Prophecy
- For other uses, see Prophecy (disambiguation).
Prophecy | |
---|---|
Set Information | |
Set symbol | |
Themes and mechanics |
Alternate casting costs, Avatars, Land sacrifice, Mercenaries and Rebels, Rhystic magic,[1] Spellshapers, Tapped or untapped lands |
Set size |
143 cards (55 commons, 44 uncommons, 44 rares) |
Expansion code | PCY |
Development codename | Dionysius |
Prophecy is the third set in the Masques block. It is the 20th Magic expansion and was released on June 5, 2000.
Set details
Prophecy was the third expansion, and second small expansion, in the Masques block; its themes and mechanics, however, were not a natural progression from those established in Mercadian Masques and Nemesis, leading to Magic Head Designer Mark Rosewater to state that, in his opinion, Prophecy felt disjointed from the rest of its block and that it is the second-worst designed set in Magic history,[2] comparable to Homelands.
Although contributing a few potent cards such as Avatar of Woe, Chimeric Idol, Foil, Mageta the Lion, and Spiketail Hatchling, Prophecy had an insubstantial impact on competitive Magic play and even had a paucity of playable cards in Limited.
Prophecy is noted for introducing two of the first creature subtype hosers in Magic; Brutal Suppression and Root Cage, which deal with Rebels and Mercenaries, respectively.
Flavor and storyline
Prophecy, like preceding expansions Mercadian Masques and Nemesis, is set in the city of Mercadia City and its surroundings, on the plane of Mercadia.
Resembles anc. Gk. wars. Reflected in code name too.
Marketing
Themes and mechanics
Like Mercadian Masques, Prophecy had no new keywords. It did, however, introduce several new themes:
- Anti-rebel — cards like Brutal Suppression and Rebel Informer. (see notable cards)
- Rhystic magic — Discounted spells and abilities that work properly unless a specified player pays a set amount of mana.
- A land theme, with several permanents having abilities involving sacrificing lands and several cards that gained bonuses when all of their controller's lands were tapped.
Creature types
No novel creature types were introduced in this expansion.
The following creature types that are not new to Magic are used in this expansion:
- Angel
- Avatar
- Beast
- Berserker (retroactively)
- Bird
- Boar
- Cat
- Cleric
- Drake
- Druid
- Efreet
- Elemental
- Elephant
- Frog (retroactively)
- Golem
- Griffin
- Homunculus (retroactively)
- Horror (retroactively)
- Human (retroactively)
- Illusion
- Insect
- Juggernaut (retroactively)
- Mercenary
- Minotaur
- Nightstalker
- Rebel
- Serpent
- Shade
- Snake
- Soldier
- Spellshaper
- Spider
- Squid (retroactively)
- Turtle
- Wall
- Warrior (retroactively)
- Worm (retroactively)
- Wurm
- Zombie
The creature types Ghost and Ship were used in this expansion at the time of printing but were later changed to Spirit and Human, respectively.
Cycles
Prophecy features six cycles.[3]
Cycle name | Description and notes | White card(s) | Blue card(s) | Black card(s) | Red card(s) | Green card(s) |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Avatars | Each of these rare Avatar creatures cost CC and, at least, have a static ability that reduces its cost by if certain conditions are met and a static combat or evasion ability.
|
Avatar of Hope | Avatar of Will | Avatar of Woe | Avatar of Fury | Avatar of Might |
Field Auras | Each of these uncommon Auras enchants a land, conferring it with an activated ability involving .
|
Flowering Field | Sunken Field | Noxious Field | Barbed Field | Verdant Field |
Flash Auras | Mageta's Boon | Alexi's Cloak | Greel's Caress | Latulla's Orders | Jolrael's Favor | |
Pitch spells | Each of these uncommon Instant or Sorcery spells has an alternate cost that includes discarding a basic land card of the type associated with its color.
|
Abolish | Foil | Outbreak | Flameshot | Snag |
Legendary Spellshapers | Each of these rare legendary Spellshaper creatures cost CC and have an activated ability costing two cards and an amount of mana for a potent effect.
|
Mageta the Lion | Alexi, Zephyr Mage | Greel, Mind Raker | Latulla, Keldon Overseer | Jolrael, Empress of Beasts |
Winds | Each of these rare Instant or Sorcery spells has a converted mana cost of 9 and a potent effect.
|
Blessed Wind | Denying Wind | Plague Wind | Searing Wind | Vitalizing Wind |
Vertical cycles
Cycle name | Description and notes | Common card(s) | Uncommon card(s) | Rare card(s) |
---|---|---|---|---|
Glittering Cats | Each of these white Cat creatures has a static ability that prevents all damage that would be dealt to the creature and an activated ability that can be activated by any player that removes, until end of turn, the above static ability.
|
Glittering Lynx | Glittering Lion | |
Spiketail Drakes | Each of these blue Drake creatures with flying have an activated ability costing the sacrifice of the creature to counter a targeted spell unless its controller pays an additional amount of mana.This vertical cycle is unusual in that there is no rare member, and the intermediate Spiketail Drakeling was revealed upon the release of Time Spiral.
|
Spiketail Hatchling | Spiketail Drake | |
Brawlers | Each of these red Soldier creatures has two static abilities, one of which prevents the creature from attacking if the defending player has an untapped land and another which prevents the creature from blocking if you control an untapped land.
|
Branded Brawlers | Veteran Brawlers |
Pairs
Matched pairs
Prophecy has X matched pairs.
Mirrored pairs
Prophecy has one mirrored pairs.
- Mercenary Informer and Rebel Informer are both rare Human Mercenary Rebels/Human Rebel Mercenaries with a mana cost of C, a power/toughness combination summing to 3, a static ability preventing its being targeted by spells or abilities from sources of the other's color, and an activated ability costing or , respectively, to put a targeted nontoken Merecenary or Rebel on the bottom of its owner's library.
- Soul Charmer and Death Charmer are both common 2/2 Rebel and Mercenary creatures, respectively, each with a ability that triggers upon its dealing combat damage to a creature and has an effect unless that creature's controller pays .
Reprinted cards
Card | Introduced in | Featured in | Notes |
---|---|---|---|
CARD NAME | SET |
Preconstructed decks
Theme decks
Prophecy has four theme decks, of which three are bicolored and one is monocolored. Template:Theme decks
References
References
- ↑ New Feature in Prophecy: "Rhystic" Magic : Wizards of the Coast
- ↑ Mark Rosewater (April 29, 2013). "Third Time's a Charm". magicthegathering.com. Wizards of the Coast.
- ↑ Ben Bleiweiss (July 17, 2002). "Set of Five, Part 2". magicthegathering.com. Wizards of the Coast.