Legions
From MTG Salvation Wiki
- For other uses, see Legions (disambiguation).
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|---|---|---|
| Symbol | 
| |
| Design Team | Mike Elliott (lead) Michael Donais | |
| Development Team | William Jockusch (lead) Elaine Chase Michael Donais Worth Wollpert Randy Buehler | |
| Release Date | January 2003 | |
| Mechanics | Creatures, Tribal themes, Morph triggered abilities | |
| Keywords/ Ability words | Amplify, Provoke, Double strike | |
| Size | 145 (55 Common 45 Uncommon 45 Rare) | |
| Expansion Code | LGN | |
| Development Codename | Moe | |
| Sets in Onslaught block | ||
| Onslaught | Legions | Scourge |
| Magic: The Gathering Chronology | ||
| Onslaught | Legions | Scourge |
Legions is the twenty-ninth Magic expansion and was released in 2003 as the second set in the Onslaught block. It is unique because every card in it is a creature and to balance this some cards emulated enchantments and some creatures have morph triggers that act like spells.
Contents |
[edit] Set details
Legions is the first and only expansion in Magic to be 100% creature cards. This was done to help augment the creature-based mechanics of the block. While there were quality cards, Limited play could become stale.
The set also features the return of the fan favourite creature type, the Slivers.
[edit] Storyline
Kamahl and the Cabal, in their uneasy alliance, set out to defeat the threat of Akroma. Ixidor was killed, but Akroma continues her mission to destroy Phage. Meanwhile, the Slivers (last spotted in Weatherlight and its era) have been reintroduced as clones of the originals. In the final battle, Phage and Akroma merge into one being, Karona, the False God.
[edit] Mechanics
The following mechanics first appeared in Legions:
- Amplify — As a creature with amplify comes into play, its controller may reveal creature cards from his or her hand that share a creature type with it, so to add +1/+1 counters. Creatures with amplify are generally more costly than their counterparts that have similar base power-toughness stats.
- Provoke — Based on the card Provoke from Stronghold, when a creature with provoke attacked, it could untap an opponent's creature and force that creature to block it.
- Double strike — A mechanic suggested by a fan during the Wizards of the Coast's magicthegathering.com's "You Make the Card" promotion, and was officially turned into a mechanic. A creature with Double Strike would deal both first strike and regular combat damage.
- Morph-triggered abilities — Some creatures had an ability that would trigger upon turning face-up.
[edit] Cycles
Legions has six cycles:
- Common Slivers: Each of these common 1/1 Sliver creatures has an ability that it grants to all Slivers, including itself — Plated Sliver, Mistform Sliver, Crypt Sliver, Hunter Sliver, and Quick Sliver.
- Uncommon Slivers: Each of these uncommon 2/2 Sliver creatures has an ability that it grants to all Slivers, including itself — Ward Sliver, Shifting Sliver, Spectral Sliver, Blade Sliver, and Root Sliver.
- Rare Slivers: Each of these rare 3/3 Sliver creatures has an ability that it grants to all Slivers, including itself — Essence Sliver, Synapse Sliver, Toxin Sliver, Magma Sliver, and Brood Sliver.
- Gempalm creatures: Each of these creatures has cycling and an additional effect if you cycle it, depending on the number of creatures with a certain creature type you control — Gempalm Avenger, Gempalm Sorcerer, Gempalm Polluter, Gempalm Incinerator, and Gempalm Strider.
- Invokers: Each of these common creatures has a powerful activated abilty for the cost of
C — Starlight Invoker, Glintwing Invoker, Smokespew Invoker, Flamewave Invoker, and Stonewood Invoker.
- Muses: The Muses are a horizontal cycle of rare Spirits, each possessing an ability — Windborn Muse, Dreamborn Muse, Graveborn Muse, Lavaborn Muse, and Seedborn Muse.
[edit] Notable cards and tournament impact
- Akroma, Angel of Wrath — A 6/6 legendary Angel with seven keyword abilities, the most abilities of any creature in Magic, Akroma saw a fair amount of tournament play for her imperviousness against most red and black spells and her all-round durability, granted by her protection abilities and first strike. It has been reprinted as a timeshifted card in Time Spiral.
- Caller of the Claw — A 2/2 elf with flash, when Caller of the Claw comes into play, its controller puts a green 2/2 Bear creature token for every non-token creature put into its owner's graveyard that turn; used as an alternate win condition for Worldgorger decks, and a sideboard card against Wrath of God.
- Goblin Goon — An overused yet essential addition to the Goblin deck. His drawback is negated by his 6/6 frame and the fact that red is about quickly casting creature swarms, as well as slinging "burn" spells.
- White Knight — A creature first appearing in Alpha, White Knight made a triumphant return in "White Weenie" decks.
[edit] Other notable cards
- Krosan Cloudscraper — At 13/13, the Krosan Cloudscraper is usually considered the largest tournament legal non-token creature in Magic. Autochthon Wurm, printed in Ravnica takes the title of largest-toughness creature, while Krosan Cloudscraper has the largest power, and largest sum of power and toughness. Marit Lage, a token creature generated by the land Dark Depths of Coldsnap, is now the most powerful creature in the game, with 20 power and toughness.
- Mistform Ultimus — An enigmatic Mistform creature. It is of every creature type (even when it isn't in play). This characteristic leads to many devastating combos. In an average deck, it is just a legendary Giant Squid. Wizards often updates its creature types, and has jokingly commented that the Ultimus is a mutant ninja turtle. According to the Card of the Day feature on Magic's online site, if all the creature types were listed on Mistform Ultimus, the text would be .40 point. It is one of the cards which got reprinted in Time Spiral, and is now a legendary creature (due to Legend being a creature type before Kamigawa legend rules change). This card was also the basis of the Changeling mechanic from Lorwyn.
- Phage the Untouchable — Jeska (Kamahl's sister) healed and corrupted with Cabal magic. She has developed a power almost similar to the First's: a touch so strong it can rapidly rot flesh of those living and those which lived (even planeswalker flesh, as is reflected with her ability). Oddly enough, in the context of a game of Magic, Phage can't kill indestructible creatures like Darksteel Colossus and the Myojin (if they have a divinity counter on them); however, from a flavor perspective, it makes sense that Phage can't destroy creatures made of Darksteel, because her rotting touch only affects organic material, with the exception of silk. Due to Phage's cost and drawback, she doesn't see much tournament play (though, she does make for devastating casual games), and has gained the nickname "Phage the Unplayable."
- Timberwatch Elf — A common elf creature that, when tapped for its ability, gives a creature a power/toughness boost equal to the number of elves in play. It is a staple of both competitive and casual elves decks, and its ability reflects the strong "linear" theme of the Onslaught block.
[edit] Reprinted cards
The following cards have been reprinted from previous sets and included in Legions.
- White Knight — was last seen in 5th Edition.
[edit] Functional Reprints
Legions has 3 functional reprint:
- Fugitive Wizard is a functional reprint of Merfolk of the Pearl Trident from 7th Edition, save for creature type.
- Keeneye Aven is a functional reprint of Pendrell Drake from Urza's Saga, save for creature type.
- Merchant of Secrets is a functional reprint of Council of Advisors from Portal Three Kingdoms, save for creature type.
[edit] Theme decks
Although Legions is a creature-only set, only one theme deck has only creatures in it (besides lands) — Elvish Rage. The other decks have other card types from Onslaught. The preconstructed theme decks are:
| Theme deck name | |||||
| White | Blue | Black | Red | Green | |
| Elvish Rage | ■ | ||||
| Morph Mayhem | □ | ■ | |||
| Sliver Shivers | □ | ■ | ■ | ||
| Zombies Unleashed | ■ | ||||
