Antiquities (Magic: The Gathering)
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| Antiquities | ||
|---|---|---|
| Release date | March 1994 | |
| Mechanics | Artifacts, artifact effects |
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| Keywords | None new | |
| Size | 100 cards | |
| Expansion code | ATQ (AQ)
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| Magic: The Gathering Chronology |
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| Arabian Nights | Antiquities | Revised |
Antiquities was the fifth Magic: The Gathering set and the second expert level expansion set. It was the first set to have an original backstory and explore the mythos of the Magic universe (see Magic: The Gathering storylines). The set was created by the group of students at the University of Pennsylvania that had helped Richard Garfield design the original game. The expansion symbol for Antiquities was an anvil.
Antiquities managed to solve many of the printing errors that had plagued previous sets, although the expansion symbol was omitted from Reconstruction. The only major problem noticed by players was the poor collation of the set; many booster boxes contained several packs with exactly the same cards in each, making it next-to-impossible for players in many parts of the country to collect complete sets. To correct this, Wizards of the Coast introduced a "buyback" program, allowing players to trade in their excess cards for money. This backfired on many players who took early advantage of it as Antiquities cards soon began rising in price on the secondary-sales market. In the UK at least, the 'buyback' was limited to the uncommon cards; however, it was possible to exchange these for cards from the previous Arabian Nights expansion too.
[edit] Notable cards
- Hurkyl's Recall: In an expansion with so many artifacts, returning all artifacts in play to an owner's hand could be devastating, particularly when combined with cards that do damage based on the number of cards in one's hand such as the Black Vise. It sees use in some modern type 1 combo decks, because it can be used to return tapped artifacts such as Moxen and Mana Vault to owner's hand, so that they can be re-played and tapped again for more mana.
- Millstone: A card created to take advantage of the rule that stated that players lost the game when they ran out of cards to draw. Millstone became a staple of deckbuilding for years, and even today, any effect that puts cards from one's library to their graveyard is known as "milling".
- Mishra's Factory: As the first land that becomes a creature, the Factory has been used time and again as an uncounterable threat in control decks.
- Mishra's Workshop: A degenerate mana-booster for artifacts, the Workshop is the highest-priced card of the set today. This is the cornerstone of the entire Prison archetype in Vintage, that uses the mana abundance of workshop to play relatively expensive game-warping artifacts on the first turn.
- Strip Mine: A land that can be used for colorless mana (perfect for casting artifacts), or sacrificed to destroy a land in play. This mana denial later proved powerful enough to restrict it in Vintage.
- Golgothian Sylex: The second card to care about what expansion another card is from (the first is Arabian Nights' City in a Bottle). The concept of affecting cards from a specific set was soon abandoned due to the fact that many cards originally printed in these expansions began appearing in the main set with no expansion symbols at all. This artifact ties into the ending of the Antiquities storyline, as Urza activates the sylex bowl and Obliterates the forest of Argoth, as well as two whole armies with it.
[edit] Storyline
The story of Antiquities takes place on the plane of Dominaria and centers on the two brothers Urza and Mishra. Very old and incredibly powerful artifacts from the age of the Thran have been uncovered, and in a hidden cave, the two brothers find a magical stone. They battle for control of it, and their struggle, later renamed the Brothers' War, soon spans the continent of Terisiare. Both sides use the ancient artifacts of the Thran for their benefit and bring destruction to the world. The culmination of Urza's and Mishra's conflict was revealed in the 1998 expansion set Urza's Saga.
