Lorwyn
From MTG Salvation Wiki
| ||
|---|---|---|
| Symbol | 
| |
| Design Team | Aaron Forsythe (lead) Mark Rosewater Paul Sottosanti Brady Dommermuth Nate Heiss Andrew Finch | |
| Development Team | Devin Low (lead) Bill Rose Matt Place Henry Stern Mike Turian Doug Beyer | |
| Release Date | October 12, 2007 | |
| Mechanics | Planeswalkers, Tribal | |
| Keywords/ Ability words | Champion, Changeling, Clash, Deathtouch, Evoke, Hideaway | |
| Size | 301 (121 Common 80 Uncommon 80 Rare 20 Land) | |
| Expansion Code | LRW | |
| Development Codename | Peanut | |
| Sets in Lorwyn block | ||
| Lorwyn | Morningtide | |
| Magic: The Gathering Chronology | ||
| Masters Edition | Lorwyn | Elves vs. Goblins |
- For other uses, see Lorwyn (disambiguation).
Lorwyn is the forty-fourth Magic expansion. It was released on October 12, 2007, as the first set in the Lorwyn block. The pre-elease events for this set were held on September 29-30, 2007, and release events were held on October 12-14, 2007.
An article by Mark Rosewater confirms that Lorwyn will be the first part of a two-set block. There will be a pair of two-set blocks to fill Wizards' four-set-a-year trend.[1]
Contents |
[edit] Set details
Lorwyn was spoiled in its entirety on Monday, 24 September, 2007, on the MTGSalvation forums, with chief contributors being the recently moderator'd charlequin; disturbed01; Hunter; Hydrokinesis; Orange Mage; yajiko; and their sources.
On the conception of Lorwyn and its setting, MTG.com columnist Mark Rosewater writes:
| “ | While design came into Lorwyn with its goals, so to[sic] did the creative team. Metal world [Mirrodin], Japanese-inspired world [Kamigawa], city world [Ravnica], post-apocalyptic world [Time Spiral]—each of these environments had their own distinctive stamp, but none of them were solidly grounded in traditional fantasy. Combine that with a desire to swing the pendulum back from the crazy chaotic feel of Time Spiral block and you have a sense of where the creative team wanted to go. They were eager to build a world steeped in a more traditional fantasy.[1] | ” |
Rosewater also states that there will be no humans, although "some of the planeswalkers are human. But creaturewise, no humans in this tribal block. It was a decision we made early in design as the human tribe has some weird issues with tribal. (For example, "Sacrifice a Human" just sounds creepy.)"[1]
Another magicthegathering.com columnist, Doug Beyer, states that:
| “ | The Lorwyn setting draws inspiration from the folklore of the British Isles.[2] | ” |
and that:
| “ | Lorwyn draws inspiration from the folklore and mythology of the British Isles. You'll find influences from Irish, English, Welsh, Scottish, and Celtic stories, languages and cultures in both the look and world details of the setting. That pedigree gives Lorwyn a built-in storybook feel, even as it diverges dramatically from that source material. The result is a world that feels original and unique to Magic, yet draws from long folklore traditions for an impression of rustic, well-worn history.[3] | ” |
[edit] Promotion cards
The promotional pre-release card for Lorwyn is Wren's Run Packmaster, a card that bears the "champion" mechanic and highlights the significance of tribes and creature types, the theme of Lorwyn.
[edit] Planeswalkers
Lorwyn introduced planeswalkers as an entirely new card type into the main game. Originally intended for Future Sight, that set already included many new mechanics and planeswalkers got pushed back into Lorwyn. In terms of flavor, with the nature of planeswalking having recently changed and the players themselves representing planeswalkers, the goal was to make it feel like the controller of the planeswalker had another player helping its controller.
The planeswalkers of Lorwyn are: Ajani Goldmane, Jace Beleren, Liliana Vess, Chandra Nalaar, and Garruk Wildspeaker.
[edit] Mechanics
- Champion a/an [type] (When this comes into play, sacrifice it unless you remove another [type] you control from the game. When this leaves play, that card returns to play.)
- "Champion is a mechanic that allows a powerful creature to "overlay" a creature of the specified subtype",[4][5] or "allows you to upgrade one permanent into another."[6] Champion is a triggered ability that appears solely on creature cards in Lorwyn, all of which are rare or uncommon, as is the case for shapeshifter champions, which can champion any creature. These creature cards are: Boggart Mob, Changeling Berserker, Changeling Hero, Changeling Titan, Mistbind Clique, Nova Chaser, Thoughtweft Trio, Wanderwine Prophets, and Wren's Run Packmaster.
- Changeling (This card is every creature type at all times.)
- Lorwyn marks the keywording of Mistform Ultimus's ability, "Misform Ultimus is every creature type (even if this card isn't in play)."; this keyword is "changeling" and has the reminder text "(This card is every creature type at all times.)", and appears on a total of 19 spells and creatures.[5]
- Clash (Each clashing player reveals the top card of his or her library, then puts that card on the top or bottom. A player wins if his or her card had a higher converted mana cost.)
Devin Low, a magicthegathering.com columnist, wrote of clash:
| “ | The clash designers felt strongly that a clash spell should always give you a reliable base effect even if you don't win the clash, with a bonus as gravy if you do win the clash. For example, it was important to the clash designers, and the Lorwyn developers, that we don't do spells like "  , Sorcery. Target creature gets -2/-2 until end of turn. Then clash with an opponent. If you win, destroy that creature instead." With that kind of spell, players would inevitably get into a situation where they had to target Serra Avenger, and then if they lost the clash, they'd end up accomplishing nothing.
So the Lorwyn teams made sure that all the clash spells fit the model of "Always get the main effect no matter how the clash goes. Now try to get a bonus effect if you win the clash." That way your spell can never outright fail. We also worked to make the clash bonuses subtle, so that they would help you get ahead, but rarely be singled out as the one factor that won the game. We wouldn't make a clash card that said " … One of the things we liked about clash is that it rewards you for playing high-mana cost spells. Another benefit we found to clash while playtesting it was that it subtly smoothes out both players' draws, especially their mana flow. Whenever you or an opponent clashes, one side effect is that each player gets to filter the top card of his or her library to the top or bottom. If you need more lands, you can filter your way closer to lands. If you have plenty of lands and need more spells, you can filter past the lands to get to your spells. When your hand is empty and you're trying to topdeck spells, clashing your way past a land that you no longer have to draw feels a lot like drawing an extra card. And when you reveal the awesome card you've been hoping for with clash, you can choose to keep it on top instead of putting it on the bottom. Ironically, the seemingly random clash sometimes reduces the randomness of Magic's mana flow.[7] | ” |
It is confirmed that clash, like evoke, was added during development, and went through a "lot of evolutions from the initial version of evoke that Rosewater pitched and the initial version of Clash that I [Devil Low] pitched".[7]
- Deathtouch (Whenever this creature deals damage to a creature, destroy that creature.)
- Deathtouch, introduced in Future Sight with Thornweald Archer, represents an ability that has long been a part of Magic, but only recently keyworded. In Lorwyn, the term "deathtouch" appears on six cards, all of which are in black and green, the color of the Lorwyn elves; and the ability itself appears innately on two creatures (Moonglove Winnower and Wren's Run Vanquisher), both elves in black and green, respectively. The flavour of Lorwyn's elves, deathtouch, and the distribution of the ability, as explained in Rei Nakazawa's article Lorwyn Lore, is that "Lorwyn elves are obsessed with beauty and perfection; social status and societal power are entirely determined by physical looks. These elves are not afraid to twist nature into more beautiful shapes of their choosing, and they claim complete ownership over all that is beautiful, even sentient beings. The worst thing any being can be is ugly, and elves, in their arrogance, rarely (if ever) see other races as anything but hideous. In fact, the ugly, known as eyeblights to the elves, are shunned at best, and at worst are actively hunted, enslaved, even killed with the potent toxin moonglove."[8]
- Evoke
- Evoke is a keyword ability that represents a static ability and a triggered ability; it allows a player to play an alternate cost for a creature spell that possesses this ability, however, if the evoke cost is paid, the creature is sacrificed when it comes into play. In Lorwyn, evoke appears only on Elemental creature cards with "comes-into-play" (also known as "CoP"/"187") abilities.[9]
- Hideaway
- Hideaway, which appears on a cycle of rare Lorwyn lands, lets you hide a card away for later. It also causes the lands to come into play tapped.[5]
[edit] Themes
Tribes and creature types, previous explored in the Onslaught block, are a prominent theme of the Lorwyn set and block. With "tribal" cards — the first of which, introduced in Future Sight, is Rebel tribal aura Bound in Silence — spells may also have tribal/creature types, and thus affect cards that take creature types into account.
The set revolves around eight creature types, with each of these creature types appearing in two (or more) colors.[1][10] One color is the primary color and the other(s) are secondary colors. The breakdown can be seen in this table:[11]
| Creature subtype | Tribe name | Primary color | Secondary color(s) |
|---|---|---|---|
| Elementals | Flamekin (in red only) Greater Elementals (in all colors) | Red ( )
| All colors (   )
|
| Elves | Green ()
| Black ()
| |
| Faeries | Fae | Blue ()
| Black ()
|
| Giants | Red ()
| White ()
| |
| Goblins | Boggarts | Black ()
| Red ()
|
| Kithkin | White ()
| Green ()
| |
| Merfolk | Merrow | Blue ()
| White ()
|
| Shapeshifters | Changelings | All colors ()
| n/a |
| Treefolk | Green ()
| Black (), white ()
| |
Note that changelings are not a tribe unto themselves, but rather have the ability to blend in with all tribes.
[edit] Flavor
[edit] Marketing cards
Like 10th Edition boosters before them, boosters of Lorwyn come with a bonus sixteenth card that is either a "rules card" or a creature token; one face of the Lorwyn bonus card has one of five different rules tips or is one of eleven different creature tokens; the other face has one of six advertisements for organized play programs, magicthegathering.com, and Morningtide.[12]
The rules cards are "Planeswalkers — Part 1: Basics", "Planeswalkers — Part 2: Planeswalkers Abilities", "Planewalkers — Part 3: Fighting a Planeswalker", "Rules Tip: Clash", and "Rules Tip: Tribal".[12]
[edit] Cycles
- Commands: Each of these rare modal spells has four modes each and allows you to choose two different modes rather than merely one — Austere Command, Cryptic Command, Profane Command, Incendiary Command, Primal Command.[13]
- Hideaway lands: Each of these rare lands comes into play tapped. When one comes into play, you may look at the top four cards of your library, remove one from the game face down, then put the rest on the bottom of your library; you may pay one mana of the land's respective color to play the spell without paying its mana cost at any time if certain conditions have been met at some point in the turn. The art of each card depicts a landscape that resembles a huge monster — Windbrisk Heights, Shelldock Isle, Howltooth Hollow, Spinerock Knoll, and Mosswort Bridge. The next large set, Shadowmoor, featured a cycle of rare creatures that represented each of these monsters awakened from slumber.
- Incarnations: Inspired by the original cycle of Incarnations from Judgment, each of these rare Elemental Incarnation colors costs
CCC, grants a powerful boon to its controller, and is shuffled back into its owner's library if put into its owner's graveyard from anywhere — Purity, Guile, Dread, Hostility, and Vigor.
- Planeswalkers: Each of these rare cards showcases the abilities of the new planeswalker card type — Ajani Goldmane, Jace Beleren, Liliana Vess, Chandra Nalaar, and Garruk Wildspeaker.
- Vivid lands: Each of these uncommon lands comes into play tapped with two charge counters and can be tapped for one mana of a specific color or tapped and a charge counter removed for one mana of any color. The art description of each card in the cycle contained a pretty simple request: to show a standard color-aligned location with a rainbow of color somewhere in the piece — Vivid Meadow, Vivid Creek, Vivid Marsh, Vivid Crag, and Vivid Grove. [14]
[edit] Tribe-related cycles
Several cycles exist based around creature type rather than color; not all creature types are represented in each cycle. The tribal cycles are:
- Champions: Each of these rare creatures require you to remove another creature from the game as they come into play; the creature returns to the game if the champion leaves play. They represent champions who fight on the removed creature's behalf — Nova Chaser (elementals), Wren's Run Packmaster (elves), Mistbind Clique (faeries), Boggart Mob (goblins), Thoughtweft Trio (kithkin), and Wanderwine Prophets (merfolk). Changeling Berserker, Changeling Hero, and Changeling Titan are shapeshifters that can champion any creature regardless of type; they are not part of the cycle.
- Harbingers: Each of these uncommon creatures has a "comes-into-play" ability that allows you to search your library a card of its creature type and put it on top of your library — Flamekin Harbinger (flamekin), Elvish Harbinger (elves), Faerie Harbinger (faeries), Giant Harbinger (giants), Boggart Harbinger (goblins), Kithkin Harbinger (kithkin), Merrow Harbinger (merfolk), and Treefolk Harbinger (treefolk).
- Revealers: Each of these uncommon creatures that that are strictly better than a card of their casting cost would normally be. You must pay extra unless you reveals a card of the proper creature type from your hand when playing the spell — Flamekin Bladewhirl (elementals), Wren's Run Vanquisher (elves), Squeaking Pie Sneak (goblins), Goldmeadow Stalwart (kithkin), and Silvergill Adept (merfolk).
- Token-makers: Each of these uncommon creatures create tokens of other creature types, which can then be either tapped or sacrificed to power the creature — Benthicore (elemental, creates merfolk), Marsh Flitter (faerie, creates goblins), Cloudgoat Ranger (giant, creates kithkin), Hearthcage Giant (giant, creates elementals), and Guardian of Cloverdell (treefolk, creates kithkin).
- Tribal cantrips: When these spells resolve and if the controller controls a permanent of the respective creature type, he or she draws a card — Peppersmoke (faeries), Giant's Ire (giants), Surge of Thoughtweft (kithkin), Aquitect's Will (merfolk), and Rootgrapple (treefolk).
- Tribal legends: Each of these rare, multicolor legendary creatures represents one of the eight tribes and requires mana of each of the tribe's colors to cast — Horde of Notions (elementals), Nath of the Gilt-Leaf (elves), Wydwen, the Biting Gale (faeries), Brion Stoutarm (giants), Wort, Boggart Auntie (goblins), Gaddock Teeg (kithkin), Sygg, River Guide (merfolk), and Doran, the Siege Tower (treefolk).
- Tribal lords: Each of these uncommon or rare creatures grant other creatures of their creature type a bonus in power and toughness; in some cases, they grant and/or have other abilities — Incandescent Soulstoke (elementals), Imperious Perfect (elves), Scion of Oona (faeries), Sunrise Sovereign (giants), Mad Auntie (boggarts), Wizened Cenn (kithkin), Merrow Reejerey (merfolk), and Timber Protector (treefolk). Shapesharer, another rare card, is the only card in the set that specifically targets shapeshifters, but it does not grant a bonus on power or toughness. The rarities of these cards vary from uncommon to rare; Imperious Perfect, Merrow Reejerey, and Wizened Cenn are uncommons, while the rest are rare.
[edit] Notable cards
- Doran, the Siege Tower — a rare, legendary 0/5 creature with rule changing text stating "Each creature assigns combat damage equal to its toughness rather than its power." It is effectively a 5/5 creature for 3 mana.
- Ponder — is a common, which allows you to look at the top 3 cards of your libary and put them back in any order and draw the top card. On June 1, 2008, it was restricted in Vintage format for "finding the powerful restricted cards in a deck too easy" according to Mike Turian, Magic Developer and Pro Tour winner.
- Gaddock Teeg — used agaist non-creature spells
Evoke creatures:
- Shriekmaw — an uncommon, 3/2 Elemental creature with fear, evoke, a comes-into-play ability suggestive of "Terror", especially with its evoke cost at
, Shriekmaw costs 
and is expected to be a chase-card. Mike Flores, a renowned and respected Magic player and MTG.com columnist, wrote of Shriekmaw in its preview column, "A Different Brand of Flexible":
- Ingot Chewer — a common, 3/3 Elemental creature for
with an evoke cost of and a comes-into-play ability equivlant to "Shatter". The evoke cost of to reinforces Aaron Forsythe's earlier statement that destroying an artifact can fairly cost just instead of . [16]
- Mulldrifter — a common, 2/2 Elemental creature with flying for
with an evoke cost of 
and a comes-into-play ability of drawing 2 cards.
"Command" cycle cards:
- Profane Command — a rare sorcery with a variable mana cost, Profane Command costs
; it is a powerful card that allows its controller to do two of the four modes that appear on the card, at varying extents. It can "drain" a player for X life; return a creature card with converted mana cost X or less from its controller's graveyard; give a target creature -X/-X until end of turn; and give up to X target creatures fear until end of turn.
- Cryptic Command — a rare instant costing that allows its controller to choose two of the four modes that appear on the card. It allows one to counter a spell and draw a card for four mana.
[edit] Reprinted cards
The following cards have been reprinted from previous sets and included in Lorwyn.
- Fertile Ground — was last seen in 8th Edition.
[edit] Functional reprints
Lorwyn has one functional reprint:
- Hornet Harasser is a functional reprint of Disease Carriers from Urza's Destiny, save for creature type.
[edit] Theme decks
Unlike previous expansions, Lorwyn has five pre-constructed theme decks; they are:[17]
| Theme deck name | |||||
| White | Blue | Black | Red | Green | |
| Kithkin Militia | □ | ||||
| Merrow Riverways | □ | ■ | |||
| Boggart Feast | ■ | ■ | |||
| Elvish Predation | ■ | ■ | |||
| Elementals' Path | □ | ■ | ■ | ■ | ■ |
[edit] References
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 "A Lorwyn / Lorwyn Situation", by Mark Rosewater, MTG.com, Monday, September 10, 2007.
- ↑ "Bog is for Boggart/Stolen Sensations: A Survival Guide to the Boggarts of Lorwyn", by Doug Beyer, MTG.com, Wednesday, October 3, 2007.
- ↑ "A Taste of Lorwyn/Beautiful Predators: A Survival Guide to the Elves of Lorwyn", by Doug Beyer, MTG.com, Thursday, September 13, 2007.
- ↑ "Champions of Goldmeadow/Woven Minds: A Survival Guide to the Kithkin of Lorwyn", by Doug Beyer, MTG.com, Thursday, September 20, 2007.
- ↑ 5.0 5.1 5.2 5.3 "And the Rest", by Mark Rosewater, MTG.com, Monday, October 1, 2007.
- ↑ 6.0 6.1 English Rules Primer — Lorwyn
- ↑ 7.0 7.1 7.2 "Mixed Doubles: Two Types and Two Keywords", by Devin Low, MTG.com, Friday, September 28, 2007.
- ↑ "Lorwyn Lore", by Rei Nakazawa, MTG.com, Monday, September 10, 2007.
- ↑ "Threshers and Blades", by Frank Karsten, MTG.com, Wednesday, September 19, 2007.
- ↑ "Revenge of the Two-Color Weenies", by Devin Low, MTG.com, Friday, September 21, 2007.
- ↑ "Lorwyn at all Costs", by Mark Rosewater, MTG.com, Monday, September 17, 2007.
- ↑ 12.0 12.1 "Lorwyn Rules Cards", by "Magic Arcana", MTG.com, Wednesday, October 17, 2007.
- ↑ "Your Wish Is My Command", by Aaron Forsythe, MTG.com, Friday, November 16, 2007.
- ↑ "Vivid Land Art", by "Magic Arcana", MTG.com, Tuesday, October 30, 2007.
- ↑ "A Different Brand of Flexible", by Mike Flores, MTG.com, Thursday, September 27, 2007.
- ↑ "Guildpact: Twenty Questions", by Aaron Forsythe, MTG.com, Friday, January 27, 2006.
- ↑ "Lorwyn Theme Decks", by "Magic Arcana", MTG.com, Monday, October 1, 2007.
[edit] External links
- Official Lorwyn Information Product Page — Magic: The Gathering
- Lorwyn Sortable Spoiler — Magic: The Gathering
- "Announcing Lorwyn", by "Magic Arcana", MTG.com, Thursday, January 25, 2007.
- "Lorwyn Logo and Expansion Symbol", by "Magic Arcana", MTG.com, Tuesday, June 5, 2007.
- "Lorwyn Booster Packaging", by "Magic Arcana", MTG.com, Tuesday, August 14, 2007.
- "Lorwyn Theme Decks", by "Magic Arcana", MTG.com, Monday, October 1, 2007.
[edit] Planeswalkers
- "Playtesting Planeswalkers", by Erik Lauer, MTG.com, Friday, October 19, 2007.
- "Planeswalker Enchantment Art", by "Magic Arcana", MTG.com, Monday, October 22, 2007.
- "The Nineteen Principles for Developing Planeswalkers", by Devin Low, MTG.com, Friday, October 26, 2007.
- "Planeswalkers Unmasked", by Doug Beyer, MTG.com, Wednesday, October 24, 2007.
[edit] Flavor
- "Lorwyn Legend Art", by "Magic Arcana", MTG.com, Wednesday, November 14, 2007.
[edit] Kithkin
- "The Book of Kith and Kin", by Doug Beyer, MTG.com, Wednesday, November 7, 2007.
