Planechase 2012

Planechase 2012
Set Information
Set symbol
Themes and mechanics	Plane cards, Phenomenons
Keywords/ability words	Cascade, Devour, Ninjutsu, Totem armor
Set size	156+40 plane cards (four 60+10-card theme decks)
Expansion code	PC2

Planechase 2012, officially styled as Planechase (2012 Edition), is a set of four "game packs", each consisting of ten oversized plane cards, a 60-card deck, a six-sided planar die and a strategy insert with multiplayer rules. ^[3] ^[4] It was released in June, 2012.

Details

Planechase 2012 is built on the same Planar Magic variant format as its predecessor Planechase (2009). ^[5] Each player has, in addition to his or her deck, an additional randomized deck consisting of at least ten oversized plane cards, his or her Planar deck. At any given moment, one of the plane cards of one players' Planar decks is face-up and its effect is active.

Any player can roll a planar die during his or her turn whenever he could play a sorcery, and re-roll as many times as he wants with each roll costing more than the previous one. If the die shows the planeswalker symbol (), the current active plane is put on the bottom of its owners deck, and the player who rolled the die reveals the top card of his deck as the new plane. If the chaos symbol () is rolled, a specific effect on the currently revealed plane is triggered.

Planechase 2012 introduced a new card type, Phenomenon. Phenomena are similar to plane cards and are also put into the Planar deck, but represent one-time effects. When a Phenomenon is revealed, its effect is triggered, and then the player planeswalks to the next plane. ^[6]

Like the Commander (2011) decks, Planechase 2012 introduced new, eternal format legal cards to the game. There were a total of 21 new cards between the four decks. Each deck had six new cards, with one card appearing in every deck. Three cards reprinted in the set featured new artwork. They are Armored Griffin, Concentrate, and Dark Hatchling.

When Planechase 2012 came out, there were release events. These features a special promo card that was not included in any of the four decks: Stairs to Infinity. ^[7]

Theme decks

Each of the four theme decks revisits a keyword.^[8]^[9]

Chaos Reigns features Cascade. As such, it embraces randomness and chaos, burying its opponents under the weight of multiple spells and creature-entry effects in a turn.
Night of the Ninja features Ninjutsu. To support that theme, it contains small evasive creatures that can get through your opponents' defenses and get upgraded to Ninja-hood. It also has some card-drawing and control elements.
Primordial Hunger features Devour. The deck is filled with creatures that love to die, often giving you replacement creatures in the process. Tokens abound.
Savage Auras features Totem armor. Enchantments and enchantment-supporting spells are en masse, alongside creatures that thrive under the effects of Auras.