Boon

The boons are a cycle of five cards that originally appeared in the Alpha printing of Magic, each with an effect relating to the number three (3), and one in each color. In general, a "boon" is a blessing or benefit; a thing that is helpful.

List
In color wheel order by color,
 * Healing Salve
 * Ancestral Recall
 * Dark Ritual
 * Lightning Bolt
 * Giant Growth

This cycle is asymmetric in that Ancestral Recall is rare, while the other members are common.

Power level
The power level of the cards in this cycle varies wildly, as has R&D's willingness to reprint them. Ancestral Recall is part of the Power Nine, the most broken and monetarily expensive cards in the game, while Healing Salve and similar effects are generally considered to be unplayable.

Only two of the boons have been reprinted in a core set since Eighth Edition: Giant Growth (last printed in War of the Spark) and Lightning Bolt (last printed in Strixhaven Mystical Archive) The latter has been replaced by Incinerate and Shock in a number of core sets. The other three cards have not been reprinted: Ancestral Recall is on the Reserved List and banned in most formats for being too powerful, Healing Salve is seen as too weak, and Dark Ritual is seen as no longer being in black's wedge of the color pie and as being too powerful.

Variations
The concept of boons has been revisited many times; most notably, in various standalone expansions, each color would get a card in a cycle that has themes reminiscent of the original Alpha boons, although there continues be debate over the relative value of these effects.

For Dominaria, Healing Salve was finally replaced by the strictly better Healing Grace</c>.