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.
Set NameShards 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.
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.
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:
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?
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......
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)...
According to the Picture, the Prerelease dates are Sept. 20-21, which is not one week before the general release on October 3.
So is that a misprint on Wizards' part, or did they err when they said that they were moving the prerelease to just 1 week before the general release?
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Quote from Bateleur »
Ambush Krotiq makes me laugh so much. I keep rereading the card and it keeps not having Flash. In what sense is this an ambush again? I just have visions of this huge Krotiq poorly concealed in some bushes, feeling slightly sad that his carefully planned ambushes never seem to work.
Looking at Espers Islands scans, I'd say Nimbus Maze has a shot in [ALA].
We're also likely to see cards like this:
Esper Strato-Guard 1WB Creature - Spirit Sentinel If you control an Island, Esper Strato-Guard gets +1/+1 and has flying. 2/2 Unc
White and Black both 'care' about Blue, because they share blue as an ally. it also pushes the 'wedge' theme of the five Realms, as if that wasn't known already.
And no, I won't guess at the collector number. lol!
Here's something to add to the Comiled info (From somebody who played at a PreRelease in Italy:
This is the translation:
5 WORLDS SHARE A DESTINY
The planeswalkers have discovered the plane of Alara shattered in five shards, with the mana colours scattered in each of them. Each shard has developed its own tricoloured theme. Which one is the one for you?
So, according to this seemingly reliable source, the theme of Alara is tricolour.
ATTACHMENTS
Alara
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Thanks to LeGambit for the awesome avatar and sig!
But that's just my 2¢ Reverend Smitules; All Praise Be; Now with Filigree!
I don't understand why they would do another set that fiddles with colors right after we had Shadowmoor and Eventide. Sure it will be interesting, but couldn't they think of something else to focus on. I can think of many right now, some of which are enchantments(not auras, but like opal acrolith), auras, basic lands, alternate costs, and tokens (yes tokens).
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Credit for the banner and avatar goes to the people at High~Light Studios.
I don't understand why they would do another set that fiddles with colors right after we had Shadowmoor and Eventide. Sure it will be interesting, but couldn't they think of something else to focus on. I can think of many right now, some of which are enchantments(not auras, but like opal acrolith), auras, basic lands, alternate costs, and tokens (yes tokens).
What if each of the 5 planes has its OWN mechanics?
Maybe the GWU plane has Acroliths, the BRG plane has graveyard stuff, etc...
Here's something to add to the Comiled info (From somebody who played at a PreRelease in Italy:
*snips big pic*
This is the translation:
5 WORLDS SHARE A DESTINY
The planeswalkers have discovered the plane of Alara shattered in five shards, with the mana colours scattered in each of them. Each shard has developed its own tricoloured theme. Which one is the one for you?
So, according to this seemingly reliable source, the theme of Alara is tricolour.
So that confirms that alar is tri-colored right? This block looks to be interesting indeed.
Tri-colored? That means more rare dual lands I'll have to buy.
Joy.
I highly doubt they would make more lands for 3 colors like bosk. They know that the amount of mana fixing in standard (Lorwyn-Shadowmoor Block alone) is insane.
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Credit for the banner and avatar goes to the people at High~Light Studios.
Tri-colored? That means more rare dual lands I'll have to buy.
Joy.
So that would mean (to dumb everything down) Shadowmoor = Invasion, Eventide = Apocalypse, and ALA = Planeshift?
Anyway, I doubt that tri-color would be the theme, as it...can't be.
Shadowmoor was 'hybrid/color matters'.
Alara may have some wedge action going on, but it also would mean that there is quite alot of GOLD cards in the set.
We have plenty of duals, but to be honest, aside from Lairs and Bosk, few attempts at wedge lands, so that design is pretty open I guess.
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So that would mean (to dumb everything down) Shadowmoor = Invasion, Eventide = Apocalypse, and ALA = Planeshift?
Anyway, I doubt that tri-color would be the theme, as it...can't be.
Shadowmoor was 'hybrid/color matters'.
Alara may have some wedge action going on, but it also would mean that there is quite alot of GOLD cards in the set.
We have plenty of duals, but to be honest, aside from Lairs and Bosk, few attempts at wedge lands, so that design is pretty open I guess.
Right, I think you're right. I can see Alara having the backdrop of 3-colored realms but the idea that it would be about color specifically is somewhat unsupportable coming right after Shadowmoor block.
I think the backdrop will serve as a way to define the settings, sort of like how Ravnica had 10 guilds, but the guilds themselves weren't the mechanical basis of the set (i.e. it wasn't tribal... There could be white cards that were not necessarily connected to Orzhov in GP, and cards didn't care about what guild something was from). From a flavor standpoint, what would a realm dominated by a particular color of mana look like, and how would it deal with the competing natures of each of its allies?
Its actually easier to support Tri Color themes with hybrid isn't it? I mean you could play a W/U/G deck and still be using plains only, it is quite possible.
If Kresh had more than 3 toughness, I'd say he'd see play too. But 5 mana for a 3/3 makes him so vulnerable to basic removal that its really not a great investment. I know everything dies, but not everything dies equally
Its actually easier to support Tri Color themes with hybrid isn't it?
Yeah, it should be.
I wasn't excited when I heard we were getting a tri-colored set, mainly because we just got a color-themed set, however there is no indication that the THEME of the set is color-based, so I'm actually excited.
Also, it's great timing as far as inter-block synergy due to hybrid.
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
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:
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:
Book
And what about the scans of the lands? That info is usefull to compile here?
Patience, Young Skywalker
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?
Never mind, found it.
http://forums.mtgsalvation.com/showthread.php?t=114238
[GTC] Gatecrash Patch for MWS (249/249)
So is that a misprint on Wizards' part, or did they err when they said that they were moving the prerelease to just 1 week before the general release?
Misprint.
The cards went to the printer well before they made the ALA prerelease changes.
Twitter
See the last page of this thread... (and this one)
Also this:
-E
This is the translation:
5 WORLDS SHARE A DESTINY
The planeswalkers have discovered the plane of Alara shattered in five shards, with the mana colours scattered in each of them. Each shard has developed its own tricoloured theme. Which one is the one for you?
So, according to this seemingly reliable source, the theme of Alara is tricolour.
Thanks to LeGambit for the awesome avatar and sig!
Reverend Smitules; All Praise Be; Now with Filigree!
Credit for the banner and avatar goes to the people at High~Light Studios.
What if each of the 5 planes has its OWN mechanics?
Maybe the GWU plane has Acroliths, the BRG plane has graveyard stuff, etc...
Joy.
EDH:
UBGThe MimeoplasmUBG
<System> Player Lost
I highly doubt they would make more lands for 3 colors like bosk. They know that the amount of mana fixing in standard (Lorwyn-Shadowmoor Block alone) is insane.
Credit for the banner and avatar goes to the people at High~Light Studios.
So that would mean (to dumb everything down) Shadowmoor = Invasion, Eventide = Apocalypse, and ALA = Planeshift?
Anyway, I doubt that tri-color would be the theme, as it...can't be.
Shadowmoor was 'hybrid/color matters'.
Alara may have some wedge action going on, but it also would mean that there is quite alot of GOLD cards in the set.
We have plenty of duals, but to be honest, aside from Lairs and Bosk, few attempts at wedge lands, so that design is pretty open I guess.
Twitter
Right, I think you're right. I can see Alara having the backdrop of 3-colored realms but the idea that it would be about color specifically is somewhat unsupportable coming right after Shadowmoor block.
I think the backdrop will serve as a way to define the settings, sort of like how Ravnica had 10 guilds, but the guilds themselves weren't the mechanical basis of the set (i.e. it wasn't tribal... There could be white cards that were not necessarily connected to Orzhov in GP, and cards didn't care about what guild something was from). From a flavor standpoint, what would a realm dominated by a particular color of mana look like, and how would it deal with the competing natures of each of its allies?
-E
[/quote]
Yeah, it should be.
I wasn't excited when I heard we were getting a tri-colored set, mainly because we just got a color-themed set, however there is no indication that the THEME of the set is color-based, so I'm actually excited.
Also, it's great timing as far as inter-block synergy due to hybrid.
They're certainly not going to be printng more hybrids as a major theme.... I hope. I hate hybrid.
Friend, artist, magic player, but most of all, Polar Bear God. We'll miss you, buddy