Alara Reborn
Alara Reborn is the third set in the Alara block and is the fiftieth Magic expansion. Prerelease events took place on April 25-26, 2009, launch parties on April 30-May 3, 2009. The set went on sale April 30, 2009 which was a day earlier than anticipated due to the May Day (May 1) holiday.
Set Details
Alara Reborn is the first and so far only set in the history of Magic that consists entirely of multicolored cards. This is similar to the set Legions which is a set that consists entirely of Creature cards. As such the numbering of the cards is vastly different. Usually a set has all single colored cards alphabetically sorted and grouped together and in 
order followed by multicolored cards in alphabetical order (if present) followed by artifacts, followed by non-basic lands, followed by basic lands (if present). In Alara Reborn instead cards are ordered alphabetically grouped by mana cost:
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Mechanics
Alara Reborn is the first set in which Hybrid mana appears alongside conventional mana symbols in costs, in this case cards that have one centered color with a hybrid mana symbol of it's two allied colors. Though only two colors are required to play these cards, they are always of three colors.
The Cascade mechanic is introduced. When a spell with Cascade is cast, the player who cast it reveals the top card of his or her library until he finds a non-land card that costs less than the card with Cascade and may play it. If that card has cascade again, this process repeats itself. This mechanic has been regarded as highly powerful and very popular.
Cycling also returned with a twist in the Sojourner cycle: Five creatures that do the same when put into a graveyard from play or when cycled. Some other cards have a cycling cost consisting of Hybrid mana. Landcycling, Exalted, Devour, Unearth, all used previously within the block, return as well.
Marketing cards
Boosters of Alara Reborn come with a bonus sixteenth card that is either a "tips & tricks card" or a creature token from Alara Reborn. One face of the Alara Reborn bonus card has one of three different rules tips or is one of four different creature tokens. The other face has one of 13 advertisements for organized play programs, Alara Reborn, Duels of the Planeswalkers for Xbox Live, Magic Online, fat packs, A Planeswalker's Guide to Alara and Ultra Pro products for Magic.
Tips & Tricks
The tips & tricks cards are "Rules Tip: Hybrid mana Symbols", "Rules Tip: Cascade", "Theme: The Gold Standard".
Tokens
The Alara Reborn tokens are:
- 1/1 Bird Soldier with Flying produced by Flurry of Wings
- 1/1 Dragon with Flying and Devour 2 produced by Dragon Broodmother
- 2/2 Lizard produced by Predatory Advantage
- 1/1 Zombie Wizard produced by Lich Lord of Unx
Flavor
| “ | The birth of one world. The death of five.[1] | ” |
Cycles
Most of Alara Reborn's cycles have cards of two or even three different types - sorceries, enchantments and creatures, for example.
Alara Reborn has 14 cycles:
- Allied-colored equipments: Each of these uncommon equipment artifacts costs NCD, where CD are allied colors and has an uncolored equip cost. — Shield of the Righteous, Mask of Riddles, Demonspine Whip, Mage Slayer, Behemoth Sledge.
- Borderposts: Each of these common artifacts costs
CD, has an alternative casting cost of "pay and return a basic land you control to its owner's hand", comes into play tapped and has "
: Add C or D to your mana pool" — Fieldmist Borderpost, Mistvein Borderpost, Veinfire Borderpost, Firewild Borderpost, and Wildfield Borderpost. - Cascade commons: Each of these common spells costs nCD and has the new keyword Cascade: Captured Sunlight, Demonic Dread, Deny Reality, Stormcaller's Boon, and Violent Outburst.
- Cascade uncommons: Each of these uncommon spells costs nCD and has the new keyword Cascade: Ardent Plea, Bituminous Blast, Bloodbraid Elf, Enlisted Wurm, and Kathari Remnant.
- Cross-shard creatures: Each of these common creatures costs NCD, where CD are allied colors, and is flavored to be a blend of the two shards its colors are in — Ethercaste Knight, Sigiled Behemoth, Etherium Abomination, Gorger Wurm, and Kathari Bomber.
- Dual-Landcyclers: Each of these common creatures costs nCD and has two landcycling abilities, each getting one of the basic lands of its color combination for
— Sanctum Plowbeast, Jhessian Zombies, Igneous Pouncer, Valley Rannet, Pale Recluse. - Enemy-colored commons: Each of these common spells costs NCD, where CD are enemy colors. — Vectis Dominator, Putrid Leech, Winged Coatl, Magefire Wings, Cerodon Yearling.
- Hybrid-cyclers: Each of these common spells costs nCD and cycles for C/D Hybrid — Glassdust Hulk, Architects of Will, Monstrous Carabid, Deadshot Minotaur, Sigil of the Nayan Gods.
- Hybrid-gold commons: Each of these common spells costs NHC, where C is the main color of a shard and H is the Hybrid of its two side colors. — Crystallization, Arsenal Thresher, Sewn-Eye Drake, Sangrite Backlash, Trace of Abundance.
- Hybrid-gold uncommons: Each of these uncommon spells costs NHC, where C is the main color of a shard and H is the Hybrid of its two side colors. — Messenger Falcons, Thopter Foundry, Slave of Bolas, Giant Ambush Beetle, Marisi's Twinclaws.
- Mythic Legends: Each of these mythic rares is a legendary creature costing NCDE, where CDE are the colors of one shard. — Jenara, Asura of War, Sen Triplets, Thraximundar, Karrthus, Tyrant of Jund, Uril, the Miststalker.
- Shard-colored uncommons: Each of these uncommon spells costs NCDE, where CDE are the colors of one shard. — Flurry of Wings, Etherwrought Page, Drastic Revelation, Dragon Appeasement, Gloryscale Viashino.
- Shard-colored rares: Each of these rare permanents costs NCDE, where CDE are the colors of one shard. — Unscythe, Killer of Kings, Enigma Sphinx, Finest Hour, Retaliator Griffin, Madrush Cyclops.
- Shard Blades: Each of these common 2/1 creatures costs HC, where C is the main color of a shard and H is the Hybrid of its two side colors. Each of them has "As long as you control another multicolored permanent, this creature gets +1/+1 and has [ability word]" — Bant Sureblade, Esper Stormblade, Grixis Grimblade, Jund Hackblade, and Naya Hushblade.
- Sojourners: Each of these common creatures costs NCDE, where CDE are the colors of one shard, has cycling D and has a triggered ability, when it is cycled or put into a graveyard from play. Each of them was illustrated by John Avon — Bant Sojourners, Esper Sojourners, Grixis Sojourners, Jund Sojourners, and Naya Sojourners.
Reprinted cards
- Meddling Mage — last seen in Planeshift.
- Terminate — last seen in Planeshift.
References
Intro Packs
The intro packs are:[1] Template:Intro packs