Onslaught
- For other uses, see Onslaught (disambiguation).
Onslaught is the twenty-eighth Magic expansion and was released in 2002 as the first set in the Onslaught block.
Set details
It, like its ensuing expansions, Legions and Scourge, has a theme that focused heavily on "tribal" cards, or cards that are concerned with creature types. It introduced the "morph" keyword, as well as revisiting "cycling", and making "This creature can't be blocked except by artifact creatures and/or black creatures." a keyword ability, "fear".[1]
Mechanics
Onslaught introduced a number of major mechanics and featured the first return of a keyword from abeyance (cycling).
Cycles
- Allied-colored fetch lands: A cycle of five rare lands that could be sacrificed along with a payment of 1 life to search for one of two basic land types: Bloodstained Mire, Flooded Strand, Polluted Delta, Windswept Heath, Wooded Foothills.
- Avatars[1]: Five of the creature types, one for each color, (Clerics, Wizards, Zombies, Goblins, and Elves) have an Avatar creature whose power and toughness are equal to the number of permanents of that race, which is also one of its races as well, in play; in one case, one Avatar (Soulless One) takes into account cards of that type in all graveyards. The Avatars are: Doubtless One (clerics), Nameless One (wizards), Soulless One (zombies), Reckless One (goblins), and Heedless One (elves).
- Lords[1]: Ancestor's Prophet (clerics), Catapult Master (soldiers), Gravespawn Sovereign (zombies), Skirk Fire Marshal, Supreme Inquisitor (wizards), and Voice of the Woods (elves) were all, at the time of print (prior to The Grand Creature Type Update) had the creature type Lord in addition to their race or class. These "lords" possess an ability, the cost of which is the tapping of five permanents of their respective race. For example, Ancestor's Prophet, the Cleric Lord, allows its controller to tap five Cleric permanents to gain 10 life (formerly, prior to "tribal", it would have merely been creatures that could be tapped with Ancestor's Prophet's ability, for creatures were the only type with creature types).
- Chain spells[1]: Chain of Silence, Chain of Vapor, Chain of Smog, Chain of Plasma and Chain of Acid, like their predecessors, Chain Lightning and Chain Stasis, are spells that can be copied by another player, either for free or with an alternative cost.
- Couriers: The Couriers are uncommon creatures that can tap to grant an appropriate creature — a creature of the respective type — an increase in power and toughness, as well as an ability; as long as the Courier is tapped, the target creature has the Courier's effects. They also have the ability not to untap during their controller's untap step, thereby allowing for their controller to leave it tapped so that the target creature will have the effects continuously: Everglove Courier, Flamestick Courier, Frightshroud Courier, Ghosthelm Courier and Pearlspear Courier.
- Crowns: Crown of Awe, Crown of Ascension, Crown of Suspicion, Crown of Fury, and Crown of Vigor are a cycle of common auras that that grant a creature an ability, and can be sacrificed to give all creatures that share a type with the previously enchanted creature that ability until end of turn.
- Cycling lands: These lands could be Cycled or played tapped, then produce mana of the appropriate color: Barren Moor, Forgotten Cave, Lonely Sandbar, Secluded Steppe and Tranquil Thicket.
- Pit-fighter champions[1]: A cycle of legendary creatures costing File:Mana3.gifCCC (where C is one colored mana), with powerful abilities: Rorix Bladewing, Jareth, Leonine Titan, Arcanis the Omnipotent, Silvos, Rogue Elemental, and Visara the Dreadful.
- Symbiotic creatures: A vertical cycle of creatures — consisting of Symbiotic Elf, Symbiotic Beast and Symbiotic Wurm — that, once put into a graveyard from play, green Insect tokens are put into play; the number of Insects put into play is the creature's printed power.
- Tribal lands: A cycle of uncommon lands that can be tapped for colorless mana and have an activated ability that benefits, or benefits from having, one of the major creature types in the set: Daru Encampment (soldiers), Riptide Laboratory (wizards), Unholy Grotto (zombies), Goblin Burrows (goblins), and Wirewood Lodge (elves), as well as Contested Cliffs (beasts), Seaside Haven (birds), and Starlit Sanctum (clerics).
- Words enchantments: A cycle of enchantments that allow their controller to pay
and skip their next draw in exchange for a powerful effect; it consists of Words of Worship, Words of Wind, Words of Waste, Words of War and Words of Wilding.
Notable cards
- In then legal Standard, top cards included: Astral Slide, Blistering Firecat, Exalted Angel, Goblin Piledriver, Goblin Sharpshooter, Patriarch's Bidding, Ravenous Baloth, Rorix Bladewing, Visara the Dreadful, and Wellwisher were particularly noteworthy. The fetch lands (lands that could be sacrificed for the cost of tapping them and the loss of one life, in order to search their controller's library for a land of the specified basic land type) and cycling lands also saw high levels of play.
- The cycle of allied fetch lands continue to see significant play in all formats in which they are legal.
- Erratic Explosion saw some play alongside high mana cost cards, such as Draco and Dragon Tyrant.
- Nantuko Husk was the cornerstone of Standard BW Ghost Husk decks after being reprinted in 9th Edition, thanks to its strong interaction with Saviors of Kamigawa card Promise of Bunrei.
- Starlit Sanctum saw play in Extended, alongside Daru Spiritualist and cards able to repeatedly target the Cleric (Daru Spiritualist) for free, such as Lightning Greaves, Shuko, and Nomad en-Kor; not dissimilar to the Cephalid Breakfast deck.
References
Theme decks
Onslaught theme decks introduced a new design on their cardboard box that quickly showed the colors used to build the deck. The preconstructed theme decks are:
| Theme Deck Name | |||||
| Red | Green | White | Blue | Black | |
| Bait & Switch | |||||
| Celestial Assault | |||||
| Devastation | |||||
| Ivory Doom | |||||