Arabian Nights
Arabian Nights is the first Magic expansion and was released in 1993.
Setting and Storylines
The storyline of Arabian Nights was unique in Magic (Up to the release of Portal: Three Kingdoms) in being the only set to be based on a real-world setting instead of a setting on one of the planes in the Magic Multiverse. Inspired by the comic Sandman #50, titled Ramadan, and based on The Book of One Thousand and One Nights, Richard Garfield created the set with not only a Arabian setting, but also added many characters, locations and events that came directly from the novel.
As a result of the real-world references and stark difference from the world of Dominia, Arabian Nights was set on the plane of Rabiah, which once had been ruled by Djinni. After the Djinni had weakened themselves in the Spirit War known as the Jihad, humans became the main race of Rabiah. Characters like Aladdin, Ali Baba and King Suleiman had lived long ago. After that the plane was somehow copied a thousand times (to keep the 1001 Nights parallel going).
Several stories have been released that took place on Rabiah. Foremost there is the story of the planeswalker Taysir, which was chronicled in a comic released by ARMADA. There where also two short stories. One dealt with the history of the City of Brass, the Brass Men and the planeswalker Fatima, the other told about Serendib Efreets, Bird Maidens and Flying Men.
Cycles
Arabian Nights has no true cycles. There are four Efreet and four Djinn cards, however, with one for each color except white. According to Richard Garfield, efreet and djinni "did not seem to belong in white--while not always evil, they were never good."
Points of Interest
Arabian Nights is the first set to use an expansion symbol.
Arabian Nights is the first set to introduce lands that had abilities that don't produce mana. Some of these lands do also produce colorless mana (see Desert, Elephant Graveyard, and Library of Alexandria), while others do not (see Bazaar of Baghdad, Diamond Valley, Island of Wak-Wak, and Oasis).
Aladdin and Old Man of the Sea are the first cards that allowed tapping to gain "unmarked control" of another permanent.
Bottle of Suleiman, Mijae Djinn and Ydwen Efreet are the first cards to use the coin flipping mechanic. "Mijae" and "Ydwen" are anagrams of Jamie and Wendy, respectively. Richard Garfield was the best man at the wedding of Jamie and Wendy around the time of the creation of this set.
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 {10}) did not exist, so the casting cost was instead represented as {5}{5}.
Ali from Cairo was the first creature card added to the restricted list. It was added in January of 1994 and removed in April of 1996.
Brass Man inspired the creation of Goblin Dirigible and Goblin War Wagon from the Mirrodin expansion.
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 in the Antiquities expansion and Apocalypse Chime in the Homelands expansion.
City of Brass is the non-basic land that has been reprinted the most.
Cuombajj Witches: "Cuombajj" is translated from Arabic to mean "corrupt."
Cyclone is the first card with true Cumulative Upkeep, although it does 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). 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.
Dancing Scimitar inspired the creation of Ensouled Scimitar from the Fifth Dawn expansion.
Desert is the first common non-basic land.
Desert Nomads is the first card to have a non-basic landwalk ability.
Ebony Horse is the first card to have the ability to remove a creature from combat.
El-Hajjaj was the first creature with this abilty, and also the only mono-black creature to have it. It inspired the creation of Spirit Link in the Legends expansion, which in turn inspired many other cards.
Erg Raiders: "Erg" is translated from Arabic to mean "desert."
Erhnam Djinn: "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: "Hasran" is translated from Arabic to mean "hideous."
Hurr Jackal: "Hurr" is translated form Arabic to mean "gulch."
Ifh-Biff Efreet is the first card to allow players other than its controller to use its activated ability. This mechanic was later expanded upon in the Prophecy expansion. "Ifh-Biff" is a childhood nickname for Richard Garfield's sister, Elizabeth, and was originally questioned by editor Beverly Marshall Sailing for not having an Arabian feel.
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: "Juzam" is translated from Arabic to mean "evil."
Khabal Ghoul: "Khabal" is translated from Arabic to mean "night."
Kird Ape: "Kird" is translated from Arabic to mean "jungle."
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."
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: A "rukh" is also called a "roc."
Serendib Djinn and Serendib Efreet: Serendib is another name for the island Ceylon, which has significance in both the Bible and "The Sixth Voyage of Sindbad."
Stone-Throwing Devils upset some people, as "stone-throwing devils" is sometimes used as a derogatory term for Palestinian protesters in Israel.
Unstable Mutation is the first card to use -1/-1 counters.
Wyluli Wolf: "Wyluli" is an anagram of "Lily Wu," the maiden name of Richard Garfield's wife.
Outside links
- Richard Garfield's article on the making of Arabian Nights
- Skaff Elias' article on development of Arabian Nights
- Mark Rosewater's article on Arabian Nights
- Mike Ryan's article on card names in Arabian Nights
- Some scans from the Arabian Nights comic
- “The City of Brass”, a story about the creation of the City of Brass
- “The Eater of the Infinite”, a story about a Serendib Efreet