Planeshift

Planeshift is the twenty-second Magic expansion and was released in February 2001 as the second set and first small expansion in the Invasion Block.

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.

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.

Storyline sources

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:

Mega Vertical cycles

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

• Diabolic Intent — A cheap tutor capable of fetching any card in your library for the low cost of and the sacrifice of a creature.
• Draco — With a converted mana cost of 16, Draco is the most costly 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.
• Flametongue Kavu — A 4/2 that deals 4 damage to any creature when it comes into play for the cost of . A format-defining card, capable of destroying almost any blocker while putting a serious threat on the board and being reusable with the gating creatures (most notably Horned Kavu and Shivan Wurm, two other aggressively-costed creatures).
• Lord of the Undead — A Zombie lord with a recursive ability.
• Meddling Mage — This invitational card, designed in the image of Chris Pikula, 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 — Much like Meddling Mage, Orim's Chant prevent 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.
• Shivan Wurm — An aggressive 7/7 gating creature with Trample for that could easily come out turn 3 or 4.
• Voice of All — An 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, Voice of Truth completed it in Nemesis.

Preconstructed decks

Planeshift has four theme decks.