Storyline: The world of Mirrodin
The setting for ''Mirrodin'' is a plane by the same name. An artificial world created by the planeswalker Karn, originally named Argentum, and named after the Mirari by Memnarch, Mirrodin's environments and inhabitants mix organic and metallic. Mirrodin is orbited by four satellites, which are called suns and moons interchangeably, that correspond to red, black, white and blue magic. Green was notably absent until Glissa Sunseeker became a conduit for its birth. The set focuses on five main regions on Mirrodin, each corresponding to a part of the Magic color pie: * The Oxidda Chain, a range of mountains populated byDarksteel
''The Darksteel Eye'' is the secondFifth Dawn
The final book in this expansion series is named ''The Fifth Dawn.'' In the story, Glissa, Bosh, and Slobad journey deep within Mirrodin's core to confront the insidious Memnarch. With them is the Kaldra avatar—an immensely powerful being of energy summoned when Kaldra's sword, shield, and helm were brought together. But what was supposed to be the world's salvation turns out to be a vile trick. With a single spell, Memnarch seizes the avatar and turns it on Glissa and her companions. Kaldra's avatar relentlessly pursues Glissa into the Tangle, destroying everything in its way. Finally, at the Radix, Glissa's destiny becomes clear. As rage and despair overcome her, Glissa's body calls forth a great column of green mana from Mirrodin's core, annihilating the avatar in the process. Now that mana hangs overhead in a glowing sphere—the green sun at last, Mirrodin's fifth dawn.Set history
Mirrodin
''Mirrodin'' is notable for being the first expansion set to feature the new card front design (which debuted in '' 8th Edition''). The high number of artifacts in ''Mirrodin'' highlighted the inherent flaw of the new border design — artifact cards, which were now bordered in a very light grey instead of brown, were very hard to distinguish from white cards. The problem promptedDarksteel
''Darksteel'' was the first "small" expansion to have 165 cards, whereas previous small expansions had 143, (with the exception of ''Legions'' which had 145 as a balance among the five colors.)Fifth Dawn
The name ''Fifth Dawn'' is derived from the plane's five suns. Each sun is associated with a color of mana and the green sun, which has long been absent, returns to the sky as part of this set's storyline. ''Fifth Dawn'' adds a new twist to artifact theme of ''Mirrodin'' and '' Darksteel'': it encourages using colored mana for playing artifact spells, via the Sunburst mechanic (see below). ''Fifth Dawn'' introduced an enhanced design for artifact cards, which uses a darker inner border to help players distinguish artifacts from white cards. ''Fifth Dawn'' theme decks contained a few reprints from ''Mirrodin'' and ''Darksteel'' with the improved card face.Mechanics
''Mirrodin'' introduced a number of new mechanics, including Equipment, Affinity, Imprint and Entwine. The artifact subtype Equipment, which has become a staple of ''Magic'', represented weapons, clothing and armor that could be wielded or worn by creatures. Equipment functions like the older "Enchant Creature" cards (now called Auras) in that they provide some effect while attached to the creature. Unlike Auras, however, Equipment can only be attached to creatures you control in most cases, and remain in play even if the creature they were attached to leaves play. Affinity reduces the total cost of a spell by the number of permanents in play of a certain type, which in the case of Mirrodin was always artifacts or basic land types. Entwine was an optional cost on modal instants and sorceries, which allows a player to choose all effects (rather than only one) if the Entwine cost was paid. The Imprint keyword allowed an artifact to gain additional effects if another card is exiled and imprinted on that artifact. Mirrodin also had an infamous cycle of artifact lands. ''Darksteel'' continued the Equipment, Affinity, Imprint and Entwine mechanics, and introduced the indestructible and modular keywords. Something that is or has indestructible can't be destroyed by damage or "destroy effects". In ''Darksteel'', indestructible cards (all of which were artifacts) are made of the titular metal, though other things have been deemed indestructible when it became a common mechanic in later sets (similar to Double Strike, introduced in the '' Onslaught)''. Modular was a keyworded ability of artifact creatures, these creatures would come into play with a set number of counters and, upon the destruction of that creature, could transfer them to another artifact creature. Modular was part of a larger theme of charge counters on artifacts throughout the set. Fifth Dawn introduced the Sunburst and Scry mechanics. Artifacts with Sunburst get +1/+1 counters (if the card is a creature) or charge counters (if noncreature) for each color of mana used to pay the artifact's mana cost. "Scry X" means "Look at the top X cards of your library. Put any number of them on the bottom of your library and the rest on top in any order." X was always 2 in Fifth Dawn, but other numbers were introduced when Scry was reprised for subsequent sets.Notable cards
One notable cycle in Mirrodin was the cycle of artifact lands (, , , and ). These enhanced the power of cards with the "Affinity" mechanic by increasing the number of artifacts in play while still being considered lands. Due to abuse, they are banned or restricted in some formats. Other notable cards include and . Notable cards in ''Darksteel'' include , , , , , , , and . Notable cards in ''Fifth Dawn'' include , , and .References
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