Magic 2014

The Magic: The Gathering 2014 Core Set, commonly referred to as Magic 2014 or M14 is the 15th Magic core set. It was released on July 19, 2013.

Set details
Ignite your spark Magic 2014 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 Slivers.

Even more than the previous set, Magic 2014 is strongly integrated with its digital counterpart, Duels of the Planeswalkers. In celebration of Magic 's 20th anniversary, the logo of the set has the mythic orange / bronze color instead of the usual yellow or blue.

Design and development teams were officially referred to as "Initial Concept and Game Design" and "Final Game Design and Development" teams, respectively. Although these names had previously been internally in use at Wizards of the Coast, this announcement was the first to use them in an official capacity.

The set puts the spotlight on Chandra. This meant a new Planeswalker card aimed at making a splash in Constructed, many Chandra-themed support cards, and flavor throughout the set attached to her persona.

Marketing


Magic 2014 was is sold in 16-card booster packs, five Intro packs, one event decks, Booster Battle Packs, a fat pack, the 2014 Deck Builder's Toolkit and a Land Station. The boosters feature art from Archangel of Thune, Chandra, Pyromaster, Garruk, Caller of Beasts, Syphon Sliver and Fiendslayer Paladin. With each copy of Duels of the Planeswalkers 2013 a six card Magic 2013 sampler could be obtained; there were five different samplers, one for each platform. The 6-card boosters (the last to be released) featured art from Banisher Priest. Prerelease Events took place July 13–14, 2013. Game Day took place on August 10–11, 2013. The Magic Online release was on July 29, 2013.

Marketing cards

 * Prerelease: Megantic Sliver
 * Launch promo: Colossal Whale
 * Game Day: full-art Hive Stirrings</c>
 * Game Day (Top 8): full-art Goblin Diplomats</c>
 * Core set league: alternate art 1/1 colorless Sliver creature token
 * Buy-a-Box: Ratchet Bomb</c>

Tokens/Emblems
Regular boosters of Magic 2014 come with a bonus sixteenth card that is either a "tips & tricks card", a creature token or an emblem with an advertisement on the reverse side:
 * 1)  1/1 Sliver produced by Hive Stirrings</c>.
 * 2)  4/4 Angel with flying produced by Angelic Accord</c> and Devout Invocation</c>..
 * 3)  2/2 Cat produced by Ajani, Caller of the Pride</c> and Ajani's Chosen</c>.
 * 4)  0/1 Goat produced by Trading Post</c>.
 * 5)  2/2 Zombie produced by Liliana's Reaver</c>, Vile Rebirth</c> and Xathrid Necromancer</c>
 * 6)  2/2 Dragon produced by Dragon Egg</c>.
 * 7)  1/1 Elemental (two versions) produced by Molten Birth</c> and Young Pyromancer</c>.
 * 8)  3/3 Beast produced by Primeval Bounty</c>.
 * 9)  1/1 Saproling produced by <c>Sporemound</c>.
 * 10)  2/2 Wolf produced by <c>Howl of the NIght Pack</c>

Sample decks
The Magic 2014 Core Set came with five thirty-card sample decks.

Rules changes
With the release of Magic 2014, several rules changes were implemented. The rules changes were subject to a specific article by Sam Stoddard to place them in the context.
 * The 'Legend rule' was changed. Legendary permanents of the same name and Planeswalker cards of the same type were now only placed into the graveyard if they are controlled by the same player. For example, if player A controls a <c>Jace Beleren</c> and player B controls <c>Jace, the Mind Sculptor</c>, nothing happens when before both cards would be placed into the graveyard. However, if player A had control of both, that player will choose one of those cards and that card will be placed in the graveyard will the other remains.
 * Sideboards in constructed play now could contain up to 15 cards, rather than the rule of either 15 or 0 cards before. Also it is permitted to add/remove cards from the main deck to the sideboard (or vice versa) without swapping them for the same amount of cards, as long as the main deck contains more than 60 and the sideboard less than 15.
 * Indestructible became a keyword.
 * "*this creature* is unblockable" was changed to "*this creature* can't be blocked".
 * The rules for playing additional lands off of effects like <c>Explore</c> were streamlined.

Cycles
Magic 2014 has six cycles:

Pairs
Magic 2014 has one mirrored pair.

Combo
M14 has one top-down designed combo.

Notable cards

 * <c>Young Pyromancer</c> sees tournament play in Modern and Legacy thanks to its ability to make a powerful board advantage.
 * <c>Shadowborn Apostle</c> is a card that a deck can have any number of. At time of printing, the only other card to have this text was <c>Relentless Rats</c> from Fifth Dawn.

Intro packs
The intro packs are:

Each intro pack includes an appropriate card from the Wizard Stave cycle.

Event deck
Magic 2014 has one event deck.

Core set changes

 * Notable changes
 * Magic rings of Shandalar: <c>Ring of Thune</c>, <c>Ring of Evos Isle</c>, <c>Ring of Xathrid</c>, <c>Ring of Valkas</c>, and <c>Ring of Kalonia</c>
 * Sedge creatures: <c>Prized Elephant</c>, <c>Arctic Aven</c>, <c>Harbor Bandit</c>, <c>Crimson Muckwader</c>, and <c>Flinthoof Boar</c>.
 * Taplands: <c>Glacial Fortress</c>, <c>Drowned Catacomb</c>, <c>Dragonskull Summit</c>, <c>Rootbound Crag</c> and <c>Sunpetal Grove</c>. This was the first core set since 4th Edition without a series of dual type lands in it.