Portal Three Kingdoms
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
| Portal Three Kingdoms | ||
|---|---|---|
| Expansion symbol |  |
|
| Release date | July 6, 1999 | |
| Mechanics | "Zodiac" cycle | |
| Keywords | Horsemanship | |
| Size | 180 cards | |
| Expansion code | PTK | |
| Development codename | None | |
| Sets in Portal Block | ||
| Portal | Portal Second Age | Portal Three Kingdoms |
| Magic: The Gathering Chronology |
||
| Urza's Destiny | Portal Three Kingdoms | Starter |
Portal Three Kingdoms is the third Magic: The Gathering expansion of the Portal block. Like the other expansions in the Portal block, Portal: Three Kingdoms is designed for beginners to Magic. The setting is heavily based on the Three Kingdoms. Each card, including each basic land, was illustrated by a Chinese artist.
Contents |
[edit] Set History
Portal Three Kingdoms was released mainly in Asia-Pacific markets. These cards were printed in Japanese, S-Chinese, and T-Chinese. A very short English-language printing run was done, but the English versions of the cards are very hard to come by.
As of October 20, 2005, all cards in the Portal block are legal in Vintage and Legacy tournaments.
[edit] Horsemanship
Portal Three Kingdoms is the only starter level set to introduce a new keyword ability into the game. Horsemanship has become an obscure ability due to the limited production and geographical release of the set.
Horsemanship works like flying in that creatures with horsemanship can be blocked only by creatures with horsemanship. Creatures with horsemanship can block creatures without horsemanship as well. As such, these creatures are effectively 'unblockable' by almost all other creatures. However, like all other Portal sets, Three Kingdoms can only be used in Vintage and Legacy formats where most decks function with limited or no creature base.
A past controversy existed over horsemanship, when the set became tournament legal, there were some who thought that cards with the horsemanship ability should be errata to have flying instead. Wizards initially considered making this change but decided against it, stating that the creatures with horsemanship are rare and not aggressive enough to make an impact on vintage formats. Wizards has also stated that it will be unlikely that horsemanship will return on new cards in the future.
With the release of Time Spiral, Wizards recently returned a vast number of older pre-8th Edition keyword abilities and mechanics, horsemanship was not among the mechanics that returned.
[edit] Notable Cards
- Ambition's Cost - this card was liked enough to be promoted into standard Magic in 8th Edition.
- Imperial Seal - an inferior Vampiric Tutor, this card has nonetheless sparked secondary markets to high prices. It was pre-emptively restricted in Vintage and banned in Legacy, as Portal Three Kingdoms became legal in Vintage and Legacy. A PSA 10 Imperial Seal was sold at auction in January 2006 for $160 USD.
- Sun Quan, Lord of Wu - he gives all of a player's creatures horsemanship, making a large attack difficult for an opponent to block.
- Zodiac Dragon - Due to a misunderstanding of the card text this was originally thought to be much more powerful than it is leading it to become the most expensive Three Kingdoms card on the secondary market. A PSA 10 Zodiac Dragon was sold at auction in January 2006 for $285 USD.
