is the name of expansion set. It came out in
October 2003 and contains 306 cards. It is also the name of the block containing the ''Mirrodin'', ''
Darksteel '' and ''
Fifth Dawn '' expansion sets. This expansion, as well as the rest of the block, is centered around artifacts and is only the second set to do so (from a card frequency point of view) since antiquities. One particular defining aspect of this set is the percentage of artifact cards is much higher than in any preceding set. ''Mirrodin'' 's expansion symbol is a small image of '''Sword of Kaldra''', a card from this set.
Mirrodin block proved to be a very fast paced block, easily overwhelming the later Kamigawa block by sheer speed and effectivness. This block's domination in tournaments lead to the banning of several cards in order to keep it on par with many other decks in Standard play, and even to a lesser extent Extended. Skullclamp was banned shortly after the release of Fifth Dawn, the third and final set in the block, as it proved to be too undercosted as a powerful card drawing engine. The Wizards design team has admitted that this card's cost to play and equip were modified shortly before the sets release and ample time to play test the change was not given due to the strict time schedule on production.
The place where the action occurs is also called
Mirrodin . It is the world made by planeswalker Karn and it consists mostly of metal. It is mostly populated by metallic artifact creatures.All organic life forms on Mirroden are born with metal incorporated in their bodies. Mirrodin is orbited by four suns (which are also called moons) of the four colours: red, black, white and blue (green notably absent). The major places of Mirrodin are:
- Oxidda Chain, Mountains, populated by Goblin s and the Vulshok tribe.
- The Tangle - dense jungle, populated by Elves , the human Sylvok tribe and horrible beasts.
- The Mephidross - a dreadful swamp, a home of Nim and the Moriok.
- Quicksilver Sea - as the name implies, it is the sea of quicksilver, and it is populated by Vedalken , and the Neurok tribe.
- The Razor Fields - the plains, overgrown with sharp metallic grass - this region is where live.
The main character of the story is the elf Glissa Sunseeker, who visits all these places, guided by curiosity about the surrounding world. The story is captured in the novel ''Moons of Mirrodin'' by Will McDermott .
''Mirrodin'' is notable for being the first expansion set to feature the new card front design (which debuted in ''''). Ironically, the high number of artifacts in ''Mirrodin'' highlighted the inherent flaw of the new design - white and artifact cards were very hard to distinguish from each other. The problem forced
Wizards to change the color of artifact cards to dark grey in ''Fifth Dawn''.
Below is the list of mechanics introduced by ''Mirrodin'':
- - this keyword reduces the total cost of the spell by the number of artifacts in play under your control. This mechanic was extremely powerful and "Affinity" decks quickly monopolised Magic: The Gathering tournaments (see below), eventually resulting in sweeping bannings of the most powerful Affinity-related cards in an effort to revive the tournament scene.
- - while artifact creatures were not a new story, ''Mirrodin'' introduced artifact lands. These were the great helpers to the previous mechanic, increasing the artifact count while still being considered lands.
- - this keyword allows a player to "imprint" some card on the artifact (removing that card from the game). That artifact's effect depends on the card imprinted (for example you can imprint a creature on '''Soul Foundry''' and then activate it to reproduce copies of that creature).
- - An ability on modal spells, which normally require a player to choose only one of multiple effects. By paying the Entwine cost, all of the effects occur.
- - new artifact subtype that denotes things which could be wielded or worn by creatures.
The major deck based on ''Mirrodin'' cards is "Affinity". These are the key cards of Affinity:
- Some deckbuilders went as far as replacing all the basic lands in the deck for affinity-friendly ones. They were banned from Standard tournaments on March 1 , 2005 .
- Creatures: (2/2 for 4 mana), ''' Myr Enforcer ''' (4/4 for 7 mana) and ''' Broodstar ''' (flying with variable power and toughness for 8 colorless and 2 blue mana) all had affinity for artifacts, allowing to play them almost for free. With '' Darksteel '' coming out Broodstar fell out of favor, being replaced by ''' Arcbound Ravager '''.
- a tuned down remake of the old ''Alpha'' Moxes it was still very strong in this deck, being a cheap artifact and mana producer. Despite its inferiority to the Alpha Moxen, Chrome Mox is still restricted in Vintage.
- - a card-drawing spell, providing more cards to be played - very important because Affinity decks play everything for cheap and run out of cards quickly.
- , used in some versions of affinity, deals 5 damage to any target (that's 1/4 of the opponent's life total) for just 2 mana and a loss of artifact.
- - a creature that caused its controller's opponent to lose life whenever an artifact was put into a graveyard. It was banned from Standard tournaments on March 1 , 2005 due to it's ability to combo with ''' Arcbound Ravager '''. It was eventually banned in Extended play, along with Aether Vial .
- is a green sorcery that searches for two creatures from the library or puts two creatures from the hand into play, and can be Entwined for nine mana. It is the namesake of one of the strongest Standard decks of its time, which used the Urza lands and green acceleration to play it as early as turn 4 and used creatures like Darksteel Colossus, Sundering Titan, Platinum Angel with Leonin Abunas, or Triskelion with Mephidross Vampire.
- is 2 mana artifact that allows for its controller to remove a one or two mana instant in his or her hand from the game. He or she can play a free copy of it at anytime by simply tapping the scepter and paying 2 mana. This card is often paired with Holy Day, Memory Lapse, Boomerang, and, most prominently, Orim's Chant in the well-known deck archetype ScepterChant.
- is one part of the equipment of the legendary warrior Kaldra (two other are released in the next two sets, '' Darksteel '' and '' Fifth Dawn ''). The small depiction of that sword is ''Mirrodin'' 's expansion symbol. That card was given out on the prerelease event of ''Mirrodin''.
- is the only tournament-legal Magic card that allows you to control your opponent's actions during his turn. The card was initially considered so strange that it was intended on being made for an Unglued sequel. When the sequel was cancelled, the card ended up in this set. (As a side note, a sequel to the Unglued set did eventually come out, called Unhinged .)
- was designed by Magic Invitational winner Jens Thoren , who is also depicted on the artwork of the card as an iron Golem .
- : Before the aforementioned Arcbound Ravager, this creature (which had affinity and also got bigger when you had more artifacts) was the usual staple card in Affinity decks. It fell out of favor in these decks when Darksteel was released.
- is a flying artifact creature which protects its controller from losing the game.
