Magic 2013

The Magic: The Gathering 2013 Core Set, commonly referred to as Magic 2013 or M13, is a core set released July 13, 2012.

Set details
Magic 2013 contains 249 cards (101 Common, 60 Uncommon, 53 Rare, 15 Mythic, 20 Basic Lands), including randomly inserted premium versions of all cards. The returning mechanic for this Core Set was Exalted. Magic 2013 was the first Core Set to contain zero cards that had appeared in every core set from Alpha on (excluding the basic lands). It was also the first Core Set after  Alpha to feature original art on (some of) the basic lands.

Magic 2013 is largely built around Nicol Bolas, Planeswalker, which became the first multicolored card to be included in a core set. The set also includes a cycle of Legendary creatures (only the second time a core set included Legendary creatures (the first was Tenth Edition) and a cycle of Planeswalkers. Ajani Goldmane and Liliana Vess received new cards. Magic 2013 is tightly incorporated into into the digital Duels of the Planeswalkers 2013 which contained a theme deck for each Planeswalker and Legendary creature, and featured those characters as opponents and Nicol Bolas as the final boss. Due to the close prospective release dates, "Duels 2013" was pushed as the introductory set, while Magic 2013 itself was to be the Magic "showcase", having many high-end, high-impact spells.

Flavor
Face a Greater Challenge The set's flavor is an amalgamation of several different planes in the universe. Krenko and Yeva hail from Ravnica, Odric from Innistrad, Nefarox from the Grixis portion of a reunited Alara, while Talrand, Xathrid Gorgon, War Priest of Thune and the equipment cycle of Rings refer to the plane of Shandalar.

Bolas, like the other planeswalkers, is supplemented with several cards capturing his flavor, including Gem of Becoming and his minions Augur of Bolas, Disciple of Bolas and Mindclaw Shaman.

Marketing
Magic 2013 was is sold in 16-card and 6-card booster packs, five Intro packs, two event decks, Booster Battle Pack"s, a fat pack and a Deck Builder's Toolkit. The packaging of the set is centered around Bolas' iconic feature, his warped horns. The regular boosters feature art from Liliana of the Dark Realms, Augur of Bolas</c>, Spiked Baloth</c>, Mindclaw Shaman</c> and Ajani, Caller of the Pride</c>. The 6-card booster features Diabolic Revelation</c>. With each copy of Duels of the Planeswalkers 2013 a six card Magic 2013 sampler could be obtained.

Prerelease Events took place July 7–8, 2012 and Launch Parties took place July 13–15, 2012 (conflicing with an earlier report of "no more Launch Parties"). Game Day took place on August 4–5, 2012. The Prerelease card was Xathrid Gorgon</c>, the Launch promo was Staff of Nin</c> and the Game Day card was a full-art Mwonvuli Beast Tracker</c> (the Top 8 received a full-art foil Magmaquake</c>). A new promo card was introduced for Core set league participants: received an alternate art Goblin creature token. The Buy-a-Box card was Cathedral of War</c>.

Regular boosters of Magic 2013 come with a bonus sixteenth card that is either a creature token or an emblem with an advertisement on the reverse side. "tips & tricks cards" were discontinued.

Tokens/Emblem

 * 2/2 Cat produced by Ajani, Caller of the Pride</c>.
 * 0/1 Goat produced by Trading Post</c>.
 * 1/1 Soldier produced by Attended Knight</c>, Captain of the Watch</c> and Captain's Call</c>.
 * 2/2 Drake with flying produced by Talrand, Sky Summoner</c> and <c>Talrand's Invocation</c>.
 * 2/2 Zombie produced by <c>Vile Rebirth</c>.
 * 1/1 Goblin produced by <c>Krenko, Mob Boss</c> and <c>Krenko's Command</c>.
 * 4/4 Hellion produced by <c>Hellion Crucible</c>.
 * 3/3 Beast produced by <c>Garruk, Primal Hunter</c> and <c>Thragtusk</c>.
 * 1/1 Saproling produced by <c>Fungal Sprouting</c>.
 * 6/6 Wurm produced by <c>Garruk, Primal Hunter</c>.

Sample decks
The Magic 2013 Core Set came with five thirty-card sample decks.

Cycles
Magic 2013 has eight cycles:

Pairs
Magic 2013 has two mirrored pairs.

Functional reprints

 * <c>Battleflight Eagle</c>, functional reprint of <c>Welkin Guide</c> from Shards of Alara, save for creature type
 * <c>Faerie Invaders</c>, functional reprint of <c>Spire Monitor</c> from New Phyrexia, save for creature type
 * <c>Flames of the Firebrand</c>, functional reprint of <c>Arc Lightning</c> from Urza's Saga
 * <c>Guardian Lions</c>, functional reprint of <c>Border Patrol</c> from Judgment, save for creature type
 * <c>Krenko's Command</c>, functional reprint of <c>Dragon Fodder</c> from Shards of Alara
 * <c>Warclamp Mastiff</c>, functional reprint of <c>Tundra Wolves</c> from Legends and <c>Serra Zealot</c> from Urza's Saga, save for creature type

Notable cards

 * <c>Thragtusk</c> and <c>Thundermaw Hellkite</c> are two powerful creatures that saw some tournament play printed for the first time in Magic 2013.
 * <c>Master of the Pearl Trident</c> is a fixed version of <c>Lord of Atlantis</c>, capable of boost only your merfolk. It also see tournament play in merfolk decks in Modern.
 * <c>Omniscience</c> is a combo enabler, sometimes combined with <c>Enter the Infinite</c> from Gatecrash.
 * <c>Worldfire</c> is one of the most powerful sweepers ever printed.

Intro packs
The intro packs now came with two boosters. They are:

Event decks
The event decks are:

Core set changes

 * Notable changes
 * Magic 2013 is the first core set to have a spell that specifically destroys an equipment - <c>Turn to Slag</c>.
 * Cycle of Titans: <c>Sun Titan</c>, <c>Frost Titan</c>, <c>Grave Titan</c>, <c>Inferno Titan</c> and <c>Primeval Titan</c>.
 * This is the first core set without a cycle of "Lucky charms" artifacts (or the original cycle): <c>Angel's Feather</c>, <c>Demon's Horn</c>, <c>Dragon's Claw</c>, <c>Kraken's Eye</c> and <c>Wurm's Tooth</c>.
 * Due to the impending return of a multicolor block, the hoser cycle of <c>Celestial Purge</c>, <c>Flashfreeze</c>, <c>Deathmark</c>, <c>Combust</c> and <c>Autumn's Veil</c> is absent as to not make such an impact on allied-multicolor decks.
 * Notably, this set does not include <c>Giant Spider</c>, before this was the only card that had been in every core set (excluding basic lands).