Fifth Dawn

Fifth Dawn is the third set in the Mirrodin block. It is the 32nd Magic: The Gathering expansion and was released on June 4, 2004. The prerelease was May 22–23, 2004.

Set details
Fifth Dawn contains 165 black-bordered cards (55 rare, 55 uncommon, and 55 commons). Like its predecessors Mirrodin and Darksteel, the set has a high artifact count (65). However, the set also has a distinct five-color matters theme. The set introduced a darker frame on artifact cards to help distinguish from white cards, a problem that had occurred since the introduction of the Eighth Edition card frame. Fifth Dawn 's expansion symbol is a small image of the Helm of Kaldra, one of the three Kaldra artifacts.

Marketing
Fifth Dawn was sold in 15-card boosters, four preconstructed theme decks and a fat pack. The booster packs featured artwork from Etched Oracle, Fist of Suns and Bringer of the Red Dawn. The prerelease card was a foil alternate art Helm of Kaldra. The set was accompanied by the novel of the same name, written by Cory Herndon.

Tokens
A 1/1 Myr Token for Myr Incubator and a 3/3 Beast Token for Bringer of the Green Dawn were offered as Magic Player Reward. A 2/2 colorless Pincher creature token for Summoning Station was created for a Player Reward as well, but in the end was only used on Magic Online.

Flavor and storyline
Glissa, Bosh and Slobad journey deep within Mirrodin's core to confront the insidious Memnarch. With them is the Kaldra avatar—an immensely powerful being of energy summoned when Kaldra's sword, shield, and helm were brought together. But what was supposed to be the world's salvation turns out to be a vile trick. With a single spell, Memnarch seizes the avatar and turns it on Glissa and her companions. Kaldra's avatar relentlessly pursues Glissa into the Tangle, destroying everything in its way. Finally, at the Radix, Glissa's destiny becomes clear. As rage and despair overcome her, Glissa's body calls forth a great column of green mana from Mirrodin's core, annihilating the avatar in the process. Now that mana hangs overhead in a glowing sphere—the green sun at last, Mirrodin's fifth dawn.

Themes and mechanics
Fifth Dawn had a "Machine Feel", with "Cogs", "Engines", "Batteries" "Spouts" and "Stations"  "Cogs" are  and  cost artifacts with small effects (e.g. Ornithopter</c>, Razorgrass Screen</c>). "Engines" turn one resource into another (e.g. Blasting Station</c>, Clock of Omens</c>), "Batteries" build up resources over time (e.g. Gemstone Array</c>) and "Spouts" are artifacts that allow you to turn a resource into some effect that will either win you the game or help you control the board (e.g. Avarice Totem</c>, Goblin Cannon</c>). "Stations" formed the "Great Machine" which together can produce infinite creatures, deal infinite damage, and mill infinite cards. Blasting Station</c>, Grinding Station</c>, Salvaging Station</c> and Summoning Station</c>. The artwork of the stations forms a mural.

The set sported several cards that were perfectly suited for the casual prismatic format (five-color matters). Some cards got a bonus for different colored mana spent on them, other cards that were specifically to be cast for.

Fifth Dawn introduced two new abilities:
 * Sunburst An artifact with sunburst enters the Battlefield with counters on it based on the number of colors of mana you used to pay its cost. The more colors of mana you have in your deck, the better your sunburst cards become. Artifact creatures enter the battlefield with +1/+1 counters while non-creature artifacts gain charge counters instead.  Cards with the Sunburst ability all share a visual cue - Mirrodin's five suns somewhere in the art.
 * Scry Some Fifth Dawn instants and sorceries let you look at the top two cards of your library and then decide where you want to put them. You can put both cards on either the top or bottom of your library in any order, or you can put one card on the top and one on the bottom. In Fifth Dawn, the mechanic only let the caster look at the top two cards. At a later revision in Future Sight the template of Scry was changed so a number of cards specified with the ability would be viewed.

Creature types
The creature type Bringer was introduced in this expansion.

The following creature types that are not new to Magic are used in this expansion: • Artificer

• Beast

• Cat

• Cleric

• Crocodile

• Dragon

• Drake

• Drone

• Druid

• Elemental

• Elephant

• Elf

• Giant

• Goblin

• Golem

• Imp

• Insect

• Knight

• Ogre

• Ouphe

• Rat

• Rogue

• Shaman

• Snake

• Soldier

• Spider

• Troll

• Vampire

• Wall

• Warrior

• Wizard

• Zombie

Cycles
Fifth Dawn has three cycles:

Pairs
Fifth Dawn has one mirrored pair.

Reprinted cards

 * Circle of Protection: Artifacts</c>, first printed in Antiquities, last seen in 5th Edition
 * Magma Giant</c>, first printed in Portal Second Age
 * Relic Barrier</c>, first printed in Legends

Functional reprints

 * Dross Crocodile</c>, functional reprint of Skeletal Crocodile</c> (Portal) but a Zombie instead of a skeleton
 * <c>Sylvok Explorer</c>, functional reprint of <c>Quirion Explorer</c> (Planeshift) save for creature type
 * <c>Thought Courier</c>, functional reprint of <c>Merfolk Looter</c> (Exodus) save for creature type

Preconstructed decks
Fifth Dawn has three bicolored and one pentachromatic theme decks.