Ravnica block

Not to be confused with Return to Ravnica block.

The Ravnica block is the 11^th Magic: The Gathering block, comprising of the large expansion Ravnica: City of Guilds () and the two small expansions Guildpact () and Dissension (). The block was released in 2005–2006.

Sets

Details

Development codenames

The development codenames for Ravnica block expansions are "Control", "Alt", and "Delete".

Marketing

Dissension Life Counter featuring Rakdos the Defiler art

Ravnica block fat packs featured specially designed life counters with artwork from the sets instead of the spindown life counters normally found in fat packs.

Themes and mechanics

Themes

Thematically, the Ravnica block was multicolor-centered and, thus, was the spiritual successor to the Invasion block of 2000–2001. The Ravnica block was the first block to introduce the "guild model", wherein a number of guilds, each of which with its own cards and abilities and/or keywords, would be as introduced in an expansion and be as developed and complex as they would be (until returning to the plane with Return to Ravnica block), rather than the traditional model of expansions, wherein abilities and/or keywords would be introduced in the first of usually three expansions and then progressively increase in complexity throughout the block. Four guilds (Boros, Dimir, Golgari, Selesnya) were introduced in City of Guilds, three more (Gruul, Izzet, Orzhov) were introduced in Guildpact, and the final three (Azorius, Rakdos, Simic) debuted in Dissension.

Mechanics

The keywords introduced in the Ravnica block are:

Guild	Azorius	Boros	Dimir	Golgari	Gruul	Izzet	Orzhov	Rakdos	Selesnya	Simic
Keyword	Forecast	Radiance	Transmute	Dredge	Bloodthirst	Replicate	Haunt	Hellbent	Convoke	Graft

In addition to these 10 keywords, the Ravnica block was the first block to feature hybrid mana costs and hybrid cards. Each of Ravnica's 10 guilds featured three hybrid cards, one at each level of rarity as of then; common, uncommon, and rare.

Mega cycles

Ravnica block features 11 10-card guild mega cycles , with one card per guild, and one 20-card guild mega cycle (the "imbalanced gold card" cycle) distributed across Ravnica: City of Guilds, Guildpact, and Dissension.

Cycle name	Azorius	Boros	Dimir	Golgari	Gruul	Izzet	Orzhov	Rakdos	Selesnya	Simic
Bounce lands	Azorius Chancery	Boros Garrison	Dimir Aqueduct	Golgari Rot Farm	Gruul Turf	Izzet Boilerworks	Orzhov Basilica	Rakdos Carnarium	Selesnya Sanctuary	Simic Growth Chamber
Description and notes: When each of these common nonbasic dual lands enters the battlefield tapped, its controller returns a land he or she controls to its owner's hand. Each of these lands can tap to produce two mana, one of each of the its associate guild's colors. Each card's artwork was illustrated by John Avon.
Guildhalls	Prahv, Spires of Order	Sunhome, Fortress of the Legion	Duskmantle, House of Shadow	Svogthos, the Restless Tomb	Skarrg, the Rage Pits	Nivix, Aerie of the Firemind	Orzhova, the Church of Deals	Rix Maadi, Dungeon Palace	Vitu-Ghazi, the City-Tree	Novijen, Heart of Progress
Description and notes: Each of these uncommon nonbasic dual lands taps for and has an activated ability costing mana of the associated guild's colors for a thematically related effect. Each card (all illustrated by Martina Pilcerova) represents the associated guild's headquarters within Ravnica.
Signets	Azorius Signet	Boros Signet	Dimir Signet	Golgari Signet	Gruul Signet	Izzet Signet	Orzhov Signet	Rakdos Signet	Selesnya Signet	Simic Signet
Description and notes: Each of these common artifacts has ", : Add (one mana each of the respective guild's color) to your mana pool."
Shock lands	Hallowed Fountain	Sacred Foundry	Watery Grave	Overgrown Tomb	Stomping Ground	Steam Vents	Godless Shrine	Blood Crypt	Temple Garden	Breeding Pool
Description and notes: Each of these rare nonbasic dual lands has two basic land types and enter the battlefield tapped unless its controller pays 2 life. Each card's artwork was illustrated by Rob Alexander.
Guildmasters	Grand Arbiter Augustin IV	Razia, Boros Archangel	Szadek, Lord of Secrets	Sisters of Stone Death	Borborygmos	Niv-Mizzet, the Firemind	Ghost Council of Orzhova	Rakdos the Defiler	Chorus of the Conclave	Momir Vig, Simic Visionary
Description and notes: These legendary multicolor creatures, almost all of which cost a certain amount of colorless mana plus two mana each of their respective colors, produced powerful effects thematically tied to their respective colors.
Guild Champions	Isperia the Inscrutable	Agrus Kos, Wojek Veteran	Circu, Dimir Lobotomist	Savra, Queen of the Golgari	Ulasht, the Hate Seed	Tibor and Lumia	Teysa, Orzhov Scion	Lyzolda, the Blood Witch	Tolsimir Wolfblood	Experiment Kraj
Description and notes: Each of legendary multicolor creatures rewarded players for playing with cards of their two colors, often doubly so for using multicolor cards. Isperia and Kraj are different, but this is clearly the result of their effects and cost having been swapped with those of their respective guildmaster at some point.
Guildmages	Azorius Guildmage	Boros Guildmage	Dimir Guildmage	Golgari Guildmage	Gruul Guildmage	Izzet Guildmage	Orzhov Guildmage	Rakdos Guildmage	Selesnya Guildmage	Simic Guildmage
Description and notes: Each of these uncommon 2/2 creatures costs two hybrid mana of its guild's colors and each has two abilities, each of which requires mana of one of the guild's colors. They form vertical cycle with common and rare hybrid spells.
Guild Artifacts	Walking Archive	Sunforger	Bloodletter Quill	Plague Boiler	Gruul War Plow	Mizzium Transreliquat	Moratorium Stone	Rakdos Riteknife	Crown of Convergence	Evolution Vat
Description and notes: Each of these rare artifacts have an activated ability costing both of its guild color.
Common Hybrid Spells	Minister of Impediments	Boros Recruit	Lurking Informant	Gaze of the Gorgon	Wild Cantor	Petrahydrox	Mourning Thrull	Riot Spikes	Centaur Safeguard	Shielding Plax
Description and notes: Each of these common spells has exactly one hybrid mana in its mana cost.
Rare Hybrid Spells	Dovescape	Master Warcraft	Shadow of Doubt	Gleancrawler	Giant Solifuge	Djinn Illuminatus	Debtors' Knell	Avatar of Discord	Privileged Position	Biomantic Mastery
Description and notes: Each of these rare spells has at least two hybrid mana in its mana cost.
Common Gold Cards	Plumes of Peace (or Azorius First-Wing, or Overrule)	Rally the Righteous	Perplex (or Dimir Infiltrator)	Shambling Shell	Scab-Clan Mauler (or Burning-Tree Bloodscale)	Leap of Flame	Blind Hunter	Gobhobbler Rats	Guardian of Vitu-Ghazi	Vigean Hydropon
Description and notes: Each of these common gold cards uses the guild's ability. Dimir and Gruul have two such cards.
Unbalanced Gold Cards	Azorius Ploy Swift Silence	Flame-Kin Zealot Firemane Angel	Clutch of the Undercity Mindleech Mass	Drooling Groodion (or Woodwraith Corrupter) Grave-Shell Scarab	Skarrgan Skybreaker Rumbling Slum	Goblin Flectomancer Invoke the Firemind	Souls of the Faultless Culling Sun	Anthem of Rakdos Rakdos Augermage	Congregation at Dawn Phytohydra	Omnibian Voidslime
Description and notes: Each of these cards are one of 2 gold cards for every guild (Golgari has 3 cards) that have 2 of one color and only 1 of the other, with rarity varying.
Off-color activated permanents	Soulsworn Jury Ocular Halo	Ordruun Commando Screeching Griffin	Tattered Drake Roofstalker Wight	Mortipede Elves of Deep Shadow	Ghor-Clan Bloodscale Gruul Nodorog	Torch Drake Hypervolt Grasp	Shadow Lance Ostiary Thrull	Nettling Curse Kill-Suit Cultist	Transluminant Votary of the Conclave	Simic Ragworm Silkwing Scout
Description and notes: Each of these monocolored permanents has an activated ability that use their guild's other mana symbol. Elves of Deep Shadow is the only spell of this cycle that doesn't that mana as an activation cost.
Allied boosting spells	Azorius Herald Court Hussar	Flash Conscription Boros Fury-Shield	Induce Paranoia Ribbons of Night	Vigor Mortis Rolling Spoil	Tin Street Hooligan Gruul Scrapper	Steamcore Weird Ogre Savant	Shrieking Grotesque Revenant Patriarch	Crypt Champion Squealing Devil	Dryad's Caress Seed Spark	Patagia Viper Plaxmanta
Description and notes: Each of these mono-colored spells does something extra if you use its guild's other color to pay its mana costs. Those in Ravnica are spells with additional effects, those in Guildpact are creatures that gain enter-the-battlefield abilities, and those in Dissension are creatures with enter-the-battlefield abilities that are sacrificed unless paid for with the other color.