Magic Origins

Magic Origins is the 17th Magic core set. At the time of its release, it was thought to be, and marketed as, the last core set. It was grouped as a two-set block with Dragons of Tarkir for the purposes of Standard rotation under the Two-Block Paradigm. It was released on July 17, 2015. The set was strongly integrated with its digital counterpart Magic Duels: Origins.

Set details
Magic Origins was announced February 8, 2015 during Pro Tour Fate Reforged. The set contains 272 cards, which is 3 more than the current default for large sets (101 Commons, 80 Uncommons, 55 Rares, 16 Mythic Rares, 20 Basic Land ). An additional 16 cards appear in the sample decks (7 Common, 4 Uncommon, 5 Rare). 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. The latter involves telling coherent, in-depth stories about the characters and carrying those out over story arcs across multiple sets. To enable this storytelling, there are more new cards in this set than in previous Core Sets. More than ever, Magic Origins is strongly integrated with its digital counterpart, Magic Duels. We see the main characters depicted before and after their planeswalker's spark ignites. The design of the cards and mechanics mirrors this for the players, as a kind of "leveling up" to their full potential. This is achieved by double-faced cards with one side featuring a legendary creature, and the other side featuring its planeswalker incarnation. The basic lands feature basic land art from all the planes which are included in the set. Some are recreations of original artworks from those sets, showing the passage of time.

With Magic Origins, Wizards of the Coast experimented with a new mulligan rule: any player whose opening hand has fewer cards than their starting hand size may scry 1. After Pro Tour Vancouver, it was positively evaluated and implemented everywhere else.

Storyline
Ignite your Spark 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. We 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. These are nicknamed the "Origins Five" in contrast to the original "Lorwyn Five".

Marketing
Magic Origins was sold in booster packs, Intro packs, a fat pack, a clash pack, the Magic Origins Deck Builder's Toolkit and a Land Station. The boosters feature art work corresponding to the five planeswalker characters: Kytheon, Hero of Akros, Jace, Vryn's Prodigy, Liliana, Heretical Healer, Chandra, Fire of Kaladesh and Nissa, Vastwood Seer. Prerelease events were held on July 11–12, 2015, Launch Weekend on July 17–19, 2015 and Game Day on August 8–9, 2015. Starting the Monday of each week after the Prerelease, there were five consecutive Planeswalker theme weeks in WUBRG order on DailyMTG.com. Local stores around the world received some unique posters and items to put up to represent these theme weeks.

Prerelease
Players were asked to appear at the prerelease with clothes in the color of the favorite planeswalker. Magic Origins prerelease packs gave players the opportunity to learn the origin of their favorite Planeswalker. There were five prerelease packs, one for each planeswalker's color. Each came with a 7-card seeded booster pack that corresponded with that color. When registering for the Prerelease tournament, each player chose one. The seeded booster pack assisted players in building a deck by providing a starting point in their chosen color. Each seeded booster pack contained a stamped premium promo card, which players could include in their tournament decks. The prerelease pack further contained 6 regular booster packs, 1 story booklet and 1 Spindown life counter.

Promotional cards

 * Launch promo: Mizzium Meddler
 * Game Day: Conclave Naturalists
 * Game Day (Top 8): Languish
 * Buy-a-Box: Relic Seeker</c>
 * Prerelease, one of forty according to the chosen Planeswalker alignement. The pack's theme does not guarantee a specific Planeswalker card:

Tokens / Emblems / Checklist
The sixteenth card in the boosters is a token creature card, an emblem or a checklist card, with advertisements on the back side:


 * 1)  4/4 Angel with flying for Sigil of the Empty Throne</c>
 * 2)  2/2 Knight with vigilance for Gideon's Phalanx</c> and Knightly Valor</c>
 * 3)  1/1 Soldier for Murder Investigation</c>
 * 4)  5/5 Demon with flying for Priest of the Blood Rite</c>
 * 5)  2/2 Zombie for Undead Servant</c> and Liliana, Heretical Healer</c>
 * 6)  1/1 Goblin for Dragon Fodder</c>
 * 7)  2/2 Elemental for Zendikar's Roil</c>
 * 8)  1/1 Elf Warrior for Dwynen's Elite</c>
 * 9)  4/4 Legendary Elemental named "Ashaya, the Awoken World" for Nissa, Sage Animist</c>
 * 10)  1/1 Thopter with flying for Aspiring Aeronaut</c>, Foundry of the Consuls</c>, Ghirapur Gearcrafter</c>, Hangarback Walker</c>, <c>Pia and Kiran Nalaar</c>, <c>Thopter Engineer</c>, <c>Thopter Spy Network</c> and <c>Whirler Rogue</c>
 * 11)  1/1 Thopter with flying

Sample decks
The Magic Origins Core Set comes with five thirty-card sample decks. Each sample deck has several cards numbered 273 and higher that do not appear in Magic Origins booster packs. They include classics like <c>Serra Angel</c>, <c>Sengir Vampire</c> and <c>Mahamoti Djinn</c>. These 16 cards are legal for tournament play in any format that includes the Magic Origins core set. The Magic Origins Deck Builder's Toolkit also contains these cards.

Themes and mechanics
Double-faced cards / transform return with this set, showcasing the five planeswalkers. As for Innistrad and Dark Ascension a special checklist card is provided to facilitate play with the double-face cards.

Magic Origins features the new evergreen keyword ability Menace, as a replacement for Intimidate. Menace stands for This creature can't be blocked except by two or more creatures. The mechanic has existed since <c>Goblin War Drums</c> from Fallen Empires and will be primary in black and secondary in red.

Prowess (primary blue and secondary red) and Scry are promoted to evergreen status, while protection loses that status, and Intimidate and landwalk are retired entirely. A new keyword ability is Renown (primary white and secondary green) - Renown N1 (Whenever this creature deals combat damage to a player, if it isn't renowned, put N +1/+1 counter on it and it becomes renowned.)

A new ability word is Spell mastery - if there are two or more instant or sorcery cards in your graveyard, [effect].

Magic Origins features ten limited archetypes, each linked to one of the featured planes:
 * : Vryn — Control/Skies/Spell mastery (<c>Thunderclap Wyvern</c>)
 * : Innistrad — Graveyard (<c>Possessed Skaab</c>)
 * : Regatha — Sacrifice (<c>Blazing Hellhound</c>)
 * : Zendikar — Midrange Beatdown/Creature ramp (<c>Zendikar Incarnate</c>)
 * : Bant — Renown/pump spells (<c>Citadel Castellan</c>)
 * : Dominaria — Auras (<c>Blood-Cursed Knight</c>)
 * : Kaladesh — Tempo aggro/Artifacts (<c>Reclusive Artificer</c>)
 * : Lorwyn — Midrange attrition/Elves (<c>Shaman of the Pack</c>)
 * : Theros — Go wide (<c>Iroas's Champion</c>)
 * : Ravnica — Tempo (<c>Bounding Krasis</c>)

Cycles
Magic Origins has nine cycles, one of which contains seven cards.

Notable cards

 * <c>Pia and Kiran Nalaar</c> is a versatile card used in several tournament decks. It represents Chandra's parents.
 * <c>Demonic Pact</c> is an alternate-loss card.

Intro packs
The intro packs are:

Clash pack
Magic Origins comes with a clash pack which contains two ready-to-play, 60-card decks. The cards can combine into a single 60-card Standard deck perfect for FNM. The pack contains 6 premium cards with alternative art.