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Planeshift
 
 

Planeshift
PLS logo
Set Information
Set symbol
Symbol description Swirling portal
Design Mike Elliott (lead)
Bill Rose
Mark Rosewater
Henry Stern
Development William Jockusch (lead)
Randy Buehler
Henry Stern
Brian Tinsman
Teeuwynn Woodruff
with contributions from Brady Dommermuth
Beth Moursund
Art direction Dana Knutson & Ron Spears
Release date February 5, 2001
Plane Dominaria
Rath
Themes and mechanics Battlemages, Domain, Dragon lairs, Familiars, Gating, Planeswalker enchantments
Keywords/​ability words Kicker
Set size 143 cards
(55 commons, 44 uncommons, 44 rares)
Expansion code PLS (formerly PS)[1]
Development codename Hong Kong
Invasion block
Invasion Planeshift Apocalypse
Magic: The Gathering Chronology
Invasion Planeshift Seventh Edition
For other uses, see Planeshift (disambiguation).

Planeshift is the twenty-second Magic expansion and was released in February 2001 as the second set and first small expansion in the Invasion Block.

Set details[ | ]

Planeshift featured 143 black-bordered cards (55 commons, 44 uncommons and 44 rares). Its expansion symbol is a stylized dual swirl, meant to symbolize the planar overlay of Rath onto Dominaria.[2] The set continued Invasion's theme of multicolored cards. Three rare legendary cards (Ertai, the Corrupted, Tahngarth, Talruum Hero, and Skyship Weatherlight) have alternate foil versions, so that each appears with its normal art as a foil and also appears with special art on the foil card. The special art versions have a star next to the collector's number.[3]

Storyline[ | ]

Main article: Planeshift (novel)

The Phyrexian invasion is in full swing, and despite some early victories, Urza and the armies of Dominaria are losing. As the struggle rages, portions of the artificial plane Rath begin appearing in Dominaria, bringing hordes of Phyrexian reinforcements into the battle.

Marketing[ | ]

The cards were sold in 15-card boosters which had artwork from Draco, in four preconstructed theme decks, and a fat pack. At Planeshift prerelease events on January 27, 2001, a foil Ό πλανώμενος Φελδδαγρίφος was handed out. This was a Questing Phelddagrif printed with ancient Greek text. The set was accompanied by the novel of the same name.

Token[ | ]

A {W} 1/1 Spirit Token with Flying for March of Souls was released as a Magic Player Reward.[4]

Themes & mechanics[ | ]

Planeshift introduced the Gating mechanic. It is generally attached to an undercosted creature, when that creature comes into play, gating requires the player to return a creature they control to their hand. Planeshift expands upon the Kicker keyword introduced in Invasion by having other costs besides mana. It also expanded on domains and kickers.

Creature types[ | ]

The following creature types are introduced in this expansion: Phelddagrif.

The following creature types are used in this expansion but also appear in previous sets: Beast, Cat, Crocodile, Dragon, Drake, Dryad, Elemental, Elf, Goblin, Griffin, Hound, Imp, Insect, Kavu, Lord (later changed to Zombie), Merfolk, Minotaur, Shapeshifter, Soldier, Specter, Spider, Toad (later changed to Frog), Treefolk, Wall, Wizard, Wurm, Zombie.

Cycles[ | ]

Planeshift has thirteen cycles:

Cycle name {W} {U} {B} {R} {G}
Cantrip Spells Aura Blast Confound Slay Implode Skyshroud Blessing
Each of these spells has "Draw a card" as a secondary effect.
Land-sacrifice Kicker Spells Pollen Remedy Rushing River Bog Down Magma Burst Falling Timber
Each of these common spells has the kicker mechanic with the sacrifice of one or two lands as a cost.
Planeswalker Enchantments Planeswalker's Mirth
(Guff)
Planeswalker's Mischief
(Bo Levar)
Planeswalker's Scorn
(Tevesh Szat)
Planeswalker's Fury
(Windgrace)
Planeswalker's Favor
(Freyalise)
Each of these rare enchantments has a mana cost of {2}M, has an activated ability that forces your opponent to reveal a card at random from his or her hand and creates an effect based on that card's converted mana cost, and depicts one of the planeswalkers gathered by Urza to aid him in the Invasion storyline.
Cycle name {W}{U} {U}{B} {B}{R} {R}{G} {G}{W}
Common Allied Color Spells Daring Leap Malicious Advice Terminate Hull Breach Gerrard's Command
Each of these common spells has a mana cost that includes one mana each of two allied colors.
Common Gating Creatures Silver Drake Cavern Harpy Lava Zombie Horned Kavu Steel Leaf Paladin
Each of these common allied-colored creatures has the Gating mechanic.
Uncommon Gating Creatures Sawtooth Loon Marsh Crocodile Razing Snidd Sparkcaster Fleetfoot Panther
Each of these uncommon allied-colored creatures has the Gating mechanic.
Rare Allied Creature Spells Meddling Mage Doomsday Specter Dralnu's Crusade Shivan Wurm Ancient Spider
Each of these rare creature spells have a mana cost comprising of two allied colors. {B}{R} stands out by having a tribal enchantment instead of a creature.
Rare Allied Spells Cloud Cover Urza's Guilt Keldon Twilight Natural Emergence Eladamri's Call
Each of these rare noncreature spells have a mana cost comprising of two allied colors.
Cycle name {G}{W}{U} {W}{U}{B} {U}{B}{R} {B}{R}{G} {R}{G}{W}
Familiars Sunscape Familiar Stormscape Familiar Nightscape Familiar Thunderscape Familiar Thornscape Familiar
Each of these common creatures has a mana cost of {1}M and reduces the casting costs of allied color spells you play by {1}.
Battlemages Sunscape Battlemage Stormscape Battlemage Nightscape Battlemage Thunderscape Battlemage Thornscape Battlemage
Each of these uncommon wizard creatures has a mana cost of {2}M and has one kicker cost for each of its allied colors.[5]
Dragon Charms Treva's Charm Dromar's Charm Crosis's Charm Darigaaz's Charm Rith's Charm
Each of these uncommon modal instants requires three colors of mana to play and has a converted mana cost of 3, its colors corresponding to one of the legendary dragons from Invasion.
Dragon Lairs Treva's Ruins Dromar's Cavern Crosis's Catacombs Darigaaz's Caldera Rith's Grove
Each of these uncommon triple lands must be sacrificed when it comes into play unless you to return a non-Lair land to your hand and can be tapped for one mana of any of three colors, corresponding to one of the legendary dragons from Invasion.
Tricolor Rares Questing Phelddagrif Ertai, the Corrupted Phyrexian Tyranny Destructive Flow Radiant Kavu
Each of these rare spells requires three colors of mana to cast.

Mega Vertical cycles[ | ]

Cycle name
Sunscape Wizards Sunscape Apprentice Sunscape Battlemage Sunscape Master
White Wizards with two allied-color costs abilities.
Stormscape Wizards Stormscape Apprentice Stormscape Battlemage Stormscape Master
Blue Wizards with two allied-color costs abilities.
Nightscape Wizards Nightscape Apprentice Nightscape Battlemage Nightscape Master
Black Wizards with two allied-color costs abilities.
Thunderscape Wizards Thunderscape Apprentice Thunderscape Battlemage Thunderscape Master
Red Wizards with two allied-color costs abilities.
Thornscape Wizards Thornscape Apprentice Thornscape Battlemage Thornscape Master
Green Wizards with two allied-color costs abilities.

Reprints[ | ]

Planeshift has no reprints.

Card comparisons[ | ]

Notable cards[ | ]

  • Diabolic Intent — A cheap tutor capable of fetching any card in your library for the low cost of {1}{B} and the sacrifice of a creature.
  • Draco — With a converted mana cost of 16, Draco is the most costly creature card in the game. For this reason, it has been seen at tournament-level Magic, used in combination with Erratic Explosion or Kaboom! to deal 16 damage.
  • Flametongue Kavu — A 4/2 that deals 4 damage to any creature when it comes into play for the cost of {3}{R}. A format-defining card, capable of destroying almost any blocker while putting a serious threat on the board and being reusable with the gating creatures (most notably Horned Kavu and Shivan Wurm, two other aggressively-costed creatures).
  • Lord of the Undead — A Zombie lord with a recursive ability.
  • Meddling Mage — This invitational card, designed in the image of Chris Pikula, has seen much play for its ability to deny the playing of a specific spell, the name of which is chosen as the Mage comes into play. Before Snapcaster Mage got released, Meddling Mage was considered the most powerful Wizard ever printed.[6]
  • Orim's Chant — Much like Meddling Mage, Orim's Chant prevent the playing of cards, but in this case it prevents a player from playing any spells during a whole turn, and, if the kicker cost is paid, to attack with any creature. With the release of Mirrodin, Orim's Chant saw a considerable amount of play in decks that also hosted Isochron Scepter; using both cards to create an often hard-lock.
  • Shivan Wurm — An aggressive 7/7 gating creature with Trample for {3}{R}{G} that could easily come out turn 3 or 4.
  • Voice of All — An homage to the Voices mega-mega-cycle of Angels with protection from a single color. Voice of Law and Voice of Grace started this cycle in Urza's Saga, Voice of Duty and Voice of Reason continued it in Urza's Destiny, Voice of Truth completed it in Nemesis.

Preconstructed decks[ | ]

Planeshift has four theme decks.

Theme
deck name
Colors Included
{W} {U} {B} {R} {G}
Barrage R G
Comeback W U B
Scout W R G
Domain W U B R G

References[ | ]

  1. Wizards of the Coast (August 02, 2004). "Ask Wizards - August, 2004". magicthegathering.com. Wizards of the Coast.
  2. Brady Dommermuth (October 31, 2006). "Ask Wizards". magicthegathering.com. Wizards of the Coast.
  3. Magic Arcana (February 11, 2003). "Planeshift's Legends". magicthegathering.com. Wizards of the Coast.
  4. Magic Arcana (May 27, 2002). "Player Rewards tokens". magicthegathering.com. Wizards of the Coast.
  5. Magic Arcana (March 27, 2002). "Battlemage Coalition". magicthegathering.com. Wizards of the Coast.
  6. Making Magic (December 07, 2015). "Topical Blend: Did You Hear the One About...". magicthegathering.com. Wizards of the Coast.

External links[ | ]

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