Masques block

The Masques block was the fifth block, consisting of the large expansion Mercadian Masques (File:Masques.gif) and the two small expansions Nemesis (File:Nemesis.gif) and Prophecy (File:Prophecy.gif).

This block incuded the searchable Rebels and Mercenaries, Spellshapers, new cards with alternative costs, and new abilities playable by any player.

Development codes

On the development codenames for the Masques block, MTG.com columnist Mark Rosewater writes:

“

The Masques block was the beginning of codenames themed for an entire block. Why Greek names? While R&D was coming up with silly names, my girlfriend (now my wife) Lora (Rosewater) suggested the word Archimedes. Because we knew we needed a theme, we chose to follow up with two other Greek names. The reason that Greek names won out over another theme was that R&D thought it funny not only to have odd-sounding names that were themed, but also to choose words that the rest of the company would have trouble spelling.

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