Mirrodin Besieged

Mirrodin Besieged is the 2011 winter expansion for Magic, its fifty-fifth, and the small expansion for the Scars of Mirrodin block. Prerelease Events will take place January 29-30, 2011 and Launch Parties will take place February 4-7, 2011.

Set Details

Mirrodin Besieged continues the story of Scars of Mirrodin as the Phyrexian Invasion lays waste to the Mirran countryside and its people. The set itself is split strongly between the two camps. The Prerelease and release party features a special subset of Boosters that are tailored to one of the groups respectively, with the players having to choose between them. Intro packs are also separated between the factions.

The expansion makes a change to the draft format. In all previous draft formats the group of players started with the first set in a block, but now the first pack to be opened is of the most recently released set. The number of packs does not change however, so the the draft format is one booster of Mirrodin Besieged followed by two packs of Scars of Mirrodin.

The set also introduces a new sort of Theme deck called an Event deck. These decks feature a 60 card main deck and 15 card sideboard, including 7 rares but no mythic rares. Mirrodin Besieged features two event decks: a Mono-red event deck for the Mirran side of the conflict, and a blue-black deck for the Phyrexians. They are to be released three weeks after the release of the set.

Mirrodin Besieged appears to have a theme of Mirrored Pairs, with cards from the Phyrexian and Mirran factions mirroring each other. Such a mirror is showcased with cards such as Peace Strider and Pierce Strider or Mirran Crusader and Phyrexian Crusader. There are also cards that mimic cards from the previous Mirrodin block, but with Phyrexian influence, e.g. Viridian Corrupter mimics Viridian Shaman, Blightsteel Colossus mimics Darksteel Colossus and Inkmoth Nexus mimics Blinkmoth Nexus, thus representing Phyrexia spreading its influence over the plane and co-opting its inhabitants.

Further, while in Scars of Mirrodin the Phyrexian faction was limited to the colors blue, black and green, the faction also has red and white cards in this set.

Mechanics

Two new keyword mechanics are featured, one for each faction. The Mirran keyword is Battle cry, which gives every other creature that attacks when the creature with Battle cry attacks a +1/+0 bonus. The Phyrexian mechanic is Living weapon, a new keyword for Equipment. All equipment with Living weapon give a power/toughness bonus, but upon entering play they put a 0/0 black Germ creature token into play and attaches the equipment to it.

The mechanics Metalcraft, Imprint, Proliferate and Infect also return.

Cycles

• Zeniths: A cycle of spells with X in their costs named for the colored suns of Mirrodin. They shuffle themselves back into the library after being used and thus strongly resemble the cycle of Beacons from Fifth Dawn. The cycle spans both factions. — White Sun's Zenith, Blue Sun's Zenith, Black Sun's Zenith, Red Sun's Zenith and Green Sun's Zenith.
• Color-aligned Artifact creatures: Like Scars of Mirrodin before it, Mirrodin Besieged contains a cycle of artifact creatures with an activated ability including a colored cost. The activation cost varies, unlike the previous cycle. — Bladed Sentinel, Gust Skimmer, Dross Ripper, Spine Engine, and Tangle Hulk.
• The set also contains a set of Basic Lands, two of each color, which is uncharacteristic for a small set in a block.

Reprinted Cards

The following cards have been reprinted from previous sets and included in Mirrodin Besieged:

• Divine Offering was last seen in 5th Edition
• Leonin Skyhunter was last seen in 9th Edition
• Phyrexian Rager was last seen in 10th Edition

External links

• "Magic Arcana" (Tuesday, August 3, 2010). "Announcing Mirrodin Besieged". magicthegathering.com. Wizards of the Coast.