30 years ago today saw the release of Magic the Gathering's fifth expansion set, Fallen Empires. The set told the story of the island of Sarpadia, its people, and the fall of the Sarpadian Empire as the Ice Age approached.
Five years ago today, 'Throne of Eldraine' was released for Magic the Gathering. The expansion set introduced the fairy tale plane of Eldraine as well as the Kenrith Royal Family including Rowan and Will, first seen in the supplemental set Battlebond.
25 years ago today saw the release of 'Mercadian Masques', the first expansion set of Magic the Gathering's Masques Block. The set told the story of the Weatherlight's escape from Rath to the plane of Mercadia.
art for the card 'Overtaker' as illustrated by Clyde Caldwell.
15 years ago, Wizards of the Coast released the 50th expansion set for Magic the Gathering. Zendikar was marketed as the adventure plane and introduced Allies, Traps, Quests, and Landfall.
art for the card 'Rampaging Baloths' as illustrated by Eric Deschamps
20 years ago saw the release of 'Champions of Kamigawa', the first set in the original Kamigawa block. The set and block told the story of The Kami War and its effects on the plane of Kamigawa.
art for the card 'Ryusei, the Falling Star' as illustrated by Nottsuo.
10 years ago today, 'Khans of Tarkir' was released for Magic the Gathering. Tarkir is the dragon plane and serves as the homeworld of both Sarkan Vol and Narset. Dragons were once hunted down to near extinction until a trip through time made them rulers of the plane.
30 years ago today, Wizards of the Coast released the fourth expansion set to Magic the Gathering. 'The Dark' told the story of The Dark Age of Dominaria, set between the end of the Brothers' War and the start of the Ice Age. The set's most notable card would become Blood Moon.
art for the card 'Blood Moon' as illustrated by Tom Wanerstrand
Moonstone Harbinger ~~~ {2}{B}
Creature — Bat Warrior
Flying, deathtouch
Whenever you gain or lose life during your turn, Bats you control get +1/+0 and gain deathtouch until end of turn. This ability triggers only once each turn.
Moonstone weapons drink in the last light of dusk to give their wielders an edge in combat.
1/3
Illustrated by Kevin Sidharta
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Here we go, folks! Moonstone Harbinger is the 101st card of Magic the Gathering's 101st Standard expansion set. I really like the synergy Bloomburrow's Bats have with Lifegain and Lifeloss.
30 years ago today, Wizards of the Coast released the third expansion set to Magic the Gathering. "Legends" brought about the legendary creature type as well as multicolored spells.
art is of the card 'Amrou Kithkin' as illustrated by Quinton Hoover
A picture is worth a thousand words... so tell me a tale of the Multiverse.
The last third of the first 100 Standard expansions of Magic the Gathering have all kept the 'post-modern' frame. Is it time for another change in frame? Historically, yes. Will it happen anytime soon? Probably not. The M15 frame is a nice neat organized piece. But these would be the sets for anyone who just wants to play with this frame. And yes, people do that. I would rather play with cards that have this frame.
Anyways, I divided the first 100 expansion sets into three groups because they are the closest that follows 'Classic', 'Modern', 'Post-Modern' playspaces. If divided into groups of 25, it would divide them unevenly. Probably not very interesting to most people, but I'm a list making person with a bit of OCD, so I basically did this to satisfy that and my own curiosity. I've actually bought copies of all these cards and thus have a binder filled with cards from Abu Ja'far to Polygraph Orb and soon to have Rattleback Apothecary as the 100th card of the 100th set. It's weird, I know.
Expansion sets #33 - #67 is Modern Magic, with the modern magic frame being replaced with the 'post-modern' or M15 frame with Tarkir block. Where the previous 'classic' sets corresponding cards were mostly white, 'modern' sets quickly went through blue and black, with a couple outliers. 'Modern' magic saw the first four set block with Lorwyn-Shadowmoor.
The first third of Magic the Gathering's Standard Expansion sets. The first thirty-three sets is basically classic Magic, even as it includes the Mirrodin block. Magic's classic frame was replaced with the then modern frame with the Mirrodin block. This is part of what I've been working on. Every new expansion that's come, I've matched card number with that set's number. So 'Arabian Nights' is set #1 with 'Abu Ja'far' being card #1. Fifth Dawn being set #32 with its card #32 being Hoverguard Sweepers.
30 years ago today, on March 04, 1999, the second expansion set of the Magic the Gathering trading card game was released. 'Antiquities' was the first telling of the Brothers War and brought about such cards as Mishra's Workshop, Mishra's Factory, and Candelabra of Tawnos.
art is of the card 'Argivian Blacksmith" as illustrated by Kerstin Kaman.
Green in MTG is getting out of hand...
...I know I might sound a bit repetitive and complain-y but I don't care. @markrosewater wants to know what people think of this year's and last year's sets? Alright, then.
Green is getting too much love. Green is the color of larger creatures, It doesn't need help making them larger. There's Tribute to the World Tree, Ozolith the Shattered Spire, Skullspore Nexus, Gruff Triplets, Avabruck Caretaker, Slime Against Humanity, Insidious Roots.
Mark has said Green is moving towards a 'Go Wide' strategy. If it's going wide, then stop making it go tall! The two are mutually exclusive. You can do one without doing the other! There's too many things in Standard right now that is making it impossible to play against Green. Mark might love Green and White but the other colors need just as much attention.
That being said Red needs to calm down on the Haste and Black needs to get back to having a cost for getting other people's stuff. There's no reason Black should get things out of a graveyard for free. Pay the cost just like everyone else, mofos!
Also, I'm getting tired of tapped tokens. You want to make tapped tokens? Then make Permanents create tapped tokens. There's no reason a spell should create tapped tokens and permanents create untapped tokens. You cast a token spell so that those tokens can be used. You've already cast the permanent. Make those have to deal with tapped tokens.