Portal Three Kingdoms

Portal Three Kingdoms

 

Storyline

 

2-Player Starter Set

 

Theme decks

 

Portal Three Kingdoms
[[File:{{#setmainimage:Portal Three Kingdoms logo.png}}|250px]]
Set Information
Set symbol
Symbol description	Chinese character for 3
Design	Henry Stern (lead)
Development	Henry Stern (lead)
Art direction	Li Tie
Release date	May 1999
Plane	Earth, China
Keywords/​ability words	Horsemanship
Set size	180 cards (55 commons, 55 uncommons, 55 rares, 15 basic lands)
Expansion code	PTK
Portal trilogy
Portal Portal Second Age Portal Three Kingdoms
Magic: The Gathering Chronology
Sixth Edition Portal Three Kingdoms Urza's Destiny

Portal Three Kingdoms is a starter-level set released in May 1999 for mostly Asian markets. It is a flavor-based set based on the Three Kingdoms period of Chinese history. Three Kingdoms is the third and final Portal set, and as with the previous two, its cards were not tournament-legal at the time of printing but were later made legal in Eternal formats.

Set details

Portal Three Kingdoms booster

Portal Three Kingdoms was specifically designed for the Asian market and was not sold in North America. It was mainly printed in Japanese, Simplified Chinese, and Traditional Chinese, but there was also an English printing, sold mostly in Australia and New Zealand. As a result, the English versions of the cards are amongst the rarest in the game. As with the previous two Portal sets, the cards in Portal Three Kingdoms were not tournament-legal at the time of printing, but were made legal in Vintage and Legacy on 20 October 2005. The expansion symbol for this set is the Chinese character for 3. Unlike its predecessors, the P3K-set is white-bordered. Henry Stern was the sole designer.

The titular three kingdoms are associated with the colors white (Shu), blue (Wu) and black (Wei), respectively, while bandits, barbarians and other outsiders are represented in red and green.

Flavor and storyline

Portal Three Kingdoms was a flavor-based set that used the cards to retell the Three Kingdoms period of Chinese history. This tale is as important to Asia as the Homeric and Arthurian tales are to the west. This meant that it was the first expansion since Arabian Nights to be designed around an Earth-based history, and the first set since Legends to reference real-world people, places, and events in its card names. The artwork for the set was produced entirely by Chinese artists in order to give it an authentic feel. Unless otherwise noted, all quotations on Portal Three Kingdoms cards are from Guanzhong Luo, Three Kingdoms: A Historical Novel (Beijing Foreign Language Press/Berkeley: University of California Press, 1991), Moss Roberts, trans.

The setting of Portal Three Kingdoms was conceived as being Earth. For a time it was considered instead a plane that resembles Earth, but has since been established to not exist within Magic's multiverse, similar to Universes Beyond sets.

Themes and mechanics

The set featured its own keyword ability, Horsemanship. This was functionally identical to Flying but was distributed differently across the Color Pie, appearing on a number of red cards. It also featured Legendary creatures, a rule that had not been included in the previous Portal sets. As Horsemanship replaced flying in the set, Borrowing the East Wind and Rolling Earthquake were included to mimic Hurricane and Earthquake, respectively.

Marketing

The cards were sold in 10-card booster packs (containing 1 rare, 2 uncommon, 5 common, and 2 basic lands), three different 40 card theme decks, and a 2-Player Starter Set. The boosters feature art from Riding Red Hare. The prerelease card was a nonfoil Lu Bu, Master-at-Arms. The set continued to use the simplified Portal rules. Like the previous sets, it had sword and shield symbols next to the power and toughness of creature cards to denote which number was which and used bold type for rules text and a thick line to separate it from flavor text. It also had no instants, artifacts or enchantments. However, Portal Three Kingdoms did have sorceries that could only be played during the combat phase, such as Heavy Fog and ones that could only be played in response to another spell, such as Preemptive Strike. All such cards have since received errata to make them actual instants.

Cycles

• As their names imply, each of the twelve Zodiac creatures represent a different sign of the Chinese zodiac. Their flavor texts form a single piece, an extract from the epic Chinese poem at the end of Three Kingdoms: A Historical Novel. The correct order to read them in is: Zodiac Snake, Zodiac Horse, Zodiac Goat, Zodiac Monkey, Zodiac Rooster, Zodiac Dog, Zodiac Pig, Zodiac Rat, Zodiac Ox, Zodiac Tiger, Zodiac Rabbit and finally Zodiac Dragon.

Notable cards

• Imperial Recruiter was used in some decks, as an effective way to tutor for creatures that are part of a combo (for example Painter's Servant).
• Imperial Seal is a sorcery version of Vampiric Tutor, allowing players to have additional Vampiric Tutor effects, albeit at sorcery speed. As a result, Imperial Seal has been restricted in Vintage and banned in Legacy and is one of the most valuable cards in the set.
• Riding the Dilu Horse is the only Magic card without a silver border that boosts another card's power/toughness indefinitely without the use of counters or the Perpetually mechanic. It is unique and also quite powerful as it also grants Horsemanship, which is nearly unblockable in many formats.
• Loyal Retainers is one of the cheapest white reanimation spells. It is used to cheat cards like Iona, Shield of Emeria into play.

Reprints

The following cards were printed in other sets before being printed in Portal Three Kingdoms:

• Balance of Power — first printed in Portal.
• Blaze — first printed in Portal, last seen in Sixth Edition.
• Coercion — first printed in Visions, last seen in Sixth Edition.
• Exhaustion — first printed in Portal, last seen in Urza's Saga.
• Extinguish — first printed in Portal Second Age.
• Lone Wolf — first printed in Portal Second Age, last seen in Urza's Legacy.
• Mystic Denial — first printed in Portal, last seen in Portal Second Age.
• Rally the Troops — first printed in Portal Second Age.
• Relentless Assault — first printed in Visions, last seen in Sixth Edition.
• Stalking Tiger — first printed in Mirage, last seen in Sixth Edition.
• Stone Rain — first printed in Alpha, last seen in Sixth Edition.
• Vengeance — first printed in Portal, last seen in Portal Second Age.
• Volunteer Militia — first printed in Portal Second Age.
• Warrior's Stand — first printed in Portal Second Age.

Functional reprints

The set included a large number of cards that were functional reprints of previously printed cards.

• Ambition's Cost is a functional reprint of Ancient Craving from Portal Second Age. It was reprinted in Eighth Edition with the flavor text from Ancient Craving instead.
• Barbarian Horde is a functional reprint of Hill Giant from Portal, Tor Giant from Ice Age, and Ogre Warrior from Portal Second Age, save for creature type.
• Borrowing 100,000 Arrows is a functional reprint of Theft of Dreams from Portal Second Age.
• Burning Fields, with errata text, is a functional reprint of Lava Axe from Urza's Saga.
• Capture of Jingzhou is a functional reprint of Temporal Manipulation from Portal Second Age.
• Champion's Victory is a functional reprint of Remove from Portal Second Age.
• Control of the Court is a functional reprint of Goblin Lore from Portal Second Age.
• Corrupt Court Official is a functional reprint of Ravenous Rats from Urza's Destiny, save for creature type.
• Eightfold Maze is a functional reprint of Just Fate from Portal Second Age.
• Eunuchs' Intrigues is a functional reprint of Goblin War Cry from Portal Second Age.
• False Defeat is a functional reprint of Breath of Life from Portal Second Age.
• False Mourning is a functional reprint of Salvage from Portal Second Age.
• Famine is a functional reprint of Dakmor Plague from Portal Second Age.
• Fire Ambush is a functional reprint of Volcanic Hammer from Portal Second Age.
• Fire Bowman is a functional reprint of Goblin Firestarter from Portal Second Age, save for creature type.
• Flanking Troops is a functional reprint of Seasoned Marshal from Urza's Saga and Alaborn Cavalier from Portal Second Age, save for creature type.
• Forced Retreat is a functional reprint of Time Ebb from Portal Second Age.
• Forest Bear is a functional reprint of Grizzly Bears from Sixth Edition, Balduvian Bears from Ice Age, Bear Cub from Portal Second Age and Barbary Apes from Legends, save for creature type.
• Ghostly Visit is a functional reprint of Hand of Death from Portal Second Age.
• Heavy Fog is a functional reprint of Deep Wood from Portal Second Age.
• Independent Troops is a functional reprint of Goblin Bully from Portal and Goblin Piker from Portal Second Age, save for creature type.
• Meng Huo's Horde is a functional reprint of Blanchwood Treefolk from Urza's Saga and Plated Wurm from Portal Second Age, save for creature type.
• Misfortune's Gain is a functional reprint of Path of Peace from Urza's Saga.
• Mountain Bandit is a functional reprint of Raging Goblin from Sixth Edition, save for creature type.
• Peach Garden Oath is a functional reprint of Festival of Trokin from Portal Second Age.
• Poison Arrow is a functional reprint of Dark Offering from Portal Second Age.
• Preemptive Strike is a functional reprint of False Summoning from Portal Second Age and Remove Soul from Sixth Edition, save for spell type. The radically different wording between the two cards shows the difficulty the designers had fitting countermagic in with the Portal rules system.
• Ravages of War is a functional reprint of Armageddon from Sixth Edition.
• Red Cliffs Armada is a functional reprint of Armored Galleon from Portal Second Age, save for creature type.
• Renegade Troops is a functional reprint of Ogre Berserker from Portal Second Age, save for creature type.
• Return to Battle is a functional reprint of Raise Dead from Sixth Edition.
• Rockslide Ambush is a functional reprint of Spitting Earth from Sixth Edition.
• Sage's Knowledge is a functional reprint of Déjà Vu from Portal Second Age.
• Shu Defender is a functional reprint of Town Sentry from Portal Second Age.
• Shu Elite Infantry is a functional reprint of Trokin High Guard from Portal Second Age, save for creature type.
• Shu Foot Soldiers is a functional reprint of Regal Unicorn from Sixth Edition and Alaborn Trooper from Portal Second Age, save for creature type.
• Shu Grain Caravan is a functional reprint of Venerable Monk from Sixth Edition, save for creature type.
• Slashing Tiger is a functional reprint of Razorclaw Bear from Portal Second Age, save for creature type.
• Southern Elephant is a functional reprint of Rowan Treefolk from Portal, save for creature type.
• Spoils of Victory is a functional reprint of Untamed Wilds from Sixth Edition.
• Straw Soldiers is a functional reprint of Talas Merchant from Portal Second Age, save for creature type.
• Taunting Challenge is a functional reprint of Alluring Scent from Portal Second Age.
• Three Visits is a functional reprint of Nature's Lore from Portal Second Age.
• Trained Cheetah is a functional reprint of Norwood Warrior from Portal Second Age, save for creature type.
• Trained Jackal is a functional reprint of Norwood Ranger from Portal Second Age, save for creature type.
• Virtuous Charge is a functional reprint of Warrior's Charge from Portal.
• Warrior's Oath is a functional reprint of Last Chance from Portal.
• Wei Infantry is a functional reprint of Skeletal Snake from Portal and Dakmor Scorpion from Portal Second Age, save for creature type.
• Wielding the Green Dragon is a functional reprint of Monstrous Growth from Portal Second Age.
• Wu Infantry is a functional reprint of Coral Eel from Portal and Coral Merfolk from Urza's Saga, save for creature type.
• Wu Longbowman is a functional reprint of Capricious Sorcerer from Portal and Apprentice Sorcerer from Portal Second Age, save for creature type.
• Wu Warship is a functional reprint of Steam Frigate from Portal Second Age, save for creature type.
• Yellow Scarves Troops is a functional reprint of Goblin Raider from Urza's Saga and Hulking Goblin from Portal, save for creature type.
• Young Wei Recruits is a functional reprint of Craven Knight from Portal, save for creature type.
• Zodiac Dog is a functional reprint of Goblin Spelunkers from Urza's Saga, save for creature type.
• Zodiac Horse is a functional reprint of River Bear from Portal Second Age and Bull Hippo from Urza's Saga, save for creature type.
• Zodiac Monkey is a functional reprint of Lynx from Portal Second Age, save for creature type.
• Zodiac Ox is a functional reprint of Wild Ox from Portal Second Age and Anaconda from Portal, save for creature type.
• Zodiac Pig is a functional reprint of Bog Wraith from Sixth Edition and Moor Fiend from Ice Age, save for creature type.
• Zodiac Rabbit is a functional reprint of Shanodin Dryads from Sixth Edition, save for creature type.
• Zodiac Rat is a functional reprint of Plague Beetle from Urza's Legacy, save for creature type.
• Zodiac Snake is a functional reprint of Bog Raiders from Urza's Saga and Raiding Nightstalker from Portal Second Age, save for creature type.
• Zodiac Tiger is a functional reprint of Heartwood Treefolk from Tempest, save for creature type.

Near-functional reprints

• Burning of Xinye is a near-functional reprint of Wildfire from Urza's Saga.
  • Unlike Wildfire, Burning of Xinye makes players destroy four lands they control rather than sacrifice them, which is functionally different in some cases (e.g. if there are any lands with indestructible). Additionally, Wildfire affects all players while Burning of Xinye only affects you and target opponent, making them functionally different in multiplayer.
• Deception is a near-functional reprint of Mind Rot from Portal.
  • Unlike Mind Rot, Deception can only target opponents.
• Imperial Edict is a near-functional reprint of Cruel Edict from Portal Second Age.
  • Unlike Cruel Edict, Imperial Edict destroys a creature an opponent chooses rather than making them sacrifice it, which is functionally different in some cases (e.g. if the opponent controls a creature with indestructible). Interestingly enough, both cards are printed with the exact same text, yet their Oracle wordings are different.

Misprints

• In the set's FAQ, it states that Riding the Dilu Horse was misprinted without the "until end of turn" clause and should be treated as though it had it, but when the set was given errata prior to being made tournament-legal, the card was instead given reminder text stating that the effect is permanent.
• Trained Cheetah lists collector number #155, should be #154.
• Trip Wire lists collector number #154, should be #156.
• Swamp (Japanese version) lists collector number #166, should be #174.

Theme decks

Portal Three Kingdoms is based on the famous Chinese epic of the Three Kingdoms, thus there are three theme decks. The preconstructed theme decks are:

Theme deck name	Colors Included
Shu Kingdom	W
Wei Kingdom			B
Wu Kingdom		U

Creature types

The following creature types are introduced in this expansion: Farmer (later changed to Human), Horse, Mystic, Pig (later changed to Boar), Rabbit, Rooster (later changed to Bird).

The following creature types are used in this expansion but also appear in previous sets: Advisor, Bear, Cheetah (later changed to Cat), Dog (later changed to Hound then back to Dog again), Dragon, Elephant, Goat, Jackal (later changed to Hound), Monkey (later changed to Ape), Ox, Rat, Ship (later changed to Soldier), Snake, Soldier, Tiger (later changed to Cat), Wolf.

Trivia

• At its release, Portal Three Kingdoms had the single longest set name in the game. It held this record until 2004, when it was met by Champions of Kamigawa and then again by Betrayers of Kamigawa in 2005. All three were then beaten by Ravnica: City of Guilds in 2005 as all four sets are equal in the number of letters in their names (19), but Ravnica is slightly longer due to its colon and third space. Note that although Portal Three Kingdoms is often incorrectly spelled Portal: Three Kingdoms, it would mean that Ravnica still was the longest by a single space.
• Borrowing 100,000 Arrows holds the record for the largest number in a card title.
• Zodiac Dragon is one of only five non-Changeling Dragons that has neither flying nor the ability to gain flying. The other Dragons without it are Mistform Ultimus, Shichifukujin Dragon, Henge Guardian and Elder Land Wurm, as although Dragon Engine also cannot fly, it currently does not have the Dragon creature type. Zodiac Dragon was hugely overvalued initially as people were unaware of its errata, believing it could be discarded repeatedly in one turn using a card like Wild Mongrel. It is currently one of the only cards with a power-level errata.
• Zodiac Rooster is the second of only four creatures printed with Plainswalk, the other three being Righteous Avengers, Graceful Antelope and Boggart Arsonists.

External links

• The Official Portal Three Kingdoms Product Page (old)
• Portal Three Kingdoms product information page — Wizards of the Coast (new)
• Wikipedia article on the history of the Three Kingdoms