Ravnica Allegiance

Ravnica Allegiance is the 80th Magic expansion. It was released on January 25, 2019. Officially, it is not part of a block. However, it is part of a series of three that is set on the same world, unofficially called the Guilds of Ravnica block.

Set details
Ravnica Allegiance contains 259 cards (111 commons, 80 uncommons, 53 rares, and 15 mythic rares), but there are only 254 functionally different cards since all gates have 2 common slots. Boosters may include randomly inserted premium versions of all cards. This set features five of the bi-colored Ravnican guilds: Azorius, Rakdos , Gruul , Simic , and Orzhov. Watermarks are used to better identify the guilds.

The 5 basic lands of this set are not included within the 259 cards, meaning that they won't appear in booster packs but only in the planeswalker decks and the Bundle, and are numbered from #260/259 to #264/259. Neither contained in boosters are the 8 additional planeswalker deck exclusive cards - numbered #265/259 to #272/259 - and the Buy-a-Box promo, which has the number #273/259. Like in the previous set, each Guildgate is featured in two common slots, each with different art.

Storyline
Defend Your Guild This is the penultimate moment of the Gatewatch's fight against Nicol Bolas. Darkness is coming to Ravnica. A conflict that could tear apart the world itself looms large, and the fragile peace between the guilds is strained to its breaking point. Now, with everything on the line, it's time to step up, prove your loyalty, and fight for your guild.

The cards that represent the Story Spotlights in Ravnica Allegiance are: Rampage of the Clans, Kaya's Wrath , Ethereal Absolution , and Emergency Powers.

Marketing
Ravnica Allegiance is sold in regular 16-card boosters (one card being a marketing card), two planeswalker decks, the Ravnica Allegiance bundle and a Deck Builder's Toolkit. As in the previous set, 35-card bi-colored Theme Boosters are connected to the appropriate guilds, containing one or two rares/mythic rares. The set is further accompanied by five guild kits, preconstructed theme decks that combine cards from every Ravnica set released so far.

The boosters feature artwork of Lavinia, Kaya, a Rakdos jester, Domri Rade, and Vannifar.

The Planeswalker Decks of the set contain a code that redeems for that Planeswalker Deck in MTG Arena. In addition, a (non-unique) code was offered to everyone that redeemed for three in-game Ravnica Allegiance packs.

Collector Boosters
For Ravnica Allegiance, Wizards of the Coast also sold "Collector Boosters" that contain 15 cards for $12.99: They contained: This was a very limited experimental test run. Collector Boosters were only available in Japan and North America, and even then, they weren't widely available.
 * 2 foils of any rarity
 * 3 rares/mythic rares
 * 10 uncommons.

Events

 * Prerelease takes place on January 19, 2019.
 * Local stores will be hosting Ravnica Weekend on February 16–17, 2019. Players can come in and play Standard, Draft, or Sealed (decided by the LGS), casual Guild Kit battles, and adventures from the D&D Guildmasters' Guide to Ravnica.

Promotional cards

 * Magic Open House: full-art
 * Prerelease: a stamped card that can be any rare or mythic rare belonging to the chosen guild.
 * Draft Weekend Launch promo:
 * Magic League:
 * Buy-a-Box:
 * FNM promos:, , and
 * Ravnica Weekend: full-art Lavinia, Azorius Renegade and one of ten special guild-affiliated premium foil promo basic lands. These are numbered B01/10 to B10/10.
 * Non-foil versions of these basic lands appear in the Guild Kits, where they are numbered as part of the deck.

Tokens / Emblem
The sixteenth card in the boosters is a token card or an emblem, with advertisements on the back side. There are thirteen tokens and one emblem in the set:
 * 1)  1/1 Human creature for Hero of Precinct One and Watchful Giant
 * 2)  0/2 Illusion creature with "Whenever this creature blocks a creature, that creature doesn't untap during its controller's next untap step." for Mesmerizing Benthid
 * 3)  2/2 Zombie creature for Awaken the Erstwhile</c> and Captive Audience</c>
 * 4)  1/1 Goblin creature for Goblin Gathering</c>
 * 5)  3/3 Centaur creature for Rampage of the Clans</c>
 * 6)  3/3 Frog Lizard creature for Incongruity</c>
 * 7)  2/2 Ooze creature for Biogenic Ooze</c>
 * 8)  4/4 Beast creature with trample for Domri, Chaos Bringer</c> and Threat</c>
 * 9)  4/4 Sphinx creature with flying and vigilance for Warden</c>
 * 10)  1/1 Spirit creature with flying for Ethereal Absolution</c>, Knight of the Last Breath</c> and all creatures with afterlife
 * 11)  1/1 Thopter artifact creature with flying for Dovin, Grand Arbiter</c> and Deploy</c>
 * 12)  Treasure artifact with "undefined, Sacrifice this artifact: Add one mana of any color." for Smothering Tithe</c>

Mythic Edition
Ravnica Allegiance Mythic Edition is a special draft-sized booster box. It contains eight masterpieces.

Themes and mechanics
Each guild features a unique mechanic.

Ravnica Allegiance continues the two cycles of split cards started in Guilds of Ravnica. These guild-based split cards include a hybrid multicolored half and a traditional multicolored half.

Cycles
Ravnica Allegiance has twelve cycles, two of which are reprints.

Pairs
Ravnica Allegiance has one mirrored pair.

Reprinted cards

 * Absorb</c>, first printed in Invasion (first time Modern legal)
 * Act of Treason</c>, first printed in Magic 2010, last seen in Core Set 2019
 * <c>Concordia Pegasus</c>, first printed in Return to Ravnica
 * <c>Gateway Plaza</c>, first printed in Guilds of Ravnica
 * <c>Gift of Strength</c>, first printed in Hour of Devastation
 * <c>Mammoth Spider</c>, first printed in Dominaria
 * <c>Junktroller</c>, first printed in Ravnica: City of Guilds
 * <c>Mortify</c>, first printed in Guildpact, last seen in Commander 2018
 * <c>Root Snare</c>, first printed in Core Set 2019
 * <c>Scrabbling Claws</c>, first printed in Mirrodin, last seen in Commander 2018
 * <c>Tower Defense</c>, first printed in Gatecrash
 * The guildgates, first seen in Return to Ravnica block
 * The shock lands first seen in Ravnica block.

Functional reprints

 * <c>Axebane Beast</c> is a functional reprint of <c>Rowan Treefolk</c> and <c>Southern Elephant</c>, save for creature types.
 * <c>Civic Stalwart</c> is a functional reprint of <c>Inspiring Captain</c>, save for creature types.
 * <c>Haazda Officer</c> is a functional reprint of <c>Herald Of The Fair</c>, save for creature types.
 * <c>Feral Maaka</c> is a functional reprint of <c>Defiant Khenra</c> and <c>Falkenrath Reaver</c>, save for creature types.
 * <c>Grotesque Demise</c> is a functional reprint of <c>Reaver Ambush</c>.
 * <c>Prowling Caracal</c> is a functional reprint of <c>Blade of the Sixth Pride</c> and <c>Oreskos Swiftclaw</c>, save for creature types.

Preconstructed decks
Ravnica Allegiance features two planeswalker decks:

Ravnica Allegiance features five Guild Kits:

Notable cards

 * <c>Simic Ascendancy</c> is an alternate-win card.
 * (#250) breaks the pattern of displaying a quote from the set's lieutenant. Instead Nikya's flavor text appears on.
 * <c>Angel of Grace</c> is a throwback to <c>Angel's Grace</c>
 * <c>Collision // Colossus</c> has half the card being <c>Colossal Might</c>, even with the same word root.
 * <c>Electrodominance</c> sees some Modern play in decks trying to abuse 0 CMC suspend spells such as <c>Restore Balance</c>.
 * <c>Bring to Trial</c> is a finishing scene to those seen in <c>Collar the Culprit</c> and <c>Citywide Bust</c> from Guilds of Ravnica. All cards are illustrated by Victor Adame Minguez.

Banned and Restricted cards

 * <c>Wilderness Reclamation</c> was designed as a new version of <c>Awakening</c>, but adjusted to not scale quite so powerfully with more players. In Standard however, it had a potent combo with <c>Nexus of Fate</c> prior to rotation and <c>Expansion//Explosion</c> afterwards. It was in the last set of bannings in a highly unbalanced Standard season with the release of Throne of Eldraine, being the fifth-most broken engine card of five broken decks in the 2019-2020 season. The ban was largely symbolic, as the banning at August 3rd was six weeks before rotation, though the Historic suspension was more impactful. Pioneer also banned it in February 2021.
 * <c>Growth Spiral</c> was a fairly innocuous common with high upside, being a new <c>Explore</c> variant, with the blue cost for instant speed more of a liability than a benefit. This mana requirement failed to deter any decks, as the confluence of Ramp cards simply resulted in only one viable base of ramp deck. It was banned in the same set as the above, as Ramp strategies still had the best cards in the format - most notably <c>Uro, Titan of Nature's Wrath</c>, that similarly wanted cheap cantrips.