Tempest Magic The Gathering Cards
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 became (and still are) tournament staples. Its
expansion symbol is a cloud, with a lightning bolt erupting out.
Tempest was the second set and the first standalone in the
Weatherlight Saga, a continuous storyline for over four years' worth of
Magic expansions.
Tempest introduced two new keyworded mechanics to Magic: Buyback
and Shadow. If the buyback cost was paid, spells with Buyback returned
to their owner's hand after being cast instead of being placed in the
graveyard. Shadow was a creature ability that prevented creatures that
had it from blocking or being blocked by creatures without it. The
Shadow ability only appeared on certain blue, black or white creatures
(with the exception of the red/white Soltari Guerrillas), and Shadow
creatures were all relatively small.
Several non-keyworded mechanics were also introduced. Licids were a
creature type that had the ability to become creature enchantments.
This caused numerous rules complications.
The Slivers were also introduced in Tempest. These were creatures
that shared their abilities with other Slivers in play. Slivers
continued into Stronghold, and appeared in Legions, and in Time Spiral
and its sequels Planar Chaos and Future Sight.
The Medallions were a very popular cycle of artifacts, one for each
color, that reduced the cost of spells of the appropriate color. Slower
monocolor decks (mainly blue) saw them as first pick.
The "stuck" or "slow" lands were a cycle of 5 "Uncommon" lands that
add mana of two allied colors, but when used, they did not untap on
your next turn, which made them less popular than the Ice Age "pain
lands". Additionally, a cycle of 5 rare lands of enemy colors existed,
entering play tapped and providing colorless mana without penalty or
dealing a point of damage when tapping for a colored mana. They were
later replaced with the enemy colored "pain lands" in Apocalypse, which
used a format similar to the aforementioned Ice Age pain lands.
As with Ice Age and Mirage, Tempest continued a tradition of
importing staple cards from earlier sets into the current environment.
Such staples in Tempest included: All 5 Circles of Protection, Dark
Ritual, Disenchant, Counterspell, Power Sink, Shatter, Spell Blast,
Stone Rain, Tranquility among others. In addition, Tempest included
"new classics" introduced more recently, such as Pacifism from Mirage
and Coercion % 26amp; Enfeeblement from Visions.
As would become the tradition with each of the new core sets,
Tempest began the process of essentially reprinting older cards with
new names featuring the latest keywords of the set. Among these, we
have Anoint (Healing Salve, with Buyback), Capsize (Boomerang, with
Buyback), Elvish Fury ("fixed" Giant Growth, with Buyback), and others.
As with prior, and subsequent, releases, Tempest sought to recreate
powerful cards from the earlier days of Magic, but better balanced
against the game as a whole and the current environment. While other
sets managed to hide their reprints fairly well beneath the themes of
the set and significant rewording, Tempest saw some of the most blatant
attempts to fix powerful cards of yesteryear. In many cases, this was
the first time many of them were "fixed" without being underwhelming,
earning several regular places in tournament decks and going on to have
a life of their own.
- The Medallions, a cycle of 5 artifacts, one for each color. Each cost 2 colorless mana to play and reduced the cost of spells of the respective color by 1 generic mana. Fixed Card: The Moxen from Alpha/Beta/Unlimited, a cycle of 5 zero-cost artifacts, one for each color, that tapped for one mana of the respective color. Earlier fixes gave players the "Diamonds" cycle from Mirage.
- Lotus Petal, a zero cost artifact that could tap and sacrifice for one mana of any color. Fixed Card: Black Lotus, a zero cost artifact that tapped and sacrificed for three mana of any one color. An earlier fix gave players "Lion's Eye Diamond" from Mirage.% 26nbsp;
- Meditate, a 3 cost blue instant that allowed the caster to draw four cards if they skipped their next turn. Fixed Card: Ancestral Recall of Alpha/Beta/Unlimited.% 26nbsp;
- Whispers of the Muse, a 1 cost blue instant with a Buyback of 4. It simply allowed a player to draw a card. Fixed Card: Also "Ancestral Recall".% 26nbsp;
- Time Warp, a 5 cost blue sorcery that allowed the caster to take an additional turn. Fixed Card: Time Walk from Alpha/Beta/Unlimited. Time Warp also saw print in the Starter release as a rare.% 26nbsp;
- Maze of Shadows, a land that tapped for one colorless mana or could tap to remove a creature with Shadow from combat, preventing all damage dealt to and by that creature. Fixed Card: Maze of Ith from The Dark, which removed any creature from combat and prevented damage dealt to and by that creature.% 26nbsp;
- Stuck % 26amp; Pain Lands, as mentioned above, are nearly identical to the function of the Stuck and Pain lands from Ice Age; Tempest added the distinction of making the "Pain" lands enemy colored. Fixed Cards: Both the Tempest and the Ice Age lands were attempts to fix the Dual Lands of Alpha/Beta/Unlimited and Revised. The new lands in both sets lacked the ruling that allowed them to count as the basic land type of the mana they provided.% 26nbsp;
- Stalking Stones, a land that could tap for colorless mana or,
if the controller paid 6 colorless mana, would become a 3/3 artifact
creature. Fixed Card: Mishra's Factory from Antiquities, the first
"man-land". Later attempts to revive the "man-land" concept would use
wording similar to the Factory, making the change only until end of the
turn as opposed to permanent. Stalking Stones did see a reprint in the
set Mirrodin.
In addition to its reprints, keywording, and fixing of classic cards, Tempest also laid the foundation for some effects to come.
- The "Kindle" effect, seen in Nemesis, the Odyssey block, and Coldsnap, the final set of the Ice Age block. These sets feature spells whose effects start small and grow with the number of copies of the same spell in all graveyards.
- "Growing" enchantments as seen on Legacy's Allure, featured prominently in the Urza's block, are enchantments that collect counters each turn and then can be sacrificed for some effect based on the final number of counters.
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