Planar Chaos
- For other uses, see Planar Chaos (disambiguation).
| Planar Chaos | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
 | |||||
| Set Information | |||||
| Set symbol | |||||
| Symbol description | overlapping planes | ||||
| Design |
Bill Rose (lead) Matt Place Mark Rosewater Paul Sottosanti | ||||
| Development |
Devin Low (lead) Zvi Mowshowitz Brian Schneider Henry Stern Mike Turian | ||||
| Art direction | Jeremy Jarvis | ||||
| Release date | February 2, 2007 | ||||
| Themes and mechanics |
Timeshifted cards, Split cards, Rebels, Slivers, Thallids, Spellshapers | ||||
| Keywords/ability words |
Echo, Flanking, Flash, Kicker, Madness, Morph, Split second, Suspend, Vanishing | ||||
| Set size |
165 (60 commons, 55 uncommons, 50 rares) | ||||
| Expansion code | PLC[2] | ||||
| Development codename | Crackle | ||||
| Time Spiral block | |||||
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| Magic: The Gathering Chronology | |||||
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Planar Chaos is the forty-first Magic expansion and was released in February 2007 as the second set in the Time Spiral block. Prerelease Events were held on January 20, 2007. [3] [4]
Set details
Planar Chaos contains 165 all new black-bordered cards (50 rare, 55 uncommon, and 60 commons), including a 45 card "timeshifted" subset (10 rare, 15 uncommon and 20 commons). The theme of this expansion is "the (alternate) present"; to fit the theme of of the block ("time"). [5] [6] Its expansion symbol is a depiction of two overlapping planes. [7] There are no artifacts in Planar Chaos.
Timeshifted
The 45 timeshifted cards in Planar Chaos (also known as colorshifted or planeshifted) represent cards being reprinted from an alternate reality. They are each functionally identical to an old card, with the crucial exception of their color (and possibly with a different creature type, or referencing a different color or land type in its abilities). Cards that were timeshifted in Planar Chaos had a slightly different border, and their title and types were written in white instead of black. In contrast to Time Spiral, they had regular colored expansion symbols.
Marketing
Planar Chaos was sold in 15-card boosters, four preconstructed theme decks and a fat pack [8]. The decks and the fat pack contained a Pro Tour Players Card. The booster packs featured artwork from Radha, Heir to Keld, Jedit Ojanen of Efrava and Darkheart Sliver. [9] The prerelease card was the foil alternate art Oros, the Avenger.[10] The release card was Hedge Troll. The set was accompanied by the novel of the same name, written by Scott McGough and Timothy Sanders.
The booster packs included eight "normal" commons, three "timeshifted" commons, two "normal" uncommons, one "normal" rare and one "timeshifted" rare or uncommon card (there are three times as many "timeshifted" uncommon cards than there are "timeshifted" rare cards, making it three times as likely that an uncommon will appear in this slot).
Additional art for several tokens was designed for Magic Online. [11] [12]
Flavor and Storyline
Dominaria’s temporal fabric is no longer fraying at the edges — it’s ripping down the middle. [13] The time rifts have not only merged the past with the present, but also splintered the timeline into thousands of alternate histories. [14] These divergent Dominarias overlap with the known world in bizarre ways, combining the familiar with the shockingly new. Teferi, having lost his Planeswalker's spark, still struggles to mend the planar rifts before they corrode the very structure of the multiverse. With his allies Jhoira and Venser, he has already succeeded in restoring the wayward region of Shiv to its natural place in Dominaria, healing one rift. But danger awaits them as the trio attempts to teleport to Urborg: the chaos of an alternate Dominaria… [15] [16]
Mechanics
Flash, split second and suspend were introduced in Time Spiral. Echo,[17] flanking, kicker, madness, morph are all keywords used in previous sets. Planar Chaos marked the first appearance of spells with Echo costs that did not match their casting costs, as well as the first appearance of single color split cards.
Vanishing is introduced in this expansion, which works similarly to fading from Nemesis. Vanishing uses time counters to interact with suspend cards and induces sacrifice at the removal of the final counter to make the mechanic more intuitive than its predecessor. [18]
In keeping with the theme of alternate realities converging, Planar Chaos features numerous cards with abilities "usually" assigned to another color:
- White received shroud (then "This creature can't be the target of spells and abilities.") (i.e. Calciderm), regeneration (i.e. Revered Dead), countering (i.e. Mana Tithe), returning creatures to your hand (i.e. Stormfront Riders).
- Blue received vigilance (i.e. Serra Sphinx), discard (i.e. Piracy Charm), giving creatures +X/-X or -X/+X (i.e. Shaper Parasite), and the ability to destroy creatures (i.e. Pongify).
- Black received first strike (i.e. Spitting Sliver), lifelink-like effects (i.e. Vampiric Link), control effects (i.e. Enslave), tapping creatures (i.e. Midnight Charm), and spell/damage redirection (i.e. Muck Drubb).
- Red received reach (i.e. Needlepeak Spider), trample (i.e. Battering Sliver), fear-like effects (i.e. Skirk Shaman), "pump" effects (i.e. Fatal Frenzy), returning opponent's permanents (i.e. Stingscourger), spells that target flying creatures (Hammerheim Deadeye).
- Green received flying (i.e. Giant Dustwasp), haste (i.e. Reflex Sliver), life gain/damage prevention(i.e. Essence Warden), card-drawing effects(i.e. Harmonize) and returning creatures from the graveyard (i.e. Deadwood Treefolk).
Creature types
The following creature types are introduced in this expansion: Hellion.
The following creature types are used in this expansion but also appear in previous sets: Angel, Ape, Assassin, Avatar, Beast, Bird, Cat, Centaur, Cleric, Dragon, Drake, Druid, Elemental, Elf, Fungus, Gargoyle, Giant, Goblin, Horror, Illusion, Insect, Kavu, Knight, Lhurgoyf, Merfolk, Phoenix, Rebel, Rogue, Serpent, Shade, Shaman, Shapeshifter, Sliver, Snake, Soldier, Spellshaper, Sphinx, Spider, Spirit, Treefolk, Troll, Vampire, Wall, Warrior, Wizard, Wurm, Zombie.
Cycles
Planar Chaos has 10 cycles and 3 vertical cycles:
- Alternate legendary creatures: Each of these legendary creatures is based on a legendary creature from a past set — Crovax, Ascendant Hero (Ascendant Evincar); Braids, Conjurer Adept (Braids, Cabal Minion); Mirri the Cursed (Mirri, Cat Warrior); Akroma, Angel of Fury (Akroma, Angel of Wrath); and Jedit Ojanen of Efrava (Jedit Ojanen). [19]
- Charms: Dawn Charm, Piracy Charm, Midnight Charm, Fury Charm, and Evolution Charm are each common modal instants with three options that are each illustrated by John Avon with artwork depicting a small stone framed in jewelery held in two hands. In addition, each featured an ability (regeneration, discard, first strike, trample and flying) that their color doesn't normally have. [20]
- Colorshifted reprints: The cards referenced by each of these colorshifted cards appeared in the Time Spiral expansion's timeshifted subset — Malach of the Dawn (Ghost Ship), Piracy Charm (Funeral Charm), Dunerider Outlaw (Whirling Dervish), Prodigal Pyromancer (Prodigal Sorcerer), Fa'adiyah Seer (Sindbad), and Bog Serpent (Sea Serpent).
- Common Slivers: Each of these common monocolored Slivers grant abilities that their color doesn't normally have — Poultice Sliver (regeneration), Synchronous Sliver (vigilance), Spitting Sliver (first strike), Battering Sliver (trample), and Reflex Sliver (haste).
- Enemy-color Slivers: Each of these uncommon Slivers with enemy-color mana costs have abilities that mimic previous enemy-color cards — Necrotic Sliver (Vindicate), Cautery Sliver (Goblin Legionnaire), Frenetic Sliver (Frenetic Efreet), Dormant Sliver (Jungle Barrier), and Darkheart Sliver (Dark Heart of the Wood).
- Legendary Dragons: Each of these rare legendary Dragons has a mana cost of
MNO (where N and O are the enemy colors of M), flying, a triggered ability with a cost of 
M that triggers on dealing combat damage to a player, and power/toughness of 6/6 — Oros, the Avenger; Intet, the Dreamer; Teneb, the Harvester; Numot, the Devastator; and Vorosh, the Hunter. [21] The cycle is a reference to the cycle of three-colored Legendary Dragons from Invasion. [22] - Magi: Each of these rare Human Wizard creatures has the abilities of a powerful land from the past — Magus of the Tabernacle (The Tabernacle at Pendrell Vale), Magus of the Bazaar (Bazaar of Baghdad), Magus of the Coffers (Cabal Coffers), Magus of the Arena (Arena), and Magus of the Library (Library of Alexandria). [23]
- Spellshapers: Each of these spellshapers references an instant or sorcery that was previously printed in a different color — Ghost Tactician (Scare Tactics), Dreamscape Artist (Harrow), Ridged Kusite (Guided Strike), Firefright Mage (Shriek of Dread), and Sophic Centaur (Gerrard's Wisdom).
- Suspend X cards: Each of these rare creatures has power and toughness */*, an ability defining *, "Suspend X—[mana cost including
]. X can't be 0," and a triggered ability that triggers on the removal of time counters while it is suspended that improves the game state for the definition of "*" — Benalish Commander, Aeon Chronicler, Roiling Horror, Detritivore, and Fungal Behemoth. - Vanishing creatures: Each of these are uncommon creatures with vanishing — Calciderm, Tidewalker, Waning Wurm, Lavacore Elemental, and Deadwood Treefolk.
Vertical cycle
- Extortion: Each of these black spells allow a player to pay a steep cost in order to counter these powerful spells — Dash Hopes, Phantasmagorian, Temporal Extortion
- White Bounce: Each of these white spells are creatures that have flash and return creatures you control to your hand when they enter the battlefield — Whitemane Lion, Stonecloaker, Dust Elemental
- Red Split: Each of these red spells is a split card where both spells are red, unlike other split cards where each is a different color — Dead/Gone, Rough/Tumble, Boom/Bust [24]. These are the only split cards in Planar Chaos.
Notable cards
- Aeon Chronicler saw widespread play as an uncounterable card advantage machine and possible finisher in blue control decks.
- Damnation, a colorshifted Wrath of God with similar artwork giving black control decks a strong board sweeper.
- Detritivore, a red card that contiually would destroy non-basic lands in a Standard format filled with them. It was also used in combination with Wildfire from 9th Edition in land destruction decks, providing an able finisher.
- Extirpate, a strong card punishing Combo decks.
- Urborg, Tomb of Yawgmoth, a land that turns other lands into Swamps and which saw widespread tournament play, e.g. in Extended Hexmage Depths deck.
Theme decks
The preconstructed theme decks are:[25][26]
| Theme deck name |
Colors Included | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
|
|
|
|
| |
| Endless March | W | R | |||
| Ixidor's Legacy | U | ||||
| Rituals of Rebirth | W | B | G | ||
| Unraveling Mind | B | R | |||
Trivia
References
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- ↑ Michael G. Ryan (January, 2007) "Destiny". Magicthegathering.com, Wizards of the Coast.
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