Flavor text/Real-world quotations

Flavor text/Real-world quotations

 

Real-world quotations

 

Magic cards have used real-world quotations (from classics and modern literature, the bible, famous speeches and sayings) in flavor text since Alpha. They were considered to have an immediate impact and built-in sense of history that in-setting flavor text also strived for, yet would take on subtly novel shades of meaning when presented on a Magic card. Later, R&D stopped doing them in order to devote more space to their own created worlds, characters and stories. For copyright reasons, the quotations were preferably in the public domain, from a source at least 100 years old.

The Dark was the last expansion set to feature real-world quotations. According to Mark Rosewater, a compromise was reached that the basic set would have literary quotes and the expert expansions wouldn't, in order to showcase their own worlds. He argued that real-world literature would take players out of the world of dueling wizards and according to some, would make them feel like they're in school. Rosewater also stated that they wanted Magic to be fun, not "edutainment." Since then, literary quotes were relegated to starter-level set, core sets, promotional cards and From the Vault. They were eventually slowly phased out, making their last appearance in Magic 2014. However, they were revisited in 2020 on a card from the Secret Lair Happy Little Gathering Drop featuring Bob Ross's artwork and one of his characteristic quotes. In 2022, Artist Series: Nils Hamm followed up with four classical quotes.

According to research on this topic by Wizards of the Coast, the majority of people enjoy in world Magic flavor text over real world quotes.

Card list

Year	First appearance	Card	Quote	Author	Source	Type
1993	Limited Edition	Dragon Whelp	O to be a dragon … of silkworm size or immense …	Marianne Moore	O to Be a Dragon	Poem (1959)
1993	Limited Edition	Firebreathing	And topples round the dreary west A looming bastion fringed with fire.	Alfred, Lord Tennyson	In Memoriam	Poem (1849)
1993	Limited Edition	Frozen Shade	There are some qualities—some incorporate things, That have a double life, which thus is made A type of twin entity which springs From matter and light, evinced in solid and shade.	Edgar Allan Poe	Silence	Poem (1839)
1993	Limited Edition	Hypnotic Specter	…There was no trace Of aught on that illumined face….	Samuel Coleridge	Phantom	Poem (1805)
1993	Limited Edition	Pearled Unicorn	‘Do you know, I always thought Unicorns were fabulous monsters, too? I never saw one alive before!’ ‘Well, now that we have seen each other,’ said the Unicorn, ‘if you’ll believe in me, I’ll believe in you.’	Lewis Carroll	Through the Looking-Glass	Novel (1871)
1993	Limited Edition	Phantom Monster	While, like a ghastly rapid river, Through the pale door, A hideous throng rush out forever, And laugh—but smile no more.	Edgar Allan Poe	The Haunted Palace	Poem (1839)
1993	Limited Edition	Plague Rats	Should you a Rat to madness tease Why ev'n a Rat may plague you…	Samuel Coleridge	Recantation	Poem (1798)
1993	Limited Edition	Scathe Zombies	They groaned, they stirred, they all uprose, Nor spake, nor moved their eyes; It had been strange, even in a dream, To have seen those dead men rise.	Samuel Coleridge	The Rime of the Ancient Mariner	Poem (1798)
1993	Limited Edition	Wall of Brambles	What else, when chaos draws all forces inward to shape a single leaf.	Conrad Aiken	The Room	Poem (1930)
1993	Limited Edition	Wall of Ice	And through the drifts the snowy cliffs Did send a dismal sheen: Nor shapes of men nor beasts we ken— The ice was all between.	Samuel Coleridge	The Rime of the Ancient Mariner	Poem (1798)
1993	Limited Edition	Will-o'-the-Wisp	About, about in reel and rout The death-fires danced at night; The water, like a witch’s oils, Burnt green, and blue and white.	Samuel Coleridge	The Rime of the Ancient Mariner	Poem (1798)
1993	Unlimitierte Auflage	Demonic Tutor (German FWB)	Das also war des Pudels Kern! Ein fahrender Skolast? Der Kassus macht mich lachen! (So that is then the essence of the brute? A travelling scholar? Time to laugh yet!)	J.W. Goethe	Faust	Tragedy (1808)
1993	Tirage Non Limité	Royal Assassin (French FWB)	Prince amiable, dis-nous si quelque ange au berceau Contre des assassins prit soin de te défendre (...) (Say, did an angel at thy cradle side, beloved prince! Against thy murderers defend thee with his care?)	Racine	Athalie	Tragedy (1691)
1993	Arabian Nights	Aladdin's Ring	After these words the magician drew a ring off his finger, and put it on one of Aladdin’s, saying: ‘It is a talisman against all evil, so long as you obey me.’		The Arabian Nights	Folk tale (9th century)
1993	Arabian Nights	Ali Baba	When he reached the entrance of the cavern, he pronounced the words, ‘Open, Sesame!’		The Arabian Nights	Folk tale (9th century)
1993	Arabian Nights	Bird Maiden	Four things that never meet do here unite To shed my blood and to ravage my heart, A radiant brow and tresses that beguile And rosy cheeks and a glittering smile.		The Arabian Nights	Folk tale (9th century)
1993	Arabian Nights	Juzám Djinn	Expect my visit when the darkness comes. The night I think is best for hiding all.	Ouallada	Darkness	Poem (11th century)
1993	Arabian Nights	King Suleiman	We made tempestuous winds obedient to Solomon And many of the devils We also made obedient to him.		The Qur'an, 21:81	Religious text (7th century)
1993	Arabian Nights	Piety	Whoever obeys God and His Prophet, fears God and does his duty to Him, will surely find success.		The Qur'an, 24:52	Religious text (7th century)
1993	Arabian Nights	Repentant Blacksmith	For my confession they burned me with fire And found that I was for endurance made.		The Arabian Nights	Folk tale (9th century)
1994	Revised	Serendib Efreet (French FWB)	J'appris de la sorte 'que l'île de Serendib avait quatre-vingts parasanges de longueur et quatre-vingts de largeur; qu'elle avait une montagne, qui était la plus haute de la terre. (I learned this way that the island of Serendib is eighty parasangs in length, and as many in breadth; that it had a mountain, which was the highest in the world.)		The Arabian Nights	Folk tale (9th century)
1994	Antiquities	Shapeshifter	Born like a Phoenix from the Flame, But neither Bulk nor Shape the same.	Jonathan Swift	Vanbrug's House	Poem (1708)
1994	Legends	Boomerang	O! call back yesterday, bid time return.	William Shakespeare	King Richard the Second	History play (1595)
1994	Legends	Cosmic Horror	Then flashed the living lightning from her eyes, And screams of horror rend th’ affrighted skies.	Alexander Pope	The Rape of the Lock	Poem (1702)
1994	Legends	Darkness	If I must die, I will encounter darkness as a bride, And hug it in my arms.	William Shakespeare	Measure for Measure	Comedy (1603)
1994	Legends	Devouring Deep	Full fathom five thy father lies; Of his bones are coral made; Those are pearls that were his eyes; Nothing of him that doth fade, But doth suffer a sea-change Into something rich and strange.	William Shakespeare	The Tempest	Comedy (1610)
1994	Legends	Dream Coat	Adopt the character of the twisting octopus, which takes on the appearance of the nearby rock. Now follow in this direction, now turn a different hue.	Theognis	Elegies 1, 215	Poem (6th century BC)
1994	Legends	Durkwood Boars	And the unclean spirits went out, and entered the swine: and the herd ran violently … .		The Bible, Mark 5:13	Religious text (1st century)
1994	Legends	Emerald Dragonfly	Flittering, wheeling, darting in to strike, and then gone just as you blink.		Dragonfly Haiku	Poem
1994	Legends	Firestorm Phoenix	The bird of wonder dies, the maiden phoenix, Her ashes new-create another heir As great in admiration as herself.	William Shakespeare	King Richard the Eighth	History play (1613)
1994	Legends	Gaseous Form	… [A]nd gives to airy nothing A local habitation and a name.	William Shakespeare	A Midsummer Night's Dream	Comedy (1600)
1994	Legends	Giant Strength	O! it is excellent To have a giant’s strength, but it is tyrannous To use it like a giant.	William Shakespeare	Measure for Measure	Comedy (1603)
1994	Legends	Giant Turtle	The turtle lives ‘twixt plated decks Which practically conceal its sex. I think it clever of the turtle In such a fix to be so fertile.	Ogden Nash	The Turtle	Poem (1945)
1994	Legends	Greed	There is no calamity greater than lavish desires. There is no greater guilt than discontentment. And there is no greater disaster than greed.	Lao Tzu	Tao Té Ching 46	Philosophical text (6th century BC)
1994	Legends	Hammerheim	Tis distance lends enchantment to the view, And robes the mountain in its azure hue.	Thomas Campbell	The Pleasures of Hope	Poem (1799)
1994	Legends	Headless Horseman	… The ghost rides forth to the scene of battle in nightly quest of his head … he sometimes passes along the Hollow, like a midnight blast …	Washington Irving	The Legend of Sleepy Hollow	Short story (1820)
1994	Legends	Hellfire	High on a throne of royal state … insatiate to pursue vain war with heav'n.	John Milton	Paradise Lost	Poem (1667)
1994	Legends	Holy Day	The day of spirits; my soul’s calm retreat Which none disturb!	Henry Vaughan	Silex Scintillans: The Night	Poem (1650)
1994	Legends	Hornet Cobra	Then inch by inch out of the grass rose up the head and spread hood of Nag, the big black cobra, and he was five feet long from tongue to tail.	Rudyard Kipling	The Jungle Books (Rikki-Tikki-Tavi)	Short story (1894)
1994	Legends	Horror of Horrors	And a horror of outer darkness after, And dust returneth to dust again.	Adam Lindsay Gordon	The Swimmer	Poem (1870)
1994	Legends	Hyperion Blacksmith	The smith a mighty man is he With large and sinewy hands. And the muscles of his brawny arms Are strong as iron bands.	Henry Wadsworth Longfellow	The Village Blacksmith	Poem (1840)
1994	Legends	Karakas	To make a prairie it takes a clover and one bee, One clover, and a bee, And revery.	Emily Dickinson	To make a prairie	Poem (1755)
1994	Legends	Part Water	… and the waters were a wall unto them on their right hand, and on their left.		The Bible, Exodus 14:22	Religious text (6th century BC)
1994	Legends	Pendelhaven	This is the forest primeval. The murmuring pines and the hemlocks … Stand like Druids of old.	Henry Wadsworth Longfellow	Evangeline	Poem (1847)
1994	Legends	Pyrotechnics	Hi! ni! ya! Behold the man of flint, that’s me! Four lightnings zigzag from me, strike and return.		Navajo war chant	Chant (traditional)
1994	Legends	Revelation	Many are in high place, and of renown: but mysteries are revealed unto the meek.		The Bible, Ecclesiastics 3:19	Religious text (5th century BC)
1994	Legends	Rust	How dull it is to pause, to make an end, To rust unburnished, not to shine in use, As though to breathe were life!	Alfred, Lord Tennyson	Ulysses	Poem (1842)
1994	Legends	Segovian Leviathan	Leviathan, too! Can you catch him with a fish-hook or run a line round his tongue?		The Bible, Job 41:1	Religious text (6th century BC)
1994	Legends	Shimian Night Stalker	When churchyards yawn and hell itself breathes out Contagion to this world.	William Shakespeare	Hamlet	Tragedy (ca. 1600)
1994	Legends	Syphon Soul	Her lips suck forth; see, where it flies!	Christopher Marlowe	The Tragical History of Doctor Faustus	Tragedy (ca. 1590)
1994	Legends	The Abyss	An immense river of oblivion is sweeping us away into a nameless abyss.	Ernest Renan	Souvenirs d'Enfance et de Jeunesse	Autobiography (1883)
1994	Legends	The Brute	Union may be strength, but it is mere blind brute strength unless wisely directed.	Samuel Butler	The Note-Books of Samuel Butler	Note (1912)
1994	Legends	Thunder Spirit	It was full of fire and smoke and light and … it drove between us and the Efrafans like a thousand thunderstorms with lightning.	Richard Adams	Watership Down	Novel (1972)
1994	Legends	Tolaria	Fairest Isle, all isles excelling, Seat of pleasures, and of loves …	John Dryden	King Arthur	Opera (1691)
1994	Legends	Touch of Darkness	Black spirits and white, red spirits and gray, Mingle, mingle, mingle, you that mingle may.	Thomas Middleton	The Witch	Tragicomedy (1616)
1994	Legends	Transmutation	You know what I was, You see what I am: change me, change me!	Randall Jarrell	The Woman at the Washington Zoo	Poem (1960)
1994	Legends	Underworld Dreams	In the drowsy dark cave of the mind, dreams build their nest with fragments dropped from day’s caravan.	Rabindranath Tagore	Fireflies	Aphorism (1912)
1994	Legends	Urborg	Resignedly beneath the sky The melancholy waters lie. So blend the turrets and shadows there That all seem pendulous in air, While from a proud tower in town Death looks gigantically down.	Edgar Allan Poe	The City in the Sea	Poem (1845)
1994	Legends	Vampire Bats	For something is amiss or out of place When mice with wings can wear a human face.	Theodore Roethke	The Bat	Poem (1941)
1994	Legends	Visions	Visions of glory, spare my aching sight, Ye unborn ages, crowd not on my soul!	Thomas Gray	The Bard	Poem (1757)
1994	Legends	Winds of Change	Tis the set of sails, and not the gales, Which tells us the way to go.	Ella Wheeler Wilcox	The Winds of Fate	Poem (1916)
1994	Legends	Winter Blast	Blow, winds, and crack your cheeks! rage! blow!	William Shakespeare	King Lear	Tragedy (1606)
1994	Legends	Wolverine Pack	Give them great meals of beef and iron and steel, they will eat like wolves and fight like devils.	William Shakespeare	Henry V	History play (1599)
1994	The Dark	Fissure	Must not all things at the last be swallowed up in death?	Plato	Phaedo	Dialogue (4th century BC)
1994	The Dark	Squire	Of twenty yeer of age he was, I gesse. Of his stature he was of evene lengthe. And wonderly delyvere, and of greete strengthe.	Geoffrey Chaucer	The Canterbury Tales (General Prologue)	Short story (1400)
1997	Fifth Edition	Abyssal Specter	Mystic shadow, bending near me, Who art thou? Whence come ye?	Stephen Crane	Mystic shadow, bending near me	Poem (1905)
1997	Fifth Edition	Castle	… Our castle’s strength Will laugh a siege to scorn.	William Shakespeare	Macbeth	Tragedy (1606)
1997	Fifth Edition	Energy Flux	Nothing endures but change.	Heraclitus	On Nature	Philosophical text (5th century BC)
1997	Fifth Edition	Force Spike	Unknown spears Suddenly hurtle before my dream-awakened eyes … .	William Butler Yeats	The Valley Of The Black Pig	Poem (1896)
1997	Fifth Edition	Funeral March	Turn the key deftly in the oiled wards, And seal the hushed casket of my soul.	John Keats	To Sleep	Poem (1900)
1997	Fifth Edition	Hurricane	The raging winds …, settling on the sea, the surges sweep, Raise liquid mountains, and disclose the deep.	Virgil	Aeneid	Poem (1st century BC)
1997	Fifth Edition	Ivory Guardians	But who is to guard the guards themselves?	Juvenal	Satires	Poem (2nd century BC)
1997	Fifth Edition	Marsh Viper	And the seraphs sob at vermin fangs In human gore imbued.	Edgar Allen Poe	The Conqueror Wurm	Poem (1843)
1997	Fifth Edition	Radjan Spirit	Crawing, crawing, For my crowse crawing, I lost the best feather i’ my wing For my crowse crawing.		Anonymous Scottish ballad	Ballad
1997	Fifth Edition	Righteousness	I too shall be brought low by death, but until then let me win glory.	Homer	The Iliad, Book XVIII	Poem (9th century BC)
1997	Fifth Edition	Soul Barrier	The Soul selects her own Society— Then—shuts the Door—	Emily Dickinson	The Soul selects her own Society	Poem (1862)
1997	Fifth Edition	Updraft	Come one, come all! this rock shall fly From its firm base as soon as I.	Sir Walter Scott	The Lady of the Lake	Poem (1810)
1997	Fifth Edition	Wind Spirit	… When the trees bow down their heads, The wind is passing by.	Christina Rossetti	Who Has Seen the Wind?	Poem (1947)
1997	Portal	Armageddon	O miserable of happy! Is this the end Of this new glorious world … ?	John Milton	Paradise Lost	Poem (1667)
1997	Portal	Dread Charge	As equal were their souls, so equal was their fate.	John Dryden	Ode to Mrs. Anne Killigrew	Poem (1686)
1997	Portal	Knight Errant	… Before honor is humility.		The Bible, Proverbs 15:33	Religious text (BC)
1997	Portal	Moon Sprite	I am that merry wanderer of the night.	William Shakespeare	A Midsummer Night's Dream	Comedy (1600)
1997	Portal	Sacred Nectar	For he on honey-dew hath fed, And drunk the milk of Paradise.	Samuel Coleridge	Kubla Khan	Poem (1797)
1997	Portal	Symbol of Unsummoning	… inviting the soul to wander for a spell in abysses of solitude … .	Kate Chopin	The Awakening	Novel (1899)
1997	Portal	Tidal Surge	Twas when the seas were roaring With hollow blasts of wind … .	John Gay	The What D'Ye Call It	Poem (1715)
1997	Portal	Wind Drake	No bird soars too high, if he soars with his own wings.	William Blake	The Marriage of Heaven and Hell	Poem (1793)
1997	Portal	Wrath of God	As flies to wanton boys, are we to the gods. They kill us for their sport.	William Shakespeare	King Lear	Tragedy (1606)
1999	Portal Three Kingdoms	Multiple cards (40 )	Multiple quotes	Luo Guanzhong	Three Kingdoms: A Historical Novel	History novel (14th century)
1999	Portal Three Kingdoms	Ambition's Cost	When you give offense to heaven, to whom can you pray?	Confucius	Analects	Philosophical text (3rd century BC)
1999	Portal Three Kingdoms	Barbarian General	Barbarian tribes with their rulers are inferior to Chinese states without them.	Confucius	Analects	Philosophical text (3rd century BC)
1999	Portal Three Kingdoms	Burning Fields	In raiding and plundering, be like fire, in immovability like a mountain.	Sun Tzu	The Art of War	Military treatise (5th century BC)
1999	Portal Three Kingdoms	False Defeat	All warfare is based on deception.	Sun Tzu	The Art of War	Military treatise (5th century BC)
1999	Portal Three Kingdoms	Ravages of War	Thorn bushes spring up wherever the army has passed. Lean years follow in the wake of a great war.	Lao Tzu	Tao Te Ching	Philosophical text (6th century BC)
1999	Portal Three Kingdoms	Sage's Knowledge	Those who know do not talk. Those who talk do not know.	Lao Tzu	Tao Te Ching	Philosophical text (6th century BC)
1999	Portal Three Kingdoms	Slashing Tiger	Unless you enter the tiger’s lair, you cannot get hold of the tiger’s cubs.	Sun Tzu	The Art of War	Military treatise (5th century BC)
1999	Portal Three Kingdoms	Three Visits	Trying to meet a worthy man in the wrong way is as bad as closing the door on an invited guest.	Mencius	Mencius	Philosophical text (4th century BC)
1999	Portal Three Kingdoms	Wei Scout	He will win who, prepared himself, waits to take the enemy unprepared.	Sun Tzu	The Art of War	Military treatise (5th century BC)
1999	Portal Three Kingdoms	Young Wei Recruits	To send the common people to war untrained is to throw them away.	Confucius	Analects	Philosophical text (3rd century BC)
1999	Starter 1999	Dakmor Ghoul	Cursed be the sickly forms that err from honest Nature’s rule!	Alfred, Lord Tennyson	Locksley Hall	Poem (1835)
1999	Starter 1999	Royal Trooper	Fortune does not side with the faint-hearted.	Sophocles	Phaedra	Tragedy (5th century BC)
1999	Starter 1999	Squall	To-night the winds begin to rise … The rooks are blown about the skies … .	Alfred, Lord Tennyson	In Memoriam	Poem (1849)
1999	Starter 1999	Tidings	Many wearing rapiers are afraid of goose-quills.	William Shakespeare	Hamlet	Tragedy (ca. 1600)
2001	Seventh Edition	Ancestral Memories	It’s a poor sort of memory that only works backwards	Lewis Carroll	Through the Looking Glass	Novel (1871)
2001	Seventh Edition	Boomerang	Returne from whence ye came… .	Edmund Spenser	The Faerie Queene	Poem (1590)
2001	Seventh Edition	Squall	May the winds blow till they have wakened death… .	William Shakespeare	Othello	Tragedy (1603)
2001	Seventh Edition	Jayemdae Tome	Knowledge is power.	Sir Francis Bacon	Meditationes Sacrae	Religious meditation (1597)
2001	Seventh Edition	Lightning Elemental	A flash of the lightning, a break of the wave, He passes from life to his rest in the grave.	William Knox	Mortality	Poem (1824)
2001	Seventh Edition	Dark Banishing	Hence ‘banishèd’ is banished from the world, And the world’s exile is death.	William Shakespeare	Romeo and Juliet	Tragedy (1597)
2001	Seventh Edition	Wind Drake	But high she shoots through air and light, Above all low delay, Where nothing earthly bounds her flight, Nor shadow dims her way.	Thomas Moore	Oh that I had Wings	Hymn (1855)
2001	FNM card	Carnophage	And in their blind and unattaining state their miserable lives have sunk so low that they must envy every other fate.	Dante	Inferno	Poem (1320)
2001	FNM card	Jackal Pup	Cry havoc and let slip the dogs of war.	William Shakespeare	Julius Caesar	Historic play (1599)
2001	FNM card	Ophidian	I will … tell thee more than thou hast wit to ask.	Christopher Marlowe	The Tragical History of Doctor Faustus	Tragedy (ca. 1590)
2001	FNM card	Quirion Ranger	I went to the woods because I wished to live deliberately.	Henry David Thoreau	Walden	Memoir (1854)
2001	FNM card	Swords to Plowshares	Peace hath her victories No less renownd than war.	John Milton	To the Lord General Cromwell	Poem (1852)
2001	Junior Super Series	City of Brass	Enter this palace-gate and ask the news Of greatness fallen into dust and clay.		The Arabian Nights	Folk tale (9th century)
2001	Judge Gift	Ball Lightning	Life, struck sharp on death, Makes awful lightning.	Elizabeth Barrett Browning	Aurora Leigh	Poem (1856)
2001	Magic Player Reward	Wasteland	I will show you fear in a handful of dust.	T. S. Eliot	The Waste Land	Poem (1922)
2002	FNM card	Black Knight	The chill, to him who breathed it, drew Down with his blood, till all his heart was cold.	Alfred, Lord Tennyson	Idylls of the King	Poem (1869)
2002	FNM card	Fireslinger	One pain is lessened by another’s anguish.	William Shakespeare	Romeo and Juliet	Tragedy (1597)
2002	FNM card	Soltari Priest	Fire is the test of gold; adversity of strong men.	Seneca	On Providence	Dialogue (64)
2002	FNM card	Wall of Blossoms	Everything in Nature contains all the powers of Nature.	Ralph Waldo Emerson	Compensation	Essay (1841)
2002	FNM card	White Knight	When good men die their goodness does not perish, But lives though they are gone.	Euripides	Temenidae	Tragedy (5th century BC)
2002	Judge Gift	Tradewind Rider	Tis a shame, in such a tempest, to have but one anchor.	Laurence Sterne	Tristram Shandy	Novel (1759)
2002	Arena League promo	Dauthi Slayer	A wisp of life remains in the undergloom of Death; a visible form, though no heart beats within it.	Homer	The Iliad	Poem (9th century BC)
2002	Arena League promo	Mana Leak	If a man will begin with certainties, he shall end in doubts.	Sir Francis Bacon	Advancement of Learning	Letter (1605)
2003	Eighth Edition	Archivist	Words — so innocent and powerless are they, as standing in a dictionary; how potent for good and evil they become to one who knows how to combine them!	Nathaniel Hawthorne	The American Notebooks (1835 - 1853)	Note (1848)
2003	Eighth Edition	Confiscate	It is better to take what does not belong to you than to let it lie around neglected.	Mark Twain	More Maxims of Mark	Note (1927)
2003	Eighth Edition	Cowardice	Cowards die many times before their deaths; The valiant never taste of death but once.	William Shakespeare	Julius Caesar	Historic play (1599)
2003	Eighth Edition	Dark Banishing	Ha, banishment? Be merciful, say ‘death,’ For exile hath more terror in his look, Much more than death.	William Shakespeare	Romeo and Juliet	Tragedy (1597)
2003	Eighth Edition	Death Pits of Rath	Neither could I forget what I had read of these pits that the sudden extinction of life formed no part of their most horrible plan.	Edgar Allan Poe	The Pit and the Pendulum	Short story (1842)
2003	Eighth Edition	Defense Grid	A good deal of tyranny goes by the name of protection.	Crystal Eastman	Equality or Protection	Column (1924)
2003	Eighth Edition	Distorting Lens	The Eye altering alters all.	William Blake	The Mental Traveller	Poem (1863)
2003	Eighth Edition	Enrage	You wouldn’t like me when I’m angry.	David Banner	The Incredible Hulk	Catchphrase (1978)
2003	Eighth Edition	Fear	The horror. The horror.	Joseph Conrad	Heart of Darkness	Novella (1899)
2003	Eighth Edition	Fertile Ground	The love of nature … is a furious, burning, physical greed… .	Mary Webb	The House in Dormer Forest	Short story (1920)
2003	Eighth Edition	Fleeting Image	Beware lest you lose the substance by grasping at the shadow.	Aesop	Fables	Fable (6th century BC)
2003	Eighth Edition	Giant Octopus	Before my eyes was a horrible monster, worthy to figure in the legends of the marvellous… . Its eight arms, or rather feet, fixed to its head … were twice as long as its body, and were twisted like the furies’ hair.	Jules Verne	Twenty Thousand Leagues under the Sea	Novel (1870)
2003	Eighth Edition	Maggot Carrier	We do not suddenly fall on death, but advance towards it by slight degrees; we die every day.	Seneca	Epistles	Letter (1st century)
2003	Eighth Edition	Naturalize	One touch of nature makes the whole world kin.	William Shakespeare	Troilus and Cressida	Tragedy (1602)
2003	Eighth Edition	Persecute	Of all the tyrannies on humane kind The worst is that which persecutes the mind.	John Dryden	The Hind and the Panther	Poem (1687)
2003	Eighth Edition	Redeem	Let me redeem my brothers both from death.	William Shakespeare	Titus Andronicus	Tragedy (ca. 1600)
2003	Eighth Edition	Sacred Nectar	Over the silver mountains, Where spring the nectar fountains, There will I kiss The bowl of bliss; And drink my everlasting fill… .	Sir Walter Raleigh	The Pilgrimage	Poem (ca. 1603)
2003	Eighth Edition	Solidarity	We must all hang together, or assuredly we shall all hang separately.	Benjamin Franklin	Life of Franklin	Quote (1776)
2003	Eighth Edition	Swarm of Rats	Rats, rats, rats! Hundreds, thousands, millions of them, and every one a life.	Bram Stoker	Dracula	Novel (1897)
2003	Eighth Edition	Treasure Trove	Wealth means power; the power to subdue, to crush, to exploit, the power to enslave, to outrage, to degrade.	Emma Goldman	Anarchism	Essay (1910)
2005	Ninth Edition	Archivist	Sit down and read. Educate yourself for the coming conflicts.	Mary Harris "Mother" Jones	Speech to railroad workers.	Speech (1880's)
2005	Ninth Edition	Cruel Edict	No mockeries now for them; no prayers nor bells, Nor any voice of mourning save the choirs,— The shrill, demented choirs of wailing shells.	Wilfred Owen	Anthem for Doomed Youth	Poem (1917)
2005	Ninth Edition	Early Harvest	Earth’s increase, foison plenty, Barns and garners never empty: Vines with clust'ring bunches growing; Plants with goodly burden bowing.	William Shakespeare	The Tempest	Comedy (1610)
2005	Ninth Edition	Greater Good	To examine the causes of life, we must first have recourse to death.	Mary Shelley	Frankenstein	Novel (1818)
2005	Ninth Edition	Inspirit	The hour of your redemption is here… . Rally to me… . rise and strike. Strike at every favorable opportunity. For your homes and hearths, strike!	General Douglas MacArthur	Speech to the people of the Philippines.	Speech (1944)
2005	Ninth Edition	Phantom Warrior	There are as many pillows of illusion as flakes in a snow-storm. We wake from one dream into another dream.	Ralph Waldo Emerson	Illusions	Essay (1860)
2005	Ninth Edition	Seasoned Marshal	We are not interested in the possibilities of defeat.	Queen Victoria	Letter to Arthur Balfour during the Boer War.	Letter (1899)
2005	Ninth Edition	Seething Song	The purest ore is produced from the hottest furnace, and the brightest thunder-bolt is elicited from the darkest storm.	Charles Colton	Lacon; or Many Things in Few Words; Addressed to Those Who Think	Note (1828)
2005	Ninth Edition	Warrior's Honor	No person was ever honored for what he received. Honor has been the reward for what he gave.	Calvin Coolidge	Have Faith in Massachusetts: A Collection of Speeches and Messages	Speech (1916)
2006	Judge Gift	Pernicious Deed	The tyrannous and bloody deed is done, The most arch deed of piteous massacre That ever yet this land was guilty of.	William Shakespeare	Richard III	Historic play (1897)
2006	Judge Gift	Exalted Angel	She is a theme of honor and reknown, …Whose present courage may beat down our foes.	William Shakespeare	Troilus and Cressida	Tragedy (1602)
2007	Tenth Edition	Air Elemental	The East Wind, an interloper in the dominions of Westerly Weather, is an impassive-faced tyrant with a sharp poniard held behind his back for a treacherous stab.	Joseph Conrad	The Mirror of the Sea	Memoir (1906)
2007	Tenth Edition	Céphalalgie (French Megrim)	Cloués au sol, de honte et de céphalalgies … (Nailed to the earth, in shame and mental horror ...)	Arthur Rimbaud	Poésies: First Communions	Poem (1871)
2007	Tenth Edition	Mind Stone	Not by age but by capacity is wisdom gained.	Titus Maccius Plautus	Trinummus	Comedy (2nd century BC)
2007	Gateway card	Mind Stone	Except our own thoughts, there is nothing absolutely in our power.	René Descartes	Discourse on Method	Philosophical treatise (1637)
2007	Gateway card	Mogg Fanatic	As if his chest had been a mortar, he burst his hot heart’s shell upon it.	Herman Melville	Moby Dick	Novel (1851)
2008	From the Vault: Dragons	Ebon Dragon	The dragon wing of night o'erspreads the earth.	William Shakespeare	Troilus and Cressida	Tragedy (1602)
2009	Magic 2010	Alluring Siren	The ground polluted floats with human gore, And human carnage taints the dreadful shore Fly swift the dangerous coast: let every ear Be stopp’d against the song! ‘tis death to hear!	Homer	The Odyssey	Poem (9th century BC)
2010	Magic 2011	Back to Nature	Nature is a mutable cloud which is always and never the same.	Ralph Waldo Emerson	Essays	Essay (1841)
2010	Magic 2011	Dark Tutelage	It is a rough road that leads to the heights of greatness.	Seneca	Epistles	Letter (1st century)
2010	Magic 2011	Diminish	‘That was a narrow escape!’ said Alice, a good deal frightened at the sudden change, but very glad to find herself still in existence.’	Lewis Carroll	Alice's Adventures in Wonderland	Novel (1865)
2011	Magic 2012	Taste of Blood	How blessed are some people, whose lives have no fears, no dreads, to whom sleep is a blessing that comes nightly, and brings nothing but sweet dreams.	Bram Stoker	Dracula	Novel (1897)
2012	Magic 2013	Unsummon	Not to be. That is the answer. Rif on To be or not to be.	William Shakespeare	Hamlet	Tragedy (ca. 1600)
2013	Magic 2014	Pay No Heed	Out of this nettle, danger, we pluck this flower, safety.	William Shakespeare	Henry IV, Part I	History play (1597)
2013	Magic 2014	Zephyr Charge	All armies prefer high ground to low and sunny places to dark.	Sun Tzu	The Art of War	Military treatise (5th century BC)
2020	Happy Little Gathering	Evolving Wilds (Secret Lair Drop Series)	We don’t make mistakes, just happy little accidents.	Bob Ross	The Joy of Painting	Instructional television show (1983-1994)
2022	Artist Series: Nils Hamm	Deepglow Skate	Blue, glossy green, and velvet black They coiled and swam; and every track Was a flash of fire.	Samuel Taylor Coleridge	The Rime of the Ancient Mariner	Poem (1798)
2022	Artist Series: Nils Hamm	Tireless Tracker	Tell me Muse, of that man, so ready at need, who wandered far and wide.	Homer	The Odyssey	Poem (9th century BC)
2022	Artist Series: Nils Hamm	Contagion Engine	Deep into that darkness, peering They coiled and swam; and every track I stood there wondering, fearing.	Edgar Allan Poe	The Raven	Poem (1845)
2022	Artist Series: Nils Hamm	Sword of Truth and Justice	"The name of it", said the lady, "is Excalibur".	Sir Thomas Mallory	Le Morte d'Arthur	Prose (1485)
2024	Sheldon's Spellbook	Teferi's Protection (Secret Lair, #1691)	"If you’re doing it alone, you’re doing it wrong."	Sheldon Menery		Quotation
2024	Sheldon's Spellbook	Inkshield (Secret Lair, #1694)	“You did it to yourself.”	Sheldon Menery	Commander deck name.	Sheldon's signature deck.
2024	Sheldon's Spellbook	Sheldon, the Commander (Secret Lair, #1695)	“I’m not great at everything, but I am great at one thing: surrounding myself with excellent people. And that tends to take care of the rest.”	Sheldon Menery	Gavin Verhey	Quotation
2024	Sheldon's Spellbook	Sol Ring (Secret Lair, #1696)	From this day to the ending of the world, But we in it shall be remembered; We few, we happy few, we band of brothers; For he to-day that sheds his blood with me Shall be my brother...	William Shakespeare	Henry V	History play (1599)
2024	Sheldon's Spellbook	Command Tower (Secret Lair, #1697)	“Hate has no place here.”	Sheldon Menery		Quotation