Fifth Dawn

Fifth Dawn is the third set in the Mirrodin block. It is the thirty-second Magic: The Gathering expansion and was released on June 4, 2004. The prerelease was May 22–23, 2004.

Set details

Fifth Dawn contains 165 black-bordered cards (55 rare, 55 uncommon, and 55 commons). Like its predecessors Mirrodin and Darksteel, the set has a high artifact count (65). However, the set also has a distinct five-color matters theme. The set introduced a darker frame on artifact cards to help distinguish from white cards, a problem that had occurred since the introduction of the Eighth Edition card frame. Fifth Dawn's expansion symbol is a small image of the Helm of Kaldra, one of the three Kaldra artifacts.

Marketing

Fifth Dawn was sold in 15-card boosters, four preconstructed theme decks and a fat pack. The booster packs featured artwork from Etched Oracle, Fist of Suns, and Bringer of the Red Dawn. The prerelease card was a foil alternate art Helm of Kaldra. The set was accompanied by the novel of the same name, written by Cory Herndon.

Tokens

A 1/1 Myr Token for Myr Incubator and a 3/3 Beast Token for Bringer of the Green Dawn were offered as Magic Player Reward. A 2/2 colorless Pincher creature token for Summoning Station was created for a Player Reward as well, but in the end, was only used on Magic Online.

Flavor and storyline

Glissa, Bosh and Slobad journey deep within Mirrodin's core to confront the insidious Memnarch. With them is the Kaldra avatar—an immensely powerful being of energy summoned when Kaldra's sword, shield, and helm were brought together. But what was supposed to be the world's salvation turns out to be a vile trick. Memnarch seizes the avatar with a single spell and turns it on Glissa and her companions. Kaldra's avatar relentlessly pursues Glissa into the Tangle, destroying everything in its way. Finally, at the Radix, Glissa's destiny becomes clear. As rage and despair overcome her, Glissa's body calls forth a great column of green mana from Mirrodin's core, annihilating the avatar in the process. Now that mana hangs overhead in a glowing sphere—the green sun at last, Mirrodin's fifth dawn.

Storyline sources

Themes and mechanics

Fifth Dawn had a "Machine Feel", with "Cogs", "Engines", "Batteries", "Spouts", and "Stations". "Cogs" are and -cost artifacts with small effects (e.g. Ornithopter, Razorgrass Screen). "Engines" turn one resource into another (e.g. Blasting Station, Clock of Omens); "Batteries" build up resources over time (e.g. Gemstone Array); "Spouts" are artifacts that allow you to turn a resource into some effect that will either win you the game or help you control the board (e.g. Avarice Totem, Goblin Cannon). "Stations" formed the "Great Machine" which together can produce infinite creatures, deal infinite damage, and mill infinite cards — Blasting Station, Grinding Station, Salvaging Station, and Summoning Station. The artwork of the stations forms a mural.

The set sported several cards that were perfectly suited for the casual prismatic format (five-color matters). Some cards got a bonus for different colored mana spent on them, other cards that were specifically to be cast for .

Fifth Dawn introduced two new abilities:

• Sunburst — An artifact with sunburst enters the Battlefield with counters on it based on the number of colors of mana you used to pay its cost. The more colors of mana you have in your deck, the better your sunburst cards become. Artifact creatures enter the battlefield with +1/+1 counters while non-creature artifacts gain charge counters instead. Cards with the Sunburst ability all share a visual cue - Mirrodin's five suns somewhere in the art.
• Scry — Some Fifth Dawn instants and sorceries let you look at the top two cards of your library and then decide where you want to put them. You can put both cards on either the top or bottom of your library in any order, or you can put one card on the top and one on the bottom. In Fifth Dawn, the mechanic only lets the caster look at the top two cards. At a later revision in Future Sight, the template of Scry was changed so several cards specified with the ability would be viewed.

Creature types

The creature types Bringer, Pincher and (retroactively) Rigger was introduced in this expansion.

The following creature types that are not new to Magic are used in this expansion:

Cycles

Fifth Dawn has three cycles:

Mega cycle

Mega-mega cycles

For each of the visits to Mirrodin in this set, Mirrodin Besieged, and Phyrexia: All Will Be One, a cycle of instants or sorceries has been printed that depicts the suns at their dawn, peak, and sunset, with a mechanical link to the next cycle. Here, the Beacon cycle shows when each sun dawns and the spells shuffle themselves into their owner's library. The Zenith cycle in the Mirrodin Besieged also shuffles themselves into their owner's library.

Pairs

Fifth Dawn has one mirrored pair.

Reprinted cards

• Circle of Protection: Artifacts, first printed in Antiquities, last seen in 5th Edition
• Magma Giant, first printed in Portal Second Age
• Relic Barrier, first printed in Legends

Functional reprints

• Dross Crocodile, functional reprint of Skeletal Crocodile (Portal) but a Zombie instead of a skeleton
• Sylvok Explorer, functional reprint of Quirion Explorer (Planeshift) save for creature type
• Thought Courier, functional reprint of Merfolk Looter (Exodus) save for creature type

Notable cards

Banned and restricted cards

• Cranial Plating was the final piece of the puzzle that made Affinity a broken deck, with its power still present today. It made the many innocuous artifact creatures individual threats, and its power only increased as more cheap artifacts were printed. It was banned in Pauper during its debut as a Magic Online format in 2009.
• Krark-Clan Ironworks was an engine without a shell until 2017 when a complex loop including Scrap Trawler created the successor to the Second Sunrise combo deck that was banned after the first Modern tournament. The loop also exploited rules regarding mana abilities, making it even more difficult to interact, but piloting it was difficult enough to keep out of the general populace. After enough players mastered it, it was banned in January 2019.

Mechanical oddities

• Summoning Station, Salvaging Station, and either Grinding Station or Blasting Station create an intentional infinite loop with any artifact fetchable with Salvaging Station. Grinding Station retains viability even now with Moxes, which are often Legendary.
• With Moriok Rigger carrying the Rigger name, it is the only Rigger printed outside of an Acorn set (compare Steamflogger Boss) and does not interact with Contraptions. Ironically, its artifact text does not even let it do so, as Contraptions use the Scrapyard.
• Lantern of Insight spawned an unusual and infamously miserable "Lantern Control" deck that used small mill artifacts to prevent the opponent from drawing relevant spells.
• Blinkmoth Infusion is the most expensive instant in the game.
• Spinal Parasite is the only creature in the game with negative toughness, and the only one with negative power until Char-Rumbler in Future Sight.
• Goblin Cannon has an unusual template that sacrifices upon resolution instead of a cost (contrast with Experimental Frenzy), and so is only optimally used when holding priority and activated multiple times.

Callbacks

• Relentless Rats inspired the Relentless mechanic, itself inspired by Plague Rats.
• Anodet Lurker has an unusual lineage with Soul Net an artifact that gained one life upon creatures dying. This inspired Onulet: it gained two life on death and was meant to be "Onulets" (an anagram of Soul Net) but the art came back with a singular figure, hence removing the plural. Anodet Lurker is an anagram of "Darker Onulet", and gained three life on death. Enatu Golem (from "Mega Onulet") gained four life, and was the last in the series in Rise of the Eldrazi.
• Lunar Avenger is inspired by Urza's Avenger.
• Paradise Mantle refers to Birds of Paradise.

Preconstructed decks

Fifth Dawn has three bicolored and one pentachromatic theme decks.

External links

• Scott Wills (June 21, 2004). "Fifth Dawn: Conclusions". magicthegathering.com. Wizards of the Coast.
• Mark Rosewater (March 14, 2023). "Lesson Learned, Part 1". magicthegathering.com. Wizards of the Coast.

References