Mox
| Mox | |
|---|---|
|
[[File:{{#setmainimage:Emerald Mox.jpg}}|250px]] | |
| Characteristics | |
| Origin | Dominaria |
| User | Liana of Minorad, Kristina of the Woods, Jared Carthalion, Ravidel |
| Status | Unknown |
A mox (plural: moxes or moxen[1][2][3]) is a piece of jewelry, usually containing a gemstone, that can produce mana. The most well-known comprise five of the pieces of the Power Nine.
Card History
The word "Mox" was derived from the English slang word "Moxie".[4] The word has long been associated with energy and vigor. The origin of this word traces back to the early 1900s when America's most popular soft drink was called Moxie.[5]
The Original Moxes
The original five Moxes are rare artifacts that produce one of the five colors of mana. The original Moxes account for five of the Power Nine cards from the Alpha, Beta, and Unlimited sets (the earliest editions of Magic: The Gathering, printed in 1993) and thus are widely considered to be among the most powerful (and expensive) cards in the game. The cause for this is the ability to play multiples in a single turn, giving an unbalanced, extremely powerful mana acceleration which led to them being restricted in Vintage and completely banned in every other format very early in the game's history. All five of the original Moxes (along with the original art for Mox Diamond) were illustrated by Dan Frazier. Due to the original Moxes appearing in the Alpha and Beta releases of Magic: The Gathering they are also present within the Collectors' Edition and International Collectors' Edition sets (both also released in 1993).
Balanced Moxes
![Mox Amber (Dominaria)[2]](/page/File:Mox_Amber.jpg)
Apart from the original five, other Moxes have been released in various sets over the years. Each of these additional Moxes were attempts by the game designers to create more balanced versions of the original Moxes by way of adding additional costs beyond the zero mana casting cost. Despite these additional costs, the first three of the 'balanced' Moxes are considered to be quite powerful and have found their way onto various banned and restricted lists over the years.
Un-Moxes
The non-DCI sanctioned Unglued and Unhinged sets feature one mox each. Per the Unglued and Unhinged theme, each of these Moxes include an appropriately ridiculous ability.
Magic Online
The original Moxes were unavailable on Magic Online until Vintage Masters debuted in June 2014. These original Moxes (along with the rest of the Power Nine and several other Vintage staples) use the Modern card frame and have alternate artwork by artist Volkan Baga, previously used on awards given to winners of the Vintage Championship tournament series.[1] The original printings of Chrome Mox and Mox Opal appeared online along with the rest of their initial release sets, Mirrodin in 2003 and Scars of Mirrodin in 2010 respectively while Mox Diamond eventually debuted online along with the rest of Stronghold in 2009, long after its initial paper release in 1998.
Gleemox was a Magic Online-only promo card that was given away with the announcement of the Gleemax project. They were distributed on Magic Online by Gleemax. The card doesn't show up in gatherer because it's not a real-world card.[6]
Magic: The Gathering Arena
In 2022 the Moxes were added to Magic: The Gathering Arena with the release of Oracle of the Alpha in Alchemy: Dominaria.[7] Unlike Magic Online, players are not able to craft the cards for their own collection. They are only available through designed-for-digital mechanics that generate them during a game. Each of the cards uses the modern frame and alternate artwork present on Magic Online.
In 2024, Wizards of the Coast added a cycle of creatures in Alchemy: Thunder Junction that each conjure an enemy colored Mox to their controller's hand.[8] These cards are intended to replace Oracle of the Alpha when it rotated out of the Alchemy format with the release of Bloomburrow.
The cards are legal in all formats that include their generator cards — Alchemy, Historic, Brawl and Timeless.
Reprints
The original Moxes and Mox Diamond are on the Reserved List by Wizards of the Coast and thus won't be physically reprinted again. An earlier version of Official Reprint Policy allowed for special premium reprints of cards found on the Reserved List, allowing Mox Diamond to appear as a reprint in the From the Vault: Relics set, released in 2010. Negative collector reaction to its reprinting led to an amendment to the Official Reprint Policy preventing any further physical reprints, but allowing for the release of Reserved List cards on Magic Online.
An alternate art Chrome Mox was given away as a Grand Prix promo in 2009[9] (and subsequently released on Magic Online) while Mox Opal was reprinted in Modern Masters 2015, retaining its original artwork. Chrome Mox was reprinted once again in Eternal Masters, this time at mythic rarity. Both Chrome Mox and Mox Opal were reprinted in Kaladesh Inventions, marking their debut in the Masterpiece series.
Unreleased Moxes
-
Crystalline Mox
A card tentatively named "Crystalline Mox" or "Crystal Mox" was playtested during the development of Mirage but was not released because R&D identified it as still being too powerful to print.[10] The decision to exclude the new design from the set occurred late in the design cycle:[11]
I was commissioned to do the artwork for the card 'Crystal Mox.' When I spoke to Sandra, I said, 'Oh, that's nice, since I've done the art for all the other Moxes.' She responded: 'You did the other Moxes?' Back then, when the game was still new, the art directors weren't as involved in the rest of the process. They never printed Crystal Mox, but the artwork that I did for the card is the artwork on Enlightened Tutor (Mirage). You can kind of see what I was going for if you noticed the jewels of each color in the Tutor's crown.
Test Card Moxes
-
Mox Poison
A test card mox was created by Gavin Verhey for the Unknown Event at MagicCon Philadelphia.[12] In normal environments the card would be considered as powerful as standard mox but due to Phyrexia: All Will Be One limited having the toxic mechanic, the card was more balanced.[10]
Design
The original mox (and Black Lotus) allowed players to quickly break the parity of the early game by generating more mana that the one-land-per-turn limit would normally allow. This caused significant balance issues as players with multiple mox in their opening hand were at an advantage over players with fewer or none. These issues ultimately caused the mox to be restricted in the first restricted list released by the DCI in 1994.[13]
R&D has identified the core components of a mox design as:[2]
- It must be an artifact;
- It must produce a colored mana; and
- It must cost
.
These elements alone inevitably end up causing new card designs to be too powerful for a format, so some sort of drawback is required to balance them out.[10] The requirements only allow for a small window of design space to make cards that are acceptable to players before the drawback renders the card unplayable in most situations. Because of this, new mox designs are rare.
Storyline
The Moxes were a powerful collection of mana-infused gems owned by Liana of Minorad. Liana gave them to Kristina of the Woods and Jared Carthalion during her duel with Ravidel at Minorad so that he would not take them. Ravidel claimed various times that the Moxes had once belonged to him; at the battle with Jared, Kristina, Altair of Coloni and Caliphear the Nightmare against Ravidel at the Dueling Chasm of Golthonor, Ravidel used the Mox Jet, Mox Ruby, and Mox Sapphire to activate the Mox Beacon. The Mox Opal appeared to be from Mirrodin / New Phyrexia though was also later seen on Kaladesh.
The Jewels Series
In 2007 five extremely rare pieces of actual jewelry were produced for the Italian market to resemble the Moxes. Each necklace comes in a display box that has the corresponding Mox's art printed on the front.[14]
See Also
References
- ↑ a b Monty Ashley (May 10, 2010). "Alternate Moxen". magicthegathering.com. Wizards of the Coast. Archived from the original on May 29, 2022.
- ↑ a b c Mark Rosewater (April 30, 2018). "Stories from Dominaria, Part 3". magicthegathering.com. Wizards of the Coast.
- ↑ Mark Rosewater (May 4, 2021). "What do you all think the plural of mox is?". Blogatog. Tumblr.
- ↑ Words of Magic, by Allen Varney
- ↑ The Duelist #33, p. 103
- ↑ Magic Arcana (December 09, 2008). "Ask Wizards: Gleemox and Elves of Deep Shadow". magicthegathering.com. Wizards of the Coast. Archived from the original on May 23, 2022.
- ↑ The Brothers’ War and Alchemy: Dominaria United First Look – MTG September 2022 Monthly Announcement Day. MTG Arena Zone (September 29, 2022).
- ↑ Amy the Amazonian (May 4, 2024). "Set Review Alchemy: Thunder Junction with Amazonian (Video)". Magic: The Gathering Arena. YouTube.
- ↑ Magic Arcana (December 01, 2008). "Pro Tour Promo: Treva!". magicthegathering.com. Wizards of the Coast. Archived from the original on September 23, 2021.
- ↑ a b c Mox. (Video). Good Morning Magic. YouTube (March 22, 2023).
- ↑ John Matthew Upton (August 24, 2004). "GP: New Jersey – I Played G/R Tooth Before It Was Cool". StarCityGames.
- ↑ Lost round 1. Pictured: my opponent’s G1 start and G3 finish.. Twitter (February 19, 2023).
- ↑ Michael G. Ryan (February 17, 2003). "The Leader of the Banned". magicthegathering.com. Archived from the original on December 5, 2022.
- ↑ Francesco "Zoroastro" Fusillo (March 29, 2008). "Magic: i ciondoli dei Mox". Pinkblog. Archived from the original on November 11, 2020. (Italian-language article)