Unfinity

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Unfinity
 
 
Unfinity
[[File:{{#setmainimage:Unfinity logo.jpg}}|250px]]
Set Information
Set symbol
Symbol description An atom
Design Mark Rosewater (lead)
Chris Mooney
Annie Sardelis
Daniel Holt
Donald Smith, Jr
George Fan
Matt Tabak
Development Mark Rosewater (lead)
Chris Mooney
Belle Farmer
JC Tao
Mark Purvis
Noah Millrod
Robert Schuster
Taymoor Rehman
Art direction Dawn Murin
Release date October 7, 2022
Plane In space[1]
Themes and mechanics Attractions, Stickers, Tickets, Dice rolling, Outside assistance, Name and Art matters
Keywords/​ability words Visit, Prize, Open an attraction and multiple others.
Set size 244 + 292
Expansion code UNF[2]
Development codename Umbrella[3]
Un-sets
Unsanctioned Unfinity N/A
Magic: The Gathering Chronology
Alchemy: Dominaria Unfinity Warhammer 40,000 Commander Decks

Unfinity is a booster-based card set for Magic: The Gathering. This is the fifth of the Un-sets and is designed to be drafted. It was released on October 7, 2022.[4][5][6] The release of the set was originally slated for April 1, 2022, but it was delayed due to ongoing supply chain complications from challenges associated with COVID-19.[7][8]

Set details

Expansion symbol

Unfinity is a top-down designed humorous set. It mixes retro-style science fiction with space circus, amusement park and carnival tropes.[4][9] External contractors like Seanbaby and members of long-time Magic content creators LoadingReadyRun contributed to the creative development of the set.[10]

Unfinity features science full-art space-themed lands: both basic lands ("space-ic lands") and the Ravnica shock lands.[4][11] Each of the 30 legendary creatures has a showcase card treatment done in a retro-pop style (dubbed the "Showcase Cards of Tomorrow"). The set contains 244 regular cards (10 basic lands) and includes randomly inserted premium versions of all cards. The regular cards include the basic lands (5 "planetary" and 5 "orbital"). Alternate card frames have another card number than the original version. The borderless planeswalkers are #245-246. The showcase cards of tomorrow are #247 to #276. The borderless shock lands (box toppers) are numbered #277-286. The galaxy foil treatment is featured on versions of the cards numbered #287–537. The release card is #538.

Unfinity is priced similar to premier sets.[12]

Many of the eternal Unfinity cards are featured on Magic Online, but there are no current plans for the cards to be featured on MTG Arena.[13]

The set is only available in English. It had some unique printing challenges, and the change to half the set being eternal happened too late in the process to alter it.[14]

Change to black border

Acorn-shaped holofoil stamp

Unlike previous Un-sets, Unfinity is black-bordered. Some of the cards have an acorn-shaped holofoil stamp to replace the significance of silver borders.[5]

Player prejudice against silver borders was a factor in the change to black borders.[15] According to Mark Rosewater, when silver border was originally dubbed "not for tournament play," that meant not for Vintage, Legacy, or Standard, but for every other format, especially the casual ones. Over the years, the silver border slowly shifted to end up meaning "not for any official format, casual or not," which contradicted what it was originally intended to do. Rosewater realized that many cards in the set would be perfectly fine to be played in black border Eternal sets. R&D then looked for another way to express "silver border-ness" that didn't require a silver border and turned to holofoil security stamps. What an acorn security stamp means is exactly what a silver border is used to. This is a card not meant for tournament play and should only be used in casual formats where all the players agree to its inclusion. These have been dubbed "acorn" cards. If a card has an oval security stamp (or no security stamp at lower rarities), it's legal in eternal formats (which include Commander, Legacy, and Vintage). These have been dubbed "eternal" cards. This security stamp technology allows R&D to let the two different types of cards commingle in the same set.[5] On common and uncommons the acorn stamp is printed on the card rather than embossed.[16]

Slightly over half the set and slightly over a quarter of the rares and mythic rares are eternal. The rest are acorn.[17]

Attraction deck

Attraction card back

Unfinity introduces attractions. Attractions represent top-down tropes from carnivals, amusement parks, and circuses (e.g. rides, games, and stands). Attractions are kept in a separate deck, much like Contraptions, and they don't have normal Magic card backs. The card backs welcome you to the "Astrotorium" and provide the rules for building an attraction deck.

Attractions are artifacts, but they don't have a mana cost. To get them from your Attraction deck to the battlefield, you'll need to open an attraction. When told to open an Attraction, put the top card of your Attraction deck onto the battlefield face up under your control. Each Attraction has attraction lights numbered 1–6 to the right of text box. Different variants of the same Attraction may have different lights lit up. The number 1 will never be lit up, and the number 6 will always be lit up.

At the beginning of your main phase, you roll a six-sided die. When the lit-up number is rolled, you visit the attraction, and that attraction's visit ability is triggered.

Marketing

Collector booster

Unfinity is available in Draft Boosters, Draft Packs, and - for the first time for an Un-set - Collector Boosters.[18] The set is only available in English.[5]

Draft Boosters contain 14 playing cards, 1 sticker sheet and a marketing card.[19][20][18] One of the playing cards is a land and two cards are Attractions.

The Collector Boosters are 100% foil. Twelve out of fifteen of the cards are traditional foil, and three have "galaxy foil" (which looks like stars in space and is somewhat glittery[21]).

There is a land slot in every Draft Booster and two in every Collector Booster (one in each type of foil). That land slot has the planetary basic lands, the orbital basic lands, or the borderless shocklands. This means every Unfinity draft booster has one land in it and every collector booster has two lands in it, one in each foil treatment.[22] In addition, the ten Traditional Foil Shocklands are included as box topper in Draft Booster Displays and Collector Booster.[19][18]

The List for Unfinity consists of 60 cards of past Un-sets.[23]

Promotional cards

Tokens

Ticket counter marker

Unfinity features 13 tokens and 1 marker.[25]

  1. {W} 2/2 Cat creature with flying, created by Katerina of Myra’s Marvels.
  2. {W} 1/1 Clown Robot artifact creature, created by Assembled Ensemble, Circuits Act, Clown Car, Clown Extruder, Clowning Around, Complaints Clerk, and Pietra, Crafter of Clowns.
  3. {W} 1/1 Clown Robot artifact creature.
  4. {U} 4/4 Octopus creature with "At the beginning of your upkeep, you may fold this token in half." called Contortionist, created by Octo Opus.
  5. {U} 1/2 Bird creature with flying called Storm Crow, created by Attempted Murder.
  6. {B} 2/2 Zombie Employee creature, created by Night Shift of the Living Dead.
  7. {R} 1/1 Balloon creature with flying, created by Balloon Stand, Gift Shop, Memory Test and The Superlatorium.
  8. {G} 1/1 Squirrel creature, created by Comet, Stellar Pup, Mistakes Were Made, Squirrel Squatters and Squirrel Stack.
  9. Pink 2/2 Teddy Bear creature, created by Dart Throw, Gift Shop and Push Your Luck.
  10. {C} Food artifact, created by Concession Stand, Gift Shop and Questionable Cuisine.
  11. {C} Food artifact.
  12. {C} Treasure artifact, created by Centrifuge, Done for the Day, Exit Through the Grift Shop, Goblin Airbrusher, Ignacio of Myra’s Marvels, Meet and Greet “Sisay”, and Pick-a-Beeble.
  13. {C} Treasure artifact,
  14. Ticket Bucket-Bot marker.

Storyline

The storyline centers on "Myra the Magnificent's Intergalactic Astrotorium of Fun", a space carnival that travels the galaxy.[9] The whole park is a series of interconnected flying spaceships that can move from planet to planet. The employees of the park are Goblins, Elves, Vampires, and Zombies.

Themes and mechanics

Sticker sheet
Attraction with attraction lights

The set features a circus, amusement park, carnival, and game show tropes.[5][26] For science fiction, the set has robots, aliens, spaceships, and technology. Magic itself is the main motif for the Astrotorium, allowing for many references to the game itself.[5][27]

The set is full of cards caring about names, art, and wordplay.[28] Multiple cards care about Hats. A hat is defined as a garment worn on the head that's not part of another garment.[29] Anything that cares about the text or other features of a card uses the actual card you're playing with to determine that information.[29]

Die-rolling is a returning mechanic[5], as well as Outside assistance.[29] Partner appears on one cycle of cards. Other returning un-features are dexterity cards and a card with a subgame.

Unfinity introduces stickers for names, art, abilities and stats, allowing players to create new cards.[30][31] There are 48 sticker sheets.[32][25] You can only put a sticker on the cards you own. The glue is like a "Post-it" note glue so it won’t damage the card and is reusable.

Tickets are a new resource counter. To use ability- and power/toughness stickers you need to pay a ticket cost.[29]

There are two new mechanics related to Attractions:[29]

  • Visit — at the beginning of your first main phase on each of your turns, you roll to visit your Attractions by rolling a six-sided die. If the result is lit up on an Attraction you control, you visit that Attraction, causing that Attraction's visit ability to trigger. Some Visit abilities create minigames that provide prizes.
  • Open an attraction — when told to open an Attraction, put the top card of your Attraction deck onto the battlefield face up under your control.

One-off mechanics

Unfinity also has several one-off mechanics.

  • Alpha strike — grants a creature first strike if it's alphabetically ahead of the creature(s) it's fighting in combat.[33]
  • Alliterative — a card name is alliterative when two or more capitalized words in its name begin with the same letter.
  • Best in show — Copies spells and then targets that same creature
  • Crash Land — Whenever this Vehicle deals damage, roll a six-sided die. If the result is equal to this Vehicle’s mana value, it deals that much damage to any target, then sacrifice this Vehicle.
  • Gear up — roll two six-sided dice. For each Magic-branded Item you’re wearing, roll an additional six-sided die. Choose two of those results.
  • Gobble — take a bite of food or sacrifice a food token.
  • Jump — flipping a card over other cards to gain a bonus.
  • Jump in a log — Creatures in a log together can’t be blocked unless they’re all blocked. If a spell or ability you control targets one of them, it targets all of them.
  • Just a secondAs long as this spell is on the stack, players can't move cards on the battlefield. Previously seen in Unstable.
  • Parade! — organize your creatures into an ordered list. They gain an increasing bonus.
  • Rangeling — grants a card all land types.
  • Sticker kicker — you may pay an additional {1} as you cast a creature spell. If you do, you get [ticket], then you may put a sticker on it.
  • Space sculptor — divides the battlefield into separate sectors.

Returning nonevergreen/nondeciduous mechanics

Mechanic Card(s) Sticker # Card legality
Adventure Omniclown Colossus Acorn
Affinity Omniclown Colossus Acorn
Afflict 23 Eternal
Battle cry 29 Eternal
Bolster 13 Eternal
Bushido 9 Eternal
Exalted 4 Eternal
Hellbent 43 Eternal
Heroic 42 Eternal
Horsemanship Merry-Go-Round Eternal
Infect 8 Eternal
Landfall 48 Eternal
Magecraft 26 Eternal
Metalcraft 40 Eternal
Mentor 17 Eternal
Morbid 31 Eternal
Monstrosity 20 Eternal
Outlast 21 Eternal
Partner Myra's Marvels cycle Acorn
Persist 3 Eternal
Proliferate 7 Eternal
Provoke 37 Eternal
Shadow 4 Eternal
Skulk 29 Eternal
Threshold 44 Eternal
Undying 18 Eternal

Card types

Creature types

Other types

Counter types

The set introduces Hack counters, Midway counters, Pause counters, and Ticket counters. It also saw the return of Luck counters and Page counters.

Draft archetypes

The main draft archetypes are the ten two-color pairs.[34][35][36]

  • {W}{U}: Names/"Name Sticker Matter" Evasion
  • {U}{B}: Precision Die-Rolling Control
  • {B}{R}: High-Roll Build-Up
  • {R}{G}: Mass Die-Rolling Midrange
  • {G}{W}: “Ability Stickers Matter” Go Tall
  • {W}{B}: “Hats Matter” Recursion
  • {U}{R}: “Art Stickers Matter” Tempo
  • {B}{G}: Attraction Attrition
  • {R}{W}: Clown Robots Aggro
  • {G}{U}: “Power/Toughness Stickers Matter” Ramp

Cycles

Cycle name {W} {U} {B} {R} {G}
Myra's Marvels Katerina of Myra's Marvels (Name) Fluros of Myra's Marvels (Power/Toughness; Loyalty) Nocturno of Myra's Marvels (Rules Text) Ignacio of Myra's Marvels (Art) Hardy of Myra's Marvels (Flavor Text)
Five rare Legendary creatures with partner that cost 2MM. They make the owner choose a certain characteristic when they enter the battlefield, and they provide a bonus whenever the owner casts a spell with the chosen characteristic.
Fill in the blank uncommons Knight in ______ Armor Make a _____ Splash Last Voyage of the _____ _____ Balls of Fire Fight the _____ Fight
Five uncommon permanents with _____ in their name, which can be filled with a name sticker when they enter the battlefield and that can get stronger with more name stickers. There is a sixth {C} card printed at uncommon, _____ _____ Rocketship.
Uncommon attraction openers Complaints Clerk Monitor Monitor Discourtesy Clerk Goblin Blastronauts Squirrel Squatters
Five uncommon creatures that open an attraction when they enter the battlefield and have an additional effect benefitting from attractions or rolling dice.
Fill in the blank creatures ______ Bird Gets the Worm Wizards of the _____ Wolf in _____ Clothing _____ Goblin _____-o-saurus
Five common creatures with _____ in their name, which can be filled with a name sticker when they enter the battlefield and give an effect depending on the number of unique vowels in that sticker.
"I spy" commons Now You See Me . . . (Mirrors) Super-Duper Lost (Doors) Questionable Cuisine (Trash) Amped Up (Electrical sockets) Mistakes Were Made (Fire extinguishers)
Five common spells which scale according to the number of a certain object you can see from your seat.
Common attraction openers Ride Guide Seasoned Buttoneer Deadbeat Attendant Rad Rascal Petting Zookeeper
Five common creatures that open an attraction when they enter the battlefield.
Common Sticker-ers Aerialephant (Flying) Glitterflitter (Flying) Carnival Carnivore (Deathtouch) Minotaur de Force (Haste) Chicken Troupe (Ward)
Five common creatures that each give you a ticket and allows you to place a sticker on a nonland permanent when they enter the battlefield. They also each have an evergreen keyword ability.
Stickered payoffs Sanguine Sipper (Lifelink) Croakid Amphibonaut (Flying) Scared Stiff (Menace) Big Winner (Trample) Grabby Tabby (Vigilance)
Five common creatures that gain an evergreen keyword ability while you control a stickered permanent.
Cycle name {W/U} {U/B} {B/R} {R/G} {G/W} {W/B} {U/R} {B/G} {R/W} {G/U}
Rare dual-colored legendary creatures Claire D’Loon, Joy Sculptor Truss, Chief Engineer Magar of the Magic Strings Meet and Greet “Sisay” Lila, Hospitality Hostess Grand Marshal Macie Myra the Magnificent The Most Dangerous Gamer Captain Rex Nebula It Came from Planet Glurg
Ten rare- and mythic-rare dual-colored legendary creatures.
Gold signposts Angelic Harold Dee Kay, Finder of the Lost Monoxa, Midway Manager The Space Family Goblinson Tusk and Whiskers “Brims” Barone, Midway Mobster Roxi, Publicist to the Stars Spinnerette, Arachnobat Pietra, Crafter of Clowns Ambassador Blorpityblorpboop
Ten uncommon dual-colored spells, each a signpost for a draft archetype.
Shock lands
(box toppers)
Hallowed Fountain Watery Grave Blood Crypt Stomping Ground Temple Garden Godless Shrine Steam Vents Overgrown Tomb Sacred Foundry Breeding Pool
Each of these rare nonbasic dual lands has two basic land types and enters the battlefield tapped unless its controller pays 2 life.

Variant cards

34 cards (all being Attractions) in Unfinity are printed with multiple variants. Each variant differs in the position of the attraction lights, and some also differ in their flavor text and rules text. However, all versions have the same collector number and color. The rarity of all the variations of a particular card adds up to the regularly listed rarity.

Card Rarity # variants Differences in
Balloon Stand Uncommon 4 Flavor text
Bounce Chamber Uncommon 4 Flavor text
Bumper Cars Uncommon 6 Flavor text
Centrifuge Rare 2 Flavor text
Clown Extruder Common 4 Flavor text
Concession Stand Uncommon 4 Flavor text
Costume Shop Common 6 Flavor text
Cover the Spot Common 4
Dart Throw Common 4
Drop Tower Common 6 Flavor text
Foam Weapons Kiosk Common 4 Flavor text
Fortune Teller Common 6 Flavor text
Gallery of Legends Rare 2
Gift Shop Rare 2
Guess Your Fate Uncommon 4
Hall of Mirrors Rare 2 Flavor text
Haunted House Rare 2 Flavor text
Information Booth Uncommon 4 Flavor text
Kiddie Coaster Common 6 Flavor text
Log Flume Rare 2 Flavor text
Memory Test Rare 2
Merry-Go-Round Rare 2 Flavor text
Pick-a-Beeble Common 6
Push Your Luck Rare 2
Roller Coaster Uncommon 4 Flavor text
Scavenger Hunt Uncommon 6 Rules text
Spinny Ride Common 6 Flavor text
Squirrel Stack Uncommon 6
Storybook Ride Rare 2 Flavor text
The Superlatorium Uncommon 6 Rules text
Swinging Ship Rare 2 Flavor text
Trash Bin Uncommon 4 Flavor text
Trivia Contest Uncommon 6 Rules text
Tunnel of Love Rare 2

Notable cards

Misprints

References

  1. Mark Rosewater (December 1, 2021). "Has the name of the plane for unfinity been...". Blogatog. Tumblr.
  2. Information below the text box
  3. Mark Rosewater (August 29, 2021). "Late to it, but huge congrats on yet another Unset...". Blogatog. Tumblr.
  4. a b c Adam Styborski (August 24, 2021). "What Happened In Magic Showcase 2021?". magicthegathering.com. Wizards of the Coast.
  5. a b c d e f g Mark Rosewater (November 29, 2021). "To Unfinity and Beyond". magicthegathering.com. Wizards of the Coast.
  6. Magic: The Gathering (June 8, 2022). "We are happy to announce the official release date for MTGUnfinity". Twitter.
  7. Wizards of the Coast (January 20, 2022). "Unfinity Release Date Change". magicthegathering.com. Wizards of the Coast.
  8. Mark Rosewater (September 30, 2022). "Sometimes a global pandemic forces a glue company out of business.". Blogatog. Tumblr.
  9. a b Magic Showcase 2021 (live) (Video). Magic: The Gathering. YouTube (August 24, 2021).
  10. Ari Zirulnik (August 24, 2021). "I want to brag about the star-studded, out-of-this-world (space puns) writing team.". Twitter.
  11. Mark Rosewater (August 25, 2021). "Can you confirm that they're the Ravnica shocks we all know and love? And will they be full art?". Blogatog. Tumblr.
  12. Mark Rosewater (November 30, 2021). "Is it too soon to say whether unfinity boosters...". Blogatog. Tumblr.
  13. Mark Rosewater (December 2, 2021). "Will the unfinity cards be available on Arena?". Blogatog. Tumblr.
  14. Mark Rosewater (May 17, 2022). "Will there be any way to get Unfinity, or at least the eternal-legal cards, in non-english printing?". Blogatog. Tumblr.
  15. Mark Rosewater (June 13, 2022). "Was player prejudice against silver borders a factor in making Unfinity black-bordered?". Blogatog. Tumblr.
  16. Mark Rosewater (November 30, 2021). "Commons and uncommons can have the acorn stamp, right?". Blogatog. Tumblr.
  17. Mark Rosewater (July 24, 2022). "What’s the rough ratio of acorn/acornless cards in Unfinity?". Blogatog. Tumblr.
  18. a b c Mike Turian and Adam Styborski (September 20, 2022). "(Almost) Everything to Know About Unfinity Boosters". magicthegathering.com. Wizards of the Coast.
  19. a b WPN (November 29, 2021). "Prepare for Liftoff: Unfinity Arrives in April". Wizards Play Network.
  20. WPN (November, 2021). "Unfinity products". Wizards Play Network.
  21. Mark Rosewater (December 19, 2021). "Can I get a maybe for glittering cards in future when the set up allows it?". Blogatog. Tumblr.
  22. Mark Rosewater (November 29, 2021). "Basic lands in unsets have appeared on every...". Blogatog. Tumblr.
  23. Wizards of the Coast (September 20, 2022). "The List for Unfinity: An Un- Usual Twist on The List". magicthegathering.com. Wizards of the Coast.
  24. WPN (October, 2022). "Unfinity Draft Weekend". Wizards Play Network.
  25. a b Adam Styborski (September 27, 2022). "The Tokens and Stickers of Unfinity". magicthegathering.com. Wizards of the Coast.
  26. Mark Rosewater (April 29, 2022). "Could you give some fun trivia that you would like to share but nobody has asked you about yet?". Blogatog. Tumblr.
  27. Mark Rosewater (December 1, 2021). "Does Magic the Gathering exist as a game in the world?". Blogatog. Tumblr.
  28. Mark Rosewater (September 26, 2022). "Making Space, Part 2". magicthegathering.com. Wizards of the Coast.
  29. a b c d e Matt Tabak (September 20, 2022). "Unfinity Mechanics". magicthegathering.com. Wizards of the Coast.
  30. Charlie Hall (July 23, 2022). "Magic’s Unfinity set will include stickers so players can make their own cards". Polygon.com.
  31. Mark Rosewater (July 24, 2022). "Today we officially announced that play object is a sticker sheet.". Blogatog. Tumblr.
  32. Mark Rosewater (September 20, 2022). "Making Space, Part 1". magicthegathering.com. Wizards of the Coast.
  33. Mark Rosewater (September 26, 2022). "Making Space, Part 2". magicthegathering.com. Wizards of the Coast.
  34. Mark Rosewater (December 2, 2021). "Would you describe the set as mono-colored, multi-colored, etc?". Blogatog. Tumblr.
  35. Mark Rosewater (September 29, 2022). "Looking forward to reading about the draft archetypes". Blogatog. Tumblr.
  36. Mark Rosewater (October 8, 2022). "Hey, Mark. Did my first Unfinity draft last night, and this set is...". Blogatog. Tumblr.
  37. Mark Rosewater (August 1, 2022). "Did you ever get an answer as to why that one sticker has T: Add (2) instead of T: Add CC?". Blogatog. Tumblr.
  38. Jess Dunks (October 18, 2022). "Unfinity Oracle Changes". magicthegathering.com. Wizards of the Coast.

External links