Conflux

Conflux is the second set in the Alara block and is the forty-eighth Magic expansion. The prerelease events for this set were held January 31-February 1, 2009. Launch parties were held February 6–8, 2009. The set went on sale February 6, 2009.

Set details
Conflux was the first small set to be reduced in size and to contain the new mythic rarity The set contains 145 black-bordered cards. Conflux continues the Shards of Alara 's multicolor theme, expanding on it by introducing five-colored cards. Aside from the multicolor theme the set makes use of the mechanics introduced in the previous set. The set featured the return of Nicol Bolas, via the card Nicol Bolas, Planeswalker. The expansion symbol of the set is a representation of the five converging shards. The set was accompanied by the first Planeswalker novel: Agents of Artifice, written by Ari Marmell.

On September 29, 2008, the entire Conflux card list was leaked on MTG Salvation, thanks to mjmj.info.

Flavor
A powerful and infinitely sinister force is conspiring to reunite the Shards of Alara. This reunification will come with a deadly price – sheer chaos, as realities begin to overlap. Thus begins the Conflux.

Marketing
Conflux was sold in 16-card boosters, five intro packs and a fat pack. Conflux was also the first set to be sold in 6-card booster packs containing a tips/token card, 1 land, 3 commons, 1 uncommon, and 1 slot that has an equal chance of being rare/mythic, uncommon, or common. These packs were exclusively available from Gravity Feeds at large mass-market stores.

The promotional card given to players at the pre-release was the demon-dragon Malfegor. The set's sub-theme of all five colors converging was demonstrated in the release card, Obelisk of Alara, an artifact with five tap abilities, each one costing 1M and producing a common effect found in that color.

The 16-card boosters featured artwork from Nicol Bolas, Planeswalker, Maelstrom Archangel and Nyxathid, the small booster featured artwork from Apocalypse Hydra. An all-foil booster pack containing cards from Conflux and the other two sets of the block was released on January 8, 2010.

The regular boosters of Conflux come with a bonus sixteenth card that is either a "tips & tricks card" or a creature token from Conflux. One face of the Conflux bonus card has one of four different rules tips or is one of 2 different creature tokens. The other face has one of 13 advertisements for organized play programs, Alara Reborn, Duels of the Planeswalkers for Xbox Live, Magic Online, fat packs, A Planeswalker's Guide to Alara and Ultra Pro products for Magic.

Tips & Tricks
The tips & tricks cards are
 * Theme: Cards
 * Rules Tip: Domain
 * A Threat to Alara: Nicol Bolas
 * Fun Format: Pack Wars

Tokens
The Conflux tokens are:
 * 1)  4/4 Angel with flying produced by Sigil of the Empty Throne
 * 2)  3/1 Elemental produced by Rakka Mar</c>

The following tokens could also be found in Conflux packs.
 * 1/1 Soldier produced by Martial Coup</c> (Shards of Alara token)
 * 2/2 Zombie produced by Grixis Slavedriver</c> (Shards of Alara token)
 * 1/1 Saproling produced by Spore Burst</c>, Tukatongue Thallid</c> (Shards of Alara token)

Mechanics
All the shard keywords were back. Colored artifact creatures were still there. Bant still had their exalted ability. Jund still devour. Grixis raised their dead by unearth and Naya's "power 5 or greater" theme continued. In many ways, Conflux was a big continuation of Shards of Alara, except that there was now room for color hate because the shards had become aware of eachother.

In Conflux, Domain became an ability word. The set also introduced basic land cycling for which there is a cycle of common cards (also regular cycling appears on two cards). Progenitus</c> was the first to have "protection from everything" as an actual card effect.

Cycles
Conflux has 8 cycles:

Mini-cycles
Conflux has three cycles of three cards:

Reprinted cards

 * Mana Cylix</c> last seen in Planeshift.  It changed rarity from an uncommon to a common.
 * Maniacal Rage</c> first seen in Exodus, last seen in Invasion.
 * Unsummon</c> last seen in 10th Edition.
 * Worldly Counsel</c> last seen in Invasion.

Functional reprints
Conflux has 7 functional reprints:
 * Canyon Minotaur</c> is a functional reprint of Hill Giant</c> from 10th Edition, Tor Giant</c> from Ice Age, Ogre Warrior</c> from Starter 1999, Barbarian Horde</c> from Portal Three Kingdoms and Wild Jhovall</c> from Mercadian Masques, save for creature type.
 * <c>Might of Alara</c> is a functional reprint of <c>Gaea's Might</c> from Planeshift.
 * <c>Nacatl Savage</c> is a functional reprint of <c>Tel-Jilad Chosen</c> from Mirrodin, save for creature type.
 * The multicolored protection Bears cycle is a functional reprint of a cycle in Invasion, save for <c>Vedalken Outlander</c>, which is an artifact, while <c>Galina's Knight</c> is not, the others only differ in creature types. They are:
 * <c>Zombie Outlander</c> is a functional reprint of <c>Vodalian Zombie</c>.
 * <c>Goblin Outlander</c> is a functional reprint of <c>Shivan Zombie</c>.
 * <c>Nacatl Outlander</c> is a functional reprint of <c>Yavimaya Barbarian</c>.
 * <c>Valeron Outlander</c> is a functional reprint of <c>Llanowar Knight</c>.

Notable Cards

 * <c>Knight of the Reliquary</c> heavily played in Standard, Extended and Legacy midrange decks.
 * <c>Maelstrom Archangel</c> a very popular Mythic rare which allows its controller to play a free spell whenever it does damage. In Standard Five-Color-Control decks, this was typically the engine by which players could play <c>Nicol Bolas, Planeswalker</c>
 * <c>Nicol Bolas, Planeswalker</c> a highly sought-after card when it first came out; has since shown to have little competitive-play value, due to its unruly mana cost, but is still valued reasonably as a noteworthy and flavorful card; a favorite of Timmy and Vorthos. Notable in being the first tri-colored Planeswalker.
 * <c>Noble Hierarch</c> often used in various formats mostly for mana fixing and acceleration.
 * <c>Path to Exile</c> considered a near-functional reprint of <c>Swords to Plowshares</c>, and is run in many decks in Legacy, Modern, Extended and Standard.
 * <c>Progenitus</c> One of the most powerful, and arguably most difficult to hardcast, creatures, often played in combo decks in Standard, Extended and Legacy.

Intro packs
The intro packs are: