Magic 2013

Set symbol
Design team	Doug Beyer (lead), Aaron Forsythe, Graeme Hopkins, Ryan Miller, Mark Purvis
Development team	Zac Hill (lead), Ethan Fleischer, Mark L. Gottlieb, Tom LaPille, Max McCall, Ryan Miller
Release date	July 13, 2012
Themes and mechanics
Keywords and/or ability words	Exalted
Set size	249 (101 Common 60 Uncommon 53 Rare 15 Mythics 20 Lands)
Expansion code	M13
Advanced-level sets
Magic 2012	Magic 2013	Magic 2014
Magic: The Gathering chronology
Planechase (2012)	Magic 2013	Deck Builder's Toolkit 2012

Magic: The Gathering 2013 Core Set, commonly referred to as Magic 2013, is a core set released July 13, 2012. Prerelease Events took place July 7-8, 2012 and Launch Parties took place July 13-15, 2012 (conflicing with report of "no more Launch Parties"). Game Day took place on August 4-5, 2012.

Set details

Magic 2013 is largely built around Nicol Bolas, Planeswalker, which became the first multicolored card to be included in a core set. The packaging of the set is centered around Bolas' iconic feature, his warped horns.

The set includes a cycle of Legendary creatures (only the second time a core set included Legendary creatures, the first being Tenth Edition) and a cycle of Planeswalkers. Ajani Goldmane and Liliana Vess received new cards. Magic 2013 is tightly incorporated into into Duels of the Planeswalkers 2013 which featured a theme deck for each Planeswalker and Legendary creature, and featured those characters as opponents and Nicol Bolas as the final boss. Due to the close prospective release dates, "Duels 2013" was pushed as the introductory set, while Magic 2013 was to be the Magic "showcase", having many high-end, high-impact spells.

Magic 2013 is the first core set with the mechanic exalted and the first core set to have a spell that specifically destroys an equipment - Turn to Slag.

Flavor

“

Face a Greater Challenge

”

The set's flavor is an amalgamation of several different planes in the universe. Krenko and Yeva hail from Ravnica, Odric from Innistrad, Nefarox from the Grixis portion of a reunited Alara, while Talrand, Xathrid Gorgon, War Priest of Thune and the equipment cycle of Rings refer to the plane of Shandalar.

Bolas, like the other planeswalkers, is supplemented with several cards capturing his flavor, including Gem of Becoming and his minions Augur of Bolas, Disciple of Bolas and Mindclaw Shaman.

Marketing cards

The Magic 2013 Booster box promo card is Cathedral of War. The release promo is Staff of Nin. The Game Day promo is a full-art Mwonvuli Beast Tracker.

• Buy-a-Box: Cathedral of War.

Tokens/Emblem

• 2/2 Cat produced by Ajani, Caller of the Pride.
• 3/3 Beast produced by Garruk, Primal Hunter and Thragtusk.
• 0/1 Goat produced by Trading Post.
• 2/2 Drake with flying produced by Talrand, Sky Summoner and Talrand's Invocation.
• 1/1 Goblin produced by Krenko, Mobb Boss and Krenko's Command.
• 4/4 Hellion produced by Hellion Crucible.
• 1/1 Saproling produced by Fungal Sprouting.
• 1/1 Soldier produced by Attended Knight, Captain of the Watch and Captain's Call.
• 6/6 Wurm produced by Garruk, Primal Hunter.
• 2/2 Zombie produced by Vile Rebirth.
• and the emblem for Liliana of the Dark Realms.

Cycles

Magic 2013 has seven cycles:

• Planeswalkers: There are six mythic rare Planeswalker cards in the set — Ajani, Caller of the Pride; Jace, Memory Adept; Liliana of the Dark Realms; Chandra, the Firebrand; Garruk, Primal Hunter and Nicol Bolas, Planeswalker.
• Planeswalkers cards: Each Planeswalker has one card named after them. Nicol Bolas received two such cards — Ajani's Sunstriker, Jace's Phantasm, Liliana's Shade, Chandra's Fury, Garruk's Packleader, Disciple of Bolas and Augur of Bolas
• Planeswalkers cards: Each Planeswalker has one card related to its personality and actions. Nicol Bolas also received two such cards — Healer of the Pride, Mind Sculpt, Veilborn Ghoul, Flames of the Firebrand, Primal Huntbeast, Mindclaw Shaman and Gem of Becoming.
• Legendary creatures: Odric, Master Tactician; Talrand, Sky Summoner; Nefarox, Overlord of Grixis; Krenko, Mob Boss and Yeva, Nature's Herald.
• Cards related to the legendary creatures: Crusader of Odric; Talrand's Invocation; Servant of Nefarox; Krenko's Command and Yeva's Forcemage.
• Taplands: Each of these rare dual lands comes into play tapped unless you control a land of one of the appropriate types — Glacial Fortress, Drowned Catacomb, Dragonskull Summit, Rootbound Crag and Sunpetal Grove. (Reprinted from Magic 2010.)
• Magic rings of Shandalar: Uncommon Equipment that work best for a given color. — Ring of Thune, Ring of Evos Isle, Ring of Xathrid, Ring of Valkas, and Ring of Kalonia
• Sedge creatures: These five uncommon creatures, calling back to Sedge Troll (Crimson Muckwader is a Sedge Troll with slightly different costs and 1 less toughness), get +1/+1 if you control a basic land of the appropriate allied color and can gain an ability for a payment in that allied color. — Prized Elephant, Arctic Aven, Harbor Bandit, Crimson Muckwader, and Flinthoof Boar.

Pairs

Mirrored pairs

Magic 2013 has two mirrored pairs.

• Dark Favor and Divine Favor are both common Auras with enchant creature that give a mirrored bonus to the enchanted creature's power/toughness and are illustrated by Allen Williams.
• The white Knight of Glory and the black Knight of Infamy are both uncommon Human Knights with with a mana cost of C, power/toughness of 2/1, exalted and protection from the opposite color.

Functional reprints

• Battleflight Eagle is a functional reprint of Welkin Guide from Shards of Alara, save for creature type.
• Faerie Invaders is a functional reprint of Spire Monitor from New Phyrexia, save for creature type.
• Flames of the Firebrand is a functional reprint of Arc Lightning from Urza's Saga.
• Guardian Lions is a functional reprint of Border Patrol from Judgment, save for creature type.
• Krenko's Command is a functional reprint of Dragon Fodder from Shards of Alara.
• Warclamp Mastiff is a functional reprint of Tundra Wolves from Legends, save for creature type.

Intro Packs

The intro packs are:

Intro pack name	Colors included					Foil rare
	White	Blue	Black	Red	Green
Path to Victory	□	■				Odric, Master Tactician
Depths of Power		■		■		Talrand, Sky Summoner
Sole Domination	□		■			Nefarox, Overlord of Grixis
Mob Rule				■	■	Krenko, Mob Boss
Wild Rush			■		■	Yeva, Nature's Herald

Event decks

Event deck name	Colors included
	White	Blue	Black	Red	Green
Repeat Performance	□				■
Sweet Revenge		■	■	■

Cards removed from Magic 2012

• Cycle of Titans: Sun Titan, Frost Titan, Grave Titan, Inferno Titan and Primeval Titan.
• This is the first core set without a cycle of "Lucky charms" artifacts (or the original cycle): Angel's Feather, Demon's Horn, Dragon's Claw, Kraken's Eye and Wurm's Tooth.
• Due to the impending return of a multicolor block, the hoser cycle Celestial Purge, Flashfreeze, Deathmark, Combust and Autumn's Veil are absent as to not make such an impact on allied-multicolor decks.
• Notably, this set does not include Giant Spider, before this was the only card that had been in every core set (excluding basic lands).

External links

• "Magic Arcana". (Tuesday, January 3, 2012.) "Announcing Magic 2013", Daily MTG, magicthegathering.com, Wizards of the Coast.
• Magic: The Gathering 2013 Core Set product information page — Wizards of the Coast

Contributors

Magic Mage