Discussion Forum

- When Magic began, there was no concept of Blocks; each set was more or less themetically and mechanically independent from the others. This continued to be the trend until 1996, when Alliances was printed. I don't know why they chose to revisit Ice Age's setting (maybe because it is awesome?) but they expanded upon what had happened previously. The next set, Mirage, was the first set designed for Limited play and the first designed in the traditional three-block format. Looking back at the situation, it could seem as if Ice Age and Alliances were part of an unfinished block, being two connected sets.

Ten years later, Wizards decided to 'complete' the block by printing Coldsnap. I remember them circulating rumors that this was the third set that had somehow been lost in some filing cabinet. The truth is that it was a marketing gimmick, and nothing more. When it was printed, they didn't make Ice Age or Alliances legal again; they treated it as the independent set that it truly is.

As for being Coldsnap somehow associated with Visions, I'm not entirely sure what you're talking about. They're completely unrelated. Visions was a set in the block following the two related but non-block forming sets, but that's about it.

- Time Spiral block doesn't have four sets; it has three: Time Spiral, Planar Chaos, and Future Sight. Perhaps what you're refering to as the fourth set are the "timeshifted" cards with the purple hourglass expansion symbol? Here is an explanation of those from the Magic Wiki:

In the Time Spiral set, timeshifted cards make up a 121-card subset comprised entirely of pre-Mirrodin reprints, tying in with the set's theme of revisiting the past. Each card in the subset features the old 7th Edition card frame and has a new purple expansion symbol to denote their unique rarity. One timeshifted card appears in every Time Spiral booster pack, making the cards roughly 50% rarer than rare cards, which also appear once per pack but comprise of only 80 cards. However, in the Time Spiral Preconstructed Decks, timeshifted cards are treated as though they had their original rarity, as each deck features several of the timeshifted cards that were originally common, including multiples of the same card.

- I believe Lorwyn and Shadowmoor were simply the product of Wizards trying new things just for the sake of novelty. I'm not sure there was a deeper reasoning behind them.

- Mythic rares were first printed in Alara block, which was in 2008.

[QUOTE=scumbling1]- When Magic began, there was no concept of Blocks; each set was more or less themetically and mechanically independent from the others. This continued to be the trend until 1996, when Alliances was printed. I don't know why they chose to revisit Ice Age's setting (maybe because it is awesome?) but they expanded upon what had happened previously. The next set, Mirage, was the first set designed for Limited play and the first designed in the traditional three-block format. Looking back at the situation, it could seem as if Ice Age and Alliances were part of an unfinished block, being two connected sets.

Ten years later, Wizards decided to 'complete' the block by printing Coldsnap. It was strictly a marketing ploy, and I remember them circulating rumors that this was the third set that had been lost in some filing cabinet. The truth is that it was a marketing gimmick, and nothing more. When it was printed, they didn't make Ice Age or Alliances legal again; they treated it as the independent set that it truly is.

As for being Coldsnap somehow associated with Visions, I'm not entirely sure what you're talking about. They're completely unrelated.

I meant Alliances, not Visions. That's my mistake. Sorry.

- Time Spiral block doesn't have four sets; it has three: Time Spiral, Planar Chaos, and Future Sight. Perhaps what you're refering to as the fourth set are the "timeshifted" cards with the purple hourglass expansion symbol? Here is an explanation of those from the Magic Wiki:

I was thinking of the "Timeshifted" cards. I was only going by the list of sets in the vault. Their list separates Timeshifted cards, so I just assumed it was another set.

In the Time Spiral set, timeshifted cards make up a 121-card subset comprised entirely of pre-Mirrodin reprints, tying in with the set's theme of revisiting the past. Each card in the subset features the old 7th Edition card frame and has a new purple expansion symbol to denote their unique rarity. One timeshifted card appears in every Time Spiral booster pack, making the cards roughly 50% rarer than rare cards, which also appear once per pack but comprise of only 80 cards. However, in the Time Spiral Preconstructed Decks, timeshifted cards are treated as though they had their original rarity, as each deck features several of the timeshifted cards that were originally common, including multiples of the same card.

- I believe Lorwyn and Shadowmoor were simply the product of Wizards trying new things just for the sake of novelty. I'm not sure there was a deeper reasoning behind them.

- Mythic rares were first printed in Alara block, which was in 2008.[/QUOTE]

Thanks for the info. Very helpful.

Sure, I'll take any opportunity to reminisce about Magic history!

One thing I forgot to mention was that while Ice Age and Alliances weren't made legal again for Standard at the release of Coldsnap, there were several preconstucted decks associated with the set that did feature cards from the older sets.

You can find copies of Tinder Wall, Brainstorm, and Swords to Plowshares (among other cards) with Ice Age expansion symbols, but the new card frames. IMO, they look awesome.

Ya, that's what I was wondering, if Ice Age and Alliances were in standard with Coldsnap's release. Did they start selling booster packs for Ice Age and Alliances again so that newer players would have a chance to get them?

Wizards only reprinted the older cards that were placed into Coldsnap's precons. They didn't do additional print runs for the entire sets as Alliances and Ice Age still weren't legal in Standard. They just wanted to make the set feel like it was a part of a real block, so they used cards from the other two sets in the precons (as all third sets' precons use cards spanning their entire respective blocks).