Tempest

Tempest is the twelfth Magic expansion and was released in October 1997 as a standalone set, and as the first part of the Tempest block. The set continues the Weatherlight Saga on the stormy plane of Rath.

Set details

The 350-card black-bordered set is comprised of 110 commons, 110 uncommons, 110 rares, and 20 basic lands. Tempest's expansion symbol is a cloud with a lightning bolt, to symbolize Rath’s turbulent sky and Tempest’s tumultuous plot. This set was the first after Antiquities that featured Richard Garfield in an active role as designer.

Marketing

Tempest was the last set that was marketed as a standalone set, and the first that was advertised as an expert-level set in the new rating system for sets. Tempest cards were sold not only in traditional 60-card starter decks and 15-card boosters but also in a new form: pre-constructed theme decks. Using only Tempest cards, the design team built four theme decks, marketed as a ready-to-play introduction to the set. The accompanying booklet explained the play strategy for each deck and suggested ways to strengthen them by swapping in cards from other sets. Another difference from the previous large expansions came in the rulebook. Anyone buying Tempest cards could safely be assumed to have either a Fifth Edition rulebook or a friend who could teach them the game. So instead of reprinting all the rules in the Tempest booklet, WotC only printed a brief overview and a few pages describing the features that were new in the set. The rest of the booklet, some fifty pages, profiled the main characters and summarized the Tempest story. Each Tempest booster contained 15 cards: 11 commons, 3 uncommons, and 1 rare. The packs featured artwork from Auratog, Volrath's Curse, and Commander Greven il-Vec. Tempest was the first set to feature a special prerelease card: Dirtcowl Wurm. The card is non-foil, with the word "Prerelease" and the Magic "M" stamped in gold leaf on the type line.

The Official Guide to Tempest is a complete companion card set, written by Beth Moursund. This guide gives tips for playing in a Tempest-only environment and how to best use Tempest cards with Fifth Edition. There are full-color reproductions of all of the Tempest cards, along with information on the rarity of the cards and current errata.

Storyline

The set takes place on the stormy plane of Rath, where Gerrard and the heroes of the Skyship Weatherlight set out to find Volrath's stronghold.

Storyline sources

Mechanics and themes

The block mechanics Buyback and Shadow were introduced in this set. White, blue, and black have creatures with shadow (white Soltari, blue Thalakos, black Dauthi), while green and red have multiple methods of blocking creatures with shadow. The abilities associated with Slivers, Licids, Spikes, and flowstone were also introduced in this set. There are cycles of Slivers and Licids and one green Spike that served as a preview of sorts for the rest of the Spikes yet to appear in the block. Flowstone creatures are red.

Creature types

The following creature types are introduced in this expansion: Crab, Licid, Shapeshifter, Sliver, Spike.

The following creature types are used in this expansion but also appear in previous sets: Angel, Ape, Atog, Beast, Bird, Cat, Cleric, Dragon, Drake, Druid, Dryad, Elemental, Elephant, Elf, Faerie, Giant, Goblin, Hound, Illusion, Imp, Insect, Knight, Lizard, Merfolk, Minion, Ooze, Pegasus, Rat, Rhino, Salamander, Serpent, Skeleton, Soldier, Spider, Spirit, Treefolk, Thrull, Turtle, Vampire, Wall, Wizard, Wurm.

Cycles

Tempest has eleven cycles:

Mega cycle

Mega-mega cycle

Pairs

Tempest has two mirrored pairs.

Theme decks

Tempest was the first set to be released with pre-constructed theme decks. The decks are:

Notable cards

• Capsize was a notoriously miserable experience as a control finisher, as at every end step they could remove anything, and at a certain point their opponent's board began diminishing.
• Cold Storage confused players as written with the ability ": Put target creature you control on Cold Storage". With errata, it now reads ": Exile target creature you control." Duplicity has a similar effect.
• Ertai's Meddling later inspired Delay and consequently Suspend.
• Goblin Bombardment remains extremely powerful as a sacrifice outlet, being free to activate and is not as vulnerable as an enchantment.
• Humility was a seemingly simple enchantment with complicated layer implications due to timestamps (what was played before it / after it), especially when paired with Opalescence.
• Oracle en-Vec functionally forces your opponent to commit to attacks a turn in advance.
• Stalking Stones was the second printed creature to land and remains unusual in that it does so permanently. Newer designs would have it be sacrificed to put a token into play.
• Tradewind Rider was a staple in block constructed and extended bounce decks.
• Wasteland - Though strictly worse than Strip Mine, it is a staple in eternal formats where it is not restricted or banned.
• Escaped Shapeshifter is the first of many cards to "borrow" keyword abilities from other cards, listing out all of the keywords that it can have one by one.

Banned and restricted cards

• Earthcraft pairs with Squirrel Nest from Odyssey for a quick way to make an arbitrarily large number of creatures. It was banned in Standard in 1999, and in Legacy in 2003.
• Cursed Scroll is a powerful artifact when down to one card in hand. This card is worth even more in the Japanese language version as its activation cost was misprinted as instead of . It was banned for the Tempest Block format.
• Lotus Petal was a small version of Black Lotus, but it proved to be still too powerful and was eventually banned from the Legacy and Extended Formats, and restricted in the Vintage format.
• Grindstone combos with Painter's Servant from Shadowmoor to mill entire decks. While it was banned in Commander in 2008 shortly after, it was unbanned and Painter's Servant was banned instead in December 2009.

Reprinted cards

The following cards have been reprinted in Tempest from previous sets.

• Armored Pegasus — was last seen in Portal.
• Charging Rhino — was last seen in Portal.
• Circle of Protection: Black — was last seen in 5th Edition.
• Circle of Protection: Blue — was last seen in 5th Edition.
• Circle of Protection: Green — was last seen in 5th Edition.
• Circle of Protection: Red — was last seen in 5th Edition.
• Circle of Protection: White — was last seen in 5th Edition.
• Coercion — was last seen in Visions.
• Counterspell — was last seen in 5th Edition.
• Dark Banishing — was last seen in Mirage.
• Dark Ritual — was last seen in 5th Edition.
• Disenchant — was last seen in 5th Edition.
• Dream Cache — was last seen in Mirage.
• Enfeeblement — was last seen in Mirage.
• Gaseous Form — was last seen in 5th Edition.
• Giant Strength — was last seen in 5th Edition.
• Gravedigger — was last seen in Portal.
• Horned Turtle — was last seen in Portal.
• Natural Spring — was last seen in Portal.
• Needle Storm — was last seen in Portal.
• Pacifism — was last seen in Mirage.
• Power Sink — was last seen in 5th Edition.
• Rain of Tears — was last seen in Portal.
• Rampant Growth — was last seen in Mirage.
• Shatter — was last seen in 5th Edition.
• Spell Blast — was last seen in 5th Edition.
• Stone Rain — was last seen in Portal.
• Time Ebb — was last seen in Portal.
• Tranquility — was last seen in 5th Edition.
• Wind Drake — was last seen in Portal.
• Winter's Grasp — was last seen in Portal.

Functional reprints

Tempest has five functional reprints:

• Clergy En-vec is a functional reprint of Samite Healer from Fifth Edition.
• Pit Imp is a functional reprint of Vampire Bats from Fifth Edition, save for creature type.
• Rootwater Hunter is a functional reprint of Prodigal Sorcerer from Fifth Edition and Zuran Spellcaster from Ice Age, save for creature type.
• Skyshroud Troll is a functional reprint of Gorilla Chieftain from Alliances, save for creature type.
• Staunch Defenders is a functional reprint of Spiritual Guardian from Portal, save for creature type.

Colorshifted

Tempest has one colorshifted card:

• Sudden Impact is a colorshifted version of Storm Seeker from Legends (green to red).