Planeshift

Planeshift

 

Theme decks

 

This page is about the expansion. For the novel, see Planeshift (novel). For the D&D guides, see Plane Shift.

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Planeshift
Set Information
Set symbol
Symbol description	Swirling portal
Design	Mike Elliott (lead) Bill Rose Mark Rosewater Henry Stern
Development	William Jockusch (lead) Randy Buehler Henry Stern Brian Tinsman Teeuwynn Woodruff with contributions from Brady Dommermuth Beth Moursund
Art direction	Dana Knutson & Ron Spears
Release date	February 5, 2001
Plane	Dominaria Rath
Themes and mechanics	Battlemages, Domain, Dragon lairs, Familiars, Gating, Planeswalker enchantments
Keywords/​ability words	Kicker
Set size	143 cards (55 commons, 44 uncommons, 44 rares)
Expansion code	PLS (formerly PS)
Development codename	Hong Kong
Invasion block
Invasion Planeshift Apocalypse
Magic: The Gathering Chronology
Invasion Planeshift Seventh Edition

Planeshift is the twenty-second Magic: The Gathering expansion, released in February 2001 as the second set in the Invasion Block. It portrays the Rathi Overlay, a collision between the planes of Rath and Dominaria during the Phyrexian Invasion. The set continued Invasion's multicolor theme and expanded on the domain and kicker mechanics. Notable cards include Flametongue Kavu.

Set details

Planeshift featured 143 black-bordered cards (55 commons, 44 uncommons and 44 rares). Its expansion symbol is a stylized dual swirl, meant to symbolize the planar overlay of Rath onto Dominaria. The set continued Invasion's theme of multicolored cards. Three rare legendary cards (Ertai, the Corrupted, Tahngarth, Talruum Hero, and Skyship Weatherlight) have alternate foil versions, so that each appears with its normal art as a foil and also appears with special art on the foil card. The special art versions have a star next to the collector's number.

Flavor and storyline

The Phyrexian invasion is in full swing, and despite some early victories, Urza and the armies of Dominaria are losing. As the struggle rages, portions of the artificial plane Rath begin appearing in Dominaria, bringing hordes of Phyrexian reinforcements into the battle.

Novel

Title	Author	Publishing date	Setting (plane)	Featuring
Planeshift	J. Robert King	February 2001	Dominaria, Phyrexia Rath	Multani, Gaea, Karn, Urza, Agnate, Eladamri, Sivvi en-Vec, Rhammidarigaaz, Gerrard Capashen, Tahngarth, Sisay, Squee, Tsabo Tavoc, Crovax, Freyalise, Dalwyri, Gemath, Dalepoc, Allisor, Tevesh Szat, Themeus, Orim, Guff, Bo Levar, Kristina of the Woods, Taysir, Daria, Windgrace, Dralnu, Astor, Olvresk, Tajamin, Nemata, Rith, Rokun, Treva, Grizzlegom, Greven il-Vec, Dromar, Ertai, Stokken, Lairsen, Rilgesh, Selenia, Crosis, Yawgmoth, Mishra, Hanna

Marketing

The cards were sold in 15-card boosters which had artwork from Draco, in four preconstructed theme decks, and a fat pack. At Planeshift prerelease events on January 27, 2001, a foil Ό πλανώμενος Φελδδαγρίφος was handed out. This was a Questing Phelddagrif printed with ancient Greek text. The set was accompanied by the novel of the same name.

Token

A 1/1 Spirit Token with Flying for March of Souls was released as a Magic Player Reward.

Themes & mechanics

Planeshift introduced the Gating mechanic. It is generally attached to an undercosted creature, when that creature comes into play, gating requires the player to return a creature they control to their hand. Planeshift expands upon the Kicker keyword introduced in Invasion by having other costs besides mana. It also expanded on domains and kickers.

Creature types

The following creature types are introduced in this expansion: Phelddagrif.

The following creature types are used in this expansion but also appear in previous sets: Beast, Cat, Crocodile, Dragon, Drake, Dryad, Elemental, Elf, Goblin, Griffin, Hound, Imp, Insect, Kavu, Lord (later changed to Zombie), Merfolk, Minotaur, Shapeshifter, Soldier, Specter, Spider, Toad (later changed to Frog), Treefolk, Wall, Wizard, Wurm, Zombie.

Cycles

Planeshift has thirteen cycles:

Cycle name
Cantrip Spells	Aura Blast	Confound	Slay	Implode	Skyshroud Blessing
	Each of these spells has "Draw a card" as a secondary effect.
Land-sacrifice Kicker Spells	Pollen Remedy	Rushing River	Bog Down	Magma Burst	Falling Timber
	Each of these common spells has the kicker mechanic with the sacrifice of one or two lands as a cost.
Planeswalker Enchantments	Planeswalker's Mirth (Guff)	Planeswalker's Mischief (Bo Levar)	Planeswalker's Scorn (Tevesh Szat)	Planeswalker's Fury (Windgrace)	Planeswalker's Favor (Freyalise)
	Each of these rare enchantments has a mana cost of M, has an activated ability that forces your opponent to reveal a card at random from his or her hand and creates an effect based on that card's converted mana cost, and depicts one of the planeswalkers gathered by Urza to aid him in the Invasion storyline.
Cycle name
Common Allied Color Spells	Daring Leap	Malicious Advice	Terminate	Hull Breach	Gerrard's Command
	Each of these common spells has a mana cost that includes one mana each of two allied colors.
Common Gating Creatures	Silver Drake	Cavern Harpy	Lava Zombie	Horned Kavu	Steel Leaf Paladin
	Each of these common allied-colored creatures has the Gating mechanic.
Uncommon Gating Creatures	Sawtooth Loon	Marsh Crocodile	Razing Snidd	Sparkcaster	Fleetfoot Panther
	Each of these uncommon allied-colored creatures has the Gating mechanic.
Rare Allied Creature Spells	Meddling Mage	Doomsday Specter	Dralnu's Crusade	Shivan Wurm	Ancient Spider
	Each of these rare creature spells have a mana cost comprising of two allied colors. stands out by having a tribal enchantment instead of a creature.
Rare Allied Spells	Cloud Cover	Urza's Guilt	Keldon Twilight	Natural Emergence	Eladamri's Call
	Each of these rare noncreature spells have a mana cost comprising of two allied colors.
Cycle name
Familiars	Sunscape Familiar	Stormscape Familiar	Nightscape Familiar	Thunderscape Familiar	Thornscape Familiar
	Each of these common creatures has a mana cost of M and reduces the casting costs of allied color spells you play by .
Battlemages	Sunscape Battlemage	Stormscape Battlemage	Nightscape Battlemage	Thunderscape Battlemage	Thornscape Battlemage
	Each of these uncommon wizard creatures has a mana cost of M and has one kicker cost for each of its allied colors.
Dragon Charms	Treva's Charm	Dromar's Charm	Crosis's Charm	Darigaaz's Charm	Rith's Charm
	Each of these uncommon modal instants requires three colors of mana to play and has a converted mana cost of 3, its colors corresponding to one of the legendary dragons from Invasion.
Dragon Lairs	Treva's Ruins	Dromar's Cavern	Crosis's Catacombs	Darigaaz's Caldera	Rith's Grove
	Each of these uncommon triple lands must be sacrificed when it comes into play unless you to return a non-Lair land to your hand and can be tapped for one mana of any of three colors, corresponding to one of the legendary dragons from Invasion.
Tricolor Rares	Questing Phelddagrif	Ertai, the Corrupted	Phyrexian Tyranny	Destructive Flow	Radiant Kavu
	Each of these rare spells requires three colors of mana to cast.

Mega Vertical cycles

Cycle name
Sunscape Wizards	Sunscape Apprentice	Sunscape Battlemage	Sunscape Master
	White Wizards with two allied-color costs abilities.
Stormscape Wizards	Stormscape Apprentice	Stormscape Battlemage	Stormscape Master
	Blue Wizards with two allied-color costs abilities.
Nightscape Wizards	Nightscape Apprentice	Nightscape Battlemage	Nightscape Master
	Black Wizards with two allied-color costs abilities.
Thunderscape Wizards	Thunderscape Apprentice	Thunderscape Battlemage	Thunderscape Master
	Red Wizards with two allied-color costs abilities.
Thornscape Wizards	Thornscape Apprentice	Thornscape Battlemage	Thornscape Master
	Green Wizards with two allied-color costs abilities.

Reprints

Planeshift has no reprints.

Card comparisons

• Bog Down is strictly better than Mind Rot.
• Eladamri's Call is strictly better than Altar of Bone.

Notable cards

• Cavern Harpy's self-return ability made it the crux of Aluren combo decks.
• Draco's converted mana cost of 16 males it the costliest creature card in the game. For this reason, it has been seen at tournament-level Magic, used in combination with Erratic Explosion or Kaboom! to deal 16 damage - however, needing the last four damage made it suffer as a combo.
• The Familiar cycle fueled combo decks across Eternal formats.
• Flametongue Kavu deals 4 damage to any creature when it comes into play for the cost of . A format-defining card, capable of destroying almost any creature worth playing. Additionally, as it couldn't be played proactively, it often ended up without targets as decks vulnerable to this Kavu were unplayable, leading to an interesting metagame depending on how many low-information players with creature decks were expected to be in the field.
• Gaea's Might, a fundamental Domain card, returned in Dominaria United and had a functional reprint in Might of Alara for Conflux.
• Goblin Game functionally asks for two hidden numbers, but as written requires players to play a hiding subgame. It is the only Eternal card to mention "hiding" and "objects".
• Lord of the Undead is a Zombie lord with a recursive ability.
• Meddling Mage is an invitational card designed in the image of Chris Pikula, given meddling its name. It has seen much play for its ability to deny the playing of a specific spell, the name of which is chosen as the Mage comes into play. Before Snapcaster Mage got released, Meddling Mage was considered the most powerful Wizard ever printed.
• Orim's Chant prevents the playing of cards, but in this case it prevents a player from playing any spells during a whole turn, and, if the kicker cost is paid, to attack with any creature. With the release of Mirrodin, Orim's Chant saw a considerable amount of play in decks that also hosted Isochron Scepter; using both cards to create an often hard-lock. While split across the Modern set divide, it was reprinted in Modern Horizons 3 to a renaissance.
• Quirion Dryad gets bigger when casting spells of other colors, and is the quintessential "grow threat" that still sees some play in competitive singleton formats.
• Shivan Wurm is aggressive 7/7 gating creature with Trample for that could easily come out turn 3 or 4, with the mana creatures covering the gating cost.
• Voice of All is a homage to the Voices mega-mega-cycle of Angels with protection from a single color. Voice of Law and Voice of Grace started this cycle in Urza's Saga, Voice of Duty and Voice of Reason continued it in Urza's Destiny and Voice of Truth completed it in Nemesis.

Preconstructed decks

Planeshift has four theme decks.

Theme deck name	Colors Included
Barrage	–	–	–	R	G
Comeback	W	U	B	–	–
Scout	W	–	–	R	G
Domain	W	U	B	R	G

External links

• Planeshift product information page — Wizards of the Coast