Remembering Shadowmoor

Continuing this month's theme (see this post), today I look at Shadowmoor.

Shadowmoor (SHM) was released in May 2008. It had 302 cards and was the larger release in the second half of the Lorwyn-Shadowmoor four-set block. Whereas Lorwyn/Morningtide was 'light', Shadowmoor (and the next set, Eventide) was the 'dark' equivalent: still focused on fairy tales and tribal mechanics, but in a world gone bad. 

Shadowmoor added 157 creatures, focusing on many of the same creature types as Lorwyn (and adding Scarecrows), but in different color combinations:

Kithkin (white/blue), 17 cards
Merfolk (blue/black), 15 cards
Faerie (white/blue/black), 11 cards
Goblin (red/green), 18 cards
Elf (white/green), 17 cards
Elemental (black/red, then the other three colors), 24 cards
Giant (red/green, one white), 10 cards
Scarecrow (mostly artifacts), 17 cards

Shadowmoor introduced the untap symbol, enabling some interesting iterative combos (if you could figure out how to tap creatures more than once per turn).

It also had a 60 multicolor cards, and brought back the hybrid mana symbol introduced in Ravnica. The card above, for example, could be paid for with two white, two blue, or one white and one blue mana.

Like Lorwyn, Shadowmoor holds fond memories for me as the time I got back into Magic while we lived overseas. The example cards below are a combination of personal favorites and representative of cards in the set (like the Liege cycle and powerful lands).

Remembering Morningtide

Continuing this month's theme (see previous post), today I look at Morningtide.

Morningtide (MOR) was released in February 2008. It had 150 cards and was the second (and smaller) release in the Lorwyn block, continuing its theme of light fairy tales and tribal mechanics (creature types matter). It added 93 creatures to the block, focusing on the same creature types as found in Lorwyn, though it focused more on 'class' (wizard, rogue, etc.) than 'race' (elf, treefolk, etc.).

Morningtide introduced three ability words:

- Prowl: for two creature types only, this offered an alternate casting cost (and sometimes an additional effect) if you dealt combat damage to a player this turn with a Faerie or Rogue.

- Reinforce: pay a cost and discard this card to put one or more +1/+1 counters on target creature.

- Kinship: this enabled you to look at the top card of your library, and if it shared a creature type with the card with kinship ability, an effect triggered.

Morningtide had a cycle (one in each color) of 'Banneret' cards, which reduced cost for creatures of certain types (two types per card, interestingly). These are nice additions to a Commander focusing on those types:

This set featured a number of other cycles of cards as described here.

I enjoyed Morningtide for continuing and expanding upon the Lorwyn themes. A decent number of its cards remain in my collection, primarily for my Treefolk casual deck or tribal commander decks.

Remembering Lorwyn

This month, I will reflect back on Magic sets over the years. Today, Lorwyn.

Lorwyn (LRW) was released in October 2007. It had 301 cards, art evocative of fairy tales, and a tribal theme (meaning creature types matter). It focused on creatures (169 cards in the set were this type). It was also the set that got me back into Magic after a several-year hiatus (I lived in Germany then, and remember picking up a few packs in my local game store). 

Lorwyn introduced a new card type: planeswalker. It had five mono-colored planeswalkers (I pulled Liliana Vess in a pack, not knowing about the new card type, and was very confused); I describe them more here.

My main memories of this set:

- the art. I'd describe it as soft and whimsical, even playful. I liked it.

- the tribes. I enjoy tribal* decks, and it was fun to see that be the focus of a set. And Lorwyn took this to a new level by introducing tribal enchantments, sorceries, and instants. 

- exploring new colors for tribes. Related to the last point, this set saw not just tribes but tribes in new color territory (like white merfolk or black goblins). Examples, with primary/secondary colors and number of cards following:

Kithkin (white/green), 22 cards

Merfolk (blue/white), 22 cards

Faerie (blue/black), 19 cards

Goblin (black/red), 27 cards

Elf (green/black), 24 cards

Treefolk (green, then white/black), 16 cards

Elemental (red, then the other four colors), 35 cards

Giant (red/white), 16 cards

Many creatures had multiple types (e.g. "Kithkin Soldier"), enabling various synergistic permutations:

Wizard (white/blue, black), 24 cards

Warrior (all colors except blue), 36 cards

Shaman (black/red, green), 28 cards

Rogue (black, white/blue/red), 17 cards

Soldier (white/blue, green), 13 cards

And one creature type was considered all creature types (with its "Changeling" ability), enabling it to synergize with everything:

Shapeshifter (all colors), 19 cards

Lorwyn was a beloved set, and I've heard a rumor that a Lorwyn Remastered experience may be coming soon. We'll see.

*Now called typal or kindred decks. I use the term here because it was the description during Lorwyn's era.

Mechanic: Forage

I conclude "mechanic March" by looking at forage. Like other mechanics examined this month, it involves the graveyard.

From the official rules,

701.59. Forage 

- 701.59a To forage means “Exile three cards from your graveyard or sacrifice a Food.”

Aside: forage refers to "Food." This is an artifact token:

111.10b A Food token is a colorless Food artifact token with “{2}, {T}, Sacrifice this artifact: You gain 3 life.”

Forage is a new mechanic, featured only in Bloomburrow (2024) on seven cards (all green and/or black). It is always presented as an optional ability, and sometimes only a possibility when a creature enters.

Forage is effectively an additional cost/benefit mechanism. To take advantage of forage's benefit, you need to pay the cost: either 1) have enough cards in your graveyard to exile or 2) have food tokens to sacrifice. Plenty of cards (in Bloomburrow and other sets) synergize well to get cards into your graveyard or create food tokens.

Being new, the forage card pool is small. That said, I like the mechanic and having two options to trigger it; that kind of flexibility can be huge.

Mechanic: Surveil

Continuing 'mechanics March,' today I look at surveil.

From the official rules,

701.42. Surveil 

- 701.42a To “surveil N” means to look at the top N cards of your library, then put any number of them into your graveyard and the rest on top of your library in any order.

Surveil is handy for two reasons:

1) getting through your deck faster to obtain desired cards (a deck sculpting mechanism)

2) getting cards into your graveyard faster to enable strategies that profit from that (delve pairs well)

The concept of surveil first appeared in Odyssey (2001), but it got its ability word starting in the Guilds of Ravnica (2018). It has appeared on 155 cards so far; the majority are blue and/or black.

Surveil is a powerful and popular mechanic, now featured to some degree in at least a few cards in sets each year.

Mechanics: Persist & Wither

Continuing 'mechanics March,' today I look at two (related) abilities: persist and wither. Both were first seen (and almost exclusively remain in) the Shadowmoor and Eventide (2008) sets. Both introduced a -1/-1 counter.

Persist

From the official rules,

702.79. Persist 

- 702.79a Persist is a triggered ability. “Persist” means “When this permanent is put into a graveyard from the battlefield, if it had no -1/-1 counters on it, return it to the battlefield under its owner’s control with a -1/-1 counter on it.”

In essence, this ability "can return a creature from the graveyard to the battlefield." And since you don't pay its mana cost the second time, it's like getting two-for-one. 

Intuitively, cards with powerful 'Enter the Battlefield' abilities profit from persist. The examples below show various ways it has been implemented (note the removal abilities of several).

To date, 31 cards have the persist mechanic, spread fairly evenly across all five colors. 

Wither

From the official rules,

702.80. Wither 

- 702.80a Wither is a static ability. Damage dealt to a creature by a source with wither isn’t marked on that creature. Rather, it causes that source’s controller to put that many -1/-1 counters on that creature. 

Wither is a way to make a creature's power count in combat, even if it isn't enough to destroy the other creature. Since normally damage on a creature is removed at the end of the turn (if it is not enough to destroy it), wither is way for the little guys to erode bigger creatures over several turns. And since it uses counters, mechanics like proliferate pair well with it.

To date, 35 cards have the wither mechanic, largely in black, red, and/or green colors.

-1/-1 counters aren't as common as their inverse (+1/+1 counters), but you can use them powerfully with a little planning. 

Mechanic: Delve

I kick off a new theme today: "mechanic March," where I look at various mechanics the game has featured over the years. (Note: these are technically 'keyword abilities'; the terms are often used interchangeably.) Today: delve.

From the official rules:

702.66. Delve 

- 702.66a Delve is a static ability that functions while the spell with delve is on the stack. “Delve” means “For each generic mana in this spell’s total cost, you may exile a card from your graveyard rather than pay that mana.” 

- 702.66b The delve ability isn’t an additional or alternative cost and applies only after the total cost of the spell with delve is determined. 

- 702.66c Multiple instances of delve on the same spell are redundant.

The glossary puts it more succinctly:

Delve: A keyword ability that lets you exile cards from your graveyard rather than pay generic mana to cast a spell. See rule 702.66, “Delve.”

Note delve affects only generic mana; you cannot use it for colored mana costs.

Delve is a cost reduction mechanic. For that reason, some delve cards have a higher printed cost than non-delve equivalents, so it makes sense to play the card only if you have cards in your graveyard to exile. Murderous Cut (below) is one example.

Delve was first seen in the Future Sight expansion (2007), though the Tarkir block (2014-15) features the most cards with that keyword. To date, 27 cards have this mechanic. Most are blue or black.

The delve mechanic is most efficient when you are playing a 'self-mill' deck, using other spells that put lots of cards into your graveyard. Cards like Stitcher's Supplier (below), for example, synergize well. And other mechanics (like surveil) pair well with it, too. Anything that puts cards in your own graveyard are fair game here.

Since so few cards have the delve mechanic today, I don't know how popular it is. But it is an option to be aware of for certain deck types.