Tempest

Tempest is the twelfth Magic expansion and was released in October 1997 as a standalone set, and as the first part of the Tempest block. The set continues the Weatherlight Saga on the stormy plane of Rath.

Set details
The rarity break down of the 350 black-bordered set is 110 commons, 110 uncommons, 110 rares, and 20 basic lands. Tempest's expansion symbol is a cloud with a lightning bolt, to symbolize Rath’s turbulent sky and Tempest’s tumultuous plot. This set was the first after Antiquities that featured Richard Garfield in active role as designer.

Marketing
Tempest was the last set that was marketed as a standalone set, and the first that was advertized as a expert-level set in the new rating system for the game sets. WotC had decided not to target the large expansions toward new players; the simplified Portal cards and those in the base set were for them. Tempest was sold not only in the tradional 60-card starter decks and 15-card boosters but also in a new form: preconstructed theme decks. Using only Tempest cards, the design team built four theme decks, marketed as a ready-to-play introduction to the set. The accompanying booklet explained the play strategy for each deck and suggested ways to strengthen them by swapping in cards from other sets. Another difference from the previous large expansions came in the rulebook. Anyone buying Tempest cards could safely be assumed to have either a Fifth Edition rulebook or a friend who could teach them the game. So instead of reprinting all the rules in the Tempest booklet, WotC only printed a brief overview and a few pages describing the features that were new in the set. The rest of the booklet, some fifty pages, profiled the main characters and summarized the Tempest story. Each Tempest booster contained 15 cards: 11 commons, 3 uncommons, and 1 rare. The packs featured artwork from Auratog, Volrath's Curse and Commander Greven il-Vec. Tempest was the first set to feature a special prerelease card: Dirtcowl Wurm. The card was not foil; it was a normal version of the card with the word "Prerelease" and the Magic "M" stamped in gold leaf on the type line.

The Official Guide to Tempest is a complete companion card set, written by Beth Moursund. This guide gives tips for playing in a Tempest-only environment and how to best use Tempest cards with Fifth Edition. There are full-color reproductions of all of the Tempest cards, along with information on the rarity of the cards and current errata.

Storyline
The set takes place on the stormy plane of Rath, where Gerrard and the heroes of the Skyship Weatherlight set out to find Volrath's stronghold.

Mechanics and themes
The block mechanics Buyback and Shadow were introduced in this set. White, blue and black colors had creatures with shadow (white Soltari, blue Thalakos, black Dauthi), while green and red have multiple methods of blocking creatures with shadow. The abilities associated with Slivers, Licids, Spikes and Flowstone were also introduced in this set. Every color had a sliver and licid. There was one green spike, that served as a preview of sorts of the rest of the Spikes yet to appear in the block. Flowstones are red creatures.

Creature types
The following creature types are introduced in this expansion: Crab, Licid, Shapeshifter, Sliver, Spike.

The following creature types are used in this expansion but also appear in previous sets: Angel, Ape, Atog, Beast, Bird, Cat, Cleric, Dragon, Drake, Druid, Dryad, Elemental, Elephant, Elf, Faerie, Giant, Goblin, Hound, Illusion, Imp, Insect, Knight, Lizard, Merfolk, Minion, Ooze, Pegasus, Rat, Rhino, Salamander, Serpent, Skeleton, Soldier,  Spider, Spirit, Treefolk, Thrull, Turtle, Vampire, Wall, Wizard, Wurm.

Cycles
Tempest has eleven cycles:

Theme decks
Tempest was the first set to be released with pre-constructed theme decks. The decks are:

Notable cards

 * Cold Storage - As written, people wondered what this card actually did with ": Put target creature you control on Cold Storage". With errata, it now reads ": Exile target creature you control."
 * Cursed Scroll - This is a powerful artifact, especially when you have 1 card in hand. This card is worth even more in the Japanese language version as its activation cost was misprinted as  instead of.
 * Earthcraft - This rare green enchantment pairs with Squirrel Nest from the Odyssey Expansion for a quick way to gain infinite creatures.
 * Humility</c> - A complicated enchantment with timing implications (what was played before it / after it) especially with Opalescence</c>.
 * Lotus Petal</c> - This common artifact proved to be too powerful and was eventually banned from the Legacy and Extended Formats, and restricted in the Vintage format.
 * Tradewind Rider</c> - This blue creature is a commonly found in extended bounce decks.
 * Wasteland</c> - Though strictly worse than Strip Mine</c>, it is not restricted or banned in the eternal formats, and thus has been enjoying a strong resurgence. Even though it was printed at uncommon, it is, as of 2011, the most expensive card in the set, topping $50 at most online retailers.

Reprinted cards
The following cards have been reprinted from previous sets and included in Tempest.
 * Armored Pegasus</c> was last seen in Portal.
 * Charging Rhino</c> was last seen in Portal.
 * Circle of Protection: Black</c> was last seen in 5th Edition.
 * Circle of Protection: Blue</c> was last seen in 5th Edition.
 * Circle of Protection: Green</c> was last seen in 5th Edition.
 * Circle of Protection: Red</c> was last seen in 5th Edition.
 * Circle of Protection: White</c> was last seen in 5th Edition.
 * Coercion</c> was last seen in Visions.
 * Counterspell</c> was last seen in 5th Edition.
 * Dark Banishing</c> was last seen in Mirage.
 * <c>Dark Ritual</c> was last seen in 5th Edition.
 * <c>Disenchant</c> was last seen in 5th Edition.
 * <c>Dream Cache</c> was last seen in Mirage.
 * <c>Enfeeblement</c> was last seen in Mirage.
 * <c>Gaseous Form</c> was last seen in 5th Edition.
 * <c>Giant Strength</c> was last seen in 5th Edition.
 * <c>Gravedigger</c> was last seen in Portal.
 * <c>Horned Turtle</c> was last seen in Portal.
 * <c>Natural Spring</c> was last seen in Portal.
 * <c>Needle Storm</c> was last seen in Portal.
 * <c>Pacifism</c> was last seen in Mirage.
 * <c>Power Sink</c> was last seen in 5th Edition.
 * <c>Rain of Tears</c> was last seen in Portal.
 * <c>Rampant Growth</c> was last seen in Mirage.
 * <c>Shatter</c> was last seen in 5th Edition.
 * <c>Spell Blast</c> was last seen in 5th Edition.
 * <c>Stone Rain</c> was last seen in Portal.
 * <c>Time Ebb</c> was last seen in Portal.
 * <c>Tranquility</c> was last seen in 5th Edition.
 * <c>Wind Drake</c> was last seen in Portal.
 * <c>Winter's Grasp</c> was last seen in Portal.

Functional reprints
Tempest has five functional reprints:


 * <c>Clergy En-vec</c> is a functional reprint of <c>Samite Healer</c> from 5th Edition.
 * <c>Pit Imp</c> is a functional reprint of <c>Vampire Bats</c> from 5th Edition, save for creature type.
 * <c>Rootwater Hunter</c> is a functional reprint of <c>Prodigal Sorcerer</c> from 5th Edition and <c>Zuran Spellcaster</c> from Ice Age, save for creature type.
 * <c>Skyshroud Troll</c> is a functional reprint of <c>Gorilla Chieftain</c> from Alliances, save for creature type.
 * <c>Staunch Defenders</c> is a functional reprint of <c>Spiritual Guardian</c> from Portal, save for creature type.

Colorshifted
Tempest has one colorshifted card:


 * <c>Sudden Impact</c> is a colorshifted version of <c>Storm Seeker</c> from Legends (green to red).

Trivia

 * <c>Aluren</c> is an Old English word meaning ‘paradise’.
 * <c>Apes of Rath</c> is a pun on The Grapes of Wrath.
 * <c>Bayou Dragonfly</c> was inspired by a videogame that was to be released in conjunction with Magic, but was never published.
 * <c>Eladamri, Lord of Leaves</c> was named as a tribute to Michael G. Ryan's mother Irma and his stepfather Dale.
 * <c>Emmessi Tome</c> was named after Michael Scott Elliott (MSE).
 * Lyna, the <c>Soltari Emissary</c>, was named after Mark Rosewater's mother Lynn.
 * <c>Mogg Squad</c> ia a play on the The Mod Squad, the '60s show about three undercover cops posing as hipppies. The flavor text reflects this spoof.
 * <c>Orim, Samite Healer</c> was originally designed as a very minor character. Stumped for a name Michael G. Ryan took Mark Rosewater's nickname (Maro), and reversed it. The ‘a’ was later changed to an ‘i’ to make the name easier to pronounce.
 * <c>Squee's Toy</c> is pronounced as squeeze toy.
 * The flavor text of <c>Time Warp</c> is a reference to a song of the Rocky Horror Picture Show.
 * <c>Vhati il-Dal</c>'s name is derived from ‘Bogavhati’, the codename of the set.