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Darksteel
 
 
 

Darksteel
DST logo
Set Information
Set symbol
Symbol description The Shield of Kaldra
Design Bill Rose (lead)
Tyler Bielman
Brian Schneider
Mark Rosewater
Development Henry Stern (lead) [1]
Tyler Bielman
Brandon Bozzi
Charlie Catmandu
Brian Schneider
Art direction Jeremy Cranford
Release date February 6, 2004
Plane Mirrodin
Themes and mechanics Artifacts, Equipment, Indestructible, Pulses
Keywords/​ability words Affinity (for artifacts and basic land types), Entwine, Modular
Set size 165 cards
(55 commons, 55 uncommons, 55 rares)
Expansion code DST[2]
Development codename Lettuce[3]
Mirrodin block
Mirrodin Darksteel Fifth Dawn
Magic: The Gathering Chronology
Mirrodin Darksteel Fifth Dawn
For other uses, see Darksteel (disambiguation).

Darksteel is the second set in the Mirrodin block. It is the 31st Magic: The Gathering expansion and was released on February 6, 2004. The prerelease was January 24–25, 2004.[4][5]

Set details[ | ]

Darksteel was the first small expansion to have 165 cards (11 extra rares and 11 extra uncommons compared to previous small expansions). The expansion symbol for the set is a miniature version of the Shield of Kaldra.[6] The set continues the heavy artifact theme of its predecessor Mirrodin. Thematically the main components are darksteel artifacts, all of which are indestructible. The set also features an update of the lucky charms.

Marketing[ | ]

Darksteel was sold in 15-card boosters, four preconstructed theme decks and a fat pack. The booster packs featured artwork from Shield of Kaldra, Arcbound Ravager, and Eater of Days. The prerelease card was a foil alternate art Shield of Kaldra. This card was the first to mention a card in its text box that hadn't been printed yet. The three Kaldra artifacts form a mega-cycle.[7] The set was accompanied by a novel by Jess Lebow. A 3/3 Beast Token for Pulse of the Tangle was offered as a Magic Player Reward.

Storyline[ | ]

Main article: The Darksteel Eye

"The world . . . is . . . hollow." This is the secret that Chunth, the Tel-Jilad troll elder, entrusts to Glissa Sunseeker before his death at the hands of a traitor. Armed with that knowledge, Glissa fights her way through the great vedalken capital of Lumengrid, down into the Pool of Knowledge. The Synod's sacred chamber contains a lacuna—a tunnel, saturated with blue mana—that leads to Mirrodin's secret interior. There, huge, bizarre towers of fungus-like metal called mycosynth reach up toward an immense inner sun of pure mana. As Glissa flees from her vedalken pursuers, she discovers another secret inside this plane. Memnarch is real, and he patiently waits for the elvish champion to find him.[8] In the meantime, he studies the blinkmoths and has begun to build a monument to his greatness as an artificer: the Darksteel Eye, a device that will make his omniscience over Mirrodin complete.

Storyline sources[ | ]

Title Author Publishing date Setting (plane) Featuring
The Darksteel Eye Jess Lebow December 2003 Mirrodin Slobad, Bosh, Glissa Sunseeker, Memnarch, Malil, Bruenna, Drooge, Al-Hayat, Pontifex, Tyrell, Sodador, Orland, Kaldra, Marek

Tournament impact[ | ]

Darksteel is notorious as a very powerful tournament set. At one point it was responsible for two of four cards that were banned in Extended: Aether Vial and Skullclamp. Skullclamp was also very notorious in Standard as well for over-powering creature decks, making them very resilient even to mass destruction and providing a lot of card advantage at a very small cost. It became the first card to be banned in Standard in five years. Later other cards featured in the meta-game warping Affinity deck, especially Arcbound Ravager. Trinisphere was restricted in Vintage due to the format's capacity for one player producing large quantities of mana on the first turn and then dropping Trinisphere, preventing opponents from doing the same.

Mechanics[ | ]

Modular has artifact creatures enter the battlefield with +1/+1 counters on them equal to the Modular number. If the artifact creature is put into the graveyard from play, these counters are moved to another artifact creature.[9][10][11]

Indestructible is also introduced and exclusively found on artifacts with the word "Darksteel" in their names. As the name suggests, indestructible permanents simply can not be destroyed through any means, e.g. direct destruction effects such as Wrath of God or damage. The mechanic would be reused occasionally in later sets, though not exclusively bound to artifacts.[12][13]

The set also reprises Affinity for artifacts but also introduces Affinity for basic land types in a cycle of Golems.[14]

Creature types[ | ]

The creature types Artificer and Blinkmoth were introduced in this expansion.

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

Cycles[ | ]

Darksteel has four cycles:

Cycle name {W} {U} {B} {R} {G}
Affinity Golems Razor Golem Spire Golem Dross Golem Oxidda Golem Tangle Golem
Each of these common Golem artifact creatures has affinity for a basic land type.
Echoing spells Echoing Calm Echoing Truth Echoing Decay Echoing Ruin Echoing Courage
These spells affect all chosen cards with the same name (i.e. destroy all enchantments with the same name) and were illustrated by Greg Staples.[15]
Lucky charms artifacts Angel's Feather Kraken's Eye Demon's Horn Dragon's Claw Wurm's Tooth
A horizontal cycle of uncommon artifacts, each costing {2}, a "lucky charm" gives its controller to gain 1 life when a spell of the appropriate color is played. Each of them was illustrated by Alan Pollack.
Pulses Pulse of the Fields Pulse of the Grid Pulse of the Dross Pulse of the Forge Pulse of the Tangle
A horizontal cycle of rare spells, each costing {1}MM and providing a resource. The Pulse returns to its owner's hand after resolution, as long as an opponent still has a higher count of the resource given.[16][17]

Mega cycle[ | ]

Cycle name
Kaldra Equipment Sword of Kaldra (Mirrodin) Shield of Kaldra (Darksteel) Helm of Kaldra (Fifth Dawn)
Each expansion symbol in the Mirrodin block is represented in the Kaldra artifacts.

Pairs[ | ]

Darksteel has one mirrored pair.

Mirrored Pairs Description
Emissary of Hope
({W})
Emissary of Despair
({B})
Spirits, have a cost of 1MM, are 2/1, are illustrated by rk post, and have an effect of gaining or losing life relative to the number of artifacts another player controls.[18]

Reprinted cards[ | ]

In contrast to Mirrodin reprinting a sizable number of artifact-related staples, only three cards were reprinted for Darksteel.

Functional reprints[ | ]

Card comparisons[ | ]

Notable cards[ | ]

Banned and restricted cards[ | ]

  • Aether Vial is a way for creature decks to cheat on mana and avoid countermagic, making it powerful for such decks in early Modern until the Modern Horizons era. It was banned in Mirrodin block tournaments.
  • Arcbound Ravager has the combined ability to turn all one's artifacts into power at instant speed, which is often magnified with counter synergies like Hardened Scales. It remains a power player in Vintage, was once dominant in Modern, and was banned in Standard and Mirrodin Block tournaments.
  • Mycosynth Lattice makes everything an artifact, both through cost and color. Largely a novelty, it became an unexpected lock piece due to its combination with Karn, the Great Creator, resulting in a ten-mana permanent lock for Urzatron decks. It was banned from Modern in January 2020.
  • Skullclamp was notorious for being the poster card for poor late-stage development changes, as the change from +1 toughness to -1 toughness made it a powerful draw engine alongside the "fair" anti-removal usage. It was banned in Standard, Block Constructed, Legacy and Extended formats in 2004, and was on the initial ban list for Modern and has since remained there.[20]
  • Trinisphere is the only card that applies a variable cost tax, by way of forcing the mana cost of all spells to be a minimum flat number. A popular lock piece in Vintage despite its restriction in 2005 and sees some Modern play.

Preconstructed decks[ | ]

Main article: Darksteel/Theme decks

Darksteel has three monocolored and one bicolored theme decks.

Theme
deck name
Colors Included
{W} {U} {B} {R} {G}
Transference U
Mind Swarm B
Master Blaster R
Swarm & Slam W G

External links[ | ]

References[ | ]

  1. Randy Buehler (January 16, 2004). "The Evolution of Oxidize". magicthegathering.com. Wizards of the Coast.
  2. Wizards of the Coast (August 02, 2004). "Ask Wizards - August, 2004". magicthegathering.com. Wizards of the Coast.
  3. Mark Rosewater (August 12, 2002). "Codename of the Game". magicthegathering.com. Wizards of the Coast.
  4. Wizards of the Coast (January 5, 2004). "Darksteel Fact Sheet". magicthegathering.com. Wizards of the Coast.
  5. Brian David-Marshall (January 21, 2004). "Darksteel Prerelease Primer". magicthegathering.com. Wizards of the Coast.
  6. Brady Dommermuth (October 31, 2006). "Ask Wizards". magicthegathering.com. Wizards of the Coast.
  7. Wizards of the Coast (January 29, 2004). "What's a "Helm of Kaldra"?". magicthegathering.com. Wizards of the Coast.
  8. Rei Nakazawa (January 13, 2004). "Shedding Light on Darksteel". magicthegathering.com. Wizards of the Coast.
  9. Mark Rosewater (January 12, 2004). "Arcbound To Happen". magicthegathering.com. Wizards of the Coast.
  10. Paul Barclay, David Delaney and Jeff Jordan. "Darksteel Frequently Asked Questions". Retrieved on August 10, 2016.
  11. Magic Arcana (January 27, 2004). "The flavor of modular". magicthegathering.com. Wizards of the Coast.
  12. Mark Rosewater (January 05, 2004). "Enter… The Matrix". magicthegathering.com. Wizards of the Coast.
  13. Randy Buehler (January 9, 2004). "Developing Indestructibility". magicthegathering.com. Wizards of the Coast.
  14. Mark Rosewater (January 19, 2004). "To Affinity And Beyond". magicthegathering.com. Wizards of the Coast.
  15. Magic Arcana (March 14, 2007). "Echoing Art". magicthegathering.com. Wizards of the Coast.
  16. Aaron Forsythe (March 5, 2004). "Conditional Hammers". magicthegathering.com. Wizards of the Coast.
  17. Magic Arcana (April 13, 2004). "Pulse of the Groffskithur". magicthegathering.com. Wizards of the Coast.
  18. Magic Arcana (April 22, 2004). "Emissaries of Hope and Despair". magicthegathering.com. Wizards of the Coast.
  19. Wizards of the Coast (January 26, 2004). "The Return of Fireball". magicthegathering.com. Wizards of the Coast.
  20. Aaron Forsythe (June 4, 2004). "Skullclamp, We Hardly Knew Ye". magicthegathering.com. Wizards of the Coast.
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