Guilds of Ravnica

For a description of the separate guilds of Ravnica, see Ravnican guild.

Guilds of Ravnica
Set Information
Set symbol
Symbol description	A cityscape or crown with five elements.
Design	Mark Rosewater (lead) Jules Robins Jackie Lee Ari Levitch Sam Stoddard Bryan Hawley
Development	Erik Lauer (lead) Ken Nagle Andrew Veen Andrew Brown
Art direction	Cynthia Sheppard
Release date	October 5, 2018
Plane	Ravnica
Keywords/​ability words	Convoke, Mentor, Surveil, Jump-start, Undergrowth
Set size	259 + 5 + 8 + 1
Expansion code	GRN
Development codename	Spaghetti
Non-block expansions
[[Dominaria]] '''Guilds of Ravnica''' [[Ravnica Allegiance]]
Magic: The Gathering Chronology
[[Guilds of Ravnica Mythic Edition]] Guilds of Ravnica [[Spellslinger Starter Kit]]

Guilds of Ravnica is the 79th Magic expansion. It was released on October 5, 2018. Officially, it is not part of a block. However, it is part of a series of three that is set on the same world, unofficially called the Guilds of Ravnica block.

Set details

Guilds of Ravnica contains 259 cards (111 commons, 80 uncommons, 53 rares, and 15 mythic rares), but there are only 254 functionally different cards since all gates have 2 common slots. Boosters may include randomly inserted premium versions of any card. The name of the set is rather similar to the Ravnica: City of Guilds, but Wizards of the Coast doesn't perceive this as a problem. The set features five of the bi-colored Ravnican guilds: Selesnya (), Boros (), Golgari (), Izzet (), and Dimir (). Watermarks are used to better identify the guilds. To get a guild watermark, the card has to be two-color, optimized with two colors or use the guild keyword.

The 5 basic lands of this set are not included within the 259 cards, meaning that they won't appear in booster packs but only in the planeswalker decks and the Bundle. They're all autumnal versions of the Richard Wright basics from Ravnica: City of Guilds and are numbered from #260/259 to #264/259. Neither contained in boosters are the 8 additional planeswalker deck exclusive cards - numbered #265/259 to #272/259 - and the Buy-a-Box promo, which has the number #273/259. Each Guildgate is featured in two common slots, each with different art, much like Wastes in Oath of the Gatewatch.

Storyline

Autumn on Ravnica

“

Stand With Your Guild

”

It is autumn on Ravnica. The story occurs mostly in darkness with shadows and moodiness, similar to a Film noir. The story gears up for the final showdown with Nicol Bolas. He is trying to slowly influence Ravnica and warp it to his needs. The guilds fight internally between the forces pulling them toward or away from Bolas's influence.

The cards that represent the Story Spotlights in Guilds of Ravnica are: Thousand-Year Storm (), Guild Summit (), Assassin's Trophy (), and Firemind's Research (). The story spotlight cards no longer tell you the order they occur in.

Magic Story

Title	Author	Release Date	Setting	Featuring
Under the Cover of Fog	Nicky Drayden	2018-10-10	Ravnica	House Dimir
Testing the Dark Waters	Nicky Drayden	2018-10-17	Ravnica	Izzet League
Clans & Legions	Nicky Drayden	2018-10-24	Ravnica	Boros Legion
Death's Precious Moments	Nicky Drayden	2018-11-07	Ravnica	Golgari Swarm
Bound and Bonded	Nicky Drayden	2018-11-14	Ravnica	Selesnya Conclave

Marketing

Guilds of Ravnica Theme Boosters

Guilds of Ravnica MTG Arena promotion

Guilds of Ravnica is sold in 16-card boosters (one card being a marketing card), two planeswalker decks and the Guilds of Ravnica bundle. Building on how Theme Boosters for Dominaria performed, these 35-card booster packs with one rare or mythic rare card make another appearance. Of course, they are themed around the appropriate guilds and thus bi-colored. The set is also accompanied by five special guild kits, preconstructed theme decks that combine cards from every Ravnica set released so far.

The boosters feature artwork of Emmara Tandris, Ral Zarek, Vraska, Aurelia, and a Dimir spy. Every one in eight booster packs includes a code good for three packs in MTG Arena.

Events

• Update Magic Arena: 27 September 2018 (free OpenBeta)
• Prerelease took place on 29–30 September 2018. Prerelease packs contained 5 regular Guilds of Ravnica booster packs and one seeded booster composed entirely of cards relevant to that player’s choice of guild. It also contains 1 randomized, date stamped foil promo card, drawn from any rare or mythic from the featured guild. All prerelease packs included an entry code to an MTG Arena Sealed event.
• Local stores hosted Ravnica Weekend on November 9–11. Players could come in and play four-pack Drafts, casual Guild Kit battles, and a special preview adventure from the D&D Guildmasters' Guide to Ravnica.

Promotional cards

Boros basic lands

• Magic Open House: full-art Template:Cardlink
• Prerelease: a stamped card that can be any rare or mythic rare belonging to the chosen guild.
• Draft Weekend Launch promo: Template:Cardlink
• Store Championship: full-art Template:Cardlink
• Magic League: Template:Cardlink
• Buy-a-Box: Impervious Greatwurm
• FNM promos: Template:Cardlink, Template:Cardlink, and Template:Cardlink
• Ravnica Weekend: one of ten special guild-affiliated premium foil promo basic lands. These are numbered A01/10 to A10/10.
  • Non-foil versions of these basic lands appear in the Guild Kits, where they are numbered as part of the deck.

Tokens and emblems

The sixteenth card in the boosters is a token card or an emblem, with advertisements on the back side. There are eight tokens and emblems in the set:

1. 4/4 Angel creature with flying and vigilance, for Divine Visitation.
2. 1/1 Soldier creature with lifelink, for Dawn of Hope, Emmara, Soul of the Accord, Haazda Marshal, Hunted Witness, March of the Multitudes, Ledev Champion, Sworn Companions and Trostani Discordant.
3. 1/1 Bird Illusion creature with flying, for Murmuring Mystic.
4. 1/1 Goblin creature, for Legion Warboss.
5. 1/1 Insect creature, for Izoni, Thousand-Eyed.
6. 2/2 Elf Knight creature with vigilance, for Assemble, Conclave Guildmage, Conclave Cavalier, and Sprouting Renewal.
7. Emblem for Ral, Izzet Viceroy.
8. Emblem for Vraska, Golgari Queen.

Mythic Edition

Guilds of Ravnica Mythic Edition is a special draft-sized booster box, exclusively sold in the U.S and Canada. It contains eight masterpieces.

Themes and mechanics

Each guild features a unique mechanic.

Guild	Colors	Crest	Keyword or ability word	Description
House Dimir			Surveil	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.
Selesnya Conclave			Convoke	Your creatures can help cast this spell. Each creature you tap while casting this spell pays for or one mana of that creature's color. Returning mechanic, first used as the Selesnya mechanic in Ravnica. A new twist is that some cards care about the number of creatures that convoked it.
Izzet League			Jump-start	You may cast this card from your graveyard by discarding a card in addition to paying its other costs. Then exile this card.
Golgari Swarm			Undergrowth	Perform a certain action with value X ..., where X is the number of creatures in your graveyard.
Boros Legion			Mentor	Whenever this creature attacks, put a +1/+1 counter on target attacking creature with less power.

The expansion also features split cards. Each one focuses on a single guild, with a smallish hybrid mana effect as one half and a bigger, multicolor mana effect as the other. The art of the rares focuses on the two major characters (legendary creatures or planeswalkers) in that guild, one personality per side. The card halves have alliterative names, starting with the same three letters.

Cycles

Guilds of Ravnica has twelve cycles, two of which are reprints and one of which is printed twice within the set.

Cycle name	Description and notes
Color Identifier	Five monocolored rare cards which care about other cards of the same color.	Light of the Legion	Drowned Secrets	Mausoleum Secrets	Runaway Steam-Kin	Hatchery Spider
Cycle name	Description and notes	Dimir	Selesnya	Izzet	Golgari	Boros
Guild leaders	Five mythic rare legendary multicolored creatures or planeswalkers, each of whom are aligned with a guild and is their leader. Guilds aligned with Nicol Bolas have planeswalkers as their leaders; guilds aligned against, creatures.	Lazav, the Multifarious	Trostani Discordant	Ral, Izzet Viceroy	Vraska, Golgari Queen	Aurelia, Exemplar of Justice
Guild champions	Five rare legendary multicolored creatures, each of whom are aligned with a guild and act as that guild's second-in-command.	Etrata, the Silencer	Emmara, Soul of the Accord	Niv-Mizzet, Parun	Izoni, Thousand-Eyed	Tajic, Legion's Edge
Hybrid Creatures	Five common creatures which have only hybrid mana and generic mana in their casting cost.	Whisper Agent	Vernadi Shieldmate	Piston-Fist Cyclops	Pitiless Gorgon	Fresh-Faced Recruit
Mechanic spells	Five multicolor common spells that showcase the guild mechanic.	Notion Rain	Rosemane Centaur	Sonic Assault	Rhizome Lurcher	Hammer Dropper
Guildmages	Five uncommon multicolored creatures, each of whom are aligned with a guild, are 2/2 for MN, and have two activated abilities, each ability costing at least one mana of that guild's colors and tapping to activate. They are named after the full title of their respective guilds.	House Guildmage	Conclave Guildmage	League Guildmage	Swarm Guildmage	Legion Guildmage
MMNN creatures	Five powerful uncommon multicolored creatures, each of which cost four mana, two of each of their respective guild's colors.	Nightveil Predator	Conclave Cavalier	Crackling Drake	Golgari Findbroker	Truefire Captain
Uncommon split cards	Five uncommon split cards, one side of which uses hybrid mana in guild colors and the other side is multicolor.	Discovery // Dispersal	Flower // Flourish	Invert // Invent	Status // Statue	Integrity // Intervention
Rare split cards	Five rare split cards, following the same formula as above. The hybrid side depicts the guild champion, and the multicolored side depicts its leader.	Connive // Concoct	Assure // Assemble	Expansion // Explosion	Find // Finality	Response // Resurgence
Lockets	Five common mana stones for . Each of which tap for either color mana of its corresponding guild, and can be sacrificed by tapping and paying four hybrid mana to draw two cards.	Dimir Locket	Selesnya Locket	Izzet Locket	Golgari Locket	Boros Locket
Guildgates	Five common dual lands in guild colors, originally printed in the Return to Ravnica block. Each has the Gate subtype and enters the battlefield tapped. Uniquely, each is printed twice in the set, with two different sets of art and flavor text. The first shows the guild's "main gate" and has flavor referring to its leader, whereas the second shows a "back door" and has flavor referencing to its lieutenant. Guildgates replace basic lands in booster packs.	Dimir Guildgate	Selesnya Guildgate	Izzet Guildgate	Golgari Guildgate	Boros Guildgate
Shock lands	Five rare dual lands in guild colors, originally printed in the Ravnica: City of Guilds block. Each has the respective basic land types, and enters the battlefield tapped unless its controller has the land deal 2 damage to them.	Watery Grave	Temple Garden	Steam Vents	Overgrown Tomb	Sacred Foundry

Mirrored pair

Guilds of Ravnica has a mirrored pair.

• Maximize: Two common jump-start sorceries for one mana, which give one creature +1/+1 and a keyword associated with that color — Maximize Velocity () and Maximize Altitude ().

Reprinted cards

• Child of Night, first printed in Magic 2010, last seen in Core Set 2019.
• Chromatic Lantern, first printed in Return to Ravnica, last seen in Commander 2016.
• Crushing Canopy, first printed in Ixalan.
• Dead Weight, first printed in Innistrad, last seen in Shadows over Innistrad.
• Disdainful Stroke, first printed in Khans of Tarkir, last seen in Commander Anthology Volume II.
• Goblin Electromancer, first printed in Return to Ravnica, last seen in Duel Decks: Mind vs. Might.
• Hitchclaw Recluse, first printed in Magic Origins.
• Ironshell Beetle, first printed in Judgment.
• Luminous Bonds, first printed in Rivals of Ixalan, last seen in Core Set 2019.
• Maniacal Rage, first printed in Exodus, last seen in Conflux.
• Might of the Masses, first printed in Rise of the Eldrazi, last seen in Magic Origins.
• Narcomoeba, first printed in Future Sight, last seen in Modern Masters.
• Prey Upon, first printed in Innistrad, last seen in Aether Revolt.
• Righteous Blow, first printed in Avacyn Restored.
• Skyknight Legionnaire, first printed in Ravnica: City of Guilds, last seen in Modern Masters 2017.
• Siege Wurm, first printed in Ravnica: City of Guilds, last seen in Magic 2015.
• Sure Strike, first printed in Battle for Zendikar, last seen in Core Set 2019.
• Wall of Mist, first printed in Core Set 2019.
• Wee Dragonauts, first printed in Guildpact, last seen in Eternal Masters.
• Guildgates, first appearing in the Return to Ravnica block.
• Shocklands, first appearing in the original Ravnica block.

Functional reprints

• Bartizan Bats is a functional reprint of Carrion Screecher from Hour of Devastation and Vampire Revenant from Rivals of Ixalan, except for creature types.
• Fearless Halberdier is a functional reprint of Goblin Cavaliers from Starter 1999 and Goblin Roughrider from Worldwake, except for creature types.
• Gateway Plaza is a functional reprint of Rupture Spire from Conflux and Transguild Promenade from Return to Ravnica, except for subtype.
• Hired Poisoner is a functional reprint of Typhoid Rats from Innistrad and Pharika's Chosen from Journey into Nyx, except for creature types.
• Ornery Goblin is a functional reprint of Ashmouth Hound from Innistrad, except for creature types.
• Sworn Companions is a functional reprint of Queen's Commission from Ixalan, except for creature types of the tokens they produce.
• Wary Okapi is a functional reprint of Woodland Patrol from Eldritch Moon, except for creature types.
• Wild Ceratok is a functional reprint of Broodhunter Wurm from Battle for Zendikar, Golden Bear from Portal Second Age, Nettle Swine from Avacyn Restored, and Order of the Sacred Bell from Champions of Kamigawa except for creature types.

Preconstructed decks

Guilds of Ravnica Guild Kits

Guilds of Ravnica features two planeswalker decks:

Planeswalker deck name	Colors Included					Planeswalker
Ral		U		R		Ral, Caller of Storms
Vraska			B		G	Vraska, Regal Gorgon

Guilds of Ravnica features five Guild Kits:

Guild Kit name	Colors Included
Selesnya	W				G
Boros	W			R
Golgari			B		G
Izzet		U		R
Dimir		U	B

Notable cards

• Impervious Greatwurm is the biggest black bordered non-token creature in Magic history.
• March of the Multitudes is a Selesnya cost spell completing an unintentional mega-mega cycle: the x spell cycle. Every other guild already has at least one from the previous Ravnica sets
• Invert // Invent required day-one errata: as printed, Invert's effect lasts indefinitely, where it should last until end of turn.
• Thousand-Year Storm essentially gives Storm to other cards.
• Etrata, the Silencer and Vraska, Golgari Queen are alternate-win cards.
• Chance for Glory is an alternate-loss card.

External links

• Guilds of Ravica trailer
• Template:NewRef
• Template:NewRef