The release of Khans of Tarkir this weekend means that we’re only six months away from the release of the set code-named “Louie.” This will be the final time we ever get to experience the third set of a Magic block. Starting with the fall of 2015 block, “Blood” and “Sweat,” we will move to two-set blocks. After 17 years and as many attempts at getting a third set to work right, Wizards is finally moving away from the model. Today we take a look back at each set and grade them based on several key factors to see how they stand up.
Down Memory Lane
#17 – Saviors of Kamigawa (2005)
Big Creatures: 2/10
Saviors was mostly full of unplayable garbage like these two creatures. The high end of the mana curve was mostly reserved for Champions and there wasn’t a lot of power or toughness left for Saviors.
Burn: 1/10
All of the burn in this set was either highly conditional or just awful or both.
Combo Enablers: 4/10
These two cards ended up being finishers in modestly successful Extended decks for a while. Then Extended stopped being a real format.
Control Spells: 4/10
Erayo has probably caused more grief than many other cards in the games history, and Kagemaro is a solid EDH sweeper. Otherwise, not much to see here.
Wow Factor: 2/10
The gimmicks of Kamigawa block were not well executed and it really shows in Saviors just how shallow the design space for Legendary was. The Epic spells really sum up the whole idea quite nicely.
Final Score: 13/50
#16 – Prophecy (2000)
Big Creatures: 5/10
Okay, they’re not great but they’re big and splashy. Okay, they’re actually really pretty bad…
Burn: 4/10
The more old cards I look at, the more obvious it becomes as to why blue was so overplayed. Not only did blue have all the best cards, colors like red had nothing to work with.
Combo Enablers: 2/10
It turns out the previous block had soured Wizards on the idea of combo enablers for a while. I can’t imagine why.
Control Spells: 3/10
There wasn’t a whole lot of permission or disruption as evidenced by these two garbage cards. Even though Mercadian Masques itself brought us Misdirection and Unmask, the third set of the block fell very far from the mark.
Wow Factor: 2/10
The best part about Prophecy is that it meant Masques block had come to an end. After the fiasco of Urza’s block Wizards actively attempted to reduce the power level of the game. They may have gone too far in the other direction.
Final Score: 16/50
#15 – Journey into Nyx (2014)
Big Creatures: 7/10
The big creatures were not as splashy as their Theros/Born of the Gods counterparts, but they got the job done.
Burn: 8/10
Actually, the most redeeming part of this set.
Combo Enablers: 0/10
No seriously. I checked twice.
Control Spells: 2/10
I had to stretch for these but I couldn’t have two categories with blanks.
Wow Factor: 5/10
Talk about a disappointment. The gods were flavorful but the set as a whole was a huge let-down. Mechanical themes were never explored the way we expected and the Monstrous mechanic disappeared entirely. Huge let downs all around.
Final Score: 22/50
#14 – Judgment (2002)
Big Creatures: 6/10
Outside of a couple really splashy rares, there wasn’t a whole lot of power and toughness in this set. Most of Odyssey block revolved around threshold mechanics so things tended to start pretty small.
Burn: 3/10
The mechanic on Browbeat did not go over very well because you never got what you wanted, you only got what was best for your opponents. Similarly, threshold as a way to improve burn spells just resulted in expensive burn spells that weren’t really good until the late game.
Combo Enablers: 4/10
Both Genesis and Solitary Confinement ended up being fine pieces in average combo decks. Nothing exciting to see here.
Control Spells: 7/10
Cabal Therapy took a lot of combo/control decks to a new level with the ability to get rid of any counter-magic before attempting to win the game. Cunning Wish became the answer with all the answers, giving control players the ability to get the best tool for the situation from their sideboard.
Wow Factor: 4/10
The Wish cycle was a big hit but very lacking for limited play. Most of the cards in this set didn’t come close to the excitement of threshold and other graveyard cards in Odyssey and Torment
Final Score: 24/50
#13 – Dragon’s Maze (2013)
Big Creatures: 6/10
The set was a bit short on big creatures as it was rounding out a multi-color block which had already provided several powerful creatures. Still, a few more made the cut.
Burn: 7/10
A surprisingly decent amount of burn, even if it is just rehashing of old themes.
Combo Enablers: 2/10
I don’t know. I think it’s a big stretch for me to call these combo enablers.
Control Spells: 4/10
The fuse mechanic let Wizards get away with avoiding having to design new multicolor cards. So, that worked, I guess.
Wow Factor: 5/10
People loved Ravnica and they even loved Return to Ravnica, but Dragon’s Maze fell well short of their expectations. Especially once you see where Dissension ended up on this list.
Final Score: 24/50
#12 – Fifth Dawn (2004)
Big Creatures: 4/10
Mirrodin and Darksteel had pretty much blown through all the big creatures you could make with the artifacts theme, culminating in Darksteel Colossus. This didn’t leave a whole lot of goodies for Fifth Dawn to play with.
Burn: 4/10
These two spells saw a lot of play in their hey day but ultimately Magma Jet was the only non-rare burn spell in the set. Yikes.
Combo Enablers: 7/10
Cranial Plating really brought the Affinity archetype to the next level, which it really, really, didn’t need.
Control Spells: 8/10
Both of these cards still see extensive play today in Modern and have proved to be valuable control spells overall.
Wow Factor: 5/10
Similar to Prophecy, I think most people were just happy to be done with Mirrodin block. Things didn’t go quite as planned with this block and Wizards would pay the price until Ravnica rejuvenated the fan-base.
Final Score: 28/50
#11 – Weatherlight (1997)
Big Creatures: 5/10
There weren’t very many big creatures in this set but two of them really stand out. Cloud Djinn is an absolute beat-down if you can get to six mana and cast it while Rogue Elephant was a brutal turn one play for aggressive stompy decks in the late-nineties. Overall though, this was not a good set for Timmy.
Burn: 6/10
Not a lot of exciting burn spells found their way into this set but two of them were good enough that they’ve become iconic and been reprinted on occasion.
Combo Enablers: 8/10
Now we get to the good stuff from Weatherlight. These two cards would go on to cause nothing but trouble and Doomsday is currently the eponymous card of a brutal Vintage combo deck.
Control Spells: 6/10
Control had plenty to work with in Mirage and Visions but Weatherlight brought artifact hatred to a whole new level with Aura of Silence and Null Rod.
Wow Factor: 4/10
Overall Weatherlight had a lot of decent cards but nothing really exciting to make people want to buy more of it.
Final Score: 29/50
#10 – Alara Reborn (2009)
Big Creatures: 8/10
It turns out that when all your creatures cost two colors they all end up substantially bigger. Who knew?
Burn: 4/10
The burn in this set was incredibly lacking, especially since there was no dedicated mono-Red burn abilities.
Combo Enablers: 7/10
Alara Reborn provided an infinite token and an almost-infinite-turn combo. Not too shabby.
Control Spells: 5/10
Most of the multi-colored counterspells were unplayable, but the set had a few diamonds in the rough.
Wow Factor: 6/10
There were very high hopes for Alara Reborn since the first two sets in the block were successful. Unfortunately the gimmick of a completely multi-color set didn’t have as much depth as the designers thought.
Final Score: 30/50
#9 – Exodus (1998)
Big Creatures: 2/10
There were so few big creatures in this set worth mentioning that I decided Survival of the Fittest would count in this spot.
Burn: 5/10
These two cards may have ended up becoming combo enablers but they’re still burn spells at their core
Combo Enablers: 10/10
Yikes. This set really delivered a few home runs when it came to combo players.
Control Spells: 7/10
Control doesn’t always have to be about counter-magic. Here we have two fine examples of resource denial control.
Wow Factor: 8/10
Exodus brought an amazing conclusion to the Tempest block, which itself was an action-packed set.
Final Score: 32/50
#8 – Urza’s Destiny (1999)
Big Creatures: 4/10
Not a whole lot to see here. Both of these creatures saw a lot of play and have become iconic, but their drawbacks are fairly significant.
Burn: 2/10
The burn spells in this set were garbage. Good thing the rest of Urza’s block had more burn to go around.
Combo Enablers: 10/10
Haha, oh man. Who thought these were a good idea?
Control Spells: 6/10
Opposition was another way to explore the design space of blue’s resource denial while Powder Keg is the spiritual ancestor to Pernicious Deed, Engineered Explosives, and Ratchet Bomb
Wow Factor: 10/10
At the time people were pretty upset about the summer of combo but in retrospect this set was chock full of amazing cards
Final Score: 32/50
#7 – Apocalypse (2001)
Big Creatures: 6/10
Outside of these two creatures there isn’t a lot to write home about. This set was mostly full of small multi-color dudes but Spiritmonger has become an icon
Burn: 5/10
I think it says something very important that the best two burn spells in this set were blue…
Combo Enablers: 6/10
Playing against either of these combos sucked but not as much as Prophecy’s complete lack of combo cards a year prior
Control Spells: 8/10
It turns out that when you have two colors you can do a whole lot more controlling of the game
Wow Factor: 7/10
Invasion was a multicolor block and Apocalypse closed things out with a bang
Final Score: 32/50
#6 – Avacyn Restored (2012)
Big Creatures: 8/10
This set featured angels and demons and a lot of them were pretty big.
Burn: 8/10
This set’s burn spells were above the usual curve, especially with powerful sweeper Bonfire of the Damned.
Combo Enablers: 4/10
Both of these cards were likely accidental combo pieces. The rest of the set seemed to intentionally avoid combo mechanics because of potential abuse of Miracles.
Control Spells: 7/10
Not much to see here. Protect your dudes. Kill dudes. Lather, rinse, repeat.
Wow Factor: 6/10
Miracles fell far short of the bar, as did the flavor of the conflict between angels and demons.
Final Score: 33/50
#5 – Scourge (2003)
Big Creatures: 8/10
One of the main themes of Scourge was dragons. This made it very easy for the set to be chock full of sweet big creatures. Sure, they had high mana costs, but who cares? They’re effing dragons.
Burn: 6/10
While the set had a few average burn spells, it’s main contribution to the red archetypes was Goblin Warchief, which essentially turned the rest of your goblins into cheap burn spells.
Combo Enablers: 10/10
While the Storm mechanic isn’t the biggest mistake Wizards ever made, it’s probably the second-biggest mistake, by far. Curious what the first one was? Check out Cloud of Faeries.
Control Spells: 4/10
Decree of Pain was the best black sweeper in a long time but was exceptionally expensive to cast. Stifle is a cute spell but incredibly narrow. Except it was meant to handle that whole Storm thing. Didn’t quite work as well as Wizards hoped.
Wow Factor: 8/10
Did I mention the dragons?
Final Score: 36/50
#4 – Rise of the Eldrazi (2010)
Big Creatures: 10/10
If you want to play big creatures then this is the set for you.
Burn: 7/10
It’s refreshing to see quality burn spells at the common rarity slot in any set, let alone the third set of a block.
Combo Enablers: 7/10
One of these combo enablers resulted in a banning and the other is a Modern archetype. Well done.
Control Spells: 5/10
Wizards old favorite of revisiting powerful spells and giving them a new restriction is as time-honored a tradition as basic lands and blue being overpowered.
Wow Factor: 8/10
Have you see Emrakul?
Final Score: 37/50
#3 – Dissension (2006)
Big Creatures: 7/10
Dissension delivered big on the huge creature department. Not only were there a handful of massive dudes, but the Simic mechanic of grafting just made all your dudes bigger.
Burn: 5/10
Outside of Demonfire it’s mostly conditional burn, if any.
Combo Enablers: 7/10
It’s cute when Wizards takes degenerate cards like Zombify and Demonic Tutor and thinks putting restrictions on them will help.
Control Spells: 9/10
Ah, just what the world needed, a new version of Swords to Plowshares!
Wow Factor: 10/10
Ravnica as a block resonated immensely with the fans. By the time Dissension rolled along, the world was dying for more stories of the ten guilds. They would have to wait six years, but it was well worth it.
Final Score: 38/50
#2 – Future Sight (2007)
Big Creatures: 8/10
The future was chock full of big creatures including these two beauties. It was nice to see so many big dudes to smash face with.
Burn: 5/10
Most of the burn in this set was at rare as a lot of the time manipulation burn spells, like Rift Bolt, had been used up.
Combo Enablers: 10/10
These two cards completed the Dredge deck that would go on to terrorize Vintage, Legacy, and Extended.
Control Spells: 8/10
What Magic really always needs is more variants on Force of Will.
Wow Factor: 8/10
The set had far too many mechanics for limited, but damn if it wasn’t loaded to the brim with amazing cards. People loved Future Sight, even if the thematic execution was off.
Final Score: 39/50
#1 – New Phyrexia (2011)
Big Creatures: 8/10
There was no shortage of big phyrexians roaming the land looking to eat any and all incompleat creatures in their paths.
Burn: 7/10
Not a bad showing for burn with some exceptionally useful damage spells at common and uncommon
Combo Enablers: 7/10
Wizards has always had a soft spot for restricted tutoring effects and it always ends up going poorly for them.
Control Spells: 8/10
Any time a new counterspell becomes a vintage staple, it’s doing something right. Or a little too right.
Wow Factor: 9/10
Phyrexia had clearly won the war, but phyrexian mana and infect won our hearts.
Final Score: 39/50
Pro Tour Update
Top 25 Rankings
Since we’re still in the midst of the prerelease and release weekends there is nothing new to report here.
The Quick Hits
- Anthony Lowry doesn’t pull any punches this week when discussing success and failure in Magic and in life [Star City Games]
- Jason Alt takes a look at a few of the many misprinted Khans of Tarkir cards that have popped up on the internet [Quiet Speculation]
- Danny Brown makes an appeal to Wizards to increase the number of non-foil promo cards they produce [Quiet Speculation]
- Graeme McIntyre talks about the different goals for individuals and the community in Magic [Mana Leak]
- Corbin Hosler shares an insightful look into why he writes about Magic finance [Empeopled]
- Frank Karsten breaks down the EV of playing in a Grand Prix [Frank Analysis]
- Mike Linnemann reviews the artwork of Khans of Tarkir [Gathering Magic]
- Travis Allen presents the first part of his breakdown of the flaws within the MTGO trading economy [MTG Price]
- A.E. Marling answers the pressing questions about flavor in Commander that no one is asking [Gathering Magic]
- The December FNM Promo isn’t hot garbage [Magic Arcana]
- Danny Brown starts to outline the “unwritten rules” of Magic [Quiet Speculation]
Wallpaper of the Week
I guess it was inevitable that this would be a wallpaper. Why fight it, right?
Grade: A
The Week Ahead
We can finally get back to following some high-level Magic this week when the Grand Prix circuit travels to Shanghai and Orlando! It’s been awhile, so you may have forgotten what a Grand Prix tournament is. These are the huge two-day events open to all players which award invitations to the Pro Tour to the top-8 competitors.
Things kick off in Shanghai with, unfortunately, no video coverage announced. The format will be Khans of Tarkir sealed on day one and draft on day two. We’ll get to see just which cards are the biggest bombs in limited while adding a few more names to the invitation list for Pro Tour Fate Reforged.
Star City Games is presenting the first North American Khans limited Grand Prix in Orlando, FL. This will likely be a big event so you won’t want to miss the coverage over on the SCGLive Twitch channel. Commentary will be provided by Cedric Philips, Patrick Sullivan, and Matthias Hunt. All of this is leading up to Pro Tour Khans of Tarkir which will take place the following weekend in Honolulu, so don’t miss the exciting action this weekend!
What We Learned is a weekly feature here at Hipsters of the Coast written by former amateur Magic Player Rich Stein, who came really close to making day two of a Grand Prix on several occasions. Each week we will take a look at the past seven days of major events, big news items, and community happenings so that you can keep up-to-date on all the latest and greatest Magic: the Gathering community news.