Alliances

Alliances is the eigth Magic expansion and was released in 1995 as the second set in the Ice Age Block. This set contained no new keyword abilities, but it introduced the popular Alternate Casting Cost mechanic, or "Pitch cards", that allowed you to play spells without paying mana for them. The most notable of these cards was Force of Will, and the mechanic has reappeared in Masques block, Betrayers of Kamigawa and Coldsnap. Alliances packs were the only ones (other than Chronicles) to have 12 cards in them. It was also the last set to feature multiple artworks for cards, a practice that was discontinued after players complained of difficulty in identifying cards by artwork. Wizards took this issue seriously as Magic was beginning to see print in languages other than English.