Mirrodin
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| Mirrodin | ||
|---|---|---|
| Expansion symbol |  |
|
| Release date | October 2, 2003 | |
| Mechanics | Artifacts, Equipment | |
| Keywords | Affinity, Imprint, Entwine | |
| Size | 306 cards | |
| Expansion code | MRD | |
| Development codename | Bacon | |
| Sets in Mirrodin Block | ||
| Mirrodin | Darksteel | Fifth Dawn |
| Magic: The Gathering Chronology |
||
| 8th Edition | Mirrodin | Darksteel |
Mirrodin is a 306-card expansion set for the game Magic: The Gathering that debuted in October 2003. It is also the name of the block containing the Mirrodin, Darksteel and Fifth Dawn expansion sets. This expansion, as well as the rest of the block, is centered around artifacts and is only the second set to do so (from a card frequency point of view) since Antiquities. The percentage of artifact cards is much higher than in any preceding set. Mirrodin 's expansion symbol is a small image of Sword of Kaldra, a card from this set.
Contents |
[edit] The world of Mirrodin
The setting for Mirrodin is a plane by the same name. An artificial world created by the planeswalker Karn, Mirrodin's environments and inhabitants mix organic and metallic. Mirrodin is orbited by four satellites, which are called by suns and moons, that correspond to red, black, white and blue magic. Green was notably absent until Glissa Sunseeker became a conduit for its birth.
The set focuses on five main regions on Mirrodin, each corresponding to a part of the Magic color pie:
- The Oxidda Chain, a range of mountains populated by goblins and the Vulshok tribe.
- The Tangle, a dense jungle populated by elves, the human Sylvok tribe and horrible beasts.
- The Mephidross, a dreadful swamp, and a home of Nim (zombies) and the Moriok.
- Quicksilver Sea, a sea of mercury populated by Vedalken and the Neurok tribe.
- Glimmervoid, the plains of Mirrodin, overgrown with sharp metallic grass and home to the Leonin, the Auriok tribe and Loxodon.
The main character of the story is the elf Glissa Sunseeker, who visits all these places, guided by revenge against the machines that killed her family. The story is captured in the novel Moons of Mirrodin by Will McDermott.
[edit] Set history
Mirrodin is notable for being the first expansion set to feature the new card front design (which debuted in 8th Edition). Ironically, the high number of artifacts in Mirrodin highlighted the inherent flaw of the new border design - artifact cards, which were now bordered in a very light grey instead of brown, were very hard to distinguish from white cards. The problem prompted Wizards of the Coast to change the bordering background of artifact cards to a much darker grey in Fifth Dawn.
[edit] Mechanics
Below is the list of mechanics introduced by Mirrodin:
- Affinity for artifacts - This keyword reduces the total cost of the spell by the number of artifacts in play under your control. This mechanic was extremely powerful and "Affinity" decks quickly monopolised Magic: The Gathering tournaments (see below), eventually resulting in sweeping bannings of the most powerful Affinity-related cards in an effort to revive the tournament scene.
- Artifact lands - While artifact creatures were not a new story, Mirrodin introduced artifact lands. These were the great helpers to the previous mechanic, increasing the artifact count while still being considered lands.
- Imprint - This keyword allows a player to "imprint" some card on the artifact (removing that card from the game). That artifact's effect depends on the card imprinted (for example you can imprint a creature on Soul Foundry and then activate it to reproduce copies of that creature).
- Entwine - An ability on modal spells, which normally require a player to choose only one of multiple effects. By paying the Entwine cost, all of the effects occur.
- Equipment - A new artifact subtype that denotes things which could be wielded or worn by creatures.
[edit] Notable Cards and Tournament Impact
The major deck based on Mirrodin cards is "Affinity". These are the key cards of Affinity:
- Artifact Lands Already tournament worthy cards, the artifact lands had a useful interaction with nearly every card in the Affinity deck, fueling its most powerful plays. They were banned from Standard tournaments on March 1, 2005.
- Creatures: Frogmite (2/2 for 4 mana), Myr Enforcer (4/4 for 7 mana) and Broodstar (flying with variable power and toughness for 8 colorless and 2 blue mana) all had affinity for artifacts, allowing to play them almost for free. With Darksteel coming out Broodstar fell out of favor, being replaced by Arcbound Ravager.
- Disciple of the Vault - a creature that caused its controller's opponent to lose life whenever an artifact was put into a graveyard. It was banned from Standard tournaments on March 1, 2005 due to the rapid offense it created with Arcbound Ravager (and to a lesser extent Atog). It was eventually banned in Extended play, along with Aether Vial.
- Thoughtcast provides access to more threats - this is very important because Affinity decks attack with enormous quantities of cards for little or no cost, and running out of new plays can allow the opponent to catch up with Affinity's momentum.
- Shrapnel Blast, which is used in some versions of affinity, deals 5 damage to any target (1/4 of the opponent's life total) for just 2 mana and an artifact.
Other highlights include:
- Chrome Mox a less fearsome version of the old Alpha Moxes, it is still considered very powerful, seeing play in a variety of decks (including some versions of affinity). Chrome Mox is restricted in Vintage.
- Chalice of the Void - This card stops all spells of a certain casting cost, regardless of color. Although only occasionally used in other formats, this card has become a staple of Type 1 control decks. Because nearly every deck in the format uses the famous moxen for early game acceleration, playing Chalice for zero on the first turn, can cripple the opponent's development. Used primarily in Workshop Prison decks to stop a whole range of spells, but Chalice has spread to other control archetypes, just for its ability to stop moxen on the first turn. Chalice has the unusual property of becoming dramatically more powerful in powerful formats, and weaker in weaker formats.
- Goblin Charbelcher - This card deals an amount of damage equal to the number of cards revealed off the top of the deck before hitting a land - effectively a random number. It is most successfully used in combo decks in Vintage and Legacy that find ways to eliminate all the lands in their deck, guaranteeing the Belcher will deal at least 20 damage.
- Pentavus - A large artifact creature that could become smaller to generate tokens very cheaply, or vice versa. Very hard to deal with in creature combat, and extremely powerful with Goblin Welder to use the tokens to recur other artifacts, including the Pentavus itself and get a fresh slate of tokens. Typically seen in the Vintage Control Slaver deck.
- Tooth and Nail is a green sorcery that searches for two creatures from the library or puts two creatures from the hand into play, and can be Entwined for nine mana. It is the namesake of one of the strongest Standard decks of its time, which used the Urza lands and green acceleration to play it as early as turn 4 and used creatures like Sundering Titan or Darksteel Colossus with Kiki-Jiki, Platinum Angel with Leonin Abunas, or Triskelion with Mephidross Vampire. In tournament level play it is rare to lose after resolving an entwined Tooth and Nail.
- Isochron Scepter This card is often paired with Orim's Chant, Fire/Ice or Counterspell in the Extended archetype ScepterChant.
- Sword of Kaldra is one part of the equipment of the legendary warrior Kaldra (the others are in the next two sets, Darksteel and Fifth Dawn). The small depiction of that sword is Mirrodin 's expansion symbol. This card was given out during Mirrodin prerelease events.
- Mindslaver is the only tournament-legal Magic card that allows you to control your opponent's actions during his turn. The card was initially considered so strange that it was intended for an Unglued sequel. When the sequel was cancelled, the card ended up in this set (a sequel to the Unglued set did eventually come out, called Unhinged.) This is a prominent card in Vintage, where goblin welder allows the devastating effect to be used cheaply.
- Solemn Simulacrum was designed by Magic Invitational winner Jens Thoren. Thoren is depicted on the card as an iron golem.
- Platinum Angel is a flying artifact creature that protects its controller from losing the game.
