Invasion block

The Invasion block is the sixth block, consisting of the large expansion Invasion (Template:Set symbol) and the two small expansions Planeshift (Template:Set symbol) and Apocalypse (Template:Set symbol). The block came out in 2000-2001.

This block was centered around the idea of multiple colors working in synergy, with an inordinately large amount of gold cards. Many mono-colored cards in the block also played to the multicolor theme, either in bonuses granted by other colors or off-color activation costs. In this way, Invasion was a precursor of the later Ravnica block.

Keywords introduced in this block: Kicker.

Themes present throughout the block included multicolor strategy, tribal themes, Domain cards, Gating cards, and Kavu creatures.

Mega cycles

There are two four-card mega cycles in the Invasion block, each started in Invasion with two cards and finished in Apocalypse with two more.

• Gold counterspells — Each of these multicolored spells has in its casting cost and includes a counterspell effect: Absorb, Undermine, Suffocating Blast, Mystic Snake.
• Mutations — Each of these multicolored spells has in its casting cost, destroys or disrupts resources, and creates a number of 1/1 Saproling creature tokens equal to the resource's converted mana cost: Aura Mutation, Æther Mutation, Death Mutation, Artifact Mutation.

Development codes

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

“

Invasion block codenames were cities with Chinese names. I believe this theme was picked by Mike Elliott because it fit our recent hard-to-spell kick. The original choices were actually so complicated that we had to change them.

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Sets