Ravnica: City of Guilds

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For other uses, see Ravnica (disambiguation).
Ravnica: City of Guilds
[[File:{{#setmainimage:RAV logo.jpg}}|250px]]
Set Information
Set symbol
Symbol description A tower
Design Mark Rosewater (lead),
Mike Elliott,
Aaron Forsythe,
Tyler Bielman,
Richard Garfield
Development Brian Schneider (lead)[1],
Randy Buehler,
Henry Stern,
Matt Place,
Mark Gottlieb,
Aaron Forsythe
Art direction Jeremy Cranford
Release date October 7, 2005
Plane Ravnica
Themes and mechanics Enchantments,
Guilds,
Hybrid mana
Keywords/​ability words Convoke,
Dredge,
Radiance,
Transmute
Set size 306
(20 basic lands, 110 commons, 88 uncommons, 88 rares)
Expansion code RAV[3]
Development codename Control [4]
Ravnica block
[[Ravnica: City of Guilds]] [[Guildpact]] [[Dissension]]
Magic: The Gathering Chronology
[[Salvat 2005]] Ravnica: City of Guilds [[Guildpact]]

Ravnica: City of Guilds, shortened as Ravnica (pronounced /RAV'-ni-kah/, /rav-nik -uh/, or /RAV-nih-kuh/)[5], is the first set in the Ravnica block. It is the 36th Magic: The Gathering expansion and was released on October 7, 2005. The prerelease was September 24–25, 2005.[6]

Set details

Ravnica: City of Guilds contained 306 black-bordered cards (88 rare, 88 uncommon, 110 common, and 20 basic lands[7]). "Ravnica" is a multicolor oriented set.[8] The design is based around four two-color pairs, including cards in which those pairs of colors work in concert.[9][10] All the multicolor cards in the set Ravnica block are associated with one of the four guilds. The appearance of a guild symbol in the background of a card's text box identifies that card's guild affiliation.[11] The guild symbols have no effect on game play. Ravnica: City of Guilds also introduced the hybrid mana system used throughout the Ravnica block. The expansion symbol of the set is a tower, which stands for the overdeveloped cityscape of the plane of Ravnica.[12]

"Ravnica" (ravnìca; равнѝца) is a Serbo-Croatian word for "plain".[13][14] The influence of Eastern Europe is not only reflected in this etymology of the expansion name but throughout the flavor of the set.[15]

The expansion set was well-received, particularly because of its innovative "guild model",[16] and won the 2005 Origin Awards for Best Collectible Card Game or Expansion.[17]

Marketing

Ravnica: City of Guilds was sold in 75-card tournament decks, 15-card boosters, four preconstructed theme decks and a fat pack[18]. All products except the boosters contained a random Pro Tour Players Card. The booster packs featured artwork from Savra, Queen of the Golgari, Moroii, Loxodon Hierarch, Helldozer and Circu, Dimir Lobotomist The prerelease was held on September 24–25, 2005[19]; the prerelease card was a foil alternate art Gleancrawler. The release card a Dimir Guildmage.[20] The name of the set was changed from Ravnica to Ravnica: City of Guilds at a late stage to convey that the guilds were central to the design.[21] It was accompanied by the novel of the same name by Cory J. Herndon.

Flavor and storyline

Main article: Ravnica, City of Guilds (novel)

Following in the tradition of recent previous Magic blocks, Ravnica takes place in a plane of the multiverse that was previously unexplored in the game's backstory. The world of Ravnica is an ecumenopolis, a vast city that covers the entire surface of its planet[22][23][24], and is home to a diverse assortment of sentient races.[25][26] For ten thousand years, there has been a power struggle between the ten Ravnican guilds, political factions that each represent a combination of two of Magic's five colors.[27] Ten millennia ago, the Guildpact was signed by the paruns, ending active warfare between them and ushering in an era of peace. But now, on the eve of the celebrations of the accord's ten thousandth anniversary, a sinister force threatens the survival of that peace.

Themes and mechanics

Ravnica introduced hybrid cards with entirely new mana symbols ("Guild mana").[28] Each symbol is a circle halved diagonally, in which the top left half is one color and the bottom right half another. A smaller version of the color's icon (sun for white, skull for black, etc.) appears in the corresponding half. These mana symbols mean that mana of either color may be used to pay it. The cards with these mana symbols have a colored border that fades from left to right, out of one color and into the other.

Ravnica also introduced a heavy "auras matter" theme, being the second block (after Urza's Saga) to place any sort of mechanical focus on the enchantment subtype. Although there are no mechanics directly related to auras, cards like Gatherer of Graces, Bramble Elemental, and the Magemark cycle definitely encouraged the use of the local enchantments.

Ravnica: City of Guilds introduced four of the ten Ravnica block bicolored guilds, each of which with its own keyword or ability word.

Guild Colors Guild symbol Legendary guild members Keyword or ability word Notes
Boros Legion {R/W}
Ravnica block Boros Legion crest
Ravnica block Boros Legion crest
 Razia, Boros Archangel
Agrus Kos, Wojek Veteran 		Radiance Radiance is an ability word that appears on spells and abilities that affect every creature that shares a color with the target creature. When played on multicolored cards, the effect spreads to all that card's colors.[29]
House Dimir {U/B}
Ravnica block House Dimir crest
Ravnica block House Dimir crest
 Szadek, Lord of Secrets
Circu, Dimir Lobotomist 		Transmute A player may pay a certain amount of mana and discard a card with Transmute from his or her hand. Doing this allows the player to find a card with the same converted mana cost from that player's library and put it into his or her hand.[30][31]
Golgari Swarm {B/G}
Ravnica block Golgari Swarm crest
Ravnica block Golgari Swarm crest
 Sisters of Stone Death
Savra, Queen of the Golgari 		Dredge Cards with dredge may be returned from the graveyard to their owner's hand, provided that player opts to skip drawing a card and instead puts a number of cards from the top of his or her library into the graveyard.[32]
Selesnya Conclave {G/W}
Ravnica block Selesnya Conclave crest
Ravnica block Selesnya Conclave crest
 Chorus of the Conclave
Tolsimir Wolfblood 		Convoke A player playing a spell with Convoke may tap some of his or her creatures to pay part or all of the mana cost. Each creature tapped reduces the cost by one mana of that creature's color, or by one colorless mana.[33]

Creature types

The creature types Archon and Lammasu were introduced in Ravnica: City of Guilds.

Cycles

For cycles that are part of the guild mega cycles, see Ravnica block#Mega cycles.

Ravnica has two cycles:

Reprinted cards

Functional reprint

Colorshifted

Strictly better

Notable cards

Preconstructed decks

Main article: Ravnica: City of Guilds/Theme decks

The preconstructed theme decks are:

Theme
deck name 		Colors Included
{W} {U} {B} {R} {G}
Charge of the Boros W R
Dimir Intrigues U B
Golgari Deathcreep B G
Selesnya United W G

References

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  13. ↑ "ravnica" — Wiktionary
  14. ↑ "ravnica" — EUdict
  15. ↑ John Dale Beety. (August 8, 2012.) "Return to Ravnica (for Those Who've Never Been)", StarCityGames.com.
  16. ↑ Template:NewRef
  17. ↑ Allan Sugarbaker. (July 1, 2006.) "2005 Origins Award winners announced", OgreCave.com.
  18. ↑ Template:NewRef
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External links

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Related games
Ravnica storyline
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