Mega cycle
(Redirected from Mega-mega cycle)
A mega cycle is a cycle with its member cards distributed across separate sets. When these sets are spread across multiple blocks, this is sometimes referred to as a mega-mega cycle.
Contents
List of mega cycles[edit | edit source]
Three-card mega cycles[edit | edit source]
One card per set within one block.
| Cycle name | 1st Set | 2nd Set | 3rd Set |
|---|---|---|---|
| Land Kavus | Slimy Kavu (Invasion) | Kavu Recluse (Planeshift) | Tundra Kavu (Apocalypse) |
Each of these Kavu is a red 2/2 creature with a mana cost of   and an activated ability requiring to tap  to change a land's type into another. The first two change the land into the allies of red, while the last one changes it into the color's enemies.
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| Kaldra | Sword of Kaldra (Mirrodin) | Shield of Kaldra (Darksteel) | Helm of Kaldra (Fifth Dawn) |
| Each of these rare legendary Equipment are constituents required to put the legendary Kaldra creature token onto the battlefield. Each of these cards was its set's prerelease promotional card. | |||
| Ezrith destroy | Premature Burial (Time Spiral) | Cradle to Grave (Planar Chaos) | Grave Peril (Future Sight) |
Each of these black cards costs   and destroy a nonblack creature at different points in time. They feature a flavor text of Ezrith, Druid of the Dark Hours.
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Four-card mega cycles[edit | edit source]
| Cycle name |  
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|---|---|---|---|---|
| Gold counterspells | Absorb (Invasion) (Healing Salve) |
Undermine (Invasion) (Bump in the Night) |
Suffocating Blast (Apocalypse) (Lightning Strike) |
Mystic Snake (Apocalypse) (Grizzly Bears) |
| Each of these multicolored spells has in its casting cost and includes a Counterspell attached to a color appropriate effect.
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| Cycle name |
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| Mutations | Aura Mutation (Invasion) (Enchantments) |
Aether Mutation (Apocalypse) (Creatures - bounce) |
Death Mutation (Apocalypse) (Creatures - destroy) |
Artifact Mutation (Invasion) (Artifacts) |
| Each of these multicolored spells has in its casting cost, destroys or disrupts resources, and creates a number of 1/1 Saproling creature tokens equal to the resource's converted mana cost.
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Five-card mega cycles[edit | edit source]
Guild mega cycles[edit | edit source]
Ravnica's design is based upon the use of all ten two-color combinations in the forms of guild, and its popularity has resulted in multiple set revisits. As such, mega cycles are prevalent, even after the shift to leave small sets and yearly blocks behind.
List of mega-mega cycles[edit | edit source]
A mega-mega cycle is a cycle with its member cards distributed across separate sets; unlike a mega cycle, however, these sets are not all within a single block but are from multiple blocks.[2]
Three-card mega-mega cycles[edit | edit source]
| Cycle name | Common | Uncommon | Rare |
|---|---|---|---|
| Delver evolution | Delver of Secrets (Innistrad) | Aberrant Researcher (Shadows over Innistrad) | Docent of Perfection (Eldritch Moon) |
| Each of these double-faced cards depicts further descent into madness of a single unknown researcher. The type line, power, and toughness of each card's front face is identical to that of the previous card's back face. | |||
Four-card mega-mega cycles[edit | edit source]
| Cycle name |
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|---|---|---|---|---|
| Gold counterspells | Absorb (Invasion) Render Silent (Dragon's Maze) |
Undermine (Invasion) | Double Negative (Alara Reborn) Counterflux (Return to Ravnica) |
Voidslime (Dissension) |
| Each of these rare instants costs plus one mana of another color. The cycle was originally "completed" with Alara Reborn, but Return to Ravnica block added two others. Each of these cards is a counterspell with an added bonus or increased flexibility.
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| Cycle name | vs
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vs
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vs
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vs
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| Paladins | Northern Paladin (Alpha) | Southern Paladin (Weatherlight) | Eastern Paladin (Urza's Saga) | Western Paladin (Urza's Saga) |
| Each of these paladins is a 3/3 black or white knight creature with a converted mana cost of 2MM. The black paladins can tap for to destroy a creature of one specific color; the white paladins can destroy any permanent of one specific color for and tapping instead. All of them has been reprinted in Seventh Edition, in which there is a story of a war among the paladins narrated through the flavor text of cards from the set.
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Five-card mega-mega cycles[edit | edit source]
| Cycle name |
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|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Atogs | Auratog (Tempest) | Chronatog (Visions) | Necratog (Weatherlight) | Atog (Antiquities) | Foratog (Mirage) |
| Each of these 1/2 Atog creatures, all but Atog itself being inspired by Atog, "ate" a resource to "grow"; each Atog has an activated ability costing a resource or commodity for an increase in its power and toughness until end of turn. | |||||
| +1/+1 Lords | Soldiers | Merfolks | Zombies | Goblins | Elves |
| Field Marshal (Coldsnap) Captain of the Watch (Magic 2010) |
Lord of Atlantis (Alpha) Merfolk Sovereign (Magic 2010) |
Zombie Master (Alpha) Lord of the Undead (Planeshift) Death Baron (Shards of Alara) Cemetery Reaper (Magic 2010) |
Goblin King (Alpha) Goblin Chieftain (Magic 2010) |
Elvish Champion (Invasion) Elvish Archdruid (Magic 2010) | |
| Each of these rare confers other creatures of a characteristic creature subtype associated with that card's color and relevant to its name +1/+1 and, more often than not, an additional ability. The original three from Limited Edition Alpha, Lord of Atlantis, Zombie Master, and Goblin King were printed with the Lord creature subtype, but this creature subtype was removed following the Grand Creature Type Update. Following a shift in focus on, and the success of, "creature subtypes matter", or "tribal", various iterations of Lords have been printed. | |||||
| Protection Angels | Voice of Truth (Nemesis) | Voice of Reason (Urza's Destiny) | Voice of Grace (Urza's Saga) | Voice of Law (Urza's Saga) | Voice of Duty (Urza's Destiny) |
Each of these uncommon 2/2 white Angel creatures costing  with flying and protection from a specific color. The flavor text of each of these cards are from the "Song of All", a fictitious sacred text from the Serra religion. Voice of All, an uncommon Angel costing with flying and protection from a color chosen as it enters the battlefield, was released in Planeshift, as an homage to the mega-mega cycle.
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| Tutors | Enlightened Tutor (Mirage) | Mystical Tutor (Mirage) | Vampiric Tutor (Visions) | Gamble (Urza's Saga) | Worldly Tutor (Mirage) |
| Each of these rares allows its controller to search his or her library for a card, albeit with certain conditions. The joke card Goblin Tutor from Unglued pays homage to this mega-mega cycle. | |||||
| Towers[3] | Tower of Eons (Mirrodin) | Tower of Fortunes (Mirrodin) | Tower of Murmurs (Mirrodin) | Tower of Calamities (Scars of Mirrodin) | Tower of Champions (Mirrodin) |
Each of these rare noncreature artifacts costing  has an activated ability costing  and . Tower of Calamities was introduced in Scars of Mirrodin after Design and Development realized that players associated, or might associate, the released four Towers' effects with a color each, and its amount of damage was decided by extrapolating the established pattern of an effect increasing by two.[4]
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| Legendary lands | Kor Haven (Nemesis) | Teferi's Isle (Mirage) | Volrath's Stronghold (Stronghold) | Keldon Necropolis (Invasion) | Yavimaya Hollow (Urza's Destiny) |
| Each of these rare legendary lands has at least two abilities, one of which is a mana ability. These lands represent notable locations from the Weatherlight Saga of the Magic storyline. | |||||
| Elementary forces | Celestial Force (Commander) | Tidal Force (Commander 2013) | Baleful Force (Commander 2013) | Magmatic Force (Commander) | Verdant Force (Tempest) |
| Each of these rare Elemental creatures has a mana cost of 5MMM, a power/toughness of 7/7 and an ability that triggers each upkeep. | |||||
| Oaths of the Gatewatch | Oath of Gideon (Oath of the Gatewatch) | Oath of Jace (Oath of the Gatewatch) | Oath of Liliana (Eldritch Moon) | Oath of Chandra (Oath of the Gatewatch) | Oath of Nissa (Oath of the Gatewatch) |
| Each of these rare legendary enchantments has an enter the battlefield effect and second effect with some kind of Planeswalker interaction. | |||||
| Morphlings[5] | Brightling (Battlebond) | Morphling (Urza's Saga) | Endling (Modern Horizons) | Torchling (Planar Chaos) | Thornling (Conflux) |
| Creatures that have three colored activated abilities as well as the ability ": ~ gets +1/-1 or -1/+1 until end of turn." Each one has mana cost of MM and some amount of generic mana. (Aetherling is not considered part of the cycle and only has 2 colored abilities.)
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| Sorcery magi | Magus of the Balance (Commander 2018) | Magus of the Mind (Commander 2017) | Magus of the Will (Commander 2016) | Magus of the Wheel (Commander 2015) | |
| Each of these rare wizards have a converted mana cost and activated ability reminiscent of a powerful and iconic sorcery from Magic's past. The cycle will be completed in future Commander sets.[6] | |||||
| "Cones" | Incremental Blight (Shadowmoor) Gruesome Menagerie (Guilds of Ravnica) |
Cone of Flame (Weatherlight) | Incremental Growth (Lorwyn) Bestial Menace (Worldwake) | ||
| Each of these sorceries have a converted mana cost of 3MM and a repeated effect that does one, two, and three of an action.[7] | |||||
| Topdeck Lands | Hall of Heliod's Generosity (Modern Horizons) | Academy Ruins (Time Spiral) | Volrath's Stronghold (Stronghold) | ||
| Each of these legendary lands tap for colorless and feature a colored ability to place a certain type of card in your graveyard on top of your library. | |||||
Double mega-mega cycles[edit | edit source]
Many land cycles are double mega-mega cycles which started in one set and were completed in another.
See also[edit | edit source]
References[edit | edit source]
- ↑ Wizards of the Coast (May, 2002). "Ask Wizards - May 2002". magicthegathering.com. Wizards of the Coast.
- ↑ Wizards of the Coast (March 1, 2002). "Mega-Mega Cycle". magicthegathering.com. Wizards of the Coast.
- ↑ Monty Ashley (September 22, 2010). "The Fifth Tower". magicthegathering.com. Wizards of the Coast.
- ↑ Mark Rosewater (January 3, 2011). "That's Going to Leave Scars, Part 3". magicthegathering.com. Wizards of the Coast.
- ↑ Gavin Verhey (May 28, 2019). "Magic's Past, Present, and Future". magicthegathering.com. Wizards of the Coast.
- ↑ Gavin Verhey (August 17, 2017). "Tales from Designing Commander (2017 Edition)". magicthegathering.com. Wizards of the Coast.
- ↑ Mark Rosewater (October 8, 2018). "Even More Stories from the City". magicthegathering.com. Wizards of the Coast.
- ↑ Monty Ashley (January 24, 2011). "A History of Swords". magicthegathering.com. Wizards of the Coast.
