Card of the Day - April, 2009 | MAGIC: THE GATHERING

By Wizards of the Coast

Arcane Teachings – Tenth Edition uncommon. Sometimes, cards get new art to change the way they feel. One of the biggest changes for Tenth Edition was Arcane Teachings. The Arcane Teachings featured a bearded dwarven wizard writing a scroll, but the Arcane Teachings features a mage consumed with power and setting fire to things. Whoo!

The Ultimate Nightmare of Wizards of the Coast Customer Service – Unglued uncommon. With this card and Ow, Unglued had both the longest card name in Magic and the shortest. Both of those records would be broken in Unhinged, which had both Our Market Research Shows That Players Like Really Long Card Names So We Made this Card to Have the Absolute Longest Card Name Ever Elemental and the shortest name possible.

Maraxus of Keld – Weatherlight rare. Maraxus can be seen in Desperate Gambit fighting Gerrard. And he might win, except that you can see Starke of Rath in the background. And in Debt of Loyalty, we see that Starke has killed Maraxus.

Serra Inquisitors – Homelands uncommon. The Serra Inquisitors of Homelands are human followers of Serra, which explains why they get a built-in bonus when fighting black creatures.

Blockbuster – Ravnica: City of Guilds uncommon. In the real world, a "blockbuster" is a kind of bomb. In Ravnica, we see it actually blowing up an entire block. You can do that when your setting is an actual city!

Suleiman's Legacy – Visions rare. Suleiman originally appeared in Arabian Nights as King Suleiman, with the ability to tap to destroy a Djinn or Efreet. Strangely, Bottle of Suleiman's effect summons a Djinn. This is because it's the bottle that Suleiman used to capture one and now he can let it out any time he wants!

Standardize – Onslaught rare. The Oracle text for Standardize doesn't include "Legend" as a creature type you're not allowed to choose, because "Legend" is no longer a creature type. It still lists "Wall" to stay as close as possible to the original card, but it's not really relevant anymore now that "Can't Attack" is attached to the keyword "Defender" rather than the creature type "Wall".

Pauper's Cage – Mirage rare. Pauper's Cage is a "fixed" version of The Rack. The same idea has also appeared on Rackling and Wheel of Torture, although the most recent version was the original The Rack, appearing as a Timeshifted card in Time Spiral.

Kaleidostone – Conflux common. Originally, Kaleidostone and Armillary Sphere were swapped, but Doug Beyer felt that the art with the prism in it looked less concrete and more appropriate for the mana-related card, so he switched the names and arts.

Foresee – Future Sight common. Get it? Foresee? Four... See?

Goblin Spy – Invasion uncommon. Unlike most spies, the Goblin Spy spies on his own side and broadcasts the results to everyone. Unsurprisingly, this card was never that popular in the top-level tournaments.

Thieves' Fortune – Morningtide uncommon. The boggart in the art for Thieves' Fortune is looking through a window at four different possible futures, any of which could be the result of his trespassing. You can get a closer look at the art in this arcana.

Prophecy – Homelands common. Although Ihsan's Shade has protection from white, he appears in the pupil of the eye on the white card Prophecy. Spooky!

Future Sight – Onslaught rare. The art for Future Sight shows Ixidor, Reality Sculptor walking through his castle, seeing visions of himself in the future pleading with Akroma, Angel of Wrath, battling Kamahl, Pit Fighter, and facing off with Phage the Untouchable.

Nicol Bolas, Planeswalker – Conflux mythic rare. There's too much to say about Nicol Bolas, Planeswalker. After an entire week devoted to him, we've barely scratched the surface. So we're just going to direct you to Doug Beyer's feature article and Bolas's own Planeswalker page.

Elder Mastery – Conflux uncommon. Nicol Bolas is not averse to giving his minions a small amount of power so that they can serve him better. In the art for Elder Mastery, a necromancer has sprouted wings and is presumably about to soar forth and perform evil deeds on Bolas's behalf.

Cruel Ultimatum – Shards of Alara rare. Cruel Ultimatum hinted at an unfinished cycle: the other four Ultimatums had the four Shards of Alara planeswalkers in their art. The obvious assumption was that there was a missing black-aligned planeswalker, but the "higher power" alluded to in the flavor text turned out to mean the legendary blue-black-red character already known to be a planeswalker!

Imp's Mischief – Planar Chaos rare. Nicol Bolas's reach spans the multiverse and he shows up in the most unlikely places. Whenever there's a time rift, Bolas is probably involved in some way. So it's no surprise that although he wasn't officially part of the Planar Chaos storyline, he stops by to deliver Imp's Mischief's flavor text.

Nicol Bolas – From the Vault: Dragons rare. The flavor text on the From the Vault: Dragons version of Nicol Bolas refers to it as "Dominaria's most ancient evil." It's certainly a recurring villain, since its original appearance in Legends was followed by Chronicles and the Time Spiral timeshifted cards.

Magus of the Coffers – Planar Chaos rare. The Magus of the Coffers is, of course, a reference to Torment's Cabal Coffers. But did you notice that the Magus is actually standing in the very same coffers, many centuries later?

Jhoira's Toolbox – Urza's Legacy uncommon. Lists of the crew of the Weatherlight often neglect Jhoira, who was captain before Gerrard. And as you can see from her toolbox, she liked to combine the aesthetic and the utilitarian, which may explain why she had such a Urza's Blueprints.

Souls of the Faultless – Guildpact uncommon. Originally concepted as "Souls of the Vaultless", the name had to be changed when the flavor text came in referring to nobility rather than a lack of storage space. Note, however, that the original art was used. And sure enough, these souls appear to lack vaults!

Posted in Feature on April 1, 2009

Card of the Day - April, 2009

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