Guilds of Ravnica

Guilds of Ravnica

 

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Guild Kits

 

Mythic Edition

 

Planeswalker decks

 

Guilds of Ravnica
[[File:{{#setmainimage:GRN Logo.jpg}}|250px]]
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 cards (111 commons, 80 uncommons, 53 rares, 15 mythic rares) +5 Basic lands +8 Planeswalker deck exclusives +1 Buy-a-Box promo
Expansion code	GRN
Development codename	Spaghetti
Core Set 2020 Standard
Guilds of Ravnica Ravnica Allegiance War of the Spark
Magic: The Gathering Chronology
Guilds of Ravnica Mythic Edition Guilds of Ravnica Spellslinger Starter Kit

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

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	Merret, Grimbly Wothis, Warwick, Bender, Tashi, Soche, Jitka Wothis, Yantis, Lazav, Bea
Testing the Dark Waters	Nicky Drayden	2018-10-17	Ravnica	Leighbet, Kel'teth, Dax Foley, Tamsyn Sweene, Becham, Warwitt, Isley
Clans & Legions	Nicky Drayden	2018-10-24	Ravnica	Ossett Weslyn, Embrel Skormak, Klattic, Aresaan, Brazer, Baas Solvar Radley, Govan Radley, Kahti, Devin Sidian, Rook Atalay
Death's Precious Moments	Nicky Drayden	2018-11-07	Ravnica	Bozak, Razi, Mazirek, Vraska, Ellin, Kuurik, Zegodonis, Limin, Kata, Benzi
Bound and Bonded	Nicky Drayden	2018-11-14	Ravnica	Terrik, Ambrellin, Bazda, Savaryn, Kellim, Sadruna, Kadin, Zavora
The Gathering Storm: Chapter One	Django Wexler	2019-06-05	Ravnica	Ral, Millena, Nicol Bolas, Neero Jak, Tezzeret, Niv-Mizzet, Maree, Bogo Sternwhistle
The Gathering Storm: Chapter Two	Django Wexler	2019-06-12	Ravnica	Jarad vod Savo, Storrev, Jarga, Vraska, Mazirek, Xeddick, Kaya, Teysa Karlov, Tomik Vrona
The Gathering Storm: Chapter Three	Django Wexler	2019-06-19	Ravnica	Ral, Pytr Liosh, Ferzhin, Aurelia, Isperia, Dovin, Lavinia, Tomik Vrona, Elias, Gunther, Varo, Nicol Bolas
The Gathering Storm: Chapter Four	Django Wexler	2019-06-26	Ravnica	Ral Zarek, Tomik Vrona, Niv-Mizzet, Hellas Vitria, Lazav, Millena, Vraska, Storrev, Jarga, Izoni, Xeddick, Gloomplug, Emmara Tandris (mentioned), Borborygmos (mentioned), Hekara
The Gathering Storm: Chapter Five	Django Wexler	2019-07-03	Ravnica	Ral, Elias, Hekara, Lavinia, Emmara Tandris, Garo, Trostani, Nicol Bolas, Kaya, Tomik Vrona, Teysa Karlov
The Gathering Storm: Chapter Six	Django Wexler	2019-07-10	Ravnica	Ral, Lavinia, Hekara, Vraska, Xeddick, Tomik Vrona, Kaya
The Gathering Storm: Chapter Seven	Django Wexler	2019-07-17	Ravnica	Kaya, Ral, Vraska, Hekara, Golbet Frezzle, the Obzedat, Karlov
The Gathering Storm: Chapter Eight	Django Wexler	2019-07-31	Ravnica	Ral, Dovin, Varryvort, Kaya, Teysa Karlov, Nicol Bolas, Elias, Villiers, Anne Hannover, Venati, Sal, Nak
The Gathering Storm: Chapter Nine	Django Wexler	2019-08-07	Ravnica	Ral, Tomik Vrona, Hekara, Lavinia, Kaya, Teysa Karlov, Mazirek, Vraska, Storrev, Nicol Bolas
The Gathering Storm: Chapter Ten	Django Wexler	2019-08-14	Ravnica	Ral, Isperia, Dovin, Hekara, Borborygmos, Aurelia, Ferzhin, Lazav, Emmara Tandris, Kaya, Teysa Karlov, Vraska, Niv-Mizzet

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 Boros Challenger
• Prerelease: a stamped card that can be any rare or mythic rare belonging to the chosen guild.
• Draft Weekend Launch promo: Firemind's Research
• Store Championship: full-art Emmara, Soul of the Accord
• Magic League: Necrotic Wound
• Buy-a-Box: Impervious Greatwurm
• FNM promos: Conclave Tribunal, Sinister Sabotage, and Thought Erasure
• 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.

Crest	Guild	Colors	Keyword or ability word
	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 fourteen cycles, two of which are reprints and one of which is printed twice within the set.

Cycle name
Color Identifier	Light of the Legion	Drowned Secrets	Mausoleum Secrets	Runaway Steam-Kin	Hatchery Spider
	Five monocolored rare cards which care about other cards of the same color.
Mythic rares	Divine Visitation	Dream Eater	Doom Whisperer	Arclight Phoenix	Nullhide Ferox
	Five mythic rare permanent cards.
Cycle name	Dimir	Selesnya	Izzet	Golgari	Boros
Guild leaders	Lazav, the Multifarious	Trostani Discordant	Ral, Izzet Viceroy	Vraska, Golgari Queen	Aurelia, Exemplar of Justice
	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.
Guild champions	Etrata, the Silencer	Emmara, Soul of the Accord	Niv-Mizzet, Parun	Izoni, Thousand-Eyed	Tajic, Legion's Edge
	Five rare legendary multicolored creatures, each of whom are aligned with a guild and act as that guild's second-in-command.
Mythic rare guild spells	Mnemonic Betrayal	March of the Multitudes	Thousand-Year Storm	Underrealm Lich	Chance for Glory
	Five mythic rare guild spells.
Mechanic spells	Notion Rain	Rosemane Centaur	Sonic Assault	Rhizome Lurcher	Hammer Dropper
	Five multicolor common spells that showcase the guild mechanic.
Guildmages	House Guildmage	Conclave Guildmage	League Guildmage	Swarm Guildmage	Legion Guildmage
	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.
MMNN creatures	Nightveil Predator	Conclave Cavalier	Crackling Drake	Golgari Findbroker	Truefire Captain
	Five powerful uncommon multicolored creatures, each of which cost four mana, two of each of their respective guild's colors.
Hybrid creatures	Whisper Agent	Vernadi Shieldmate	Piston-Fist Cyclops	Pitiless Gorgon	Fresh-Faced Recruit
	Five common creatures which have only hybrid mana and generic mana in their casting cost.
Uncommon split cards	Discovery // Dispersal	Flower // Flourish	Invert // Invent	Status // Statue	Integrity // Intervention
	Five uncommon split cards, one side of which uses hybrid mana in guild colors and the other side is multicolor.
Rare split cards	Connive // Concoct	Assure // Assemble	Expansion // Explosion	Find // Finality	Response // Resurgence
	Five rare split cards, following the same formula as above. The hybrid side depicts the guild champion, and the multicolored side depicts its leader.
Lockets	Dimir Locket	Selesnya Locket	Izzet Locket	Golgari Locket	Boros Locket
	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.
Guildgates	Dimir Guildgate	Selesnya Guildgate	Izzet Guildgate	Golgari Guildgate	Boros Guildgate
	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.
Shock lands	Watery Grave	Temple Garden	Steam Vents	Overgrown Tomb	Sacred Foundry
	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 chooses to lose 2 life.

Pairs

Guilds of Ravnica has one mirrored pair.

Mirrored Pairs		Description
Maximize Altitude ()	Maximize Velocity ()	Common jump-start sorceries for one mana, which give one creature +1/+1 and a keyword associated with that color.

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.
• Spinal Centipede is a functional reprint of Lawless Broker from Kaladesh, 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 2nd highest-power black bordered non-token creature in Magic history.
• March of the Multitudes is a Selesnya cost spell completing an unintentional mega-mega cycle for each guild: 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.
• Midnight Reaper's illustration calls to mind a famous scene in The Lord Of the Rings movie.
• Collar the Culprit and Citywide Bust are two related pictures illustrated by Victor Adame Minguez creating a mini story.
• Arclight Phoenix is a unique success story amongst Mythic Rares: despite spawning its own archetype and having recurrent times in the spotlight as a top deck, it has rarely been considered oppressive. Its peak usage in Standard let it rotate with a large supply, making it a popular budget choice as the remaining deck is largely common and uncommon cantrips and interaction.

External links

• Guilds of Ravica trailer
• Mark Rosewater (October 29, 2018). "Odds & Ends: Guilds of Ravnica". magicthegathering.com. Wizards of the Coast.
• Mark Rosewater (November 5, 2018). "More Odds & Ends: Guilds of Ravnica". magicthegathering.com. Wizards of the Coast.