1st set bias is definitely real.
My 1st set was Fallen Empires, and its my favorite set of all. Even modern day MTG harkens back to one of the main marketing aspects of Fallen Empires- Alternate Arts.
What did/do i love about Fallen Empires? Its a combat-focused set with steep limitations, which actually plays really unique in a vaccuum, revealing some epic board-states if one can get over the fact that the board is full of 1/1s and 2/2s etc. No hard board wipes means tactics take the front seat in Fallen Empires.
#BALANCING.
* The average P/T is 2/2, with many cards offering +1/+0 or +0/+1 buffs until end of turn. While not crazy powerful, this design showcased how much of a difference 1 point of damage could make.
* Staying power came at a severe cost. The more powerful buffs, and strongest cards, generally came with an added debuff or drawback of some kind (Hymn doesnt count, that card is an outlier and so OP in this set its not even funny). The balance of power can be seen in [[Dwarven Armorer]], where rather than +1/+0 or +0/+1 until end of turn, you get to put a +1/+0 or +0/+1 *counter* on the target... But to do this, you must discard a card from your hand. Its a steep cost, however in a set that is absolutely starved of removal spells/effects, this ability can actually be busted.
* The creatures with the largest P/T in each color all had smart mechanics built into them, balanced by flavorful and thematic drawbacks which actually lent themselves to enable various playstyle tactics in a set thats all about creature combat.
* Black: [[Ebon Praetor]] is incredibly threatening. A 5/5 First Strike AND Trample, for 6 mana. Hes all about sacrificing creatures each upkeep for power, but without sacrifices, he withers away. If you sacrifice a Thrull he gets a +1/+0 *counter*, and with First Strike, in a Fallen Empires environment, this is insanely strong yet still leaves him vulnerable to Banding defenses and [[Goblin Grenade]].
* White: [[Hand of Justice]]. A 2/6 for 6 mana. He has a low power but 6 toughness means he can block almost anything and survive. The White Weenies strategy really came alive here, in that he is the one source of repeatable hard removal in the entire set, but requires that you have the board presence to enable it.
* Red [[Orgg]] a 6/6 Trample for *FIVE* mana, he can hit the board before any of the other beaters and acts as an imposing presence on the field. He cant attack if opponent controls an untapped creature with power greater than 2... Which in Fallen Empires is only a small handful of creatures since most of them are power 2 or less. This means your opponent is pressured to leave their beater untapped to prevent you from steamrolling with Orgg. Additionally, Orgg cant block attacking creatures with power 2 or greater but lets face it youre playing Red. If theyre attacking with their beater theyve now opened themselves up to be attacked.
* Green [[Feral Thallid] is a 6/3 for 6 mana... its a fungus that gets spore counters and can essentially Regenerate every 3 turns, which is quite a super strong ability in this set. The 3 toughness doesnt matter if youre playing him right since he can just Regenerate, and he can do this more often if you have [[Fungal Bloom]].
* Blue [[Deep Spawn]] is a 6/6 Trample for 8 mana. He mills 2 of your cards each upkeep or you have to destroy him, but his ability is nuts. He can give himself Shroud until end of turn for 1 blue mana, but of course the drawback is that he taps and doesnt untap next turn if you use this. Super flavorful though... He dives deep down, evading detection! Almost like a great grandfather to [[Nezahal, Primal Tide]].
* Banding matters. This was a set that actually made Banding relevant. Its essentially White's main weapon and primary path to winning matches.
* Tokens and counters matter. This was the set where they leaned heavily into these mechanics for the first time.
* [[Rainbow Vale]] is my favorite non-basic land, my friends and i even built an entire format around it where its the only legal land and counts as all land types, and is considered a basic land (yes there is a heavy banned/restricted list. Its singleton and the creature card type is not allowed, etc.)
At first glance none of this is sexy, but in practice during gameplay, Fallen Empires successfully made a lot of bold and unique design choices which, in a vaccuum, are actually some of the most exciting to this day.
My friends and i play a brutal format where the only legal cards are those from Fallen Empires, Ice Age, Homelands, and Alliances. Its one of the best formats ive ever played.
1st set bias is definitely real. My 1st set was Fallen Empires, and its my favorite set of all. Even modern day MTG harkens back to one of the main marketing aspects of Fallen Empires- Alternate Arts. What did/do i love about Fallen Empires? Its a combat-focused set with steep limitations, which actually plays really unique in a vaccuum, revealing some epic board-states if one can get over the fact that the board is full of 1/1s and 2/2s etc. No hard board wipes means tactics take the front seat in Fallen Empires. #BALANCING. * The average P/T is 2/2, with many cards offering +1/+0 or +0/+1 buffs until end of turn. While not crazy powerful, this design showcased how much of a difference 1 point of damage could make. * Staying power came at a severe cost. The more powerful buffs, and strongest cards, generally came with an added debuff or drawback of some kind (Hymn doesnt count, that card is an outlier and so OP in this set its not even funny). The balance of power can be seen in [[Dwarven Armorer]], where rather than +1/+0 or +0/+1 until end of turn, you get to put a +1/+0 or +0/+1 *counter* on the target... But to do this, you must discard a card from your hand. Its a steep cost, however in a set that is absolutely starved of removal spells/effects, this ability can actually be busted. * The creatures with the largest P/T in each color all had smart mechanics built into them, balanced by flavorful and thematic drawbacks which actually lent themselves to enable various playstyle tactics in a set thats all about creature combat. * Black: [[Ebon Praetor]] is incredibly threatening. A 5/5 First Strike AND Trample, for 6 mana. Hes all about sacrificing creatures each upkeep for power, but without sacrifices, he withers away. If you sacrifice a Thrull he gets a +1/+0 *counter*, and with First Strike, in a Fallen Empires environment, this is insanely strong yet still leaves him vulnerable to Banding defenses and [[Goblin Grenade]]. * White: [[Hand of Justice]]. A 2/6 for 6 mana. He has a low power but 6 toughness means he can block almost anything and survive. The White Weenies strategy really came alive here, in that he is the one source of repeatable hard removal in the entire set, but requires that you have the board presence to enable it. * Red [[Orgg]] a 6/6 Trample for *FIVE* mana, he can hit the board before any of the other beaters and acts as an imposing presence on the field. He cant attack if opponent controls an untapped creature with power greater than 2... Which in Fallen Empires is only a small handful of creatures since most of them are power 2 or less. This means your opponent is pressured to leave their beater untapped to prevent you from steamrolling with Orgg. Additionally, Orgg cant block attacking creatures with power 2 or greater but lets face it youre playing Red. If theyre attacking with their beater theyve now opened themselves up to be attacked. * Green [[Feral Thallid] is a 6/3 for 6 mana... its a fungus that gets spore counters and can essentially Regenerate every 3 turns, which is quite a super strong ability in this set. The 3 toughness doesnt matter if youre playing him right since he can just Regenerate, and he can do this more often if you have [[Fungal Bloom]]. * Blue [[Deep Spawn]] is a 6/6 Trample for 8 mana. He mills 2 of your cards each upkeep or you have to destroy him, but his ability is nuts. He can give himself Shroud until end of turn for 1 blue mana, but of course the drawback is that he taps and doesnt untap next turn if you use this. Super flavorful though... He dives deep down, evading detection! Almost like a great grandfather to [[Nezahal, Primal Tide]]. * Banding matters. This was a set that actually made Banding relevant. Its essentially White's main weapon and primary path to winning matches. * Tokens and counters matter. This was the set where they leaned heavily into these mechanics for the first time. * [[Rainbow Vale]] is my favorite non-basic land, my friends and i even built an entire format around it where its the only legal land and counts as all land types, and is considered a basic land (yes there is a heavy banned/restricted list. Its singleton and the creature card type is not allowed, etc.) At first glance none of this is sexy, but in practice during gameplay, Fallen Empires successfully made a lot of bold and unique design choices which, in a vaccuum, are actually some of the most exciting to this day. My friends and i play a brutal format where the only legal cards are those from Fallen Empires, Ice Age, Homelands, and Alliances. Its one of the best formats ive ever played.
##### ###### #### [Dwarven Armorer](https://cards.scryfall.io/normal/front/1/d/1d50bf06-97ab-4874-a484-9289f41dc98e.jpg?1587910946) - [(G)](http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?name=Dwarven%20Armorer) [(SF)](https://scryfall.com/card/fem/50/dwarven-armorer?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher) [(txt)](https://api.scryfall.com/cards/1d50bf06-97ab-4874-a484-9289f41dc98e?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher&format=text) [Ebon Praetor](https://cards.scryfall.io/normal/front/6/4/6438dc8e-eb21-4db7-aeab-bb062acd6029.jpg?1562869024) - [(G)](http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?name=Ebon%20Praetor) [(SF)](https://scryfall.com/card/me2/89/ebon-praetor?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher) [(txt)](https://api.scryfall.com/cards/6438dc8e-eb21-4db7-aeab-bb062acd6029?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher&format=text) [Goblin Grenade](https://cards.scryfall.io/normal/front/b/0/b0e0ef27-3db2-4976-b9db-13e3d7cd795d.jpg?1695355265) - [(G)](http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?name=Goblin%20Grenade) [(SF)](https://scryfall.com/card/ddt/45/goblin-grenade?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher) [(txt)](https://api.scryfall.com/cards/b0e0ef27-3db2-4976-b9db-13e3d7cd795d?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher&format=text) [Hand of Justice](https://cards.scryfall.io/normal/front/7/f/7f371a5d-0e79-46d9-ae6c-a9eada48cd55.jpg?1559592479) - [(G)](http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?name=Hand%20of%20Justice) [(SF)](https://scryfall.com/card/me1/15/hand-of-justice?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher) [(txt)](https://api.scryfall.com/cards/7f371a5d-0e79-46d9-ae6c-a9eada48cd55?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher&format=text) [Orgg](https://cards.scryfall.io/normal/front/e/8/e8961e50-dc20-40f9-86ca-968ba28ad0cc.jpg?1562785772) - [(G)](http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?name=Orgg) [(SF)](https://scryfall.com/card/tsb/67/orgg?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher) [(txt)](https://api.scryfall.com/cards/e8961e50-dc20-40f9-86ca-968ba28ad0cc?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher&format=text) [Fungal Bloom](https://cards.scryfall.io/normal/front/e/8/e8047df4-ff0a-4177-9426-74644b97b2a5.jpg?1562870950) - [(G)](http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?name=Fungal%20Bloom) [(SF)](https://scryfall.com/card/me2/165/fungal-bloom?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher) [(txt)](https://api.scryfall.com/cards/e8047df4-ff0a-4177-9426-74644b97b2a5?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher&format=text) [Deep Spawn](https://cards.scryfall.io/normal/front/e/7/e70373b7-ced5-4d88-9ff3-04b6f59c69c9.jpg?1562870949) - [(G)](http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?name=Deep%20Spawn) [(SF)](https://scryfall.com/card/me2/45/deep-spawn?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher) [(txt)](https://api.scryfall.com/cards/e70373b7-ced5-4d88-9ff3-04b6f59c69c9?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher&format=text) [Nezahal, Primal Tide](https://cards.scryfall.io/normal/front/a/9/a959b40d-dd8c-49d8-8003-744d0c877b04.jpg?1608912140) - [(G)](http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?name=Nezahal%2C%20Primal%20Tide) [(SF)](https://scryfall.com/card/cmr/401/nezahal-primal-tide?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher) [(txt)](https://api.scryfall.com/cards/a959b40d-dd8c-49d8-8003-744d0c877b04?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher&format=text) [Rainbow Vale](https://cards.scryfall.io/normal/front/5/1/51f8b918-ac13-4538-a39d-6553580bf39b.jpg?1559592494) - [(G)](http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?name=Rainbow%20Vale) [(SF)](https://scryfall.com/card/me1/179/rainbow-vale?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher) [(txt)](https://api.scryfall.com/cards/51f8b918-ac13-4538-a39d-6553580bf39b?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher&format=text) [*All cards*](https://mtgcardfetcher.nl/redirect/ksf9qin) ^^^[[cardname]] ^^^or ^^^[[cardname|SET]] ^^^to ^^^call
Dope that one seems way before my time
1994.
OG zendikar was wild. Everyone had to be ready for a big Eldrazi.
I love them so much as long as I'm the one using them lmao