Weatherlight
| File:Exp sym wl.gif Book | ||||
| Released | June 1997 | |||
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| Size | 167 cards | |||
| Keywords | None new | |||
| Mechanics | Graveyard focus | |||
| Expansion code | WTH (Mochalette) | |||
| Third set in the Mirage Block block | ||||
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Weatherlight is a Magic: The Gathering set, third and last in the Mirage Block. It was released in June 1997. Its expansion symbol is the Thran Tome.
Storyline
Weatherlight began the longest story arc in Magic's history, which would last continuously until the release of Apocalypse four years later (the aftermath of the story was explored for 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.
Set history
Even though Weatherlight was the last expansion in the Mirage block it does not continue the story set in Mirage and Visions. Instead, this expansion begins a new story with new characters. It should be noted that 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 was based largely around the use of the graveyard. 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 was the last set, until Coldsnap, to use cumulative upkeep which had been introduced in Ice Age, but the set provided a new twist: cards with effects which became larger as their cumulative upkeep costs increased.
- Weatherlight was also the last set to use banding, a mechanic created in Alpha, because it was deemed too confusing.
- Weatherlight had many so-called "cantrips", another idea that was created for Ice Age - spells that let you draw a card in addition to their normal effect. Weatherlight's innovation was to draw the card as soon as the spell resolved, rather than 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 and flanking, which appear on only three and two cards, respectively, in this set.
Notable cards
- Null Rod: A cheap artifact which renders many other artifacts in play useless, the Rod is often used defensively in Vintage tournaments to shut down powerful artifacts like Black Lotus, the Moxes, and Mindslaver.
- Gemstone Mine: A land that can produce any color of mana, but only three times. The Mine, combined with other five-color-producing mana sources, made multicolor decks very popular in 1997 and 1998.
- Gaea's Blessing: A green cantrip that was often used by control decks to recycle their used spells. The additional ability of Gaea's Blessing to shuffle the entire graveyard back to the library made it ideal as a defense against Millstone, and later for use with Oath of Druids when Exodus came out.
- Empyrial Armor: A common white enchantment that boosted a creature's power and toughness for each card in its player's hand, the Armor dominated Limited play and helped keep "White Weenie" a popular deck until it rotated out of Type II.
- Firestorm: Firestorm allows a red player to deal damage to many targets at once for only one red mana, at the cost of cards in hand.
- Ophidian: A common blue creature that potentially allows a player to draw an extra card per turn, a big tactical advantage. Inspired the Shadowmage Infiltrator card from Odyssey expansion set.
- Abeyance: This card's design intent was to give white mages a solid disruption spell, particularily against permission magic. Unfortunately, the official wording of the card text actually prevented the target from tapping lands for mana. In essence, this discreet disruption spell was quickly recognized as a white version of the powerful and vintage restricted Time Walk when it was played on an opponent's turn. Abeyance was eventually given errata to have the effect exclude mana abilities, lowering its power level significantly.