Arabian Nights/Trivia

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Main article: Arabian Nights

Trivia

  • Multiple cards in this set use accent marks, or diacritics, in their names. These accents are not printed in the card title but can be found in the text box because the respective fonts used to or do not support them.
  • As the first Magic expansion, Arabian Nights was originally intended to be released as a stand-alone product. As a result, the set was nearly printed with a yellow-on-pink card back, instead of the blue-on-brown used in all cards known today, in order to distinguish it from "The Gathering", which was originally the name of Alpha. In addition, basic lands were to be included. In the first print run of the set, a leftover Mountain was included accidentally, and the commons were printed with a smaller, darker circle in the generic mana cost of the card. The corrected print run of the set did not inculde any basic lands and used the larger, lighter generic mana circle that is used for other sets. As a result of its inclusion in this set, Mountain is the most printed card in Magic.
  • Aladdin's Lamp had the most expensive casting cost of any card at the time of its printing. When it was printed, the icon of 10 in a gray circle (representing a cost of 10 generic mana, or File:Mana10.gif) did not exist, so the casting cost was instead represented as {5}{5}.
  • City in a Bottle is the only card in this set to reference the Sandman comic that inspired the set. It is the first "expansion hosing" card, meaning that it has an overall negative effect on cards with the Arabian Nights expansion symbol. Also, this card is the first to give the expansion symbol game relevance. There are two other "expansion hosing" cards: Golgothian Sylex and Apocalypse Chime.
  • Cyclone is the first card printed to use cumulative upkeep, although it did not use this keyword. (Stasis is considered the first card with Cumulative Upkeep by some, altough its upkeep cost is only similar to, and not descriptive of, Cumulative Upkeep, and the card's Oracle text does not use the keyword). The use of Cumulative Upkeep here is not too surprising, as the team that was working on the Ice Age expansion, which introduced the Cumulative Upkeep keyword, also participated in development of this set.
  • Desert is the first common non-basic land.
  • El-Hajjaj was the first creature with its abilty, and also the only mono-black creature to have it. It inspired the creation of Spirit Link, which in turn inspired many other cards.
  • Erg Raiders: "Erg" is translated from Arabic to mean "desert."
  • Erhnam Djinn has the greatest combined power and toughness among green creatures in Arabian Nights. "Erhnam" is an anagram of "Herman," Richard Garfield's brother-in-law.
  • Ghazban Ogre was the first card that changed control based on the state of the game. "Ghazban" is translated from Arabic to mean "treacherous."
  • Hasran Ogress is one of a few cards that refers to the gender of the creature in its name. Modern cards tend to have gender-neutral names. "Hasran" is translated from Arabic to mean "hideous."
  • Hurr Jackal: "Hurr" is translated form Arabic to mean "gulch."
  • Jeweled Bird is considered by some to be the first cantrip, as its activated ability has multiple effects, one of which is "Draw a card."
  • Junun Efreet: "Junun" is translated from Arabic to mean "nasty."
  • Juzam Djinn has the greatest combined power and toughness among black creatures in Arabian Nights. It was initially reguarded as a bad card, as players did not immediately understand why one would want to play a card that damages its controller. "Juzam" is translated from Arabic to mean "evil." It has since inspired the creation of multiple cost-effective cards, including Balduvian Horde, Yukora, the Prisoner and Plague Sliver.
  • Khabal Ghoul: "Khabal" is translated from Arabic to mean "night."
  • Kird Ape was banned in the Extended format when it was first created. "Kird" is translated from Arabic to mean "jungle."
  • Magnetic Mountain has the five common vowel letters (A, E, I, O, and U), in order, in its name.
  • Mijae Djinn shares the greatest combined power and toughness among red creatures in Arabian Nights with Ydwen Efreet. "Mijae" is an anagram of "Jamie," a friend of Richard Garfield's for whom he was the best man at his wedding to Wendy.
  • Nafs Asp: "Nafs" is translated from Arabic to mean "hidden."
  • Oubliette is the first card with Phasing, although it originally used the removed from the game zone. After the creation of the Phasing mechanic in the Mirage expansion, it was realized that Oubliette is actually using Phasing, since the affected creature retains all counters, Auras, and later Equipment on it. An oubliette is a dungeon with an entrance only from above. Richard Garfield designed this card in part because of the movie Labyrinth, which used the term and stuck with him when he later found the term in "1001 Nights."
  • Old Man of the Sea's creature type is Marid, which is an Arabic word meaning "rebel" and is related to the fact that in some versions of the "1001 Nights," this character is a djinn. It has inspired the creation of many creatures with a similar tap to gain control ability, including Coffin Queen.
  • Repentant Blacksmith is the first creature printed with protection from red, which was considered a powerful enough ability that the card was made uncommon.
  • Ring of Ma'ruf is the first card to allow interaction with the removed from the game zone. Its ability to retrieve a card from outside the game was unique until it inspired the creation of the cycle of Wishes in the Judgment expansion.
  • Rukh Egg was reprinted in 8th Edition, nearly ten years after its original printing, but was almost not included in the set because of its complexity for beginners. It received errata early on to put a Rukh token into play only when it goes to the graveyard from play, not from anywhere as printed. The egg in the Arabian Nights art appears in the artwork of Dwarven Shrine. A "rukh" is also called a "roc."
  • Sandals of Abdallah inspired the creation of Lightning Greaves, as footwear was discovered to be a class of armor and weapons that had not been explored much in Magic when equipment was first being created.
  • Serendib Djinn and Serendib Efreet: Serendib is another name for the island Ceylon (now known as Sri Lanka), which has significance in both the Bible and "The Sixth Voyage of Sindbad." The English word "serendipity" was derived from the name Serendib.
  • Stone-Throwing Devils upset some people, as "stone-throwing devils" is sometimes used as a derogatory term for Palestinian protesters in Israel.
  • Wyluli Wolf: "Wyluli" is an anagram of "Lily Wu," the maiden name of Richard Garfield's wife.
  • Ydwen Efreet shares the greatest combined power and toughness among red creatures in Arabian Nights with Mijae Djinn. "Ydwen" is an anagram of "Wendy," the wife of Richard Garfield's friend Jamie for whom he was best man at his wedding.

Literary allusions

This section describes the Arabian Nights tales that influenced the cards of the set. Note that not all cards are influenced by tales of the 1001 Arabian Nights.

Ebony Horse: Created by a Persian magician, a horse made of ebony and silver allowed its rider to fly and at incredible speeds.

Island Fish Jasconius: On one of Sinbad's voyages, he lands on a gigantic fish that appeared to be an island. When the fish dove, it left Sinbad adrift in the sea.

Old Man of the Sea: From one of Sinbad's voyages, the Old Man of the Sea attached himself to Sinbad's back and made Sinbad his slave.

Ring of Ma'rûf: Ma'rûf is a poor Egyptian cobbler who finds a ring that allowed him to summon a wish granting djinn. He uses it to obtain incredible wealth and status.

Rukh Egg: Sinbad's crew finds a giant egg and wishes to make what's inside a meal. But the parent rukh attacks Sinbad's crew as a result.

Singing Tree: From the story "The Sisters Who Envied", the singing tree is one of three rarities that was sought after by princess Perie-zadeh. The many leaves of the tree sang in harmony as if they were in concert.

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