Mirage was the first official block structure in Magic: The Gathering. This new block structure consisted of three expansion sets and would continue for nearly two decades, finally ending with Khans of Tarkir in 2014. The new block structure also set up the precedent that the first set in the block also became the name for the entire block. Mirage block consisted of three sets: Mirage, Visions and Weatherlight.

Storyline

The story concerns three of the most powerful nations of Jamuraa (a tropical continent modeled after Africa) — the militaristic kingdom of the Zhalfirins, the religious state of Femeref, and the trading province of the Suq'Ata empire. Zhalfir was the warrior nation, based mainly on red. Femeref was mainly white, and featured clerics and healers, while the seafaring traders of Suq'Ata were mostly blue. Mirage concerned these three nations and their struggle against the evil wizard Kaervek. Kaervek has imprisoned the powerful wizard and diplomat Mangara in an amber prison, and the bulk of the story details the Jamuraans attempting to free Mangara. In addition to these events the planeswalker Teferi has caused his island to disappear from existence for almost 200 years. It is the phasing of the entire island that led Kaervek and Mangara to Jamuraa in the first place.

By the time of Visions, Femeref has been destroyed and Suq'Ata and Zhalfir begin to have internal problems as well. There is hope, however, when Kaervek's ally Jolrael betrays him at the urging of the planeswalker Teferi. Jamuraa's leaders, led by Jolrael's visions, free Mangara from the amber prison and begin to fight against Kaervek.

The storyline of Weatherlight is closely tied to the Weatherlight Saga. The story introduces the Weatherlight and her crew, who travel the planes of the multiverse in search of ancient artifacts known collectively as the Legacy. The captain of the ship, Sisay, is abducted to the shadowy world of Rath. Her old friend and crewmate, a former soldier named Gerrard, is pressed into taking command of the ship to rescue her. The story is continued in Magics Tempest set.

Weatherlight Saga

The Weatherlight set was accompanied by a series of fictional works collectively known as the Weatherlight Saga. The saga was intended to be a "hero's journey"-style story, in which the characters were classic archetypes. Each was also assigned to represent a color in Magics color wheel, so that the narrative and mechanical elements of the project would be more closely joined.

Then-developer Mark Rosewater chose the skyship Weatherlight and its captain, Sisay, as the germ of the new story. Rosewater has stated that making the story about a ship allowed for narrative flexibility in setting. After developing story and character ideas with Michael Ryan, Rosewater pitched the Saga idea to his bosses. The Saga was heavily referenced in the flavor text and card names of the set.

Weatherlight marks a turning point in design and marketing philosophy for the Magic game and brand. While previous sets included allusions to an overarching story, Weatherlight was the first set to explicitly tell an ordered narrative focused on developed, archetypical characters. Weatherlight marks the first use of a metaplot tied to a Magic set. The first novel, Rath and Storm, covers events shown in the Weatherlight set, while later novels tell stories for later game sets. It is referenced in sets until Apocalypse, although the aftermath of Saga events continued to be explored thereafter.

Set history

Mirage

Like Ice Age, Mirage began as a set of modifications to Alpha by a group of Richard Garfield's playtesters in winter 1992. Bill Rose, Charlie Catino, Joel Mick, Howard Kahlenberg, Don Felice and Elliott Segal created gameplay modifications and new cards that developed into "Menagerie", which developed over the course of three years. In October 1995, Mirage was sent to Wizards of the Coast for development. Rose led the development team of Mike Elliott, William Jockusch and Mark Rosewater, while Art Director Sue-Ann Harkey provided Mirages African influenced look.

Mirage was created as an introduction to Jamuraa, It was the first set to be designed with Limited and Constructed play in mind. Previous designs had been imbalanced for formats like draft and sealed-deck, and cards were designed for casual players rather than with thought of their impact on the tournament scene.

On December 5, 2005, Mirage was released on Magic: The Gathering Online and was the first retroactively released set there. This was the first time in the three-and-a-half years that the online version of the game had existed that an expansion older than Invasion (2000) became playable on MTG Online. With their introduction on MTG Online, all Mirage cards received updated creature types and wordings to bring them in line with modern Magic cards.

It also introduced 5th Edition rules (5th Edition was released in March 1997).

Visions

The Visions expansion originated as a split from "Menagerie" (the original name for Mirage), which had grown too large for a single set. For a brief time during its development, Visions was known by the codename "Mirage Jr." It received its final name shortly later. Visions was the first set to have the same name as a Magic card printed earlier, and the first set to have a wide dispersal of pre-releases. A subset of 25 cards were randomly included in 15-card booster packs packaged in the Magic: The Gathering Multiverse Gift Box released months before Visions official release.

At the time of its release, Visions was a "first" in the release of quality cards at the common level. For instance, River Boa was considered "very good" compared to other green creatures, with two abilities (Islandwalk and Regeneration) and a 2/1 power/toughness at a casting cost of only two mana.

Visions was the last set to contain a poison creature (one that creates poison counters) until Swamp Mosquito was reprinted in Time Spiral. Visionss Suq'Ata Assassin was the last new poison creature created by Wizards for 10 years, until Virulent Sliver appeared in Future Sight.

Wizards of the Coast started selling Visions cards for Magic: The Gathering Online on April 10, 2006. The cards became legal to use in several formats as they went on sale. Official release events were held on April 13.

Mechanics

Mirage introduced the first cycle of "charms". A charm is a spell that allow a player to choose among three different effects when the charm is played.

The art depicted on Mirage cards was inspired by African art motifs that depicted a "sophisticated society".

Paul Pettengale reviewed Visions for Arcane magazine, rating it a 7 out of 10 overall, and stated that "Despite having the same, high-quality artwork boasted by the Mirage expansion, and despite being set in the same area of Dominia, Visions fails to live up to the playability of Mirage. It has some real gem cards thrown into the mix but the set as a whole fails to alter the game in any way and, to my mind, that's just what an expansion should do."

Reviews

  • Backstab #2

References

Further reading

  • Wizard's official page for Mirage
  • Wizards of the Coast's official page for Visions

ru:Наборы и издания Magic: The Gathering#Мираж / Mirage (1996/1997)