Dark Ascension
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|---|---|---|
| Symbol | 
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| Design Team | Mark Rosewater (lead), Jenna Helland, Zac Hill, Graeme Hopkins, Matt Tabak | |
| Development Team | Tom LaPille (lead), Mark L. Gottlieb, Zac Hill, David Humpherys, Ken Troop | |
| Release Date | February 3, 2012 | |
| Mechanics | Double-faced Cards, Curse, Graveyard matters, Tribal, Sacrificing Humans | |
| Keywords/ Ability words |
Fateful hour, Flashback, Morbid, Transform, Undying | |
| Size | 158 | |
| Expansion Code | DKA | |
| Development Codename | Rattle | |
| Sets in Innistrad block | ||
| Innistrad | Dark Ascension | Avacyn Restored |
| Magic: The Gathering Chronology | ||
| Premium Deck Series: Graveborn | Dark Ascension | Venser vs. Koth |
Dark Ascension is the second set in the Innistrad block, being released February 3, 2012. It is the fifty-seventh expansion for Magic. Prerelease Events took place January 28-29, 2012 and Launch Parties took place February 3-6, 2012. The Magic Online release date was February 20, 2012 and Game Day was on February 25-26, 2012. The promo card was Ravenous Demon.
Contents |
[edit] Set Details
Dark Ascension continues the storyline of Innistrad on the plane of the same name. Thematically, the plane is still plagued by Werewolves, Zombies, Vampires, Ghosts and other creatures of the night. The set puts a stronger emphasis on these creature types, such as providing a lord for each of them. Meanwhile, the humans are on the verge of extinction and have to take desperate measures to stem the tide. All the major mechanics of the previous set, including Double-faced cards, return.
[edit] Flavor
| “ | Command the Night
Innistrad is a plane of menace and dread where every creature hides a darker aspect. Here, hedonistic vampires stalk the shadows to quench their thirst, and the full moon can transform a simple villager into a savage werewolf. Best to huddle inside, Planeswalker, lest the horrors of this world rend you limb from limb. |
” |
[edit] Mechanics
The set introduces a new keyword mechanic in Undying. It functions very similar to Persist, but instead of -1/-1 counters, it adds a +1/+1 counter to the creature when it returns from the grave.
Fateful hour is a new ability word, which scales up an effect if the controller of the effect is at 5 life or less.
Double-faced cards return with this set, further showcasing the transformation mechanic. Flashback, Morbid and Curses also return.
[edit] Marketing Cards
[edit] Tokens
The Dark Ascension tokens in numerical order are:
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1/1 Human produced by Gather the Townsfolk, Increasing Devotion, and Thraben Doomsayer.
- Emblem with "Creatures you control get +1/+0." produced by Sorin, Lord of Innistrad.
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1/1 Vampire with lifelink produced by Sorin, Lord of Innistrad.
Tokens that previously introduced in Innistrad are:
- 1/1 Spirit with flying produced by Elgaud Inquisitor, Lingering Souls, Requiem Angel, and Avacyn's Collar.
- 2/2 Zombie produced by Havengul Runebinder, Reap the Seagraf, and Wakedancer.
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2/2 Wolf produced by Feed the Pack, and Huntmaster of the Fells.
[edit] Cycles
Dark Ascension breaks the mold for cycles to a certain extent, as some of the cycles only contain four cards. In cycles which emphasize an allied color-pair, the green-white part of the cycle is missing. This is likely due to the higher emphasis on monster tribes, as the white/green pair is tied to humans.
Dark Ascension has six cycles:
- Increasing Flashback Spells: Five rare spells with Flashback, which double their effect if they are flashed back — Increasing Devotion, Increasing Confusion, Increasing Ambition, Increasing Vengeance, and Increasing Savagery.
- Mythic Rare Tribal Creatures: Four mythic rare creatures that are of an allied pair associated with one of four monster tribes associated with Innistrad — Drogskol Reaver, Falkenrath Aristocrat, Havengul Lich, and Huntmaster of the Fells.
- Ally Flashback cards: Each of these common spells has a flashback cost involving its counter-clockwise ally on the color wheel. This cycle mirrors the ally cycle from Innistrad, which had flashback costs in the color's clockwise ally on the color wheel. — Ray of Revelation, Saving Grasp, Reap the Seagraf, Fires of Undeath, and Wild Hunger.
- Enemy Flashback cards: Each of these uncommon spells has a flashback cost involving the enemy color two slots later on the color wheel. They are the reverse of a cycle from Innistrad, as the colors of the flashback cost and the regular casting cost are flipped. — Lingering Souls, Mystic Retrieval, Deadly Allure, Burning Oil, and Tracker's Instincts.
- Tribal Lords: A cycle of uncommon cards that are allied-colored lords tied to one of the monster tribes on Innistrad. They all provide some form of benefit in addition to the standard lord effect. Immerwolf is the only one which is not named Captain. — Drogskol Captain, Diregraf Captain, Stromkirk Captain, and Immerwolf.
- Enemy Utility lands: Like Innistrad, Dark Ascension and Avacyn Restored contain (between them) a cycle of colorless lands that can be tapped for
and have an additional tap ability requiring two specific colors of mana to activate. In this cycle, the colors are of enemy pairs. — Vault of the Archangel and Grim Backwoods
[edit] Mirrored Pairs
Additionally, Ray of Revelation has been reprinted. The card was often seen as a mirrored pair with Ancient Grudge as both destroy a permanent type that Green is commonly able to destroy and they both have flashback for 
, but Ray of Revelation was first printed in Judgment while Ancient Grudge was printed in Time Spiral. Since Grudge was reprinted in the previous set, both cards now appear in the same block and form a true mirrored pair.
[edit] Reprinted Cards
The following cards have been reprinted from previous sets and included in Dark Ascension:
- Ray of Revelation was last seen in Judgment
- Divination, first printed in Magic 2010 and Magic 2012
- Fling, first printed in Stronghold, last seen in Magic 2012
- Evolving Wilds, first printed in Rise of the Eldrazi, last seen in Duel Decks: Ajani vs. Nicol Bolas
[edit] Functional reprints
- Gravepurge is a functional reprint of Footbottom Feast from Lorwyn.
- Griptide is a functional reprint of Repel from Odyssey.
- Hollowhenge Beast is a functional reprint of Silverback Ape from 8th Edition, save for creature type.
- Nephalia Seakite is a functional reprint of Sentinels of Glen Elendra from Lorwyn, save for creature type.
- Sanctuary Cat is a functional reprint of Devoted Hero from Starter 1999 and Volunteer Militia from Portal Three Kingdoms, save for creature type.
- Russet Wolves is a functional reprint of Lagac Lizard from Rise of the Eldrazi, Canyon Minotaur from Magic 2011, Hill Giant from 10th Edition, Wild Jhovall from Mercadian Masques, Tor Giant from Ice Age, Ogre Warrior from Starter 1999 and Barbarian Horde from Portal Three Kingdoms, save for creature type.
[edit] Upgrades
- Midnight Guard is an upgrade from Shu Foot Soldiers from Portal Three Kingdoms and Alaborn Trooper from Portal Second Age.
- Thought Scour is an upgrade from Ray of Erasure from Ice Age and Mental Note from Judgment.
- Hunger of the Howlpack is an upgrade from Battlegrowth from Mirrodin.
- Somberwald Dryad is an upgrade from Rushwood Dryad from Mercadian Masques.
[edit] Notable cards
- Gravecrawler and Geralf's Messenger formed the backbone for of Zombie decks in Standard, as both are hard to kill and can push a lot of damage through in early turns. Geralf's Messenger in particular is a Mirrored version of Kitchen Finks which was a popular aggro card during Lorwyn-Shadowmoor block, being able to deal more damage and come back stronger in exchange for a more color-intensive cost (as opposed to Fink's lifegain, Persist, and hybrid mana).
- Grafdigger's Cage — A powerful hoser card against strategies that attempt to cheat cards into play. This card incited widespread skepticism and anger, but turned out to not be as threatening as expected.
- Lingering Souls saw widespread application in a nearly all formats and was banned in Block Constructed due to providing a large number of creatures with the cost spread over multiple turns.
- Huntmaster of the Fells — Providing two bodies in one card, as well as lifegain and potential damage output, this card saw much tournament attention.
- Elbrus, the Binding Blade is a very flavorful artifact, depicting an expensive but weak dagger, which transforms into the gigantic and nigh-unstoppable Demon Withengar who feasts and the souls of defeated opponents.
[edit] Intro Packs
| Intro pack name | Foil rare | |||||
| White | Blue | Black | Red | Green | ||
| Swift Justice | □ | ■ | Requiem Angel | |||
| Relentless Dead | ■ | ■ | Havengul Runebinder | |||
| Monstrous Surprise | ■ | ■ | Flayer of the Hatebound | |||
| Grave Power | ■ | ■ | Ghoultree | |||
| Dark Sacrifice | □ | ■ | Fiend of the Shadows | |||
[edit] Event decks
| Event deck name | |||||
| White | Blue | Black | Red | Green | |
| Gleeful Flames | ■ | ||||
| Spiraling Doom | ■ | ■ | |||
[edit] References
[edit] External links
- "Announcing Dark Ascension", by "Magic Arcana", DailyMTG.com, Monday, July 25, 2011
