Invasion

Invasion is the twenty-first Magic expansion and was released in October 2000 as the first set in the Invasion block.

Set details

Invasion contains 350 black-bordered cards (110 rare, 110 uncommon, 110 common, and 20 basic lands). Invasion's expansion symbol is the symbol of the coalition, a cooperative effort of Dominarian forces from all five colors banded together to oppose Yawgmoth and the Phyrexians.

The set featured some legendary cards of the Weatherlight's crew: Captain Sisay and Hanna, Ship's Navigator. It also introduced the kavu. The set was accompanied by the novel of the same name.

Design and Development

Mark Rosewater calls Invasion the beginning of the “Third Age of Magic Design”, in which sets and blocks were designed around a specific theme rather than a collection of mechanics.

The set’s primary mechanical focus was multicolored "gold" cards, absent since the Stronghold expansion. The designers used ideas from the unpublished Spectral Chaos set, designed by Alpha playtester Barry Reich. The most notable addition from Spectral Chaos was the Domain mechanic, which was nicknamed “The Barry Mechanic” at the time.

Invasion was initially designed to feature both allied and enemy multicolored cards. However, it was decided that it would be much more exciting if the enemy multicolored cards were held back until the last set in the block.

The set would also introduce split cards, originally designed for the canceled Unglued 2. These cards were extremely controversial within Wizards of the Coast during Invasion’s development because they were considered too strange. According to Mark Rosewater, only himself, Bill Rose, and Richard Garfield initially liked them. The first development meeting for the set started with the question: “Can we just kill these things?” However, opinions turned around once people started playing with the cards.

Invasion was also the first set to see a significant presence of former Pro Tour players and judges on its development team. These developers were hired to improve card balance in the aftermath of the overpowered Urza's block. For example, Randy Buehler’s first development contribution was convincing the rest of R&D that the cycle of tapped dual lands in Invasion wasn’t too powerful.

Invasion also introduced the gradient dual-colored land text boxes for lands producing mana of two different colors, such as Coastal Tower and Elfhame Palace, which would be used in all subsequent expansions and editions of Magic.

Release and Reception

Split cards were not previewed before the set’s release because Wizards thought that they would have a much greater impact if they were a surprise. This strategy was almost ruined when a sheet of Invasion cards leaked early online. However, players who saw the split cards on the sheet concluded that they must be some sort of test printing and dismissed them.

The popularity and appeal of gold cards and the new split cards along with a high but balanced power level culminated into making Invasion one of the most popular Magic sets in the game's history.

Storyline

As the hordes of Phyrexia begin pouring into Dominaria, the world looks to Urza, planeswalker and master artificer, for defense against the onslaught. As entire cultures fall under the Phyrexian hell, Urza gathers heroes, renegades, common folk, and powerful artifacts to fight the invasion.

Storyline sources

Marketing

Invasion was sold in 75-card tournament decks, 15-card boosters, four preconstructed theme decks and a fat pack. The booster packs featured artwork from Captain Sisay, Dromar, the Banisher, and Kavu Titan. At Invasion prerelease events on September 23, 2000, a foil Kavu Furens was handed out as a novelty. This was a Raging Kavu printed with Latin text. The set was accompanied by the novel of the same name.

Tokens

Several tokens for Invasion cards were offered as Magic Player Reward.

• 1/1 Saproling creature (for Verdeloth, the Ancient, Rith, the Awakener, Aura Mutation, Artifact Mutation, Saproling Symbiosis, Saproling Infestation)
• 3/3 Elephant creature (for Assault//Battery)
• 1/1 Bird creature with Flying (for Ordered Migration)

Mechanics

Invasion introduced the following mechanics:

• Domain — cards which increase in power depending on the number of different basic lands you have in play.
• Divvy — Phyrexian Portal from Alliances was the inspiration for this mechanic which a player separates several cards into two piles and the other player chooses what to do with them.
• Kicker — pay an extra cost for a bonus effect. Invasion's five-colored Coalition Symbol, or at least part of it, is buried in the art of most cards with the kicker ability.
• Split cards — cards with two sides, each with different costs and effects respectively, effectively serving as modal spells.

Creature types

The following creature types are introduced in this expansion: Kavu, Plant.

The following creature types are used in this expansion but also appear in previous sets: Angel, Assassin, Barbarian, Bird, Cat, Cleric, Crab, Djinn, Dragon, Drake, Dryad, Elemental, Elephant, Elf, Faerie, Giant, Goblin, Golem, Guardian (later changed to Soldier), Griffin, Horror, Knight, Leech, Lord (later changed to Elf), Merfolk, Minion, Mongoose, Rat, Serpent, Shade, Ship (later changed to Metathran), Skeleton, Soldier, Specter, Spider, Treefolk, Troll, Unicorn, Wall, Wizard, Wurm, Zombie.

Cycles

Invasion has 25 cycles:

Mega Vertical cycles

Mega-mega cycles

Pairs

Invasion has four mirrored pairs and two matched pairs.

Mirrored Pairs

Matched Pairs

Reprinted cards

The following 20 cards have been reprinted from previous sets and included in Invasion.

• Angel of Mercy — was last seen in Starter 1999.
• Blinding Light — was last seen in Starter 1999.
• Crown of Flames — was last seen in Tempest.
• Cursed Flesh — was last seen in Exodus.
• Disrupt — was last seen in Weatherlight.
• Fertile Ground — was last seen in Battle Royale.
• Harrow — was last seen in Tempest.
• Holy Day — was last seen in Legends.
• Lobotomy — was last seen in Tempest.
• Maniacal Rage — was last seen in Battle Royale.
• Phantasmal Terrain — was last seen in 6th Edition.
• Quirion Elves — was last seen in Mirage.
• Ravenous Rats — was last seen in Starter 1999.
• Reckless Spite — was last seen in Tempest.
• Shackles — was last seen in Exodus.
• Shimmering Wings — was last seen in Tempest.
• Simoon — was last seen in Visions.
• Soul Burn — was last seen in Ice Age.
• Stun — was last seen in Tempest.
• Tranquility — was last seen in Battle Royale.

Functional reprints

Invasion has eleven functional reprints:

• Ancient Kavu is a functional reprint of Raging Spirit from Mirage, save for creature type.
• Benalish Trapper is a functional reprint of Master Decoy from Tempest.
• Horned Cheetah is a functional reprint of Zebra Unicorn from Mirage, save for creature type.
• Hunting Kavu is a functional reprint of Giant Trap Door Spider from Ice Age, save for creature type.
• Metathran Transport is a functional reprint of Fylamarid from Tempest, save for creature type.
• Metathran Zombie is a functional reprint of Drowned from The Dark.
• Phyrexian Battleflies is a functional reprint of Pit Imp from Tempest and Vampire Bats from Legends, save for creature type.
• Razorfoot Griffin is a functional reprint of Ekundu Griffin from Mirage.
• Teferi's Care is a functional reprint of Arenson's Aura from Ice Age.
• Urborg Shambler is a functional reprint of Stronghold Taskmaster from Stronghold, save for creature type.
• Vodalian Merchant is a functional reprint of Merfolk Traders from Weatherlight.

Misprint

• The prerelease version of Raging Kavu shows a copyright line of 1993–1999, and is the only Invasion card to have these dates; Invasion was released in late 2000.

Notable cards

• Absorb — A staple in legacy Blue/White Control.
• Artifact Mutation — Vintage anti-artifact.
• Assault//Battery — The first split card ever created by R&D. Originally made as a one-off for the canceled Unglued 2 set, where it was called Hit//Run. Eventually, it was expanded to an allied-color cycle before being moved to Invasion.
• Dueling Grounds
• Fact or Fiction — A powerful blue draw spell.
• Fires of Yavimaya
• Sabertooth Nishoba
• Urza's Rage
• Tribal Flames — A staple in legacy five color zoo.

Preconstructed decks

Invasion has four theme decks.