Template:Featured article/April 2015

Featured article

 * ORI logo.jpgMagic Origins will be the 17th and last Magic core set. It will be grouped as a two-set block with Dragons of Tarkir for the purposes of Standard rotation under the new regime. The set is strongly integrated with its digital counterpart Magic Duels: Origins.

Magic Origins contains 272 cards, which is 3 more than the current default for large sets. As a first since Alpha, this Core Set features two new mechanics. R&D considers Magic Origins not to be the "last core set", but a "new beginning" relating to the start of the Two-Block Paradigm and a new treatment of the storyline. To enable this storytelling, there are more new cards in this set than in previous Core Sets. The set tells the origin stories of several planeswalkers - Gideon Jura, Jace Beleren, Chandra Nalaar, Liliana Vess and Nissa Revane - who are going to be playing a big role in up-coming story arcs. According to Doug Beyer "we'll see these characters' home worlds, learn about the joys and crises of their early lives, and discover how they became the Multiverse-traveling Planeswalkers we know today." We see these characters depicted before and after their planeswalker's spark ignites. The design of the cards mirrors this by using double-faced cards with one side featuring the character as a legendary creature, and the other side featuring its planeswalker incarnation.