Tempest
From MTG Salvation Wiki
- For other uses, see Tempest (disambiguation).
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|---|---|---|
| Symbol | 
| |
| Design Team | Mark Rosewater Richard Garfield Mike Elliott Charlie Catino | |
| Development Team | Henry Stern (lead) Mike Elliott William Jockusch Bill Rose Mark Rosewater | |
| Release Date | October 1997 | |
| Mechanics | Flowstone, Licids, Slivers, Spikes | |
| Keywords/ Ability words | Buyback, Shadow | |
| Size | 350 (110 Common 110 Uncommon 110 Rare 20 Land) | |
| Expansion Code | TMP | |
| Development Codename | Bogavhati | |
| Sets in Tempest block | ||
| Tempest | Stronghold | Exodus |
| Magic: The Gathering Chronology | ||
| Weatherlight | Tempest | Stronghold |
Tempest is the twelfth Magic expansion and was released in 1997 as the first set in the Tempest block.
Contents |
[edit] Mechanics and themes
The block mechanics Buyback and Shadow were introduced in this set. All colors had creatures with shadow except green. Green did have a creature that could block creatures with shadow and had a card that removed shadow from a creature.
The abilities associated with Slivers, Licids, Spikes and Flowstone were introduced in this set. Every color had a sliver and licid. There was one green spike. Flowstones are red creatures.
[edit] Cycles
Tempest has eight cycles:
- Allied-color dual lands: Each of these uncommon lands can be tapped for
or one mana of two allied colors; if tapped for the latter, it doesn't untap during your next untap step — Thalakos Lowlands, Rootwater Depths, Cinder Marsh, Mogg Hollows, and Vec Townships.
- Circles of protection: Each of these common white enchantments has a mana cost of
and the ability to prevent the all damage from a source of a given color for — Circle of Protection: White, Circle of Protection: Blue, Circle of Protection: Black, Circle of Protection: Red, and Circle of Protection: Green. This cycle was reprinted from the Core Set.
- Enemy-color tap-pain lands: Each of these rare lands comes into play tapped and can be tapped for or one mana of two enemy colors; if tapped for the latter, it deals 1 damage to you — Salt Flats, Caldera Lake, Pine Barrens, Scabland, and Skyshroud Forest.
- Gold spells: Each of these spells, one for each two-color combination, has a mana cost that includes both of its colors — Sky Spirit, Selenia, Dark Angel, Soltari Guerrillas, Ranger en-Vec, Lobotomy, Dracoplasm, Wood Sage, Spontaneous Combustion, Vhati il-Dal, and Segmented Wurm.
- Licids: Each of these common 1/1 Licid creatures has a mana cost of C and the ability to turn itself into an aura enchantment attaching itself to a creature or back to its normal state — Quickening Licid, Stinging Licid, Leeching Licid, Enraging Licid, and Nurturing Licid.
- Medallions: Each of these rare artifacts has a mana cost of cost
and reduce the cost of spells of a given color by — Pearl Medallion, Sapphire Medallion, Jet Medallion, Ruby Medallion, and Emerald Medallion.
- Uncommon slivers: Each of these uncommon 2/2 Sliver creatures has an ability that it grants to all Slivers, including itself — Armor Sliver, Mnemonic Sliver, Mindwhip Sliver, Barbed Sliver, and Horned Sliver.
[edit] Theme decks
Tempest was the first set to be released with pre-constructed theme decks. The decks are:
| Theme deck name | |||||
| White | Blue | Black | Red | Green | |
| Deep Freeze | □ | ■ | |||
| The Flames of Rath | ■ | ||||
| The Slivers | ■ | ■ | |||
| The Swarm | □ | ■ | |||
[edit] Notable cards
- Cold Storage - As written, people wondered what this card actually did with "
: Put target creature you control on Cold Storage". With errata, it now reads ": Remove target creature you control from the game."
- Cursed Scroll - This is a powerful artifact, especially when you have 1 card in hand. This card is worth even more in the Japanese language version as its activation cost was misprinted as instead of .
- Humility - A complicated enchantment with timing implications (what was played before it / after it) especially with Opalescence.
- Lotus Petal - This common artifact proved to be too powerful and was quickly banned from the Standard Format.
- Tradewind Rider - This blue creature is a commonly found in extended bounce decks.
[edit] Reprinted cards
The following cards have been reprinted from previous sets and included in Tempest.
- Armored Pegasus — was last seen in Portal.
- Charging Rhino — was last seen in Portal.
- Circle of Protection: Black — was last seen in 5th Edition.
- Circle of Protection: Blue — was last seen in 5th Edition.
- Circle of Protection: Green — was last seen in 5th Edition.
- Circle of Protection: Red — was last seen in 5th Edition.
- Circle of Protection: White — was last seen in 5th Edition.
- Coercion — was last seen in Visions.
- Counterspell — was last seen in 5th Edition.
- Dark Banishing — was last seen in Mirage.
- Dark Ritual — was last seen in 5th Edition.
- Disenchant — was last seen in 5th Edition.
- Dream Cache — was last seen in Mirage.
- Enfeeblement — was last seen in Mirage.
- Gaseous Form — was last seen in 5th Edition.
- Giant Strength — was last seen in 5th Edition.
- Gravedigger — was last seen in Portal.
- Horned Turtle — was last seen in Portal.
- Natural Spring — was last seen in Portal.
- Needle Storm — was last seen in Portal.
- Pacifism — was last seen in Mirage.
- Power Sink — was last seen in 5th Edition.
- Rain of Tears — was last seen in Portal.
- Rampant Growth — was last seen in Mirage.
- Shatter — was last seen in 5th Edition.
- Spell Blast — was last seen in 5th Edition.
- Stone Rain — was last seen in Portal.
- Time Ebb — was last seen in Portal.
- Wind Drake — was last seen in Portal.
- Winter's Grasp — was last seen in Portal.
[edit] Functional reprints
Tempest has four functional reprints:
- Clergy En-vec is a functional reprint of Samite Healer from 5th Edition.
- Pit Imp is a functional reprint of Vampire Bats from 5th Edition, save for creature type.
- Skyshroud Troll is a functional reprint of Gorilla Chieftain from Alliances, save for creature type.
- Staunch Defenders is a functional reprint of Spiritual Guardian from Portal, save for creature type.
Reckless Spite seems like a functional reprint of Wicked Pact from Portal but the Portal version is a sorcery as Portal had no instants. Reckless Spite is also similar to Ashes to Ashes from 5th Edition, but the former targets non-artifact cretaures and is a sorcery while the latter targets non-black creatures and is an instant.
