Alara Reborn

Alara Reborn

 

Intro packs

 

Alara Reborn
[[File:{{#setmainimage:ARB logo.png}}|250px]]
Set Information
Set symbol
Symbol description	5 shards united
Design	Aaron Forsythe (lead) Mark Gottlieb Alexis Janson Brian Tinsman
Development	Matt Place (lead) Dave Guskin Alexis Janson Erik Lauer Mike Turian
Art direction	Jeremy Jarvis
Release date	April 30, 2009
Plane	Alara
Themes and mechanics	All multicolored set, Hybrid mana
Keywords/​ability words	Cascade, Cycling, Devour, Exalted, Unearth
Set size	145 cards (60 commons, 40 uncommons, 35 rares, 10 mythic rares)
Expansion code	ARB
Development codename	Scissors
Alara block
Shards of Alara Conflux Alara Reborn
Magic: The Gathering Chronology
Duel Decks: Divine vs. Demonic Alara Reborn Magic 2010

Alara Reborn is the third set in the Alara block and is the forty-ninth Magic expansion. Prerelease events took place on April 25–26, 2009, launch parties on April 30-May 3, 2009. The set went on sale on April 30, 2009, which was a day earlier than anticipated due to the May Day (May 1) holiday.

Set details

Alara Reborn contains 145 black-bordered cards (60 commons, 40 uncommons, 35 rares, 10 mythic rares). It is the first and so far only set in the history of Magic that consists entirely of multicolored cards (much like Legions consisting entirely of creatures). 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 followed by colorless artifacts, followed by non-basic lands, followed by basic lands.

There are no lands or colorless artifacts in the set. The all-multicolor gimmick was revealed when Wizards of the Coast showed off a textless Ardent Plea with collector number #1. So far this is the latest Standard-legal expansion release which doesn't include any planeswalker cards, with Iconic Masters being the latest overall. The expansion symbol of the set is a representation of the five converged shards.

In Alara Reborn instead, cards are ordered alphabetically and grouped by their multicolored mana cost as such:

#001-016 #017-032 #033-048 #049-064 #065-080

#081-085 #086-090 #091-095 #096-100 #101-105

#106-110 #111-114 #115-119 #120-124 #125-129

#130

#131-133 #134-136 #137-139 #140-142 #143-145

Flavor

“

The birth of one world. The death of five.

”

The violent plans orchestrated by Nicol Bolas have reached their cataclysmic zenith, as the five shards of Alara are now merged, with untold power and unspeakable chaos at every turn. In this unpredictable environment, where mythic beings can greatly affect the outcome, mere survival isn't enough. To live another day, one must battle with unflinching intensity to rise above the madness and master this now grotesquely unified plane. Amidst this overwhelming carnage, can Alara truly said to be reborn?

Story Comics

Honor Bound is a webcomic about Elspeth on Bant and how the effects of the Conflux can be seen as the evil from Grixis leaks in. It was published in three parts in April and May 2009.

Title	Author	Release Date	Setting (plane)	Featuring
Honor Bound, Part 1	Jenna Helland	2009-04-23	Alara	Elspeth, Aran
Honor Bound, Part 2	Jenna Helland	2009-04-30	Alara	Elspeth Aran
Honor Bound, Part 3	Jenna Helland	2009-05-07	Alara	Elspeth, Aran, Galen

Savor the Flavor

Title	Author	Release Date	Setting (plane)	Featuring
An Etherium Tale	Doug Beyer	March 4, 2009	Esper and Bant	Sharuum, Xorin, Crucius, Agatha, Callio, Travius, Jaria
Circumnavigation	Doug Beyer	March 25, 2009	Alara	Dragonsoul Knight, Asha, Kresh, Rakka Mar, Zarratha, Sarkhan
The Face of War	Jenna Helland	April 15, 2009	Alara	Thraximundar, Nicol Bolas, Breot, Sonara, Elspeth, Elleta, Lifris
The Day a Vedalken Exploded	Doug Beyer	May 6, 2009	Esper and the Maelstrom	Keimon, Drathus, Nicol Bolas
Gold Records	Doug Beyer	May 20, 2009	Alara	Revin Skoros, Ranalus, Haaach, Dollun Spinebreaker, Banath'thur, Sarrasa
A Different Kind of Origin Story	Doug Beyer	June 3, 2009	"Earth", Naya	Eleni

Marketing

Six-card boosters from Alara Reborn.

The all-foil booster pack.

Alara Reborn was sold in 16-card boosters, 6-card boosters, five intro packs, and a fat pack. The promotional card for the prerelease was Dragon Broodmother, which makes multicolored tokens; whilst the launch party card was Knight of New Alara, which makes multicolored creatures more powerful.

The 16-card boosters featured artwork from Slave of Bolas, Vedalken Heretic, and Knotvine Paladin, the small booster featured artwork from the fat pack packaging. An all-foil booster pack containing cards from Alara Reborn and the other two sets of the block was released on January 8, 2010. This featured artwork from Slave of Bolas.

Regular 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

From Shards of Alara:

• 1/1 Thopter with flying produced by Thopter Foundry

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 its 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, its controller reveals cards from the top of their library until they find a nonland card that costs less than the card with Cascade. They may then play it without paying its mana cost. If that card also has cascade, 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 a Hybrid mana. Landcycling, Exalted, Devour, Unearth, all used previously within the block, return as well.

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:

Cycle name
Allied-colored equipments	Shield of the Righteous	Mask of Riddles	Demonspine Whip	Mage Slayer	Behemoth Sledge
	Each of these uncommon equipment artifacts costs nMN, where MN are allied colors and have an uncolored equip cost.
Borderposts	Fieldmist Borderpost	Mistvein Borderpost	Veinfire Borderpost	Firewild Borderpost	Wildfield Borderpost
	Each of these common artifacts costs MN, 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 M or N".
Cascade commons	Stormcaller's Boon	Deny Reality	Demonic Dread	Violent Outburst	Captured Sunlight
	Each of these common spells costs nMN and has the new keyword Cascade.
Cascade uncommons	Ardent Plea	Kathari Remnant	Bituminous Blast	Bloodbraid Elf	Enlisted Wurm
	Each of these uncommon spells costs nMN and has the new keyword Cascade.
Cross-shard creatures	Ethercaste Knight	Etherium Abomination	Kathari Bomber	Godtracker of Jund	Sigiled Behemoth
	Each of these common creatures costs nMN, where MN are allied colors and is flavored to be a blend of the two shards' colors.
Dual-Landcyclers	Sanctum Plowbeast	Jhessian Zombies	Igneous Pouncer	Valley Rannet	Pale Recluse
	Each of these common creatures costs 4MN and has two landcycling abilities, each getting one of the basic land types of its color combination.
Hybrid-cyclers	Glassdust Hulk	Architects of Will	Monstrous Carabid	Deadshot Minotaur	Sigil of the Nayan Gods
	Each of these common spells costs nMN and cycles for M/N Hybrid.
Cycle name
Enemy-colored commons	Vectis Dominator	Magefire Wings	Putrid Leech	Cerodon Yearling	Winged Coatl
	Each of these common spells costs nMN, where MN are enemy colors.
Cycle name
Hybrid-gold commons	Crystallization	Arsenal Thresher	Sewn-Eye Drake	Sangrite Backlash	Trace of Abundance
	Each of these common spells costs nHM, where M is the main color of a shard and H is the Hybrid of its two side colors.
Hybrid-gold uncommons	Messenger Falcons	Thopter Foundry	Slave of Bolas	Giant Ambush Beetle	Marisi's Twinclaws
	Each of these uncommon spells costs nHM, where M is the main color of a shard and H is the Hybrid of its two side colors.
Shard Blades	Bant Sureblade	Esper Stormblade	Grixis Grimblade	Jund Hackblade	Naya Hushblade
	Each of these common 2/1 creatures costs HM, where M 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]"
Cycle name
Mythic Legends	Jenara, Asura of War	Sen Triplets	Thraximundar	Karrthus, Tyrant of Jund	Uril, the Miststalker
	Each of these mythic rares is a legendary creature costing nMNO, where MNO are the colors of one shard.
Shard-colored uncommons	Flurry of Wings	Etherwrought Page	Drastic Revelation	Dragon Appeasement	Gloryscale Viashino
	Each of these uncommon spells costs nMNO, where MNO are the colors of one shard.
Sojourners	Bant Sojourners	Esper Sojourners	Grixis Sojourners	Jund Sojourners	Naya Sojourners
	Each of these common creatures costs nMNO, where MNO are the colors of one shard, has cycling N, and has a triggered ability, when it is cycled or put into a graveyard from play. Each of them was illustrated by John Avon

Reprinted cards

• Meddling Mage — last seen in Planeshift.
• Terminate — last seen in Planeshift.

Notable cards

• Qasali Pridemage as a walking Naturalize on a 2/2 body was a popular mainboard and sideboard card in various Extended and Legacy decks.
• Thopter Foundry turns spare artifacts into 1/1 thopters. It formed half of the popular Extended, Legacy, and Modern combo with Sword of the Meek.
• Uril, the Miststalker, one of the first Hexproof legends, is a very popular EDH general.
• Mayael's Aria is an alternate-win card.
• Sphinx of the Steel Wind has a list of abilities in the image of Akroma, Angel of Wrath. A target for Reanimator decks, it is obsoleted by more efficient cards like Iona, Shield of Emeria and Elesh Norn, Grand Cenobite and later Archon of Despair.
• Time Sieve is a repeatable extra turn spell that forms many infinite combos.
• Architect of Will, alongside some of its one-mana cycling cycle, is a heavily played card in Living End decks, as it can be cycled for a cheap and flexible cost and provides a disruptive effect when it returns to the battlefield.

Banned and restricted cards

• Bloodbraid Elf was the pillar of a Jund deck as a reasonable sized creature plus the cascade into an interactive piece. It was also used in various other decks (such as RG Elves, Cascade Swans, or Naya) and sometimes in Extended Zoo or even in Legacy. It was banned for five years between 2013 and 2018, between which the format sped up enough that the card's four mana cost was on par with other deck archetypes in the format.
• Violent Outburst is the cascade spell of choice for the cascade-based combo decks that have existed in Modern and Legacy. With a mana value of three, the cost to building a deck with no one- or two-mana spells could be minimised and then used to cast 0-mana Suspend spells like Living End and Crashing Footfalls at instant speed. Notably, this gameplay made it too strong for Modern in 2024 and it was banned in March of that year.

Trivia

• Both reprints in Alara Reborn were originally printed in Planeshift, another set featuring planes being joined together due to the actions of an antagonistic force.

Intro packs

The intro packs are:

Intro pack name	Colors Included					Foil rare
Legion Aloft	W	U				Filigree Angel
Unnatural Schemes		U	B			Lich Lord of Unx
Dead Ahead			B	R		Deathbringer Thoctar
Rumbler				R	G	Spellbreaker Behemoth
Eternal Siege	W				G	Dauntless Escort

External links

• Alara Reborn Product Page