and enabling big creatures and big spells.

More info
Planeswalker's Guide to Alara (part one)
Planeswalker's Guide to Alara (part two)





Product line



Starting with Shards of Alara, the theme decks are changing into a new product called "intro packs" aimed specifically at helping beginners get into the game.
Each intro pack contains:

• 1 premium rare
• 1 non-premium rare
• 7 uncommons
• 32 commons / lands
• 1 Shards of Alara booster pack

Grixis Undead, Naya Behemoths, Primordial Jund


Bant Exalted, Esper Artifice

See also: Booster pics

Cards

See: Partial Spoiler and Name and Number thread

Lands



Art

See:

• this thread
• http://forums.mtgsalvation.com/showt...rapro Products
• Pics from the new website

Book

[joris_van_noord]

And perhaps the names Bant, Esper, Naya, Grixis, Jund?
And what about the scans of the lands? That info is usefull to compile here?

[Hunter]

Originally Posted by joris_van_noord

And perhaps the names Bant, Esper, Naya, Grixis, Jund?
And what about the scans of the lands? That info is usefull to compile here?

Patience, Young Skywalker

[Polyjak]

Wow, those basic lands are sweet, and they definitely give the impression of five (or more) distinct places. The green ones make me think of a prehistoric place -- Muragandu (or wherever Imperiosaur is from)? I'm also pretty jazzed about Vein Drinker's art.

If this set employs three-color worlds, as some have speculated, it may just dethrone Shadowmoor as my new favorite set! How do they keep coming up with this stuff?

[tulsatrey]

Originally Posted by tulsatrey

Where is the info on this?

Never mind, found it.

http://forums.mtgsalvation.com/showthread.php?t=114238

[magac]

Just a little curious on one missing thing in the OP: The style guide pic is supposedly composed of two parts, AFAIR, with the other part showing a rather inhuman humanoid......

[tigrezno]

where did my post go?

i said that the lands looks like a cycle of "before and after", it's for real, check plains for example, first it appears desert and then vegetation growed.
the first swamp looks like a world of darkness, and the second swamps have a light at the horizon.
the island have water in the first one, and the second is out of it.

events happened between a land and other...

[Guinea Pig]

Originally Posted by Hunter

Number of Cards: 249 (15 mythic, 51 rare, 60 uncommon, 101 common, 20 basic lands)

Minor mistake - it's 53 rares.

Originally Posted by tigrezno

where did my post go?

i said that the lands looks like a cycle of "before and after", it's for real, check plains for example, first it appears desert and then vegetation growed.
the first swamp looks like a world of darkness, and the second swamps have a light at the horizon.
the island have water in the first one, and the second is out of it.

events happened between a land and other...

You might be fooled by the lower quality of the land images. Check this thread for better quality images. The first Plains definitely has vegetation, it's just mostly of a yellowish green rather than pure green. There is no substantial change between the Forest and Mountain images. There is water in both Island pictures (though they might not be from the same plane). There is (apparently) a sunrise in the second Swamp image, but I doubt it means much beyond illuminating the bleak world.

[Memnarch]

For the record, I'm very excited by the armored human soldier riding an armored lion. And seconding that idea that the lands seem to reflect five different areas of one set, as averse to the whole fact that lands as of late usually all are unified by one theme (temporal ruin, happiness, darkness, what-have-you)...

[jarsyl]

Is Sarkhan Vol Ruel?

[schrecklich]

Where is it confirmed that Alara is five planes rather than five parts of a single plane?

[AK-PaVlEk]

This is the Alara dragon art in from the valut dragons

[Glorious Gnome]

Wow thx for this.. Ok so it's Assassins and Dragons now?

[Cosmic Death]

I'm sorry if I'm sounding sceptical, but do we know for a fact that this is the previewed dragon?
After all, the announcement claims:

6 classic dragon cards have new artwork commissioned from artists including Justin Sweet, Todd Lockwood and D. Alexander Gregory.

and this guy here is by Justin Sweet.

The only thing seen from the other pics is that the card is multicolored, but that doesn't have to mean anything. Of course, It's entirely possible that it's been confirmed that this indeed is the new dragon and I didn't know about it. In that case, here's a better version of the pic:

[AK-PaVlEk]

It has not been confirmed, but the backgraund looks like the mountain art from alara