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Visions (Magic: The Gathering) |
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| Visions | |||||
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| Released | February 1997 | ||||
| Size | 167 cards | ||||
| Keywords | Flanking, Phasing, cumulative upkeep | ||||
| Mechanics | Come into play abilities, poison, insta-enchantments | ||||
| Dev. code | Mirage, Jr. | ||||
| Exp. code | VIS | ||||
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| Second set in the Mirage Block block | |||||
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Visions was the sixteenth Magic: The Gathering set and tenth expert level set, released in February 1997. This expansion continued the Mirage block by using the same setting and mechanics introduced in Mirage. The expansion symbol for Visions is a V-shaped symbol, which is the "triangle of war" used by the Zhalfir in the story.
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The story continues the struggle between the nations of Jamuraa against the evil Kaervek, only now Femeref has been destroyed and Suq'Ata and Zhalfir begin to have internal problems as well. There is hope, however, when Kaervek's ally Jolrael betrays him at the urging of the planeswalker Teferi. Jamuraa's leaders, led by Jolrael's visions, free Mangara from the amber prison and begin to fight against Kaervek.
The Visions expansion originated as a split from "Menagerie" (the original name for Mirage), which had grown too large for a single set. For a brief time during its development, Visions was known by the codename "Mirage Jr." It received its final name shortly later.1
Visions was the first set to have the same name as a Magic card printed earlier: Visions, the card, was first printed in Legends (1994). The card and the set are otherwise unrelated.
Visions was the first set to have a wide dispersal of pre-releases.
At the time of its release, Visions was a "first" in the release of quality cards at the common level; examples include Uktabi Orangutan and River Boa. River Boa (at that time) was considered "very good", with two abilities (Islandwalk and Regeneration) and a 2/1 power/toughness at a casting cost of only two mana.
Visions was the start of the "speeding up" of red decks. Red decks began to get faster due to a card from Visions: Fireblast. In the late game players could now sacrifice two mountains to deal four damage to opponents. This proved to be essential as burn decks became all the rage. Decks were sporting "pure burn", essentially: four Lightning Bolt, four Incinerate, four Fireblast, which made it very easy for the red player to deal twenty damage to their opponents, or in today's colloquial, it "increased the reach" of the red player. Fireblast was also common rarity.
Visions was the last set to contain a poison creature (one that creates poison counters) until the reprinting of the timeshifted Swamp Mosquito in Time Spiral. The Suq'Ata Assassin was the last new poison creature created by Wizards for 10 years before the release of Future Sight's Virulent Sliver.
Wizards of the Coast started selling Visions cards for Magic: The Gathering Online on April 10, 2006. The cards became legal to use in several formats as they went on sale. Official release events were held on April 13.2
Visions included many creatures that had abilities that triggered upon entering play. This meant that some creatures could now do things normally reserved to instants, sorceries, or costly activated abilities. These "comes-into-play" creatures could also combo well with cards that returned creatures to a player's hand.
The Karoos were a cycle of 5 lands that came into play tapped, and required you to return a land to your hand to play them. They would set you back one turn, but reward you with an extra mana on the next. Similar cards later appear in Ravnica, Guildpact and Dissension.
The Chimeras were a cycle of 4 artifact creatures that could be combined into one giant monster with many abilities. This cycle resembles the Nightstalker cycle, but even being colorless, the cards never saw much play.
While this set did not introduce any new keyworded mechanics it expanded on flanking and phasing that were introduced in Mirage. The insta-enchantments also made appearance on the set.
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