Magic the Gathering Shards of Alara Tournament Starter Box

Magic the Gathering Shards of Alara Tournament Starter Box

Shards of Alara is set 1 of 3 in the Alara block and contains 249 Cards (15 mythic, 53 rare, 60 uncommon, 101 common, 20 basic lands)

Alara was whole once. But that was millennia ago. Where once there was a plane, now there are five: the Shards.

The plane of Alara was a world rich with mana, a world in balance...until the Sundering. In a cataclysm of unimaginable proportions, Alara was rent asunder into five separate worlds, each a refraction of the others.

The cause of this cataclysm has been lost to time. Some ancient lore of the Shards suggest a being of godlike power forcibly split Alara to seize its mana for himself. Some believe it was caused by the titanic battle for the fate of Alara, waged by the archangel Asha and the demon Malfegor. But for most, only the dimmest cultural memories remain of a richer world that existed before their own.

Whatever the cause of the splitting, one thing is clear: The Shards have become very different places in the time since the Sundering. Each plane was all but severed from two of the five colors of mana. The Shard of Bant, for example, lost almost all its black and red mana, maintaining only white, blue, and green.

This mana imbalance caused the Shards to evolve in wildly distinct directions over the course of thousands of years. Now only hints of a common ancestor plane remain on the five worlds, and their environments and denizens could hardly differ more.

* Mythic rares have a new expansion symbol color (copper red)

* Mythic rares are expected to mean cards like Planeswalkers, most legends, and epic-feeling creatures and spells. They will not just be a list of each set's most powerful tournament-level cards.

* Mythic rares have premium (foil) versions as well

* The number of combined premium rares and premium mythic rares you will get starting with Shards of Alara is higher than the number of premium rares you currently get.

Look for the following key cards:
Ajani Vengeant

Elspeth, Knight-Errant

Empyrial Archangel

Godsire

Hellkite Overlord

Kresh the Bloodbraided

Lich's Mirror

Mayael the Anima

Prince of Thralls

Rafiq of the Many

Sarkhan Vol

Sedris, the Traitor King

Sharuum the Hegemon

Sphinx Sovereign

Tezzeret the Seeker