Which have been Magic's most influential expansion sets?

Thicket · Joined: 18 Mar 2006 Posts: 80

I got into Magic right around when Fallen Empires was the hot new thing. Since then I've sort of faded into and out of interest for whatever reasons. So now that I'm back into it and see there have been soooo many expansion sets since, I'm curious your opinions: Which expansion sets, from Arabian Nights to Zendikar, have been the most influential on the game of Magic? (I'm including Xth editions as well, even if they're not technically considered expansions)

Whether because of single cards, crazy new deck possibilities, groundbreaking rule changes, whatever.. I'm curious which releases in Magic's history have had the most profound effects on the game, whether for good or bad, or even by having no effect at all if that was ever the case? And why?

I figure this should be a fun topic of discussion for some old schoolers who like to reminisce!

Ffancrzy · Joined: 30 Apr 2006 Posts: 127

Well I'm not old school by any means, but lets see.

In no particular order.

Beta (Poor missing cards in Alpha)
Arabian Knights (First Expansion)
Ice Age/Alliances (Necro/ FoW ect)
Unglued (Everyone loves silver boarders)
6th Edition (Rules Change)
Urza's Block (The entire thing is just filled with stupid broken cards)
Onslaught (Go go fetches)
Mirrodin Block (Most stupid broken set since Urza's)
Ravnica Block (NEW DUALS! oh and Bob and Hulk)
Future Sight(Tarmogoyf, obv)
Lorwin (Planeswalkers)
Magic 2010 (New RULES AGAIN!)

Yea, I think that sums it up

Alvaro21k · Joined: 28 Dec 2004 Posts: 74

I think Lorwyn block should be in that list, it had a big influence in every format, most notably the faeries and elves.

Ffancrzy · Joined: 30 Apr 2006 Posts: 127

And Planeswalkers!

Zerotlr · Joined: 23 Nov 2007 Posts: 21

I played revised-5th, and then quit till Time Spiral. I think the most Influential Blocks, not in terms of Cards/Power Level, but in the way they influenced Magic Design are:

- Tempest: here they really managed to make elegant cards, and got rid (mostly) of weird/clumsy text. Also lost of archetipes that were born in tempest survive till today.

- Odyssey: Invasion and Onslaught had a strong theme, but in Odyssey the synergy is better crafted, the mechanics really took the game to a next level in Block Theme Synergy.

- Ravnica: The reedition of the multicolor theme mark the start of "modern magic", the world of Ravnica is imprinted in the cards, not only via mechanical ways. The fusion of creative and design made the game take the third big step forward.

Eldariel · Joined: 15 Jun 2006 Posts: 238

Mirage absolutely needs to be on the list. It's the beginning of modern block design. Whereas Ice Age was haphazardly bound together, Mirage had a cohesive block design, themes and so on. Definitely the most influential set since Alpha.

Also, well, Invasion 'cause its success is really guilty for how often we see those bloody multicolor blocks. And Onslaught should also be listed for being the first truly Tribal block and...well, causing Lorwyn among others (and originally causing Goblins, Elves & co.).

I'm not sure "Stupid Broken" warrants inclusion; that said, Urza definitely lead to modern card design so it warrants an inclusion and Mirrodin did teach WoTC a fuckton about linearity (imagine what would've happened with tribal lands in Lorwyn had it not been for Mirrodin and the Artifact Land fiasco).

And yeah, as much as I hate it, Lorwyn deserves an inclusion for introducing Planeswalkers.

EDIT: Oh yeah, and Legends for Enchant Worlds, of course!

Ffancrzy · Joined: 30 Apr 2006 Posts: 127

True on both accounts. I was thinking like mostly how influential the cards were because especially for the older sets, I don't know most of the cards past the ones that see play in eternal formats.

I think Ravnica was possibly the best designed block ever. It has a very clean feel to it that I love.

dwarfas · Joined: 26 Jul 2009 Posts: 55

tempest block.

hands down. tempest got the most people into magic aside from alpha.

so what if i don't see a lot of the cards? The format was good. lots of different decks.

I could enter a tournament with a rogue deck and top 8. maybe even win one.

Don't see rogue decks anymore.

dwarfas · Joined: 26 Jul 2009 Posts: 55

like if i were to enter a tournament. I'd come in swinging my own thing.

Can't do that anymore. I'd have a modified netdeck that's it.

it's sad. it really is sad. That's why i don't buy live cards anymore or go to tournaments.

like back in the day. let me list decks you could play

suicide black
sligh
red deck wins
tradewind.dec
aluren
white weenie
stompy
mono blue control aka draw go
pheonix.dec / aka ur control
u/w control
ponzai
reanimate dec
recurring nightmare.dec ... aka the rock aka survival of the fittest
there were several other combo decks.

The format had a balance

between combo, control, and aggro

Krojar · Joined: 02 Sep 2009 Posts: 4

I would say Homelands too. It was one of those things where WotC learned how NOT to handle an expansion. It seems they learned from a lot of mistakes they made in that piss poor set.

joe_mauer · Joined: 22 Dec 2007 Posts: 8

tempest block was hands down the best. Has cards that still affect older formats no matter what new cards comes out,like ancient tomb and city of traitors,for stax and dragon stompy.
Has balanced staples like wasteland and diabolic edict. Heck look what happens when relics of tempest get brought back.
Mogg Fanatic was in all the red standard/extended aggro decks when it returned.Time warp created a couple of take a bunch of turns decks.Yeah Tempest block will probably never be surpassed for its perfect combination of balance,fun,and powerful cards.

NahHolmes · Joined: 13 Jan 2005 Posts: 652

Alpha - Revised: Dual Lands
Legends - Lots of powerful old cards
Alliances - Force of Will
Tempest - Mirage may have been the first real block but Tempest was the first good block
Invasion Block - Off color Pain Lands lots the real beginning of multicolor (before it was more of a gimmick 90% of the time)
Urza's Block - Many powerful cards
Onslaught - Real beginning of tribes, sac lands
Mirrodin Block - Many powerful artifacts
Ravnica Block - Shock Lands, Reinvention of multicolor
Time Spiral Block - Many powerful spells, futureshift
Lorwyn Block - Beginning of "Creatures matter" phase of MTG, Planeswalkers
Zendikar - Enemy Fetchlands, powerful cards.
10th - Showed MTG not scared to reprint powerful spells thought beyond T2 power level
M10 - MTG continues to reprint cards thought lost to time, first set to introduce new spells into core.

For 6th and M10 I'd say rules changes are independent of the set as a whole, I'm going for more actual card design related relevance.

Trotsky1 · Joined: 12 Apr 2005 Posts: 1458

I would say mirrodin is the most influential set as wizards have not ballsed up a set since then.

revr · Joined: 07 May 2007 Posts: 4

scourge. storm all the way

clayparson · Joined: 04 Sep 2004 Posts: 54

If we aren't including Alpha-Unlimited, the most influential has to be Arabian Nights, because it was the beginning of the concept of creating several expansions to a CCG that could be played with previous expansions and also add new mechanics and levels of gameplay. Without Arabian Nights, we wouldn't have new expansions every year.

That said, Tempest was a hugely important set. It was by far the best designed set of its' time and, I think, was when the design team really got their shit together and started to understand how to create a solid expansion set for Magic. (a lot of things about Zen remind me of Tempest)

Lastly, I don't think you can really underestimate the impact of Urza's Block and, to a lesser extent, Mirrodin. I have been playing for a long time, and those were the only two times where I can remember players quitting in droves because of brokeness. The impact of the design failures that led to things like Academy, Broken Jar, etc has left a large mark on the game and has permanently changed the way the game is designed.