Planeshift

For other uses, see Planeshift (disambiguation).

Planeshift
Set Information
Set symbol
Themes and mechanics	Battlemages, Domain, Dragon lairs, Familiars, Gating, Planeswalker enchantments
Keywords/​ability words	Kicker
Set size	143 (55 Common 44 Uncommon 44 Rare)
Expansion code	PLS
Development codename	Hong Kong

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 an stlylized dual-swirl representation; meant to symbolize the planar overlay of Rath onto Dominaria. The 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.

Storyline

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 1/1 Spirit Token with Flying for March of Souls was released as a Magic Player Reward.

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	Description and notes
Cantrip Spells	Each of these spells has "Draw a card" as a secondary effect.	Aura Blast	Confound	Slay	Implode	Skyshroud Blessing
Land-sacrifice Kicker Spells	Each of these common spells has the kicker mechanic with the sacrifice of one or two lands as a cost.	Pollen Remedy	Rushing River	Bog Down	Magma Burst	Falling Timber
Planeswalker Enchantments	Each of these rare enchantments has a mana cost of 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.	Planeswalker's Mirth (Commodore Guff)	Planeswalker's Mischief (Bo Levar)	Planeswalker's Scorn (Tevesh Szat)	Planeswalker's Fury (Lord Windgrace)	Planeswalker's Favor (Freyalise)
Cycle name	Description and notes
Common Allied Color Spells	Each of these common spells has a mana cost that includes one mana each of two allied colors.	Daring Leap	Malicious Advice	Terminate	Hull Breach	Gerrard's Command
Common Gating Creatures	Each of these common allied-colored creatures has the Gating mechanic.	Silver Drake	Cavern Harpy	Lava Zombie	Horned Kavu	Steel Leaf Paladin
Uncommon Gating Creatures	Each of these uncommon allied-colored creatures has the Gating mechanic	Sawtooth Loon	Marsh Crocodile	Razing Snidd	Sparkcaster	Fleetfoot Panther
Rare Allied Creature Spells	Each of these rare creature spells have a mana cost comprising of two allied colors. stands out by having a tribal enchantment instead of a creature.	Meddling Mage	Doomsday Specter	Dralnu's Crusade	Shivan Wurm	Ancient Spider
Rare Allied Spells	Each of these rare noncreature spells have a mana cost comprising of two allied colors.	Cloud Cover	Urza's Guilt	Keldon Twilight	Natural Emergence	Eladamri's Call
Cycle name	Description and notes
Familiars	Each of these common creatures has a mana cost of M and reduces the casting costs of allied color spells you play by .	Sunscape Familiar	Stormscape Familiar	Nightscape Familiar	Thunderscape Familiar	Thornscape Familiar
Battlemages	Each of these uncommon wizard creatures has a mana cost of M and has one kicker cost for each of its allied colors.	Sunscape Battlemage	Stormscape Battlemage	Nightscape Battlemage	Thunderscape Battlemage	Thornscape Battlemage
Dragon Charms	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.	Treva's Charm	Dromar's Charm	Crosis's Charm	Darigaaz's Charm	Rith's Charm
Dragon Lairs	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.	Treva's Ruins	Dromar's Cavern	Crosis's Catacombs	Darigaaz's Caldera	Rith's Grove
Tricolor Rares	Each of these rare spells requires three colors of mana to cast.	Questing Phelddagrif	Ertai, the Corrupted	Phyrexian Tyranny	Destructive Flow	Radiant Kavu

Reprints

Planeshift has no reprints.

Notable cards

• Diabolic Intent — A cheap tutor capable of fetching any card in your library for the low cost of 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 very reason, has been seen at tournament-level Magic, used in combination with Erratic Explosion or Kaboom! to deal 16 damage.
• Flametongue Kavu — Flametongue Kavu is a 4/2 that deals 4 damage to any creature when it comes into play for the cost of . 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.
• 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 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
Barrage				R	G
Comeback	W	U	B
Domain	W	U	B	R	G
Scout	W			R	G

External links

• Planeshift product information page — Wizards of the Coast

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