Core Set 2019

Core Set 2019

 

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Changes

 

Deck Builder's Toolkit

 

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Welcome decks

 

Core Set 2019
[[File:{{#setmainimage:M19 logo.png}}|250px]]
Set Information
Set symbol
Symbol description	"M19"
Design	Ethan Fleischer (lead) Doug Beyer Bryan Hawley Jackie Lee Dave Marsee Ken Nagle Yoni Skolnik
Development	Ethan Fleischer (lead) Corey Bowen Aaron Forsythe Ben Hayes Mark Heggen Adam Prosak Yoni Skolnik
Art direction	Cynthia Sheppard
Release date	July 13, 2018
Plane	Multiversal
Themes and mechanics	Dragons
Keywords/​ability words	Evergreen keywords, Transform
Set size	280 cards (111 commons, 80 uncommons, 53 rares, 16 mythic rares, 20 basic lands) +20 Planeswalker deck exclusives +1 Buy-a-Box promo +13 Welcome deck cards
Expansion code	M19
Development codename	Salad
Core sets
Magic Origins Core Set 2019 Core Set 2020
Core Set 2019 Standard
Ixalan Rivals of Ixalan Dominaria
Magic: The Gathering Chronology
Global Series: Jiang Yanggu & Mu Yanling Core Set 2019 Commander 2018

Core Set 2019, also known as Core 2019, is the eighteenth Magic core set. It is the first core set to be reintroduced under the Three-and-One Model and was released on July 13, 2018.

Set details

Core sets were discontinued after Magic Origins in 2015, but were reintroduced with Core 2019. The reintroduction made it possible to move away from the Two-Block Paradigm, and create room to print three large standalone sets each year. Thus, the codename Salad was transferred from the small set in the proposed Dominaria block, to this core set. Like Magic 2010 to Magic Origins before, this core set contains a mix of new and reprinted cards. However, it is primarily geared toward incoming players. In contrast to earlier Core Sets, the design team started out by building the Welcome Decks and Planeswalker Decks. They had the freedom to design or reprint whatever cards they needed to make an optimal experience. The team then used the cards they made for those two products as a starting point around which to build Core Set 2019.

Core Set 2019 contains 280 cards (20 basic land, 111 common, 80 uncommon, 53 rare, and 16 mythic rare) and includes randomly inserted premium versions of all cards. 25 additional cards are found in the set's planeswalker decks. These are numbered #281/280 to #305/280. A unique Buy-a-Box promotional card numbered #306/280 is also considered to be part of the set. In addition, 8 common and uncommon cards from the Ixalan, Rivals of Ixalan and Dominaria sets (numbered #307/280 to #314/280) have been printed in the Welcome Decks with the Core Set 2019 expansion symbol. The common taplands sometimes replace a basic land in the land slot of booster packs. 181 cards are new, the rest is reprinted.

More than 30 white, blue and red commons were accidentally packaged in Dominaria boosters and found two months before release.

Due to the transition from the Two-Block Paradigm to the Three-and-One Model Core Set 2019 is one of the few Core Sets with a development codename.

Storyline

Core Set 2019 features a story arc by Kate Elliott, focusing on the origins of the main antagonist of the current storyline, Nicol Bolas, and his conflict with Ugin, his twin. The cards also show bits and pieces of unrelated stories on several other planes. The set is filling in the story and not part of the current storyline. To avoid confusing less enfranchised players there are no Story Spotlights.

Magic Story

Title	Author	Release Date	Setting	Featuring
Chronicle of Bolas: The Twins	Kate Elliott	2018-06-13	Dominaria, Tarkir	Naiva, Baishya, Yasova Dragonclaw, the Ur-Dragon, Arcades Sabboth, Chromium Rhuell, Palladia-Mors, Merrevia Sal, Ugin, Nicol Bolas
Chronicle of Bolas: The First Lesson	Kate Elliott	2018-06-20	Dominaria, Tarkir	Naiva, Baishya, Fec, Yasova Dragonclaw, Rakhan, Sorya, Tae Jin,Ugin, Nicol Bolas, Chromium Rhuell, Palladia-Mors, Vaevictis Asmadi, Arcades Sabboth, Te Ju Ki
Chronicle of Bolas: Things Unseen	Kate Elliott	2018-06-27	Dominaria, Tarkir	Naiva, Yasova Dragonclaw, Baishya, Tae Jin, Fec, Mattak, Oiyan, Darka, Rakhan, Sorya, Ugin, Nicol Bolas, Vaevictis Asmadi, Palladia-Mors
Chronicle of Bolas: Whispers of Treachery	Kate Elliott	2018-07-11	Dominaria, Tarkir	Naiva, Yasova Dragonclaw, Baishya, Tae Jin, Fec, Mattak, Oiyan, Darka, Rakhan, Sorya, Nicol Bolas, Ugin, Chromium Rhuell
Chronicle of Bolas: Blood and Fire	Kate Elliott	2018-07-18	Dominaria, Tarkir	Naiva, Darka, Yasova Dragonclaw, Atarka, Fec, Oiyan, Tae Jin, Baishya, Rakhan, Ugin, Nicol Bolas, Palladia-Mors, Vaevictis Asmadi, Lividus, Ravus, Rubra, Chromium Rhuell, Arcades Sabboth
Chronicle of Bolas: A Familiar Stranger	Kate Elliott	2018-08-01	Dominaria, Meditation Plane, Tarkir	Naiva, Yasova Dragonclaw, Baishya, Tae Jin, Mevra, Fec, Mattak, Oiyan, Rakhan, Sorya, Ugin, Nicol Bolas, Gerrak, Arcades Sabboth, Kiarka
Chronicle of Bolas: Perspectives	Kate Elliott	2018-08-08	Dominaria, Meditation Plane, Tarkir	Naiva, Nicol Bolas, Ugin, Baishya, Yasova Dragonclaw, the Ur-Dragon, Arcades Sabboth, Chromium Rhuell, Palladia-Mors, Vaevictis Asmadi
Chronicle of Bolas: The Unwritten Now	Kate Elliott	2018-08-15	Meditation Plane, Zendikar, Kephalai, Ravnica, Dominaria, Tarkir	Baishya, Naiva, Yasova Dragonclaw, Ugin, Nicol Bolas, Mevra, Azor, Tae Jin, Mattak, Oiyan, Rakhan, Sorya, Fec
Unbowed, Part 1	Cassandra Khaw	2018-08-29	Ixalan	Vivien, Frederic, Nicol Bolas, Lucard, Salazar, Marcois Jean-Jaquent
Unbowed, Part 2	Cassandra Khaw	2018-09-05	Ixalan	Vivien, Marcois Jean-Jaquent, Nicol Bolas, Lucard
Unbowed, Part 3	Cassandra Khaw	2018-09-07	Ixalan	Vivien, Marcois Jean-Jaquent, Lucard, Nicol Bolas

Marketing

Evolution of the Core Set Expansion symbol.

Core Set 2019 is sold in 16-card boosters (one card being a marketing card), five welcome decks, five planeswalker decks, the Core 2019 bundle and a Deck Builder's Toolkit. The expansion symbol of the set picks up the design earlier used for Magic 2010 to Magic 2015, though with the modernized font. The boosters feature art from the five planeswalkers, featured in the Planeswalker decks.

Five Welcome decks are given away to new players for free.

The Welcome decks, Planeswalker decks, and Deck Builder's Toolkit are strongly integrated, which allows for an easier transition between the products. Basically, the Planeswalker decks expand on the themes presented in the Welcome decks. Furthermore, the contents of the Deck Builder's Toolkit are entirely fixed and can be used to upgrade the Planeswalker decks. The next step is a booster pack. Because of this, Core Set 2019 is positioned as an introductory booster product for new players. However, the cards targeted to beginning players are mostly found in common and uncommon. This opens up the opportunity to add cards to fill up gaps in creative, mechanical themes, answers or formats in rare and mythic rare. This is also the place for high demand reprints.

The creative team also used the set to take some peeks into the larger world of Magic and give a few hints at things that are going on around the Multiverse.

Events

• Prerelease weekend: July 7–8, 2018
• Magic Online update: July 9, 2018
• Magic Arena update: July 12, 2018

Tokens, emblems and checklist card

Checklist card

Core 2019 comes with 14 tokens, three emblems and a checklist card.

Token and emblems appear in the marketing card slot.

1. 4/4 Angel creature with flying and vigilance, for Resplendent Angel.
2. 4/4 Avatar creature with flying, for Ajani's Last Stand.
3. 1/1 Cat creature with lifelink, for Ajani, Adversary of Tyrants and Leonin Warleader.
4. 2/2 Knight creature with vigilance, for Gallant Cavalry, Knightly Valor and Sigiled Sword of Valeron.
5. 2/4 Ox creature, for Transmogrifying Wand.
6. 1/1 Soldier creature, for Heroic Reinforcements and Lena, Selfless Champion.
7. 1/1 Bat creature with flying, for Desecrated Tomb and Regal Bloodlord.
8. 2/2 Zombie creature, for Doomed Dissenter, Graveyard Marshal and Open the Graves.
9. 2/2 Dragon creature with flying and ": This creature gets +1/+0 until end of turn," for Dragon Egg.
10. 5/5 Dragon creature with flying, for Draconic Disciple, Lathliss, Dragon Queen and Sarkhan, Fireblood.
11. 1/1 Goblin creature, for Goblin Instigator.
12. 3/3 Beast creature, for Druid of Horns.
13. 1/1 Elf Warrior creature, for Thorn Lieutenant.
14. 1/1 Thopter artifact creature with flying, for Aviation Pioneer, Sai, Master Thopterist and Tezzeret, Artifice Master.
15. Emblem for Ajani, Adversary of Tyrants
16. Emblem for Tezzeret, Artifice Master
17. Emblem for Vivien Reid

The checklist card appears in the basic land slot.

• Checklist card for Nicol Bolas, the Ravager (Nicol Bolas, the Arisen)

Promotional cards

• Magic Open House: Full-art Guttersnipe
• Prerelease: a stamped card that can be any rare or mythic rare from the set.
• Draft Weekend Launch promo: Desecrated Tomb
• Standard Showdown: foil basic land promo with art by Alayna Danner. The five different basic lands line up to make one large panorama.
• Store Championship: full-art foil Demon of Catastrophes
• Magic League: foil Reliquary Tower
• Buy-a-Box: Nexus of Fate (not found in the main set)
• FNM promos: Elvish Rejuvenator, Militia Bugler, Murder
• Convention card: Death Baron

Gift Pack

The Gift Pack for the 2018 holiday season (released November 16, 2018) is integrated with Core Set 2019. It contains four Core Set 2019 boosters, five premium lands, a Spindown die, and five creature cards exclusive to the Gift Pack. The exclusive cards are considered part of Core Set 2019 for legality and rotation purposes. They have the M19 expansion symbol, but are numbered #GP1/001 to #GP1/005.

• Angelic Guardian
• Angler Turtle
• Vengeant Vampire
• Immortal Phoenix
• Rampaging Brontodon

Themes and mechanics

The set features one Transforming Legend similar to those featured in Magic Origins: a double-faced mythic creature that transforms into a planeswalker when a certain condition is met, a condition that represents the event that caused that character's planeswalker's spark to ignite. Nicol Bolas, the Ravager is the only double-faced card in the set.

Core 2019 features the following limited archetypes:

• : Artifacts (Aerial Engineer)
• : Control (Psychic Symbiont)
• : Sacrifice (Brawl-Bash Ogre)
• : Ramp (Draconic Disciple)
• : Enchantments (Satyr Enchanter)
• : Lifegain (Regal Bloodlord)
• : Spellslinging (Enigma Drake)
• : Attrition (Poison-Tip Archer)
• : Go wide (Heroic Reinforcements)
• : Evasion (Skyrider Patrol)

The set does not feature any other new or returning non-evergreen mechanics. The complexity of the set is toned down to make the learning curve a little less steep. There are a few more vanilla creatures and Lords than in regular sets. On the other hand, the set is also seeded with several combos.

Card types

Core Set 2019 introduces the Vivien planeswalker type. It also reintroduces the Egg subtype (Dragon Egg).

Cycles

Core Set 2019 has twelve cycles, one of which is a double cycle, and five of which can only be found in preconstructed products (and subsequently not in booster packs). There is additionally one partial cycle, themed around the character Nicol Bolas:

Cycle name
Core set planeswalkers	Ajani, Adversary of Tyrants	Tezzeret, Artifice Master	Liliana, Untouched by Death	Sarkhan, Fireblood	Vivien Reid
	Five monocolor planeswalkers, each of whom has appeared in some form in Nicol Bolas' history.
Signature spells	Ajani's Last Stand	One with the Machine	Liliana's Contract	Sarkhan's Unsealing	Vivien's Invocation
	Five rare spells, each related to one of the face planeswalkers of the set and showcasing a pivotal moment in their history.
Rare legends	Lena, Selfless Champion	Sai, Master Thopterist	Isareth the Awakener	Lathliss, Dragon Queen	Goreclaw, Terror of Qal Sisma
	Five rare monocolor legendary creatures.
Tribal lords	Valiant Knight (Knights)	Supreme Phantom (Spirits)	Death Baron (Zombies and Skeletons)	Goblin Trashmaster (Goblins)	Elvish Clancaller (Elves)
	Five rare tribal lords.
Mares	Shield Mare	Surge Mare	Plague Mare	Lightning Mare	Vine Mare
	Five uncommon Horses that each hose an enemy color and can't be blocked by creatures of that color.
Cycle name
Allied color taplands	Meandering River	Submerged Boneyard	Cinder Barrens	Timber Gorge	Tranquil Expanse
	Five Allied color common lands originally printed in Oath of the Gatewatch that each come into play tapped, and tap for one of each two colors of mana.
Cycle name
Enemy color taplands	Forsaken Sanctuary	Highland Lake	Foul Orchard	Stone Quarry	Woodland Stream
	Five Enemy color common lands originally printed in Shadows over Innistrad that each come into play tapped, and tap for one of each two colors of mana.
Cycle name
Elder Dragons	Arcades, the Strategist	Chromium, the Mutable	Nicol Bolas, the Ravager	Vaevictis Asmadi, the Dire	Palladia-Mors, the Ruiner
	Five mythic rare Elder Dragons, characters who each originally appeared in Legends. One is a double-faced card.

Precon only

Cycle name
Precon planeswalkers	Ajani, Wise Counselor	Tezzeret, Cruel Machinist	Liliana, the Necromancer	Sarkhan, Dragonsoul	Vivien of the Arkbow
	Five planeswalker variants with simpler abilities, included in the Planeswalker decks for M19.
Welcome Deck Rares	Serra's Guardian	Riddlemaster Sphinx	Gravewaker	Shivan Dragon	Aggressive Mammoth
	Five rare creatures that are only included in the Welcome Decks and Planeswalker Decks.
Dig spells	Ajani's Influence (Ajani)	Tezzeret's Gatebreaker (Tezzeret)	Liliana's Spoils (Liliana)	Sarkhan's Dragonfire (Sarkhan)	Skalla Wolf (Vivien)
	Five rare spells each themed after a planeswalker that give an effect, and "dig" through the top five cards of the caster's library for a card of the same color (except for one case, where it also can "dig" for artifacts). These replace the "planeswalker tutors" previously found in Planeswalker Decks.
Helper creatures	Court Cleric (Ajani)	Tezzeret's Strider (Tezzeret)	Arisen Gorgon (Liliana)	Sarkhan's Whelp (Sarkhan)	Vivien's Jaguar (Vivien)
	Five uncommon creatures that get a bonus when you control the relevant planeswalker.
4-of cards	Silverbeak Griffin (Ajani)	Pendulum of Patterns (Tezzeret)	Tattered Mummy (Liliana)	Kargan Dragonrider (Sarkhan)	Ursine Champion (Vivien)
	Five common cards appearing as a full playset in the planeswalker decks.

Partial cycles

• Nicol Bolas's reign: Three cards in Bolas' colors across multiple rarities, depicting his reign over Amonkhet, fall from power after the Mending, and subsequent return to strength — Apex of Power (), Fraying Omnipotence () and Patient Rebuilding ().
• One Mana Hosers: Cards with a converted mana cost of 1 that have unusual hosing effects, most more useful outside of Standard. There is no green member of the cycle. — Isolate (), Mistcaller (), Infernal Reckoning (), and Alpine Moon ().

Preconstructed decks

Welcome decks

Core 2019 features five Welcome Decks.

Welcome deck name	Colors Included					Iconic card
White deck	W					Serra's Guardian
Blue deck		U				Riddlemaster Sphinx
Black deck			B			Gravewaker
Red deck				R		Shivan Dragon
Green deck					G	Aggressive Mammoth

Planeswalker decks

Core 2019 features five planeswalker decks, that come with only one booster and are designed to integrate with the welcome decks.

Planeswalker deck name	Colors Included					Planeswalker
Ajani	W					Ajani, Wise Counselor
Tezzeret		U				Tezzeret, Cruel Machinist
Liliana			B			Liliana, the Necromancer
Sarkhan				R		Sarkhan, Dragonsoul
Vivien					G	Vivien of the Arkbow

Notable cards

• Liliana's Contract is an alternate-win card.
• Elvish Clancaller is an Elf Lord, that tutors for cards with the same name.
• High profile reprints: Crucible of Worlds, Omniscience and Scapeshift.

Banned and restricted cards

• Nexus of Fate, the Buy-a-Box promo, is an extra-turn effect with an ostensible anti-recursion feature. Pro Tour 25th Anniversary had several successful pilots of Turbo-Fog variants with playsets of Nexus of Fate, resulting in a massive spike of the card price. It was the first card to receive a specific ban only for MTG Arena in the Best-of-one matches, as it turned out the anti-mill self-shuffle clause meant it was actually trivial to recur infinitely. It remains banned in Pioneer and Historic.

External links

• Mark Rosewater (July 30, 2018). "Odds & Ends: Core Set 2019". magicthegathering.com. Wizards of the Coast.
• Mark Rosewater (August 6, 2018). "More Odds & Ends: Core Set 2019". magicthegathering.com. Wizards of the Coast.
• Mark Rosewater (August 13, 2018). "Odds & Ends: Core Set 2019 Strikes Again". magicthegathering.com. Wizards of the Coast.