Scars of Mirrodin

Scars of Mirrodin
Set symbol
Symbol description	A corroding hexplate
Design team	Mark Rosewater (lead), Mark Gottlieb, Alexis Janson, Erik Lauer, Matt Place, Mark Globus, Nate Heiss
Development team	Mike Turian (lead), Aaron Forsythe, Mark Purvis, Erik Lauer, Matt Place
Release date	October 1, 2010
Themes and mechanics	Artifacts, Poison counters, -1/-1 counters
Keywords and/or ability words	Infect, Proliferate, Imprint, Metalcraft
Set size	249 (20 basic lands, 101 commons, 60 uncommons, 53 rares, 15 mythic rares)
Expansion code	SOM
Development code name	Lights
Scars of Mirrodin block sets
Scars of Mirrodin	Mirrodin Besieged	New Phyrexia
Magic: The Gathering chronology
Elspeth vs. Tezzeret	Scars of Mirrodin	Premium Deck Series: Fire & Lightning

Scars of Mirrodin is the first set in the Scars of Mirrodin block. It is the 53^th Magic expansion and was released on October 4, 2010.

Set details

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Scars of Mirrodin returns to the plane of Mirrodin, previously the setting of the block and the set of the same name. As Mirrodin is an artificial plane, the number of artifacts and cards relating to that permanent type is larger than in other sets and mechanically reflects the themes already explored in the previous sets.

The set describes the conflict between two major factions - one being Mirrodin, and the other being the invading forces of Phyrexia. Cards aligned with these two factions are watermarked, as previously seen with the Guild aligned cards in Ravnica block. The two factions are also mechanically separated, with the Phyrexians dealing largely with Poison, Infect and Proliferate, as well as sacrifice or leaves play effects, while the native Mirrans use mechanics already introduced or similar to those of the original Mirrodin set - Imprint, Indestructible, Charge Counters the new Metalcraft mechanic, as well as Mana Myr and Spellbombs. Only 40 cards of the set have the Phyrexian symbol on them. All other cards except for Basic lands and Planeswalker cards have a Mirran watermark.

The story also revolves around several planeswalkers. Elspeth Tirel (as a new card of the same name, Elspeth Tirel) returns while a new planeswalker by the name of Koth is introduced who appears to be of Vulshok heritage and thus would be native to Mirrodin. His card is called Koth of the Hammer, making his name an acronym of the name of the card. Venser and Tezzeret are also involved in the storyline, the former confirmed to be getting a new card, Venser, the Sojourner.

Being set on Mirrodin, the expansion features themes and settings already known from that plane. For example, creature types and tribes of these such as Leonin (Cats), Vampires, Loxodon (Elephants), Elves, or the Human tribes of Vulshok, Sylvok, Auriok, Moriok and Neurok. Artifact creatures such as Golems and Myr also return.

The promotional card given to participants at the Prerelease tournaments was Wurmcoil Engine, a powerful artifact creature. The Launch party event promotional card was Steel Hellkite.

Marketing cards

Boosters of Scars of Mirrodin come with a bonus sixteenth card that is either a "tips & tricks card" or a creature token from Scars of Mirrodin or a poison counter token. One face of the Scars of Mirrodin bonus card has one of five different rules tips or is one of 9 different creature tokens or a poison counter token. The other face has one of xx advertisements for organized play programs, http://community.wizards.com, Duel of the Planeswalkers for Xbox Live and the PC, Magic Online, http://MagicTheGathering.com, Scars of Mirrodin Intro Packs, www.wizards.com/Mirran and Wizards Play Network.

Tips & Tricks

The tips & tricks cards are

• Rules Tip: Infect
• Rules Tip: Metalcraft
• Rules Tip: Proliferate
• Rules Tip: Imprint
• Rules Tip: Poison / Emblems

Tokens

The Scars of Mirrodin tokens in numerical order are:

• 2/2 Cat produced by Kemba, Kha Regent.
• 1/1 Soldier produced by Elspeth Tirel.
• 1/1 Goblin produced by Kuldotha Rebirth.
• 1/1 Insect with infect, produced by Trigon of Infestation and Carrion Call.
• 2/2 Wolf produced by Sword of Body and Mind.
• 3/3 Golem Artifact produced by Golem Foundry and Precursor Golem.
• 1/1 Myr Artifact produced by Myrsmith, Myr Battlesphere and Origin Spellbomb.
• 3/3 Wurm (has Deathtouch) produced by Wurmcoil Engine
• 3/3 Wurm (has Lifelink) produced by Wurmcoil Engine

Mechanics

Infect is a new keyword that causes creatures to deal damage to other creatures in the form of -1/-1 counters, similar to Wither. However, in addition to this, cards with Infect deal damage to players in the form of poison counters. The poison mechanic was introduced in Legends but has never been strongly supported. The mechanic resurfaced in Time Spiral block with a reprint of Swamp Mosquito and the Poisonous keyword (which does not appear in Scars of Mirrodin). Poison counters will be a major theme of the entire block.

A new keyword action in Proliferate works in combination with Infect. When a player proliferates, he or she chooses any number of permanents and/or players with counters on them, and puts another counter of a kind it has on it. E.g. a player proliferates and chooses an opponent with a poison counter, a creature with a -1/-1 counter, a Planeswalker with loyalty counters and an artifact with a charge counter. Everyone of these entities gets another of these respective counters.

The ability word Metalcraft gives a card a bonus if its controller controls three or more artifacts. Scars of Mirrodin features a new Mox named Mox Opal that has Metalcraft. The Indestructible mechanic returns with new "Darksteel"-themed cards, as does the Imprint mechanic from Mirrodin.

Cycles

Scars of Mirrodin has 8 Cycles:

• Mana Myr: Each of these common myr artifact creatures costs and has a mana ability in which they tap, and which produce a color-appropriate mana. Each represents a zone of Mirrodin corresponding to the color. Each is illustrated by Alan Pollack. Reprinted from Mirrodin. — Gold Myr, Silver Myr, Leaden Myr, Iron Myr, and Copper Myr
• Smiths: Each of these creatures is a human artificer and creates an effect when their controllers cast an artifact spell. — Myrsmith, Riddlesmith, Painsmith, Embersmith, and Lifesmith
• Replicas: Artifact creatures that can be sacrificed after paying a form of colored mana to get a color-specific effect. — Auriok Replica, Neurok Replica, Moriok Replica, Vulshok Replica, Sylvok Replica
• Color-aligned Artifact creatures: A cycle of creatures who have a colorless cost, but an activated ability including one mana of one of the five colors. The white card breaks the cycle a little, since it is not permanently an artifact creature. — Glint Hawk Idol, Soliton, Vector Asp, Saberclaw Golem, Wall of Tanglecord
• Spellbombs: Artifacts that can be tapped and sacrificed to create an effect. Its owner can pay one mana of a specific color to draw a card when these artifacts are put in the graveyard: Origin Spellbomb, Flight Spellbomb, Nihil Spellbomb, Panic Spellbomb, Horizon Spellbomb
• Trigons: A series of artifacts which enter the battlefield with three charge counters on them, have an ability which costs two colored mana and tapping the artifact to add another charge counter, and an ability related to that color which can be used with a colorless activation of , and removing a counter. — Trigon of Mending, Trigon of Thought, Trigon of Corruption, Trigon of Rage, Trigon of Infestation.
• Taplands: A new set of allied-colored Taplands was introduced, with the twist that these could come into play untapped if they are played during the first few turns of the game. — Seachrome Coast, Darkslick Shores, Blackcleave Cliffs, Copperline Gorge, Razorverge Thicket.
• Vanilla creatures: There is 1 vanilla common creature of each color. Loxodon Wayfarer, Plated Seastrider, Moriok Reaver, Scoria Elemental, Alpha Tyrranax

Reprinted cards

Card	Introduced in	Featured in	Notes
Arrest	Mercadian Masques	Mirrodin
Bloodshot Trainee	Future Sight
Disperse	Morningtide
Mindslaver	Mirrodin		First printed as a rare; later reprinted as a mythic rare.
Shatter	Alpha	Magic 2010
Trinket Mage	Fifth Dawn	Duel Decks: Elspeth vs. Tezzeret	First printed as a common; later reprinted as an uncommon.
Gold Myr	Mirrodin	Planechase
Silver Myr	Mirrodin	Planechase
Leaden Myr	Mirrodin	Planechase
Iron Myr	Mirrodin	Planechase
Copper Myr	Mirrodin	Planechase
Memoricide			Downgrade from Cranial Extraction.
Moriok Reaver			Functional Reprint of Barony Vampire (Magic 2011) and Warpath Ghoul (Magic 2012).
Turn Aside			Colorshifted version of Rebuff the Wicked (Planar Chaos).

Preconstructed decks

Scars of Mirrodin preconstructed theme decks
Intro packs: Myr of Mirrodin () | Metalcraft () | Deadspread () | Relic Breaker () | Phyrexian Poison ()
Related pages: Scars of Mirrodin block/Preconstructed theme decks • Scars of Mirrodin block preconstructed decks

Intro packs

Scars of Mirrodin features five intro packs, four of which are bicolored and one, monocolored.

Intro pack name	Colors included					Foil rare
	White	Blue	Black	Red	Green
Myr of Mirrodin	□					Sunblast Angel
Metalcraft		■		■		Argent Sphinx
Deadspread		■	■			Carnifex Demon
Relic Breaker				■	■	Hoard-Smelter Dragon
Phyrexian Poison			■		■	Putrefax

External links

• Scars of Mirrodin product information page — Wizards of the Coast
• "Magic Arcana". (Thursday, March 18, 2010.) "Announcing Scars of Mirrodin", Daily MTG, magicthegathering.com, Wizards of the Coast.
• Next block: New Phyrexia, Scars of Mirrodin and Mirrodin Pure?Mananation August 25th 2009
• Scars of Mirrodin videos
• Scars of Mirrodin tokens

Contributors

Aurora Illumina, Chaosof99, Cheba, Circeus, Coreydragon, Gamma-Mage, GeoMike, Hunter61, Magic Mage, Oracle of Truth, Sammedwin, Spike, Tacocat, TheGodOfWar91, Unistardust, Vegeta50024, Xiahou