Urza???s Saga uncommon. Though Urza block was often referred to as the artifact block, this wasn???t the original intention. Urza???s Saga is actually centered on an enchantment theme, but this was overshadowed by the storyline of the artifact cycle as well as the presence of many influential artifacts, such as Fluctuator.
Legions common. One of the ways Magic stays fresh is by completely surprising the players from time to time. Many didn???t believe it when rumors first started that the Legions set was 100% creatures. Despite such a drastic difference, the set plays quite a bit like other sets thanks to cards like this, which have a very non-creature, spell-like feel to them when flipped.
Mercadian Masques rare. When white was determined to be the color that sets rules for how the game is played, R&D went back through Magic???s history looking for previous cards that set rules, but which hadn???t been white. Crackdown is a white version of Meekstone (an artifact). Because of the change, Meekstone hasn???t shown up in the core set since Seventh Edition.
Judgment uncommon. This choosing drawback was called the punisher mechanic during design. The idea was to explore new ways to play off the unpredictable aspects of red. By giving the opponent the choice of which event occurs, red mages gain the ability to achieve somewhat off-color effects essentially by threatening their opponent with something very on-color ??? direct damage.
Fallen Empires common. This card got its name because the designers thought it would be funny to hear people describe denizens of Leitbur as ???Leitburites??? which sounds an awful lot like ???LiteBrites???. Perhaps they knew some day the company would be bought up by Hasbro?
Ice Age rare. This little guy is the only tournament-legal dinosaur ever printed (insert Mistform Ultimus exception clause here)!
Visions common. Printed with the intention of keeping Stasis decks in check, Quirion Ranger went on to do much more. Picking up lands turned out to be quite good for many reasons. Combine that with the ability to untap creatures such as Tradewind Rider and you can see why the Ranger became a central card in so many decks.
Stronghold rare. The flavor text on this card is a joking reference to the flavor text on Lhurgoyf. That this Tempest block card refers to an Ice Age card’s flavor text makes it quite rare, spanning both a large amount of time as well as two different planes.
Saviors of Kamigawa rare. During the design phase of Saviors there were so many cool legends that the designers wanted a way to clone them. This card was designed to answer the problem of “how do you clone a legend without killing it due to the legend rule?”
Champions of Kamigawa rare. This card was inspired by trying to find a way to make a tournament-legal version of the Unglued card Look at Me, I’m the DCI.
