Antiquities (Magic: The Gathering)
Encyclopedia
Antiquities was the fifth Magic: The Gathering
set and the second expansion set. It was the first set to have an original backstory that explores the mythos of the Magic universe (see Magic: The Gathering storylines
). The story is primarily about the brothers Urza
and Mishra
who are inseparable at first, but become sworn enemies over the finding of two power stones. Trying to get hold of the other's stone they eventually lay waste to the whole continent of Terisiare. The set was created by the group of students at the University of Pennsylvania
that had helped Richard Garfield
design the original game. Mechanically Antiquities revolves around artifacts. Only 35 of the 85 different cards are colored, the remaining 50 cards being artifacts and lands. The expansion symbol for Antiquities was an anvil.
introduced a "buyback" program, allowing players to trade in their excess cards for money. This tentatively backfired on many players who cashed in early as Antiquities cards soon began rising in price on the secondary-sales market. In the UK
, the 'buyback' was limited to the uncommon cards; however, it was possible to exchange these for cards from the previous Arabian Nights
expansion.
" written by Jeff Grubb
. In 1999 the prequel, "The Thran" by J. Robert King
, appeared. It describes the events leading to the Thran-Phyrexian War
and the conflict itself. The Thran are the civilization that created the powerstones which are the cause of the separation and ensuing conflict of Urza and Mishra.
The story of Antiquities takes place on the plane of Dominaria and centers on the two brothers Urza
and Mishra . Urza is born on the first day of the year 0 AR and his brother, Mishra, on the final day of that year. Ten years later when their father falls ill they are sent as apprentices to their father's friend, the artificer Tocasia. After several years at Tocasia's camp where the brothers made several inventions and discoveries, they explore the Caves of Koilos, a place filled with Thran artifacts. There the brothers each find one half of a powerstone that sealed the gate to the plane of Phyrexia which is also located in the caves. Mutual desire for the other's piece of the powerstone eventually leads them to turn the power of their stones onto each other. Attempting to end the duel, Tocasia puts herself into the middle, leading to her inadvertent death.
Afterwards the brothers separate and leave the excavation site. In the following years Urza and Mishra come into positions of substantial power in Yotia and amongst the Fallaji people respectively. After some hostilities the empires eventually conduct open warfare against each other. The events during the conflict lead to both Urza and Mishra acquiring the leadership amongst their people. The conflict becomes an all-out war, but no side is able to gain the upper hand. In the final battle of the conflict both armies fight to a standstill. Eventually Urza activates the Golgothian Sylex, an artifact that Urza's lieutenant Tawnos received from Mishra's lieutenant Ashnod. The activation of the artifact triggers a blast, that destroys the site of the last battle, the island of Argoth, and thus ends the war by destroying both armies. In the aftermath of the conflict, the blast triggered by the Golgothian Sylex upsets the climate of Dominaria leading to an Ice Age. The culmination of Urza's and Mishra's conflict was revealed in the 1998 expansion set Urza's Saga
.
The Brothers' War is a central piece of Magic lore in that the background stories of many Magic sets are in some way related to the character of Urza
. Without the power stones Urza could not have left Dominaria, though.
Magic: The Gathering
Magic: The Gathering , also known as Magic, is the first collectible trading card game created by mathematics professor Richard Garfield and introduced in 1993 by Wizards of the Coast. Magic continues to thrive, with approximately twelve million players as of 2011...
set and the second expansion set. It was the first set to have an original backstory that explores the mythos of the Magic universe (see Magic: The Gathering storylines
Magic: The Gathering storylines
Although Magic: The Gathering is essentially a strategy game that uses decks of cards, an intricate storyline underlies the cards released in each expansion. This storyline is shown in the game in the card art and through quotations and descriptions on the bottom of most cards...
). The story is primarily about the brothers Urza
Urza
Urza Planeswalker is a fictional character from the universe of Magic: The Gathering, best known for his millennia-long struggle with Yawgmoth and the plane of Phyrexia...
and Mishra
Mishra
Mishra or Misra is a Hindu Brahmin surname found mostly in the northern and central parts of India.It is one of the most widespread Brahmin surnames in the fertile Gangetic plain region and in the Indian states of Punjab, Delhi, Orissa, Bihar, Uttar Pradesh, Uttarakhand, Madhya Pradesh,...
who are inseparable at first, but become sworn enemies over the finding of two power stones. Trying to get hold of the other's stone they eventually lay waste to the whole continent of Terisiare. The set was created by the group of students at the University of Pennsylvania
University of Pennsylvania
The University of Pennsylvania is a private, Ivy League university located in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, United States. Penn is the fourth-oldest institution of higher education in the United States,Penn is the fourth-oldest using the founding dates claimed by each institution...
that had helped Richard Garfield
Richard Garfield
Richard Channing Garfield is a mathematics professor and game designer who created the card games Magic: The Gathering, Netrunner, BattleTech CCG, Vampire: The Eternal Struggle , The Great Dalmuti, Star Wars Trading Card Game, and the board game RoboRally...
design the original game. Mechanically Antiquities revolves around artifacts. Only 35 of the 85 different cards are colored, the remaining 50 cards being artifacts and lands. The expansion symbol for Antiquities was an anvil.
Set history
Antiquities managed to solve many of the printing errors that had plagued previous sets, although the expansion symbol was omitted from and the circle around the activation cost of was omitted in half the printing. The only major problem noticed by players was the poor collation of the set; many booster boxes contained several packs with exactly the same cards in each, making it next-to-impossible for players in many parts of the country to collect complete sets. To correct this, Wizards of the CoastWizards of the Coast
Wizards of the Coast is an American publisher of games, primarily based on fantasy and science fiction themes, and formerly an operator of retail stores for games...
introduced a "buyback" program, allowing players to trade in their excess cards for money. This tentatively backfired on many players who cashed in early as Antiquities cards soon began rising in price on the secondary-sales market. In the UK
United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...
, the 'buyback' was limited to the uncommon cards; however, it was possible to exchange these for cards from the previous Arabian Nights
Arabian Nights (Magic: The Gathering)
Arabian Nights was the fourth Magic: The Gathering set and the first expansion set. The set is composed entirely of new cards. The setting of Arabian Nights is inspired by the themes and characters of the Thousand and One Arabian Nights with some of the characters and places coming directly from...
expansion.
Storyline
The storyline of Antiquities is originally told through the flavor text of the cards in the set. It is given in full in the 1998 novel "The Brothers' WarThe Brothers' War
The Brothers' War is a Magic: The Gathering novel written by Jeff Grubb, and published by Wizards of the Coast, Inc. It takes place on the fictional world of Dominaria, within the 'multiverse'. It tells the story of the origins of Urza, who plays a significant role in other Magic: The Gathering...
" written by Jeff Grubb
Jeff Grubb
Jeff Grubb is an author and game designer. He has worked on a number of computer and role-playing games and has written a number of successful novels, short stories and comics...
. In 1999 the prequel, "The Thran" by J. Robert King
J. Robert King
J. Robert King is a novelist who has also worked as a game designer on a number of products for the Dungeons & Dragons fantasy role-playing game from TSR.-Biography:...
, appeared. It describes the events leading to the Thran-Phyrexian War
Thran
In Magic: The Gathering, the Thran were a utopian culture of humans whose technology level was much more advanced than any other Dominarians. Their artifact devices ran on powerstones which had stable artificial planes in them...
and the conflict itself. The Thran are the civilization that created the powerstones which are the cause of the separation and ensuing conflict of Urza and Mishra.
The story of Antiquities takes place on the plane of Dominaria and centers on the two brothers Urza
Urza
Urza Planeswalker is a fictional character from the universe of Magic: The Gathering, best known for his millennia-long struggle with Yawgmoth and the plane of Phyrexia...
and Mishra . Urza is born on the first day of the year 0 AR and his brother, Mishra, on the final day of that year. Ten years later when their father falls ill they are sent as apprentices to their father's friend, the artificer Tocasia. After several years at Tocasia's camp where the brothers made several inventions and discoveries, they explore the Caves of Koilos, a place filled with Thran artifacts. There the brothers each find one half of a powerstone that sealed the gate to the plane of Phyrexia which is also located in the caves. Mutual desire for the other's piece of the powerstone eventually leads them to turn the power of their stones onto each other. Attempting to end the duel, Tocasia puts herself into the middle, leading to her inadvertent death.
Afterwards the brothers separate and leave the excavation site. In the following years Urza and Mishra come into positions of substantial power in Yotia and amongst the Fallaji people respectively. After some hostilities the empires eventually conduct open warfare against each other. The events during the conflict lead to both Urza and Mishra acquiring the leadership amongst their people. The conflict becomes an all-out war, but no side is able to gain the upper hand. In the final battle of the conflict both armies fight to a standstill. Eventually Urza activates the Golgothian Sylex, an artifact that Urza's lieutenant Tawnos received from Mishra's lieutenant Ashnod. The activation of the artifact triggers a blast, that destroys the site of the last battle, the island of Argoth, and thus ends the war by destroying both armies. In the aftermath of the conflict, the blast triggered by the Golgothian Sylex upsets the climate of Dominaria leading to an Ice Age. The culmination of Urza's and Mishra's conflict was revealed in the 1998 expansion set Urza's Saga
Urza's Saga
Urza's Saga is the 15th expert level set, a 350-card Magic: The Gathering expansion set that debuted in October 1998. Some employees of Wizards consider it one of the most powerful sets ever released, with many cards now banned in tournament formats...
.
The Brothers' War is a central piece of Magic lore in that the background stories of many Magic sets are in some way related to the character of Urza
Urza
Urza Planeswalker is a fictional character from the universe of Magic: The Gathering, best known for his millennia-long struggle with Yawgmoth and the plane of Phyrexia...
. Without the power stones Urza could not have left Dominaria, though.
Rarity breakdown
Antiquities cards come in two rarities, common and uncommon. The cards were sold in booster packs of 8 cards, 2 uncommon and 6 common. Of the uncommon cards in Antiquities 29 are U3, meaning that they appear three times on the uncommon print sheet. 4 are U2 and the remaining 28 uncommons are U1. These are usually dubbed the rares of the set. Also the card Tawnos's Weaponry, a U2, exists in two versions, one —barely noticeably— missing the circle behind the activation cost of the ability. For collector's purposes Tawnos's Weaponry is thus sometimes counted as two U1 cards. Of the commons 25 are C4. The remaining commons are 5 C2 and 11 C1. The C1 commons are usually dubbed as uncommons as a C1 card is exactly as rare as a U3 card. Denomination for the C2 varies.Notable cards
Despite Antiquities design as a set revolving around artifacts, it was largely the lands from the set that had most impact on the game.- — This was the first land that could turn into a creature. Its design had a strong impact on later lands that are able to become creatures (called "man lands"), leading to the design of the Urza's LegacyUrza's LegacyUrza's Legacy is a Magic: The Gathering set, second in the Urza Block. Urza's Legacy was released in February 1999.-Set history:This set is the first set to feature premium cards also known as foil cards, inserted randomly into boosters and taking the place of a card in the common slot.- Storyline...
man lands and eventually the WorldwakeWorldwakeWorldwake is a Magic: The Gathering expansion set that was released February 5, 2010. It is the second set of the Zendikar block, so many of the themes introduced in Zendikar are expanded upon in Worldwake. It consists of 145 cards...
man lands. Along with Strip Mine and the Urzatron lands, Mishra's Factory is also the first non-basic land card with varying artwork (Spring, Summer, Autumn, and Winter) . Mishra's Factory was reprinted in 4th Edition4th Edition (Magic: The Gathering)The Fourth Edition of Magic: The Gathering was the tenth set released for the game, and the fourth base set . The set was released in April 1995 and contained 378 cards. It was the first set to reprint cards from the expansions Legends and The Dark. Fourth Edition cards have white borders...
.
- — The Workshop is a mainstay of many Vintage decks today due to its ability to provide its controller with a lot of mana quickly. Mishra's Workshop is banned from Legacy play, but the card is not restricted in Vintage. On the secondary market, the card is by far the most expensive from the Antiquities expansion.
- The Urzatron Lands — , , and . When combined, these lands can add 7 mana to their controller's mana pool. While it is unlikely to draw all three cards early from a deck of sixty cards, decks built around searching for an playing pieces of 'Tron' have been powerful tournament decks in the Standard and Extended formats. Most notably a combo deck built around was one of the strongest Standard decks for more than a year. The Urzatron lands were reprinted in ChroniclesChronicles (Magic: The Gathering)Chronicles was the twelfth Magic: The Gathering set, and the first compilation set, released in July 1995 by Wizards of the Coast. The set is one of two sets that have been sold in twelve-card booster packs, the other having been Alliances....
, 5th Edition5th Edition (Magic: The Gathering)The Fifth Edition was the seventeenth Magic: The Gathering set and fifth core set, a revision of the base set released in March 1997. It contained 449 cards, counting multiple illustrations of basic lands, making it the largest card set in the game's history...
, and 9th Edition9th Edition (Magic: The Gathering)Ninth Edition or Core Set is the fourth latest base set for the collectible trading card game, Magic: The Gathering.-Set attributes:Ninth Edition features many cards from older base sets and expansions...
.