Shards of Alara
|
|||||
| Shards of Alara | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
five-shard crystal
|
|||||
| Released | October 3, 2008 | ||||
| Size | 249 cards (15 Mythic Rare, 53 Rare, 60 Uncommon, 101 Common, 20 Basic Lands) | ||||
| Keywords | Exalted[1], Unearth[2], Devour[2], Cycling | ||||
| Designers | Bill Rose (lead), Aaron Forsythe, Devin Low, Mark Rosewater, Mark Gottlieb, Brian Tinsman, Mike Turian, Matt Place, Erik Lauer, Alexis Janson, Ken Nagle, Mark Globus, Graeme Hompkins, Noah Weil, Mike Mikaelian | ||||
| Developers | Devin Low (lead) | ||||
| Dev. code | Rock | ||||
| Exp. code | ALA | ||||
 |
|||||
| First set in the Shards of Alara block | |||||
|
|||||
Shards of Alara is an expansion set from the trading card game Magic: The Gathering. It is the 47th limited-edition expansion set for Magic and was released on October 3, 2008.[3] On Magic Online Shards was released on October 20, 2008.[4]
[edit] Set details
Shards of Alara is the first set of the Alara block. Bill Rose was its lead designer, and Devin Low was its lead developer. Shards is a multicolor set which revolves around three-color combinations.[1] Its tagline is, "Five worlds share one fate." The set consists of 249 cards, 20 basic lands, 101 common, 60 uncommon, 53 rare, and 15 mythic rare.
The design of Shards of Alara focuses on five different "shards" which together formed a single world once. Mechanically, each shard consists of one of the five magic colors and its two allied colors. Each shard has its own key worded mechanic or strong over-arching theme, and its own creature types. The five shards were designed separately by three person design teams.
| Shard Name | Primary Color | Secondary Colors | Primary Mechanic | Dominant creature types | Planeswalker | Design team |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Bant | White | Green Blue |
Exalted[1] | Angels, Rhox, Aven, and Humans[5] | Elspeth, Knight-Errant | Brian Tinsman, Kenneth Nagle, Mark Rosewater[1] |
| Esper | Blue | White Black |
All creatures are colored artifact creatures[2] | Humans, Sphinxes, Homunculi, and Vedalken[5] | Tezzeret the Seeker | Mark Rosewater, Mark Globus, Mark Gottlieb[1] |
| Grixis | Black | Blue Red |
Unearth[2] | Demons, Zombies, Humans, and Skeletons[5] | Nicol Bolas (introduced in Conflux) | Devin Low, Erik Lauer, Brian Tinsman[1] |
| Jund | Red | Black Green |
Devour[2] | Dragons, Goblins, Humans, and Viashino[5] | Sarkhan Vol | Bill Rose, Mark Globus, Mike Turian[1] |
| Naya | Green | Red White |
Rewards playing creatures with a power of 5 or greater[2] | Humans, Beasts, Elves, and Leonin[5] | Ajani Vengeant | Kenneth Nagle, Mark Rosewater, Mike Turian[1] |
Shards of Alara introduced several changes in Wizards' design and publishing approach. Sets from Shards forward have a smaller number of cards, to reduce the size of the card pool for Block and Standard constructed tournament formats. A new level of rarity, "Mythic Rare", was added; mythic rares replace a booster pack's rare card in 1 out of 8 packs. Also, as part of a move to make products more beginner friendly, booster packs include a basic land in place of one of the commons, and pre-constructed decks will be rebranded as "Intro Packs" including a 41-card preconstructed deck and one booster pack. There are design changes to the fat pack, which for Shards includes five distinct box arts and the replacement of the usual set novel with an excerpt from A Planeswalker's Guide to Alara.[6] Shards was the last set for which tournament packs were released.
Shards of Alara also brings new planeswalker cards to the game. The first multicolored planeswalker to be revealed publicly was the red and green Sarkhan Vol. It was followed shortly by the white and red Ajani Vengeant, which is a new form of Ajani Goldmane from the Lorwyn set, and was the promotional card at Shards prerelease events and Launch Parties in September/October 2008.[7]
[edit] References
- ^ a b c d e f g h Rosewater, Mark (8 September 2008). "Between a Rock and a Shard Place". Wizards of the Coast. http://wizards.com/Magic/Magazine/Article.aspx?x=mtgcom/arcana/1549. Retrieved 2008-09-09.
- ^ a b c d e f Rosewater, Mark (16 August 2008). "Shard Candy". Wizards of the Coast. http://www.wizards.com/Magic/Magazine/Article.aspx?x=mtg/daily/mm/4. Retrieved 2008-09-16.
- ^ Magic Arcana (18 March 2008). "Announcing Shards of Alara". Wizards of the Coast. http://wizards.com/default.asp?x=mtgcom/arcana/1549. Retrieved 2008-03-18.
- ^ Gills, Mike (13 October 2008). "Shards of Alara Release Events". Wizards of the Coast. http://wizards.com/Magic/Magazine/Article.aspx?x=mtgcom/arcana/1549. Retrieved 28 January 2010.
- ^ a b c d e Whitters, Richard (16 August 2008). "Ripping a World Apart". Wizards of the Coast. http://www.wizards.com/Magic/Magazine/Article.aspx?x=mtg/daily/feature/4. Retrieved 2008-09-16.
- ^ Rosewater, Mark (2 June 2008). "The Year of Living Changerously". Wizards of the Coast. http://www.wizards.com/default.asp?x=mtgcom/daily/mr334. Retrieved 2008-06-02.
- ^ Magic Arcana (21 August 2008). "Shards of Alara Prerelease Card". Wizards of the Coast. http://www.wizards.com/default.asp?x=mtgcom/arcana/1660. Retrieved 2008-08-21.
[edit] External links
|
||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
