Shards of Alara - Five Worlds Share One Fate
Shards of Alara is the upcoming expansion set from Wizards of the Coast's collectible trading card game, Magic the Gathering. Shards of Alara is currently unreleased and scheduled to officially be released on October 3, 2008 with Pre-releases scheduled for September 20th and 21st 2008.
Shards of Alara Stats
Set Name
Shards of Alara
Block
Set 1 of 3 in the Shards of Alara block
Number of Cards
249
Shards of Alara Development & Design Team
Bill Rose (design lead)
Devin Low (development lead)
Aaron Forsythe
Mark Globus
Mark Gottlieb
Graeme Hopkins
Alexis Janson
Erik Lauer
Michael Mikaelian
Kenneth Nagle
Matt Place
Mark Rosewater
Brian Tinsman
Mike Turian
Noah Weil
Changes coming with Shards of Alara
Beginning with the Shards of Alara set, which incedentally doesn't release until October 3, 2008, Wizards will have the following changes in place:
Set Size: Smaller set sizes, This is not really that shocking as set sizes have steadily been decreasing over the years, in fact, when Ice Age was released back in 1995, it was a 383 card set, Mirroden released in 2003 as a 306 card set, compared to the most recent, Shadowmoor, a 281 card set. Shards of Alara is set to be a 249 card set.
Rarity: Along with the smaller set sizes, Wizards will also be introducing a new level of rarity called mythic rare. The mythic rare cards will appear in approximately 1 out of every 8 booster packs replacing the normal rare. Mythic Rare Foils (otherwise known as premium cards) will however replace a common as all current Foils do. Mythic Rares will also have a new color symbol and the first Mythic Rare ever previewed is below: Check out Sarkhan Vol!

Yeah, if you didn't pick up on that, Planeswalkers are definately back in Shards of Alara.
Booster Packs: The breakdown of a Magic the Gathering Booster Pack is also changing by replacing one common with a basic land. Not sure of what purpose this serves except to ensure that everyone gets a land as their last card in a draft, but the pack breakdown for Shards of Alara is as follows: 1 rare, 3 uncommons, 10 commons, 1 basic land, and 1 tip or token card.
Intro Packs: Theme Decks have been replaced by intro packs. An intro pack is a 41 card theme deck plus one booster pack. Intro packs are designed specifically at helping beginners get into the game and each one includes a premium or foil rare. Plans currently call for 5 intro packs to be released for each set, but if we know nothing else we know that could change too. Here's a first look at the Shards of Alara theme deck, I mean Intro Pack:

Book Publishing: If you are one of the many that can't wait to read the stories that accompany the cards when a new set is released then you should be aware that Wizards has also changed the publishing schedule. Magic Books will now be published quarterly, four times a year and largely focus on Planeswalkers. In the Fall a Planeswalkers guide will be released for coinciding with the plane of the main block released that fall as well. In the Winter and Summer a Planeswalkers story will be released, and in the spring a Novel regarding the current block will be released. Of course this will have some impact to the fat packs that are released with each set as well.
Fat Packs: With Shadowmoor, Fat Packs changed slightly to include only one card box and eight booster packs instead of the previous six booster packs and two card boxes. Beginning with Shards of Alara FatPacks will now include an excerpt of the most current publishing offering in lieu of the previously included set-based novel, one card box, eight booster packs, and one 20 sided spin down lifecounter / dice.
For better or worse Lots of changes are coming regarding the future of Magic the Gathering.

If Closer to home prereleases, chances for mtg prizes, and a super cool mythic rare planeswalker isn't enough to get you to the pre-release then I don't know what would be.
(Shards of Alara Release is September 27, 2008)
Shards of Alara Decks, Packs, Boxes, and Fatpacks
Magic the Gathering: Shards of Alara - 5 Pack Lot (5 Packs - 15 cards/pack)
Amazon Price: $10.65 (as of 10/12/2008)
Magic the Gathering Shards of Alara Theme Deck Intro Pack All 5 Theme Deck
Amazon Price: $49.95 (as of 10/12/2008)
Magic The Gathering Card Game - Shards of Alara Tournament Deck Box - 12D/75C
Amazon Price: $126.36 (as of 10/12/2008)
Magic The Gathering Card Game - Shards of Alara Fat Pack- 8P/15C PRESELL
Amazon Price: $29.99 (as of 10/12/2008)
Shards of Alara Spoiler

Shards of Alara Spoiler
So Far very few cards have been spoiled, here's the first few cards to be spoiled:
- Sarkan Vol (no text)
- Ranger of Eos (no text)
- Ajani Vengeant - Planeswalker - Ajani - 3 - 2RW
- +1 Target Permanent Doesn't untap during it's controllers next untap step
- -2 Ajani Vengeant deals 3 damage to target creature or player and you gain three life
- -7 Destroy all lands target player controls
- Hellkite Overlord - Creature Dragon - 8/8 - 4BRRG
- Flying, trample, haste
R: Hellkite Overlord gets +1/+0 until end of turn.
BG: Regenerate Hellkite Overlord.
Your Thoughts?
Like this lens? Want to share your feedback, or just give a thumbs up? Be the first to submit a blurb!
Shards of Alara and other Playsets
Fetching RSS feed... please stand byMTG News from MTG Players
Fetching RSS feed... please stand by







