Judgment

Judgment

 

Theme decks

 

Judgment
[[File:{{#setmainimage:JUD logo.png}}|250px]]
Set Information
Set symbol
Symbol description	Balance scale
Design	Brian Tinsman (lead), Mike Elliott, Richard Garfield, Bill Rose, Mark Rosewater
Development	Randy Buehler (co-lead), William Jockusch (co-lead), Mike Elliott, Joe Hauck, Worth Wollpert With contributions from: Paul Barclay, Mike Donais, and Brian Schneider.
Art direction	Jeremy Cranford & Dana Knutson
Release date	May 27, 2002
Plane	Dominaria (Otaria)
Themes and mechanics	Advocates, "Graveyard matters", Incarnations, Nightmares, Phantoms, Punisher, Wishes
Keywords/​ability words	Flashback, Threshold
Set size	143 cards (55 commons, 44 uncommons, 44 rares)
Expansion code	JUD
Development codename	Carbon
Odyssey block
Odyssey Torment Judgment
Magic: The Gathering Chronology
Torment Judgment Onslaught

For other uses, see Judgment (disambiguation).

Judgment is the third and final set, and second small expansion, in the Odyssey block. It is the 26th Magic expansion and was released on May 27, 2002.

Set details

Judgment featured 143 black-bordered cards (55 commons, 44 uncommons and 44 rares). Its expansion symbol represents a set of scales (a traditional symbol of justice). Judgment is a green- and white-heavy set that balances out the bias towards black that was created by the preceding set, Torment. There are 16 black cards, 33 green and white, 27 red and blue, 3 nonbasic lands, and 4 multicolored cards. In addition to there being more green and white cards and fewer black cards, all of the multicolored cards are green–white and all of the lands are associated with green and white. As a reversal of Torment, there are numerous cards that refer to black or Swamps, green or Forests, and white and Plains. In addition to this, there being more green and/or white cards, the general level of power of green and/or white cards was comparably more powerful than those of other-colored cards. The set also featured Sylvan Safekeeper, Olle Råde's invitational card. Judgment was the first expansion to be simultaneously released on Magic Online in addition to regular card form.

Marketing

The cards were sold in 15-card boosters which featured the artwork from Phantom Nishoba, in four preconstructed theme decks and a fat pack. At the Judgment prerelease a foil תהילה (Glory printed in Hebrew text) was handed out. This was the last prerelease card with a language gimmick. The set was accompanied by the novel of the same name. The prerelease was May 18, 2002.

Flavor and storyline

Judgment follows the story of Kamahl, who, in keeping truth to his promise made to a dying Chainer, keeps the Mirari safe from others and himself. Several characters, including Laquatus and Eesha, attempt to obtain the potent orb for themselves and Kamahl's sister and mentor, Jeska and Balthor, endeavor to separate the Mirari from Kamahl for fear of the corrupting influence that the orb has on Kamahl.

Ultimately, after substantial politics and war, the influence of the Mirari on individuals is diminished. A majority of the characters are killed, and the Mirari, attached to Kamahl's sword, is implanted through the corpse of Laquatus and into the Krosan Forest, thereby channeling the powerful magic into the land and allowing both the fauna and flora to grow larger and wilder.

Tokens

A 1/1 Bird token with flying for Battle Screech and a 1/1 Cat token with haste for Firecat Blitz appeared on Magic Online.

Themes and mechanics

Judgment continued keyword mechanics Flashback and Threshold and the Nightmare mechanic introduced in Odyssey and Torment, respectively.

Judgment also featured several themes and mechanics, specifically:

• Advocates: creatures with activated abilities that return cards from an opponent's graveyard to their hand for a beneficial effect to you or a detrimental effect to an opponent. There are 5 Advocates, but they only appear in white and green.
• Incarnations: creatures that have static abilities that are active as long as they are in a graveyard. Some of these have an additional condition of their controllers controlling a basic land of a specific type. Each Incarnation's form and material is based on a creature type that's appropriate to their ability and color.
• Phantoms: */0 Spirit creatures that come into play with a fixed number of +1/+1 counters and prevent damage that would be dealt to them at the cost of removing a +1/+1 counter from them. This ability, in addition to aggressive costing, provided a host of durable and resilient creatures that were inordinately powerful and difficult to deal with.
• Wishes: instant or sorcery spells inspired by the Arabian Nights's Ring of Ma'rûf that can bring cards from outside the game, including sideboards, into the game. In competitive Magic, Wishes had such an impact that the paradigm of choosing sideboards changed from using numerous copies of spells to including only one copy of a spell, to have many more and diverse options to deal with a given game state.
  • Burning Wish, which was notably featured in Long.dec, was deemed too cheap and powerful, in that it could subvert the (1-card) restrictions of competitive Magic, and was consequently banned in Vintage (Type 1) from January 2004 till September 2012.

Creature types

The creature types Gorgon and Incarnation were introduced in Judgment.

The following creature types that are not new to Magic are used in this expansion:

• Angel
• Antelope
• Barbarian
• Beast
• Bird
• Boar (retroactively)
• Cat (retroactively)
• Centaur
• Cephalid
• Cleric
• Crab
• Djinn
• Dragon
• Drake
• Druid
• Dwarf
• Fish (retroactively)
• Frog (retroactively)
• Horror
• Human (retroactively)
• Insect
• Minion
• Nightmare
• Nomad
• Orgg
• Rat
• Salamander (retroactively)
• Shaman (retroactively)
• Soldier
• Spirit
• Turtle (retroactively)
• Vampire
• Wall
• Warrior (retroactively)
• Wizard
• Werewolf (retroactively)
• Wurm
• Zombie

The creature type Wolf was used in this expansion at the time of printing but was later changed to Werewolf.

Cycles

Judgement features three cycles.

Cycle name
1-CMC sacrificial creatures	Benevolent Bodyguard	Hapless Researcher	Cabal Trainee	Dwarven Scorcher	Krosan Wayfarer
	Each of these common, one-CMC 1/1 creatures has an activated ability involving sacrificing itself.
Incarnations (uncommon)	Valor	Wonder	Filth	Anger	Brawn
	Each of these uncommon creatures costing M has an in-color keyword ability. In addition to this, each has a static ability that is "on" as long as these creature cards are in a controller's graveyard and they control a land of a specific basic land type, other creatures that the player controls have that keyword ability.
Wishes	Golden Wish	Cunning Wish	Death Wish	Burning Wish	Living Wish
	Each of these rare non-permanent spells allows its controller to choose a card that they own from outside the game (including cards in one's sideboard, in the context of tournaments, and cards in your collection) and put that card into that player's hand.

Vertical cycle

Cycle name
Gorgers	Spellgorger Barbarian	Soulgorger Orgg	Worldgorger Dragon
	Each of these red Nightmares has an enters-the-battlefield triggered ability and a leaves-the-battlefield triggered ability; when each of these enters the battlefield, its controller loses a resource/resources until the Gorger leaves play.
Wormfangs	Wormfang Drake Wormfang Newt	Wormfang Turtle Wormfang Crab	Wormfang Behemoth Wormfang Manta
	Each of these blue Nightmares has an enters-the-battlefield triggered ability and a leaves-the-battlefield triggered ability; when each of these enters the battlefield, its controller loses a resource/resources until the Wormfang leaves play.

Pairs

Judgment has one mirrored pair.

Mirrored Pairs		Description
Defy Gravity ()	Canopy Claws ()	1-CMC instants that either grant or remove flying from a target creature until end of turn. In addition to this, both of these instants have a Flashback cost of C.

Reprinted cards

• Erhnam Djinn - first printed in Arabian Nights, last seen in Beatdown
• Guided Strike - first printed in Weatherlight

Strictly better

• Benevolent Bodyguard, upgrade from Eager Cadet (Starter 1999)
• Cabal Trainee, upgrade from Muck Rats (Portal)
• Dwarven Scorcher, upgrade from Dwarven Trader (Homelands) and Mons's Goblin Raiders (Alpha)
• Envelop, upgrade from Extinguish (Portal Second Age)
• Hapless Researcher, upgrade from Merfolk of the Pearl Trident (Alpha)
• Krosan Wayfarer, upgrade from Willow Elf (Starter 1999)

Notable Cards

• Sylvan Safekeeper - The card for 1996 Magic Invitational winner Olle Råde. The reason for the card’s long delay was that R&D had lost contact with Råde after his initial card designs were rejected. Many years later, Råde bumped into Mark Rosewater at a Magic event and asked if he could still create his card.

Preconstructed decks

Judgment has four theme decks, two of which are monocolored and two of which are bicolored. As the set is green-/white-heavy and in contradistinction with the black-heavy Torment, fittingly, no theme decks contain black and there is a predominance of green/white theme decks.

Theme deck name	Colors Included
Inundation	W
Painflow					G
Spectral Slam	W				G
Air Razers		U		R

External links

• Judgment product information page — Wizards of the Coast