Homelands (Magic: The Gathering)
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| Homelands | ||
|---|---|---|
| Expansion Symbol |  |
|
| Release date | October 1995 | |
| Mechanics | None new | |
| Keywords | None new | |
| Size | 140 cards | |
| Magic: The Gathering Chronology |
||
| Chronicles | Homelands | Alliances |
Homelands was the thirteenth Magic: The Gathering set and seventh expansion set, released in October 1995. It was considered to be part of the Ice Age block until the announcement of Coldsnap in October 2005. It is generally regarded as the worst designed expansion ever printed for Magic.
Contents |
[edit] Storyline
The set takes place in a plane known as Ulgrotha. The plane was once a prime battleground for wizards, until the planeswalker Feroz happened upon it. He wished to protect the plane, so he, along with the planeswalker Serra, created a ban to keep other planeswalkers out. Feroz died in the process, and Serra is presumed by the planes' inhabitants to have died soon afterwards, though she reappeared again briefly in the novelization of a later set.
The events surrounding the set begin many years after Feroz's death, when his ban begins to fade. The residents of Ulgrotha (now known to its inhabitants as the Homelands) are at war with one another.
Homeland begins 600 years ago, during a war between the Tolgath, planeswalkers who desire knowledge, and the Ancients, wizards who are prepared to be cruel to defend 'their' mysteries. A Tolgath planeswalker named Ravi, used an artifact called the Apocalypse Chime, given to her by her master, to destroy all life and mana on Ulgrotha.
[edit] Mechanics
The 140-card set introduced no new mechanics or keywords; however, it did use some of the mechanics found in Ice Age. Most notably, Homelands used the "cantrip" ability: a cantrip spell in the Ice Age block allowed a player to draw a card at the beginning of the next turn in addition to a normally minor spell effect. Later cantrips allowed a player to draw a card immediately.
Homelands also included single-color legendary creatures, first found in Ice Age. In Homelands, each color had at least one legend, with some colors having as many as four.
[edit] Notable cards
Autumn Willow — A green Legend, her selectable untargetability made her a staple in many early green decks. She was the first creature printed to be untargetable; many more popular ones followed, and so Autumn Willow is seen as one of the set's few successes from a design standpoint.
Baron Sengir — A black Legend created to aid the popular core set creature Sengir Vampire, many players questioned the fact that he did not have the creature type "Vampire" and couldn't regenerate himself. Early templating made putting more than one creature type on a card problematic, and as Legend was its own creature type at the time, the designers couldn't make him a Vampire.
Ihsan's Shade — A very resilient black Legend, being immune to Terrors, Swords to Plowshares and Lightning Bolts, it was used considerably in Necro decks which were dominant during those times.
Memory Lapse — A cheap and technically "hard" counterspell (in that it unconditionally counters a spell), it required players to work around the fact that it returned the countered spell to the top of its owner's library in exchange for easier mana requirements. It went on to become a tournament staple on the strength of its cheap casting cost.
Merchant Scroll — A relatively cheap "fetch" card that let a player search through his or her library for any blue instant card. The fact that the card goes straight into his or her hand compensates for its slow sorcery speed and makes it playable in Vintage.
Serrated Arrows — One of the few tournament-viable cards in Homelands, this artifact allowed a player to get rid of small and medium-sized creatures quickly.
Timmerian Fiends — The last ante card in Magic; no sets after Homelands included ante cards.
[edit] Reception
The expansion had an unexpectedly low power level compared to previously released expansions, with very few cards used for competitive play. To exacerbate this problem, there was an eight month hiatus following its release in which no new expansions came out (the longest pause in Magic's history). In 2004, the expansion was called "Magic's all-time design low" by Lead Designer Mark Rosewater [1].
