Alliances

Alliances is the eighth Magic expansion and was released in 1996 as the second set in the Ice Age block. It was sold in packs of 12 cards and was the last expansion to feature regular multiple artworks on cards. This was discontinued to ease identification of cards by their artwork, which was important to the global community as Magic was beginning to see print in languages other than English.

Mechanics & Themes

Alliances didn't introduce any new keywords, but it did introduce the popular Alternate cost mechanic, popularly referred to as "Pitch cards", that allowed you to discard cards of specific colors (sometimes with an additional life payment) to play a spell instead of paying mana. This mechanic was also used on rare cycles in the Masques block, the Betrayers of Kamigawa expansion and the Coldsnap expansion.

Alliances builds on many of the themes of the Ice Age block. Cumulative Upkeep and cantrips return, as does the allied color theme and a few new legendary creatures. The Snow mechanic, considered a failure by the design team of Alliances, was largely abandoned.

Notable Cards

• Balduvian Horde was initially heralded as the "new Juzam Djinn," then considered the best creature in Magic, as a 5/5 for 2CC. It later proved to be only mediocre.

• Force of Will has been an important and potent card in every format it is legal in because it can counter any spell even if its caster has no lands untapped.

Storyline

After the planeswalker Freyalise cast her World-spell, ending the Ice Age, a population long adapted to the cold had to readjust to warm weather. With the new climate came devastating floods and plagues, and the necromancer Lim-Dûl has built an army of undead bent on world domination. An alliance is formed between races to defeat Lim-Dûl and his army.

Cycles

Alliances has five cycles:

• Two-color multicolor cycle: Energy Arc, Lim-Dul's Vault, Lim-Dul's Paladin, Surge of Strength, and Nature's Blessing are each uncommon cards with CD as part of its mana cost, where C and D are allied colors.

• Three-color multicolor cycle: Wandering Mage, Lord of Tresserhorn, Misfortune, Winter's Night, and Phelddagrif are each rare cards with CDE as part of its mana cost, where C and E are the allied colors of D.

• Two enemy color hoser cycle: Royal Decree, Tidal Control, Dystopia, Omen of Fire, and Nature's Wrath are each rare cards that have a negative effect on both enemy colors of the card's color. This cycle was the first to attempt to hose both enemy colors at once and inspired the creation of a similar cycle in the Mercadian Masques expansion.

• Replacement land cycle: Kjeldoran Outpost, Soldevi Excavations, Lake of the Dead, Balduvian Trading Post, and Heart of Yavimaya are each rare lands with "If [this] would come into play, sacrifice a (untapped) [basic land type] instead. If you do, put [this] into play. If you don't, put it into its owner's graveyard. T: add (1)C to your mana pool." and an activated ability. Words in parenthesis appear together on some of these cards. C is the same color of mana that the sacrificed basic land produced.

• Pitch-card cycle: Scars of the Veteran, Force of Will, Contagion, Pyrokinesis, and Bounty of the Hunt are each uncommon instants with "You may (pay 1 life and) remove a [same color] card in your hand from the game rather than pay [this card]'s mana cost." Words in parenthesis appear on Force of Will and Contagion in an attempt to balance them. This cycle inspired the creation of other Pitch-card cycles in the Mercadian Masques, Betrayers of Kamigawa, and Coldsnap expansions.

Creature Types

The following creature types are introduced in this expansion: Aesthir (later changed to Bird), Bird, Gorilla (later changed to Ape), Harlequin, Heretic, Mosquito (later changed to Insect), Pigeon (later changed to Bird), Spy, Starfish, Swarm, Tactician, War-rider and Worm.

The following creature types are used in this expansion but also appear in previous sets: Barbarian, Cleric, Druid, Elemental, Elf, Gargoyle, Goblin, Guardian, Homarid, Horror, Insect, Keeper, Knight, Mercenary, Merfolk, Paladin, Phantasm, Rat, Skeleton, Soldier, Spirit, Wall, Wizard and Zombie.

Points of Interest

• Only Alliances and the Chronicles set were sold in packs of 12 cards.

• Gargantuan Gorilla, Storm Elemental, Viscerid Drone and Winter's Night are the only cards that refer to the Snow theme of the Ice Age block in the Alliances expansion.

• Omen of Fire is the only member of the Two enemy color hoser cycle to be an instant and to have a non-symmetrical effect on its enemy colors (the other cards of the cycle are enchantments and have a symmetrical effect on their enemy colors).

• Winter's Night is the only World Enchantment in Alliances.

Outside Links

• Official product page