Magic 2012

Magic 2012
[[File:{{#setmainimage:M12 logo.jpg}}|250px]]
Set Information
Set symbol
Symbol description	“M12”
Design	Mark Globus (lead), Doug Beyer, Aaron Forsythe, Ken Nagle
Development	Tom LaPille (lead), Kelly Digges, Peter Schaefer, Mike Turian, Steve Warner, Dave Humpherys
Art direction	Jeremy Jarvis
Release date	July 15, 2011
Plane	Shandalar
Keywords/​ability words	Bloodthirst, Hexproof
Set size	249 (20 basic lands, 101 commons, 60 uncommons, 53 rares, 15 mythic rares)
Expansion code	M12
Core sets
[[Magic 2011]] [[Magic 2012]] [[Magic 2013]]
Magic: The Gathering Chronology
[[Commander]] Magic 2012 [[From the Vault: Legends]]

The Magic: The Gathering 2012 Core Set (a.k.a Magic 2012 or M12) is a Core Set which was released on July 15, 2011. The worldwide Prerelease events took place July 9-10, 2011 , and Launch Parties took place July 15-18, 2011.

Set details

Magic 2012 contains 249 cards (101 Common, 60 Uncommon, 53 Rare, 15 Mythic, 20 Basic Lands), including randomly inserted premium versions of all cards. The set saw the return of planeswalkers and the five Titans, had a minor aura theme, intoduced hexproof and had several top-down designed creatures. The returning mechanic for this Core Set was bloodthirst.

Magic 2012 also marked the return of Korean to the set of printed languages. Sets from 4th Edition through Urza's Saga had been printed in Korean in the past, before Korean was dropped from the list of printed languages. Magic 2012 brought the list of printed languages to 11: English, Chinese Traditional, Chinese Simplified, French, German, Italian, Japanese, Korean, Portuguese, Russian, and Spanish.

Marketing

M12 6-card booster

Magic 2012 was sold in 16-card and 6-card booster packs, five Intro packs, two event decks and a fat pack. The regular boosters featured art from Grand Abolisher (with white background), Sphinx of Uthuun (with blue background), Rune-Scarred Demon (with black background), Chandra, the Firebrand (with red background) and Garruk, Primal Hunter (with green background). The 6-card booster featured Jace, Memory Adept. Magic 2012 was also sold in the new "Booster Battle Pack"s, which contain 2 20-card semi-randomized decks, 2 booster packs, a Magic "learn to play" guide and a rules insert.

A promotional version of Bloodlord of Vaasgoth was given out to players at the Prerelease event. The promotional card for the launch party was Garruk's Horde. Both cards are new to the set. The Buy-a-Box was Chandra's Phoenix. The Magic 2012 Game Day was held on August 12-14, 2011. At this event the DCI-Promo-Card was Stormblood Berserker and the Top 8 Finish reward was a full-art foil Dungrove Elder.

Regular boosters of Magic 2012 came with a bonus sixteenth card that was either a "tips & tricks card" or a creature token from Magic 2012.' Unlike the traditional tips & tricks cards, they were printed in landscape format and had no numbering. The back side had an advertisement for Commander, magicthegathering.com, Magic 2012 Intro Packs, Magic Online, swagdog.com, Ultra Pro products or www.wizards.com/locator.

Tips & Tricks

The tips & tricks cards are:

1. bloodthirst
2. booster draft
3. casual formats
4. colors of expansion symbols,
5. decks work best when they're about 40% land and 25-40% creatures
6. drawing a card when the library is empty means losing the game,
7. gatherer, hexproof
8. limited format
9. minimum deck size and playing with only 4 of any one card,
10. planeswalkers (2 different card wordings).

Tokens

The Magic 2012 tokens are:

1. 3/3 Beast produced by Garruk, Primal Hunter.
2. 3/3 Flying Bird produced by Roc Egg.
3. 1/1 Artifact Pentavite with Flying produced by Pentavus.
4. 1/1 Saproling produced by Jade Mage and Druidic Satchel.
5. 1/1 Soldier produced by Timely Reinforcements and Throne of Empires.
6. 6/6 Wurm produced by Garruk, Primal Hunter.
7. 2/2 Zombie produced by Cemetery Reaper, Zombie Infestation, and Grave Titan.

Sample decks

Just like Magic 2011, the Magic 2012 Core Set came with ten thirty-card sample decks.

Rule change

The Magic 2012 core set introduced the wording shortcut "dies." The word "dies" on a Magic card simply means "is put into a graveyard from the battlefield." The two phrases are interchangeable. Similarly, the word "died" means "was put into a graveyard from the battlefield."

The term "dies" is used only if a creature is moving from the battlefield to a graveyard and only if the effect doesn't care which player's graveyard the creature is put into. (The complete phrase "is put into a graveyard from the battlefield" is used if the object is likely to have a different card type.)

Many older cards would be updated in the Oracle card reference to use this new term. This was not a functional change.

Mechanics and themes

Magic 2012 also introduced a new keyword in Hexproof, which is similar to Shroud except the controller of the permanent can still target it. This ability used to be colloquially referred to as "Troll Shroud" in reference to Troll Ascetic, one of the first and most popular cards with that mechanic.

The keyword Bloodthirst returned after its initial appearance in Guildpact and a small cameo in Future Sight. Unlike its appearance in Guildpact, Bloodthirst was particularly focused in black on its Vampire tribe.

The set also saw the return of Planeswalkers, though it wasn't restricted to the original Lorwyn 'walkers as Gideon Jura and Sorin Markov had cards in the set. For the first time, three new Planeswalker cards were made for a core set. Like in Magic 2011, these planeswalkers had a number of cards referencing to them.

Cycles

Magic 2012 has the following cycles:

• Color Hosers: Each of these uncommon cards is specifically designed to be played against its enemy colors — Celestial Purge, Flashfreeze, Deathmark, Combust and Autumn's Veil (reprinted from Magic 2011.)
• Check lands: Each of these rare dual lands comes into play tapped unless you control a land of one of the appropriate types — Glacial Fortress, Drowned Catacomb, Dragonskull Summit, Rootbound Crag and Sunpetal Grove (reprinted from Magic 2011 ).
• Titans: Each of these mythic rare giants is a 6/6 for MM and has a powerful ability that triggers whenever it enters the battlefield or attacks — Sun Titan, Frost Titan, Grave Titan, Inferno Titan and Primeval Titan (reprinted from Magic 2011. )
• Mages: 2/1 human wizard creatures for 2 mana with an activated ability involving one mana of a color. Each creature has a flavor text describing a creed of a clan of wizards, with names synonymous to the respective color. — Alabaster Mage, Azure Mage, Onyx Mage, Crimson Mage, Jade Mage
• Planeswalkers: There are five mythic rare Planeswalker cards in the set — Gideon Jura; Jace, Memory Adept; Sorin Markov; Chandra, the Firebrand; and Garruk, Primal Hunter.
• Planeswalker Rares: Every Planeswalkers gets a Rare card referencing to them and working in conjunction with them. Gideon's Avenger, Jace's Archivist, Sorin's Vengeance, Chandra's Phoenix, and Garruk's Horde.
• Planeswalker Commons: Five commons that reference their respective planeswalkers in the name. — Gideon's Lawkeeper, Jace's Erasure, Sorin's Thirst, Chandra's Outrage, and Garruk's Companion.
• "Lucky charms" artifacts: Each of these uncommon artifacts costs and has an ability that allows its controller to gain one life whenever a spell of the appropriate color is played — Angel's Feather, Demon's Horn, Dragon's Claw, Kraken's Eye and Wurm's Tooth. (Reprinted from Darksteel.)
• "Artifact of Empires": Each of these artifacts have an activated ability that produces an even more powerful effect if you control all 3 of these artifacts — Crown of Empires, Scepter of Empires, and Throne of Empires.

Mirrored pairs

Magic 2012 has two mirrored pairs.

• Dark Favor and Divine Favor are both common Auras with enchant creature that give a mirrored bonus to the enchanted creature's power/toughness and are illustrated by Allen Williams.
• Greatsword and Kite Shield are both uncommon Artifact - Equipment which have the same Equip cost of and give the equipped creature +3/+0 or +0/+3 power/toughness.

Functional reprints

• Gideon's Lawkeeper is a functional reprint of Goldmeadow Harrier, save for creature type.
• Skywinder Drake is a functional reprint of Cloud Spirit and Rishadan Airship, save for creature type.
• Drifting Shade is a functional reprint of Dungeon Shade.
• Bonebreaker Giant is a functional reprint of Obsidian Giant and Fomori Nomad.
• Trollhide is a functional reprint of Savage Silhouette.

Preconstructed decks

Intro packs

The intro packs are:

Intro pack name	Colors Included					Foil rare
Sacred Assault	W				G	Aegis Angel
Mystical Might	W	U				Sphinx of Uthuun
Grab For Power		U	B			Rune-Scarred Demon
Blood And Fire			B	R		Flameblast Dragon
Entangling Webs				R	G	Arachnus Spinner

Event decks

The event decks are:

Event deck name	Colors Included
Illusionary Might		U
Vampire Onslaught			B

Notable cards

• Phantasmal Image is a cheaper Clone variant with the Skulking ability, used in tournaments in tribal decks to put onto the battlefield an other copy of a significant creature of the tribe (usually a lord). With the old legend rule it was used to kill a legendary creature difficult to kill, as Emrakul, the Aeons Torn.

Cards added to Magic 2012

• The added artifact Manalith is strictly better than Sol Grail, from Alliances, but strictly worse than Darksteel Ingot, from Darksteel.

Cards removed from Magic 2011

• The Leylines cycle consisting of Leyline of Sanctity, Leyline of Anticipation, Leyline of the Void, Leyline of Punishment and Leyline of Vitality which are rare enchantments that cost plus 2 mana of the appropriate color. Each can start the game in play if it is in a player's opening hand.

External links

• Magic: The Gathering 2012 Core Set product information page — Wizards of the Coast
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