Magic 2015

Magic 2015

 

Changes

 

Clash pack

 

Deck Builder's Toolkit

 

Duels of the Planeswalkers

 

Intro packs

 

Sample decks

 

Magic 2015
[[File:{{#setmainimage:M15 logo.jpg}}|250px]]
Set Information
Set symbol
Symbol description	"M15"
Design	Aaron Forsythe (lead) Max McCall Shawn Main Mike Gills Jenna Helland
Development	Billy Moreno (lead) Shawn Main Adam Lee Tom LaPille Sam Stoddard
Art direction	Jeremy Jarvis
Release date	July 18, 2014
Plane	Shandalar
Keywords/​ability words	Convoke
Set size	269 cards (101 commons, 80 uncommons, 53 rares, 15 mythic rares, 20 basic lands) +15 sample deck cards (6 commons, 4 uncommons, 5 rares)
Expansion code	M15
Development codename	None
Core sets
[[Magic 2014]] '''Magic 2015''' [[Magic Origins]]
Magic: The Gathering Chronology
[[Vintage Masters]] Magic 2015 [[From the Vault: Annihilation]]

Magic: The Gathering 2015 Core Set, commonly referred to as Magic 2015 or M15 is the 16th Magic core set. It was released on July 18, 2014.

Set details

“

Hunt Bigger Game

”

Magic 2015 contains 269 cards (101 Commons, 80 Uncommons, 53 Rares, 15 Mythic Rares, 20 Basic Land). WotC changed the default from 60 uncommons to 80 uncommons for large sets as it makes limited play better. The default of large sets moving forward would be 269. An additional 15 cards appear in the sample decks. Magic 2015 is strongly integrated with its digital counterpart, Duels of the Planeswalkers. The set features a black / green version of the planeswalker Garruk and the "You Make The Card"-card Waste Not. The set also features a new card face with a special Magic font ("Beleren"), a holofoil stamp, revamped collector info and a decreased border size. The Magic logo for this set is colored black. The returning mechanic is convoke.

Magic 2015 introduced a templating change to cards that set a creature's power and toughness to a specific value. The term "base power and toughness" makes it clearer that other continuous effects that modify power and toughness, such as the ones created by Titanic Growth or a +1/+1 counter, apply after the creature's power and toughness are changed.

Magic Story

Title	Author	Release Date	Setting (plane)	Featuring
Beast	Tom LaPille	2014-06-18	Innistrad	Garruk
Nissa, Worldwaker	Kelly Digges	2014-06-25	Zendikar	Nissa Revane
Veil of Deceit	James Wyatt	2014-07-02	Shandalar	Liliana Vess, Kurkesh, Chain Veil
The Bard and the Biologist	Matt Knicl	2014-07-09	Shandalar	Jalira, Yisan, Sliver Hivelord
The Hunter Cannot Pity	Jennifer Clarke Wilkes	2014-07-16	Innistrad, Esper	Vronos, Avacyn, Garruk
Ajani's Vengeance	Tom LaPille	2014-07-23	Theros	Ajani
Comin' Through!	Kelly Digges	2014-07-30	Unknown plane	Hot Soup
Dreams of the Damned	Nik Davidson	2014-08-06	Zendikar	Ob Nixilis
The Lunarch's Journal	Colin Kawakami	2014-08-13	Innistrad	Dovid, Gryta, Avacyn
Monster	Ken Troop	2014-08-20	Shandalar	Garruk, Jace Beleren, 'Icy'

Designer credits

Multiple game world VIPs were invited to create cards for Magic 2015. Their credits appear below the usual flavor text, in smaller type.

Credited	Known for	Card
George Fan	Designer of Plants vs. Zombies	Genesis Hydra
Penny Arcade	Penny Arcade webcomic, creators of PAX	Avarice Amulet
Markus Persson	Creator of Minecraft, founder of Mojang	Aggressive Mining
Richard Garriot	Creator of the Ultima series	Shield of the Avatar
David Sirlin	Designer on Super Street Fighter II Turbo HD Remix, Yomi	Master of Predicaments
Rob Pardo	Chief Creative Officer at Blizzard, lead designer of World of Warcraft	Xathrid Slyblade
Isaiah Cartwright	Lead game designer for Guild Wars 2	Warden of the Beyond
Justin Gary	Designer of Ascension: Chronicle of the Godslayer and Solforge Winner of Pro Tour Houston 2002, National Team Championship in Worlds 2003	Spirit Bonds
Stone Librande	Lead designer of Diablo 3, creative director of SimCity	Goblin Kaboomist
Brian Fargo	Founder of Interplay Entertainment and InXile Entertainment	Yisan, the Wanderer Bard
Mike Neumann	Gearbox Software, creative director on Borderlands	Chasm Skulker
James Ernest	Owner and lead designer for Cheapass Games	Hot Soup
Edmund McMillen	Indie designer of Super Meat Boy, featured in Indie Game: The Movie	Cruel Sadist
Brad Muir	Game designer at Double Fine Productions, project lead on Iron Brigade	Ob Nixilis, Unshackled
The Magic community	Playing Magic	Waste Not

Marketing

Magic 2015 is sold in booster packs, Intro packs, a fat pack, the new clash pack (which is a 2-Player Starter Set) and the M15 Deck Builder's Toolkit. The boosters featured art work from Ajani Steadfast, Jace, the Living Guildpact, Nightfire Giant, Soul of Shandalar and Nissa, Worldwaker. The prerelease was July 12–13, 2014, the magic online release was on July 28, 2014 and the Game Day was August 9–10, 2014. The set was promoted at the website www.huntbiggergame.com

Prerelease

There are five prerelease packs, one for each color. Each comes with a seeded booster pack that corresponds with that color. When registering for the Prerelease tournament, each player chooses one. The seeded booster pack will assist players in building a deck by providing a starting point in their chosen color. Each seeded booster pack contains a premium promo card, which players may include in their tournament decks. Each prerelease pack comes with a oversized challenge card, Garruk the Slayer, which is a key component of Magic 2015's experience design (designed by Ethan Fleischer and Gavin Verhey). The prerelease pack further contains 5 regular booster packs, 1 activity insert, 1 Spindown life counter and 3 Wolf tokens. One player plays his or her Prerelease deck as normal. This player always goes first. The other player plays as Garruk. Garruk starts at 20 loyalty, and can activate one loyalty ability each turn. Garruk can be attacked and if his loyalty reaches 0, he loses. But if Garruk's horde of Wolves drops the player to 0, then Garruk wins. The oversized Garruk Planeswalker card can't be returned to its owner's hand or otherwise removed.

Promotional cards

• Prerelease: one of five according to the chosen color: Resolute Archangel, Mercurial Pretender, Indulgent Tormentor, Siege Dragon or Phytotitan
• Launch promo: In Garruk's Wake
• Game Day: full-art Reclamation Sage
• Game Day (Top 8): full-art Chief Engineer
• Buy-a-Box: Goblin Rabblemaster

Tokens/Emblems

"Token" now appears on the type line as a pseudo-supertype. Emblems have also received a type line, which includes the Planeswalker subtype.

1. 1/1 Sliver creature for Sliver Hive
2. 1/1 Soldier creature for First Response and Raise the Alarm
3. 1/1 Spirit creature with flying for Spirit Bonds and Triplicate Spirits
4. 1/1 Squid creature with islandwalk for Chasm Skulker and Coral Barrier
5. 3/3 Beast creature with deathtouch for Garruk, Apex Predator
6. 2/2 Zombie creature for Necromancer's Stockpile and Waste Not
7. 2/2 Dragon creature with flying and “: This creature gets +1/+0 until end of turn” for Brood Keeper
8. 1/1 Goblin creature for Goblin Rabblemaster
9. 3/3 Beast creature for Feral Incarnation and Soul of Zendikar
10. 1/1 Insect creature with flying and deathtouch for Hornet Nest and Hornet Queen
11. */* Treefolk Warrior creature with “This creature's power and toughness are each equal to the number of Forests you control” for Kalonian Twingrove
12. Artifact named Land Mine with “, Sacrifice this artifact: This artifact deals 2 damage to target attacking creature without flying” for Goblin Kaboomist
13. Emblem for Ajani Steadfast
14. Emblem for Garruk, Apex Predator

Sample decks

The Magic 2015 Core Set comes with five thirty-card sample decks. Each sample deck has several cards numbered 270 and higher that do not appear in Magic 2015 booster packs. They include classics like Serra Angel, Sengir Vampire and Mahamoti Djinn. These 15 cards are legal for tournament play in any format that includes the Magic 2015 core set. The Deck Builder's Toolkit 2015 contains a single copy of card numbers 270 and 272–284, and two copies of card number 271 Divine Verdict.

Cycles

Magic 2015 has ten cycles:

Cycle name
Planeswalkers	Ajani Steadfast	Jace, the Living Guildpact	Liliana Vess	Chandra, Pyromaster	Nissa, Worldwaker
	Six mythic rare Planeswalkers including Garruk, Apex Predator.
Plane souls	Soul of Theros	Soul of Ravnica	Soul of Innistrad	Soul of Shandalar	Soul of Zendikar
	Six mythic rare 6/6 Avatar cards including Soul of New Phyrexia.
Legendaries	Avacyn, Guardian Angel	Jalira, Master Polymorphist	Ob Nixilis, Unshackled	Kurkesh, Onakke Ancient	Yisan, the Wanderer Bard
	Five rare legendary creatures
Paragons	Paragon of New Dawns	Paragon of Gathering Mists	Paragon of Open Graves	Paragon of Fierce Defiance	Paragon of Eternal Wilds
	Five uncommon 2/2 color Lords.
Slivers	Constricting Sliver	Diffusion Sliver	Leeching Sliver	Belligerent Sliver	Venom Sliver
	Five uncommon slivers.
Sedge creatures	Dauntless River Marshal	Jorubai Murk Lurker	Nightfire Giant	Kird Chieftain	Sunblade Elf
	Five uncommon creatures that get +1/+1 if you control a basic land of the appropriate allied color and can gain an ability for a payment in that allied color. This cycle uses the other allied color than the cycle from Magic 2013. All activated abilities are targeted or affect all creatures you control.
Wizard Staves	Staff of the Sun Magus	Staff of the Mind Magus	Staff of the Death Magus	Staff of the Flame Magus	Staff of the Wild Magus
	Five uncommon artifacts that cost and have an ability that allows its controller to gain one life whenever a spell or land of the appropriate color is played. Reprinted from Magic 2014
Walls	Wall of Essence	Wall of Frost	Wall of Limbs	Wall of Fire	Wall of Mulch
	Five cross-rarity Walls with 0 power and an ability.
Same-color enhancers	Sanctified Charge	Statute of Denial	Festergloom	Foundry Street Denizen	Hunter's Ambush
	A loose cycle of five common cards that are more effective when played in conjunction with cards of the same color.
Cycle name
Enemy colored painlands	Caves of Koilos	Shivan Reef	Llanowar Wastes	Battlefield Forge	Yavimaya Coast
	Five rare dual lands with ": Add . : Add M or N. [This] deals 1 damage to you." Here, M and N are enemy colors of mana. Reprinted from 10th Edition

Card comparisons

Functional reprints

• Krenko's Enforcer is a near-functional reprint of Skirk Shaman from Planar Chaos, save for creature type.
• Shaman of Spring is a functional reprint of Striped Bears from Weatherlight, save for creature type.

Colorshifted

• Frost Lynx, blue colorshifted version of Kor Hookmaster

Strictly better

• Crowd's Favor is strictly better than Kindled Fury.
• Reclamation Sage is strictly better than Setessan Starbreaker.
• Sungrace Pegasus is strictly better than Armored Pegasus.

Strictly worse

• Carrion Crow is strictly worse than Screeching Bat.
• Festergloom is strictly worse than Loss (Profit//Loss).
• Marked by Honor is strictly worse than Vow of Duty.
• Nimbus of the Isles is strictly worse than Adarkar Windform, Air Servant, Battleground Geist, Cerulean Wyvern, Chasm Drake, Cloudheath Drake, Ethersworn Adjudicator, Faerie Invaders, Frostwind Invoker, Phantom Monster, Shinen of Flight's Wings, Spire Monitor, Vigilant Drake, and Voyager Drake.
• Statute of Denial is strictly worse than Dismiss.
• Tyrant's Machine is strictly worse than Crown of Empires and Trip Noose.

Notable cards

• Ensoul Artifact saw some tournament play thanks to its ability to give potentially a 5/5 beater at turn two.
• The Chain Veil is a flavorful artifact referencing to the Chain Veil that lets your planeswalkers play two loyalty abilities in a turn.
• Reclamation Sage: anti-artifact\enchantment creature used in sideboard in several formats.
• Goblin Rabblemaster: Saw tournament play and still sees play in some modern sideboard.

Preconstructed decks

Intro packs

The intro packs are:

Intro pack name	Colors Included					Foil rare
Price of Glory	W		B			Resolute Archangel
Hit the Ground Running		U			G	Mercurial Pretender
Infernal Intervention			B	R		Indulgent Tormentor
Flames of the Dragon		U		R		Siege Dragon
Will of the Masses	W				G	Phytotitan

Clash pack

Magic 2015 comes with a clash pack which contains two bicolored decks.

Clash pack deck name	Colors Included
Fate		U			G
Fury				R	G

External links

• Hunt Bigger Game, Magic 2015 trailer
• John Dale Beety (July 9, 2014). "Magic 2015 Core Set Flavor Thoughts". StarCityGames.