Magic: The Gathering
Magical Thinking: Tempest
Welcome back to Magical Thinking, where I look at the cards and art of Magic: the Gathering, set by set, from the beginning. Today we got a good one, the first expansion of the Tempest block: Tempest.
Released in October 1997, Tempest continues the story of the Weatherlight crew as they arrive on the stormy demiplane, Rath. Rath is ruled by the evil shapeshifter and arch nemesis of Gerrard, Volrath. Will our heroes succeed in their mission? Considering the events of future sets, signs point to no.
So lets get on with the cards.
There are three different new monsters introduced in Tempest, which represent some of the engineered monsters Volrath has unleashed on Rath. Probably the most popular and enduring of these was the Slivers, basically Magic’s answer to swarming monsters like the Zerg and Tyranids. Their gimmick of sharing their powers with every other sliver made them one of the first five-color viable decks out there (Although they wouldn’t really shine until later sets where we get more Slivers, but more on that later).
And here we have the last of the mono-colored Atogs. Auratog is such a happy-go-lucky fellow. I’m honestly surprised he was never reprinted in Theros. Yeah, I know he wouldn’t fit mechanically, but they brought back Atogs for Mirrodin. Why not Auratog’s for Theros? Especially since that would be the best fate for that asshole Heliod; If you meet God on the road, you must eat God.
White shares with Blue the title of being the “No fun” color. And I can’t think of any card less fun than this one, reducing all minions to powerless 1/1’s. To make matters worse, this card is controversial for all the timing issues it brings up (I assume with come into play effects). Also, apparently EDH players just plain hate this card, and I don’t blame them. Great art though, Phil Foglio is always the best when it comes to art. Sadly, this is one of the last “normal” sets to make use of the Foglio’s art, as Magic began to move in a more “realistic” direction. So enjoy it while it lasts.
Once upon a time, Magic had a real issue with making creatures too strong. Here we have a 3/3 for 4 mana that can only attack once and will never untap. With the added bonus that it will keep your opponent’s big things from untapping, but also keep your big things from untapping. Good thing you have that Humility handy I guess.
Gotta go fast.
This is the second of the new creature types introduced in this set: Licids are a cycle of creatures which were like symbiotes you could attach to your creatures to give them new abilities, becoming enchantments in the process. Again this is something that would be explored later in Theros, the “enchantment matters” set. Not a bad first effort but, sadly, I don’t think these guys caught on like Slivers did.
Shadow was a new keyword introduced in this set, which was basically another form of blocker avoidance. This one is unique in that it prevents the creature from blocking as well, so unless you run into an opponent using Shadow creatures they are only really good for attacking.
I don’t think any card has ever captured the millennial condition better than this one. I too dream of having enough money to live comfortably on. I’m also tired all the time. Like ya do.
Aw, look at that, they love their pink squishy weird son. Of course, once again, we get a case where I don’t think this Escaped Shapeshifter is copying anything that actually exists in Magic. Although I’m unsure how to include weird Elephant ostriches in the first place but whatever.
Okay, I lied before. There were four new creatures introduces in this set: Aside from Slivers, Licids and Spikes, we also got….crabs! Not much to say here except this is a very intimidating crab if I do say so myself.
Considering what we know about Karn and how he ends up, Volrath is just lucky Karn isn’t the petty type is all I’m saying.
SO I HEARD YOU LIKED ENCHANTMENTS. SO WE ENCHANTED YOUR ENCHANTMENT SO YOU CAN….and just like that the joke falls apart. But yeah, again, surprised this never made it into Theros.
I’d make a Rocky Horror Joke, but I think the flavor text beat me to it.
Funny how Wizards eventually decided the solution to Time Walk’s overpowered nature was to just make it cost three more mana. I guess it’s a bit more balanced.
I honestly love creatures with weird and wonky effects like this. Honestly this is the old school Magic card that most reminds me of a Hearthstone card. Although it’s probably a pain to keep track of, which is why it never got reprinted.
Yeah, this was the time when Wizards was really caving to pressure from the moral guardian types and expelled all references to demons from the game. So this guy here, who is very clearly a demon, is labeled as a “Spirit”. You can’t fool me.
The Foglio’s are among my favorite artists in all of Magic, and I’m very sorry to see them go from the mainstream sets after Tempest.
Here’s the big baddie from this set: Greven Il-Vec, Volrath’s second in command. Like if Darth Vader had a buffer, angrier smaller Darth Vader working for him (Wasn’t there a video game with that premise?). Even in an era where creatures where much weaker, Greven is pretty powerful.
Not gonna lie, this is here just cause I like the art. Although I’m curious why this shadow monster doesn’t have the shadow mechanic. Probably too on the nose.
More of Wizard’s self censorship. I mean, they were even afraid to keep using the Horror creature type at this stage, so this became a “Beast”, which, if you know Magic, usually applies to wild animals that don’t correspond to existing animals, which this is so not.
I love Volrath here. He looks like he’s about to break out into a musical number. I kind of wish they had done a Weatherlight animated movie and gotten Tim Curry to voice Volrath. That would have been amazing.
Man, poor Karn just gets the worst of it from this set. Well, I guess that’s par the course for him considering what happens in New Phyrexia.
LOOK AT THE BONES!
Alright, got that joke out of the way. Moving on.
Okay so Demons are not allowed, but Imps are A Okay. Not sure where the line here is, Wizards. Still, that’s a pretty good imp there.
This feels like a quick way to get yourself ejected from the EDH table. Just play this, earn the ire of the other players, and watch them stomp your useless ass once they build their boards back up.
Mogg’s are the Goblins of Rath. Best known for their distinctive head ridges which make them look like extras from Star Wars (or Star Trek, one of those). I always kind of liked the Moggs if we’re being totally honest. They look neat and distinctive compared to ordinary MTG Goblins.
I’d be kind of iffy on employing a guy who is a self proclaimed “Opportunist”. But hey, I guess that’s why I don’t make the big bucks, right?
Wow, that would be a really annoying monster if it ever had any chance of hitting the opponent. Of course, I don’t think any player would ever let it through unless their hand was terrible.
The Ape council has judged you and found you guilty of Jimmy rustling. I mean look at those three. That is some maximum Jimmy rustling right there.
I don’t know what a Krakilin is. It sounds like some new type of breakfast cereal, but that thing up there is NOT part of a balanced breakfast. It’s not part of a balanced anything.
Whatever I said would just detract from this one. So enjoy without my commentary.
Spikes are the third new creature type introduced in Tempest (I mean fourth), representing these slug-like things that handed out +1/+1 counters like they were candy. This seems to be the only spike this set, but more will follow in other settings. My question is, what do those counters represent? Because the art seems to imply it’s baby slugs.
Not much to say on this one except Selenia shows that progress is being made on balancing the multicolored creatures.
Honestly I just like the flavor on Bottle Gnomes, one of the more iconic monsters from this set. I mean they’re little ambulatory magic potions, that’s adorable.
Yeah, this is one of the more infamous cards from this set, having been the key to some really broken combos. I don’t really follow the tournament scene so I don’t know how broken this card could get, but apparently it was really good.
…Um, thanks, but I think I’ll just spring for the PDF.
And now after that Thanos deck I want to make a Ultron deck because there are no strings on me.
I… guess I’m just missing the point of this one. Someone want to help me out?
Wow, what a ride! That does it for this week’s edition of Magical Thinking. Tune in next time when we join Volrath’s episode of Cribs! Yep, we’re going into the Stronghold. Until then, stay magical.
