Guilds of Ravnica
- For a description of the separate guilds of Ravnica, see Ravnican guild.
Guilds of Ravnica | |||||
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[[File:{{#setmainimage:GRN Logo.jpg}}|250px]] | |||||
Set Information | |||||
Set symbol | |||||
Symbol description | A cityscape or crown with five elements. | ||||
Design |
Mark Rosewater (lead) Jules Robins Jackie Lee Ari Levitch Sam Stoddard Bryan Hawley | ||||
Development |
Erik Lauer (lead) Ken Nagle Andrew Veen Andrew Brown | ||||
Art direction | Cynthia Sheppard | ||||
Release date | October 5, 2018 | ||||
Plane | Ravnica | ||||
Keywords/ability words | Convoke, Mentor, Surveil, Jump-start, Undergrowth | ||||
Set size |
259 cards +5 Basic lands +8 Planeswalker deck exclusives +1 Buy-a-Box promo | ||||
Expansion code | GRN[2] | ||||
Development codename | Spaghetti | ||||
Non-block expansions | |||||
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Magic: The Gathering Chronology | |||||
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Guilds of Ravnica is the 79th Magic expansion. It was released on October 5, 2018.[3] Officially, it is not part of a block. However, it is part of a series of three that is set on the same world, unofficially called the Guilds of Ravnica block.[4]
Set details
Guilds of Ravnica contains 259 cards (111 commons, 80 uncommons, 53 rares, and 15 mythic rares), but there are only 254 functionally different cards since all gates have 2 common slots. Boosters may include randomly inserted premium versions of any card. The name of the set is rather similar to the Ravnica: City of Guilds, but Wizards of the Coast doesn't perceive this as a problem.[5][6] The set features five of the bi-colored Ravnican guilds: Selesnya (), Boros (), Golgari (), Izzet (), and Dimir (). Watermarks are used to better identify the guilds.[7] To get a guild watermark, the card has to be two-color, optimized with two colors or use the guild keyword.[8][9]
The 5 basic lands of this set are not included within the 259 cards, meaning that they won't appear in booster packs but only in the planeswalker decks and the Bundle.[10] They're all autumnal versions of the Richard Wright basics from Ravnica: City of Guilds and are numbered from #260/259 to #264/259. Neither contained in boosters are the 8 additional planeswalker deck exclusive cards - numbered #265/259 to #272/259 - and the Buy-a-Box promo, which has the number #273/259. Each Guildgate is featured in two common slots, each with different art, much like Wastes in Oath of the Gatewatch.[11][12]
Storyline
“ | Stand With Your Guild | ” |
It is autumn on Ravnica. The story occurs mostly in darkness with shadows and moodiness, similar to a film noir. The story gears up for the final showdown with Nicol Bolas. He is trying to slowly influence Ravnica and warp it to his needs. The guilds fight internally between the forces pulling them toward or away from Bolas's influence.[13]
The cards that represent the Story Spotlights in Guilds of Ravnica are: Thousand-Year Storm (), Guild Summit (), Assassin's Trophy (), and Firemind's Research (). The story spotlight cards no longer tell you the order they occur in.[14]
Magic Story
Title | Author | Release Date | Setting | Featuring |
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Under the Cover of Fog | Nicky Drayden | 2018-10-10 | Ravnica | House Dimir |
Testing the Dark Waters | Nicky Drayden | 2018-10-17 | Ravnica | Izzet League |
Clans & Legions | Nicky Drayden | 2018-10-24 | Ravnica | Boros Legion |
Death's Precious Moments | Nicky Drayden | 2018-11-07 | Ravnica | Golgari Swarm |
Bound and Bonded | Nicky Drayden | 2018-11-14 | Ravnica | Selesnya Conclave |
Marketing
Guilds of Ravnica is sold in 16-card boosters (one card being a marketing card), two planeswalker decks and the Guilds of Ravnica bundle.[15] Building on how Theme Boosters for Dominaria performed, these 35-card booster packs with one rare or mythic rare card make another appearance. Of course, they are themed around the appropriate guilds and thus bi-colored.[16] The set is also accompanied by five special guild kits, preconstructed theme decks that combine cards from every Ravnica set released so far.
The boosters feature artwork of Emmara Tandris, Ral Zarek, Vraska, Aurelia, and a Dimir spy.[17][18] Every one in eight booster packs includes a code good for three packs in MTG Arena.[19]
Events
- Update Magic Arena: 27 September 2018 (free OpenBeta)
- Prerelease took place on 29–30 September 2018. Prerelease packs contained 5 regular Guilds of Ravnica booster packs and one seeded booster composed entirely of cards relevant to that player’s choice of guild.[20] It also contains 1 randomized, date stamped foil promo card, drawn from any rare or mythic from the featured guild. All prerelease packs included an entry code to an MTG Arena Sealed event.[19]
- Local stores hosted Ravnica Weekend on November 9–11. Players could come in and play four-pack Drafts, casual Guild Kit battles, and a special preview adventure from the D&D Guildmasters' Guide to Ravnica.[18]
Promotional cards
- Magic Open House: full-art Boros Challenger[18]
- Prerelease: a stamped card that can be any rare or mythic rare belonging to the chosen guild.
- Draft Weekend Launch promo: Firemind's Research
- Store Championship: full-art Emmara, Soul of the Accord
- Magic League: Necrotic Wound
- Buy-a-Box: Impervious Greatwurm[21]
- FNM promos: Conclave Tribunal, Sinister Sabotage, and Thought Erasure
- Ravnica Weekend: one of ten special guild-affiliated premium foil promo basic lands.[18] These are numbered A01/10 to A10/10.
- Non-foil versions of these basic lands appear in the Guild Kits, where they are numbered as part of the deck.
Tokens and emblems
The sixteenth card in the boosters is a token card or an emblem, with advertisements on the back side. There are eight tokens and emblems in the set:[22]
- 4/4 Angel creature with flying and vigilance, for Divine Visitation.
- 1/1 Soldier creature with lifelink, for Dawn of Hope, Emmara, Soul of the Accord, Haazda Marshal, Hunted Witness, March of the Multitudes, Ledev Champion, Sworn Companions and Trostani Discordant.
- 1/1 Bird Illusion creature with flying, for Murmuring Mystic.
- 1/1 Goblin creature, for Legion Warboss.
- 1/1 Insect creature, for Izoni, Thousand-Eyed.
- 2/2 Elf Knight creature with vigilance, for Assemble, Conclave Guildmage, Conclave Cavalier, and Sprouting Renewal.
- Emblem for Ral, Izzet Viceroy
- Emblem for Vraska, Golgari Queen
Mythic Edition
Guilds of Ravnica Mythic Edition is a special draft-sized booster box, exclusively sold in the U.S and Canada. It contains eight masterpieces.
Themes and mechanics
Each guild features a unique mechanic.[13][23]
Guild | Colors | Crest | Keyword or ability word | Description |
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House Dimir | Surveil | Look at the top N cards of your library, then put any number of them into your graveyard and the rest on top of your library in any order. | ||
Selesnya Conclave | Convoke | Your creatures can help cast this spell. Each creature you tap while casting this spell pays for or one mana of that creature's color. Returning mechanic, first used as the Selesnya mechanic in Ravnica. A new twist is that some cards care about the number of creatures that convoked it. | ||
Izzet League | Jump-start | You may cast this card from your graveyard by discarding a card in addition to paying its other costs. Then exile this card. | ||
Golgari Swarm | Undergrowth | Perform a certain action with value X ..., where X is the number of creatures in your graveyard. | ||
Boros Legion | Mentor | Whenever this creature attacks, put a +1/+1 counter on target attacking creature with less power. |
The expansion also features split cards. Each one focuses on a single guild, with a smallish hybrid mana effect as one half and a bigger, multicolor mana effect as the other.[24][25] The art of the rares focuses on the two major characters (legendary creatures or planeswalkers) in that guild, one personality per side. The card halves have alliterative names, starting with the same three letters.
Cycles
Guilds of Ravnica has twelve cycles, two of which are reprints and one of which is printed twice within the set.
Cycle name | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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Color Identifier | Light of the Legion | Drowned Secrets | Mausoleum Secrets | Runaway Steam-Kin | Hatchery Spider | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Five monocolored rare cards which care about other cards of the same color. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Cycle name | Dimir |
Selesnya |
Izzet |
Golgari |
Boros | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Guild leaders | Lazav, the Multifarious | Trostani Discordant | Ral, Izzet Viceroy | Vraska, Golgari Queen | Aurelia, Exemplar of Justice | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Five mythic rare legendary multicolored creatures or planeswalkers, each of whom are aligned with a guild and is their leader. Guilds aligned with Nicol Bolas have planeswalkers as their leaders; guilds aligned against, creatures. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Guild champions | Etrata, the Silencer | Emmara, Soul of the Accord | Niv-Mizzet, Parun | Izoni, Thousand-Eyed | Tajic, Legion's Edge | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Five rare legendary multicolored creatures, each of whom are aligned with a guild and act as that guild's second-in-command. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Mechanic spells | Notion Rain | Rosemane Centaur | Sonic Assault | Rhizome Lurcher | Hammer Dropper | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Five multicolor common spells that showcase the guild mechanic. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Guildmages | House Guildmage | Conclave Guildmage | League Guildmage | Swarm Guildmage | Legion Guildmage | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Five uncommon multicolored creatures, each of whom are aligned with a guild, are 2/2 for MN, and have two activated abilities, each ability costing at least one mana of that guild's colors and tapping to activate. They are named after the full title of their respective guilds. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
MMNN creatures | Nightveil Predator | Conclave Cavalier | Crackling Drake | Golgari Findbroker | Truefire Captain | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Five powerful uncommon multicolored creatures, each of which cost four mana, two of each of their respective guild's colors. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Hybrid creatures | Whisper Agent | Vernadi Shieldmate | Piston-Fist Cyclops | Pitiless Gorgon | Fresh-Faced Recruit | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Five common creatures which have only hybrid mana and generic mana in their casting cost. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Uncommon split cards | Discovery // Dispersal | Flower // Flourish | Invert // Invent | Status // Statue | Integrity // Intervention | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Five uncommon split cards, one side of which uses hybrid mana in guild colors and the other side is multicolor. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Rare split cards | Connive // Concoct | Assure // Assemble | Expansion // Explosion | Find // Finality | Response // Resurgence | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Five rare split cards, following the same formula as above. The hybrid side depicts the guild champion, and the multicolored side depicts its leader. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Lockets | Dimir Locket | Selesnya Locket | Izzet Locket | Golgari Locket | Boros Locket | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Five common mana stones for . Each of which tap for either color mana of its corresponding guild, and can be sacrificed by tapping and paying four hybrid mana to draw two cards. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Guildgates | Dimir Guildgate | Selesnya Guildgate | Izzet Guildgate | Golgari Guildgate | Boros Guildgate | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Five common dual lands in guild colors, originally printed in the Return to Ravnica block. Each has the Gate subtype and enters the battlefield tapped. Uniquely, each is printed twice in the set, with two different sets of art and flavor text. The first shows the guild's "main gate" and has flavor referring to its leader, whereas the second shows a "back door" and has flavor referencing to its lieutenant.
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Shock lands | Watery Grave | Temple Garden | Steam Vents | Overgrown Tomb | Sacred Foundry | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Five rare dual lands in guild colors, originally printed in the Ravnica: City of Guilds block. Each has the respective basic land types, and enters the battlefield tapped unless its controller has the land deal 2 damage to them.|}
Mirrored pairGuilds of Ravnica has a mirrored pair.
Reprinted cards
Functional reprints
Card comparisonsPreconstructed decksGuilds of Ravnica features two planeswalker decks:
Guilds of Ravnica features five Guild Kits:
Notable cards
References
External links
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