Tempest
- For other uses, see Tempest (disambiguation).
Tempest is the twelfth Magic expansion and was released in October 1997 as the first set in the Tempest block. The set continues the Weatherlight storyline on the stormy plane of Rath, where Gerrard and the heroes of the Weatherlight set out to find Volrath's stronghold.
Mechanics and themes
The block mechanics Buyback and Shadow were introduced in this set. All colors had creatures with shadow except green and red, though it has multiple methods of blocking creatures with shadow.
The abilities associated with Slivers, Licids, Spikes and Flowstone were introduced in this set. Every color had a sliver and licid. There was one green spike. Flowstones are red creatures.
Creature types
The following creature types are introduced in this expansion: Crab, Licid, Shapeshifter, Sliver, Spike.
The following creature types are used in this expansion but also appear in previous sets: Angel, Ape, Atog, Beast, Bird, Cat, Cleric, Dragon, Drake, Druid, Dryad, Elemental, Elephant, Elf, Faerie, Giant, Goblin, Hound, Illusion, Imp, Insect, Knight, Lizard, Merfolk, Minion, Ooze, Pegasus, Rat, Rhino, Salamander, Serpent, Skeleton, Soldier, Spider, Spirit, Treefolk, Thrull, Turtle, Vampire, Wall, Wizard, Wurm.
Cycles
Tempest has eleven cycles:
- Slow lands: Each of these uncommon dual lands can be tapped for
or one mana of two allied colors; if tapped for the latter, it doesn't untap during your next untap step — Thalakos Lowlands, Rootwater Depths, Cinder Marsh, Mogg Hollows, and Vec Townships. - Circles of protection: Each of these common white enchantments has a mana cost of
and the ability to prevent the all damage from a source of a given color for — Circle of Protection: White, Circle of Protection: Blue, Circle of Protection: Black, Circle of Protection: Red, and Circle of Protection: Green. This cycle was reprinted from the Core Set. - Hoser double cycle: Each color has two uncommon cards that injuriously affect its enemy colors — Light of Day, Warmth, Chill, Insight, Perish, Dread of Night, Havoc, Boil, Choke, and Reap.
- Enemy-color tap-pain lands: Each of these rare lands comes into play tapped and can be tapped for or one mana of two enemy colors; if tapped for the latter, it deals 1 damage to you — Salt Flats, Caldera Lake, Pine Barrens, Scabland, and Skyshroud Forest.
- Gold allied-color spells: Each of these uncommon spells, one for each allied two-color combination, has a mana cost that includes both of its colors — Sky Spirit, Ranger en-Vec, Lobotomy, Spontaneous Combustion, and Segmented Wurm.
- Gold enemy-colored spells: Each of these rare spells, one for each enemy two-color combination, has a mana cost that includes both of its colors — Vhati il-Dal, Selenia, Dark Angel, Soltari Guerrillas, Dracoplasm, and Wood Sage.
- Licids: Each of these common 1/1 Licid creatures has a mana cost of C and the ability to turn itself into an aura enchantment attaching itself to a creature or back to its normal state — Quickening Licid, Stinging Licid, Leeching Licid, Enraging Licid, and Nurturing Licid.
- Medallions: Each of these rare artifacts has a mana cost of cost
and reduce the cost of spells of a given color by — Pearl Medallion, Sapphire Medallion, Jet Medallion, Ruby Medallion, and Emerald Medallion. - Uncommon slivers: Each of these uncommon 2/2 Sliver creatures costs C and has an ability that it grants to all Slivers, including itself — Armor Sliver, Mnemonic Sliver, Mindwhip Sliver, Barbed Sliver, and Horned Sliver.
- Common slivers: Each of these common 1/1 Sliver creatures costs C and has an ability that it grants to all Slivers, including itself — Talon Sliver, Winged Sliver, Clot Sliver, Heart Sliver and Muscle Sliver.
Theme decks
Tempest was the first set to be released with pre-constructed theme decks. The decks are:
Notable cards
- Cold Storage - As written, people wondered what this card actually did with "
: Put target creature you control on Cold Storage". With errata, it now reads ": Exile target creature you control." - Cursed Scroll - This is a powerful artifact, especially when you have 1 card in hand. This card is worth even more in the Japanese language version as its activation cost was misprinted as instead of .
- Earthcraft - This rare green enchantment pairs with Squirrel Nest from the Odyssey Expansion for a quick way to gain infinite creatures.
- Humility - A complicated enchantment with timing implications (what was played before it / after it) especially with Opalescence.
- Lotus Petal - This common artifact proved to be too powerful and was eventually banned from the Legacy and Extended Formats, and restricted in the Vintage format.
- Tradewind Rider - This blue creature is a commonly found in extended bounce decks.
- Wasteland - Though strictly worse than Strip Mine, it is not restricted or banned in the eternal formats, and thus has been enjoying a strong resurgence. Even though it was printed at uncommon, it is, as of 2011, the most expensive card in the set, topping $50 at most online retailers.
Reprinted cards
The following cards have been reprinted from previous sets and included in Tempest.
- Armored Pegasus — was last seen in Portal.
- Charging Rhino — was last seen in Portal.
- Circle of Protection: Black — was last seen in 5th Edition.
- Circle of Protection: Blue — was last seen in 5th Edition.
- Circle of Protection: Green — was last seen in 5th Edition.
- Circle of Protection: Red — was last seen in 5th Edition.
- Circle of Protection: White — was last seen in 5th Edition.
- Coercion — was last seen in Visions.
- Counterspell — was last seen in 5th Edition.
- Dark Banishing — was last seen in Mirage.
- Dark Ritual — was last seen in 5th Edition.
- Disenchant — was last seen in 5th Edition.
- Dream Cache — was last seen in Mirage.
- Enfeeblement — was last seen in Mirage.
- Gaseous Form — was last seen in 5th Edition.
- Giant Strength — was last seen in 5th Edition.
- Gravedigger — was last seen in Portal.
- Horned Turtle — was last seen in Portal.
- Natural Spring — was last seen in Portal.
- Needle Storm — was last seen in Portal.
- Pacifism — was last seen in Mirage.
- Power Sink — was last seen in 5th Edition.
- Rain of Tears — was last seen in Portal.
- Rampant Growth — was last seen in Mirage.
- Shatter — was last seen in 5th Edition.
- Spell Blast — was last seen in 5th Edition.
- Stone Rain — was last seen in Portal.
- Time Ebb — was last seen in Portal.
- Wind Drake — was last seen in Portal.
- Winter's Grasp — was last seen in Portal.
Functional reprints
Tempest has four functional reprints:
- Clergy En-vec is a functional reprint of Samite Healer from 5th Edition.
- Pit Imp is a functional reprint of Vampire Bats from 5th Edition, save for creature type.
- Rootwater Hunter is a functional reprint of Prodigal Sorcerer from 5th Edition and Zuran Spellcaster from Ice Age, save for creature type.
- Skyshroud Troll is a functional reprint of Gorilla Chieftain from Alliances, save for creature type.
- Staunch Defenders is a functional reprint of Spiritual Guardian from Portal, save for creature type.
Reckless Spite seems like a functional reprint of Wicked Pact from Portal but the Portal version is a sorcery as Portal had no instants. Reckless Spite is also similar to Ashes to Ashes from 5th Edition, but the former targets non-artifact cretaures and is a sorcery while the latter targets non-black creatures and is an instant.