Weatherlight (Magic: The Gathering)
Encyclopedia
Weatherlight is the nineteenth Magic: The Gathering
set and eleventh expert level set, third and last in the Mirage Block
. It was released in June 1997. Its expansion symbol is the Thran
Tome. On 12 December 2007 Weatherlight was released on Magic: The Gathering Online
.
four years later (the aftermath of the story was explored for another two years afterward). The story introduces the crew of the flying ship Weatherlight, which traverses the planes of the multiverse
in search of the scattered group of ancient artifacts known collectively as the Legacy. The captain of the ship, Sisay, is abducted to the shadowy world of Rath, and her old friend and crewmate, a former Benalish soldier named Gerrard
, is pressed into taking command of the ship to rescue her.
This story is continued in the card set Tempest
and covered in the novel Rath and Storm.
and Visions
. Instead, this expansion begins a new story with new characters. Sisay and the flying ship Weatherlight had been mentioned in and played a relatively minor role in Mirage and Visions. Mechanics from the other expansions in this block do appear as well as some new ones.
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 eleventh expert level set, third and last in the Mirage Block
Mirage (Magic: The Gathering)
Mirage was the fifteenth Magic: The Gathering set and ninth expert level set, released in October 1996. This expansion began the first official block set with one large expansion being followed by two smaller expansions all tied together through card mechanics and setting. This expansion also...
. It was released in June 1997. Its expansion symbol is the Thran
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...
Tome. On 12 December 2007 Weatherlight was released on Magic: The Gathering Online
Magic: The Gathering Online
Magic: The Gathering Online or Magic Online is a direct video game adaptation of Magic: The Gathering, utilizing the concept of a virtual economy in order to preserve the collectible aspect of the card game. It is played through an Internet service operated by Wizards of the Coast, which went...
.
Storyline
Weatherlight began the longest story arc in Magics history, which would last continuously until the release of ApocalypseApocalypse (Magic: The Gathering)
Apocalypse is the name of a Magic: The Gathering expansion set, released in June 2001. It is the third set of the Invasion Block.-Storyline:...
four years later (the aftermath of the story was explored for another two years afterward). The story introduces the crew of the flying ship Weatherlight, which traverses the planes of the multiverse
Parallel universe (fiction)
A parallel universe or alternative reality is a hypothetical self-contained separate reality coexisting with one's own. A specific group of parallel universes is called a "multiverse", although this term can also be used to describe the possible parallel universes that constitute reality...
in search of the scattered group of ancient artifacts known collectively as the Legacy. The captain of the ship, Sisay, is abducted to the shadowy world of Rath, and her old friend and crewmate, a former Benalish soldier named Gerrard
Gerrard Capashen
Gerrard Capashen is a fictional warrior who commands the crew of the flying ship Weatherlight in the fantasy collectible card game Magic: The Gathering. He was the main character of the Weatherlight saga, a storyline that connected expansions to the Magic card game for five years...
, is pressed into taking command of the ship to rescue her.
This story is continued in the card set Tempest
Tempest (Magic: The Gathering)
Tempest was the 20th Magic: The Gathering set and twelfth expert level set, and the first set in the Rath Block, released in October 1997. The release of Tempest represented a large jump in the power level of the card set, compared to the previous Mirage block. Many cards from Tempest instantly...
and covered in the novel Rath and Storm.
Set history
Even though Weatherlight was the last expansion in the Mirage block it does not continue the story set in MirageMirage (Magic: The Gathering)
Mirage was the fifteenth Magic: The Gathering set and ninth expert level set, released in October 1996. This expansion began the first official block set with one large expansion being followed by two smaller expansions all tied together through card mechanics and setting. This expansion also...
and Visions
Visions (Magic: The Gathering)
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"...
. Instead, this expansion begins a new story with new characters. Sisay and the flying ship Weatherlight had been mentioned in and played a relatively minor role in Mirage and Visions. Mechanics from the other expansions in this block do appear as well as some new ones.
Mechanics
- Weatherlight had a strong theme of graveyard-related abilities. The set boasted more ways to retrieve cards from the graveyard than ever before, and other spells used the graveyard as a resource by removing cards in it from the game.
- Weatherlight provided a new twist on cumulative upkeep: cards with effects which became larger as their cumulative upkeep costs increased. Cumulative upkeep would not be used again until ColdsnapColdsnapFor other uses of this term, see Cold snap.Coldsnap is the third set in the Ice Age block for the Magic:The Gathering collectible card game. It was released on July 21, 2006 by Wizards of the Coast. The set came out over ten years after Ice Age was released in June 1995, the longest period of time...
was released in 2006. - Weatherlight was also the last set to use banding, a mechanic created in AlphaAlpha (Magic: The Gathering)The name Alpha refers to the first print run of the original Magic: The Gathering Limited Edition, the first Magic: The Gathering card set. It premiered in a limited release at Origins Game Fair in 1993, with a general release that August. Its print run of 2.6 million cards sold out very quickly...
, because it was deemed too confusing. - Weatherlight had many so-called "cantrips" - spells that let you draw a card in addition to their normal effect. Weatherlight's innovation was to allow the cantrip's caster to draw the card as soon as the spell resolved, rather than during the next turn, a change which is still used on cantrips to this day.
- Though the third set in the Mirage block, Weatherlight does not prominently feature the keyword mechanics introduced in Mirage. Phasing appears on only three cards in Weatherlight, and flanking appears on two cards.