Fifth Dawn
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| Fifth Dawn | ||
|---|---|---|
| Release date | June 4, 2004 | |
| Mechanics | 5 Colors, Cogs | |
| Keywords | Sunburst, Scry | |
| Size | 165 cards | |
| Expansion code | 5DN | |
| Development codename | Tomato
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| Sets in Mirrodin Block | ||
| Mirrodin | Darksteel | Fifth Dawn |
| Magic: The Gathering Chronology |
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| Darksteel | Fifth Dawn | Champions of Kamigawa |
Fifth Dawn is a Magic: The Gathering expansion set that came out in May 2004. It is the third and final set of the Mirrodin block. There are 165 cards overall, a high number of them are artifacts. However, Fifth Dawn adds a new twist to artifact theme of Mirrodin and Darksteel: it encourages using colored mana for playing artifact spells (see Sunburst mechanic below). Fifth Dawn 's expansion symbol is small image of Helm of Kaldra, a card from this set. Fifth Dawn was also noted to be a set based almost entirely on combo cards. Fans have called it a "second Urza's Saga".
Fifth Dawn was the first set to introduce a new card front design of artifacts: inner border color became more dark, so the artifacts would be less likely confused with white cards. On a side note, it is possible to collect a few cards with the new type set from older editions as well. These cards can only be bought as reprints appearing in the Fifth Dawn theme decks. These Darksteel and Mirrodin reprints are visibly different from their original printings when placed side-by-side.
[edit] Mechanics
- Sunburst - the artifact card with Sunburst gets +1/+1 counter (if it's creature) or a charge counter (if it's a noncreature artifact) for each color of mana used to pay for it.
- Scry - "Scry X" means "Look at the top X cards of your library. Put any number of them on the bottom of your library and the rest on top in any order." In Fifth Dawn scry was always 2, later in Future Sight this mechanic was reprinted with different scry values.
- The set also focuses on "cogs" (the artifacts that cost 1 or 0 mana, although they're not referred to as "cogs" in rules text) and on combo pieces. For example, it contains a cycle of four artifacts called stations that, when used together, formed an infinite combo, or a combination of cards that allows a player an infinite amount of some resource. They do not mention each other by name (and in fact are the first R&D designed combo not to do so), and so combinations of only two or three and some other card (such as March of the Machines from Mirrodin or Mycosynth Lattice from Darksteel) are also useful. This combo is also the first R&D-designed infinite combo; previous ones had effects that put a normally expensive creature into play or only worked if another specific card was in play.
[edit] Notable cards
- Bringers - A cycle of 5/5 creatures with trample, one for each color, each alternately costed at one mana of each color (effectively making them highly efficient 5/5 creatures for 5 mana with no drawbacks.) Most notable in the cycle are the Black Bringer, which allows its controller to tutor any card from their deck each turn, and the White Bringer, who's ability to recur an artifact from the graveyard each turn resulted in an infinite loop with Mindslaver.
- Crucible of Worlds - A unique artifact that has seen extensive tournament play, the Crucible allows its controller to play lands from their graveyard. It is often combined with lands that sacrifice for some effect (most notably Strip Mine) or with spells and creatures that destroy one's own lands (like Armageddon or Rathi Dragon).
- Beacons - A cycle of powerful sorceries that represent the raw magic of each of the 5 suns of Mirrodin. They all have the unique effect of being shuffled into the library on resolution rather than placed into the graveyard as normal. This allows them to be reused nearly indefinitely, and even repeatedly if there are few other cards in that library (or some way to bring them to the top each turn.)
- Vedalken Orrery - A powerful artifact that allows its contoller to play any non-land card in their deck at instant-speed.
- Staff of Domination - Quite possibly the most versatile artifact in the game, this staff's 5 activated abilities make it useful in a variety of situations on its own, as well as the cornerstone of many combos. Because it can untap itself, gain life and draw cards, it is a popular engine for "infinite mana" decks.
- Relentless Rats - The only known card in the entire game to break the "4-of maximum" rule in determining how many cards can be placed in a Magic deck. There is no limit on the number of Relentless Rats any deck may have.
