Theros

Theros

Released	September 27, 2013
Size	249 cards (15 Mythic Rare, 53 Rare, 60 Uncommon, 101 Common, 20 Basic Land)[1]
Designers	Mark Rosewater (lead), Ethan Fleischer, Ken Nagle, Zac Hill, and Jenna Helland
Developers	Erik Lauer (lead), Zac Hill, Dave Humpherys, Doug Beyer, Shawn Main, and Tom LaPille
Development code	Friends
Expansion code	THS
First[2] set in the Theros block
← Magic 2014 Born of the Gods →

Born of the Gods

Released	February 7, 2014
Size	165 cards[3]
Designers	Ken Nagle (lead), Ethan Fleischer, Billy Moreno, Mark Rosewater, Ryan Spain
Developers	Tom LaPille (lead), Chris Dupris, Mark Gottlieb, David Humphreys, Billy Moreno, Matt Tabak
Development code	Romans
Expansion code	BNG
Second[3] set in the Theros block
← Theros Journey Into Nyx →

Theros is a Magic: The Gathering block, consisting of the expansion sets Theros (September 27, 2013), Born of the Gods (February 7, 2014) and Journey into Nyx (May 2014).^[2] The block is top-down-designed and is based on Greek mythology. It introduces the creature type God, the keywords Devotion, Monstrous, and Bestow, the ability word Heroic, and brings back the mechanic Scry. Its nonbasic lands include the rare Temples, which come into the battlefield tapped, give you one of two colors of mana (similar to Gates in the Return to Ravnica block) and let you Scry 1 when they come into play.^[5]

Storyline

Nyx is depicted as the land of night and home of the gods as believed by the inhabitants of Theros. As a result, dreams are believed to be messages from the gods. When the likenesses of the gods appear in the night sky, it's as though the gods are inhabiting both the mortal and spiritual world at the same time. Enchantments are gifts from the gods, and the gods themselves are Living Enchantments. Each color has its own god: Heliod, God of the Sun (white), Thassa, God of the Sea (blue), Erebos, God of the Dead (black), Purphoros, God of the Forge (red), and Nylea, God of the Hunt (green).^[6]

There are three major cities, each known as a poleis (spelled "polis" on some cards^[7]). They are Meletis, city of learning, magic, and progress sitting on the coast surrounded by rivers and grassland; Akros, city of die-hard warriors surrounded by mountains that restrict contact with the rest of the plane; and Setessa, a city close to nature that puts a lot of emphasis on families.^[8]

Set details

Theros

The first set of the block, Theros, was released on September 27, 2013. This large set consists of 249 cards, three of which are Planeswalkers: The white Elspeth, Sun's Champion; the blue/black Ashiok, Nightmare Weaver; and the red/green Xenagos, the Reveler.^[5] The set contains five of the block's ten "scry lands," a cycle of dual lands that come into play tapped and allow its controller to Scry 1 when it enters the battlefield.

The set introduced several new mechanics and keywords, as well one returning keyword:

• Heroic: A keyword ability on certain creatures. Whenever you cast a spell targeting said creature, such as a "pump spell" that boost the creature's stats or an aura like the Bestow cards which also appear in the set, the Heroic creature gains a bonus or allows you to perform an action.
• Monstrous: An activated ability of creatures that can only be used once per game. When a creature's Monstrous ability is activated, it gains a specified number of +1/+1 counters. Additionally, some Monstrous creatures also have triggered, one-time effects on the game state, such as destroying lands or other creatures.
• Bestow: Theros introduces Enchantment Creatures as a new subtype in Magic, which symbolize creatures that have been blessed by the gods. A bestow creature can be cast as a creature for its normal cost, or it can be cast for its Bestow cost as an Aura. If so, it will attach itself to another creature and boost its stats for as long as it remains attached to that creature; additionally, if that creature is killed out from under it, the Bestow creature reverts to being a creature in its own right. For this reason, Bestowing a creature is always more expensive than "hard-casting" it.
• Devotion: An ability word that checks the number of colored mana symbols among all permanents you control. For example, one of the most popular devotion cards of the set, Gray Merchant of Asphodel, has an enters-the-battlefield ability that causes your opponents to lose life, and you to gain life, equal to your devotion to black. Additionally, Theros's pantheon are all played as Enchantments, only becoming creatures if your devotion to their colors has passed a certain threshold.
• Scry: A popular keyword that appeared as recently as the Magic 2011 core set, Scry allows players to look at a specified number of cards on top of their library, and choose to put those cards on the top or bottom of their library in the order they choose.

Born of the Gods

The second set of the block, Born of the Gods, was released on February 7, 2014. Born of the Gods is a small set consisting of 165 cards; of those, one is a planeswalker, the blue/green Kiora, the Crashing Wave. The set also introduces the ten "demigods" of Theros's pantheon, which are dual-colored and care about its controller's devotion to both of its colors. Born of the Gods features five of them with allied-color combinations; Journey Into Nyx will feature the remaining five.

The set sees the return of the Bestow and Heroic keyword abilities, as well as the keyword Scry and the ability word Devotion. A newly introduced mechanic, Inspired, is a triggered ability that occurs whenever an Inspired creature becomes untapped. The Monstrous ability has been replaced by Tribute; when a Tribute creature comes into play, an opponent may choose to give it a certain number of +1/+1 counters. If no opponents choose to do this, the Tribute creature has a one-time effect on the game state when it comes into play.

Journey into Nyx

The third set of the block, Journey into Nyx, will be released on May 2, 2014. It is a small set consisting of 165 cards. The set will complete the cycle of ten dual-colored "demigod" cards that debuted in Born of the Gods, as well as the cycle of ten "scry lands" that premiered in the first set of Theros.

References

"Theros Product Information". Retrieved 14 January 2014. 

External links

"Announcing the Magic 2014 Core Set".