- For other uses, see Mercadian Masques (book).
Template:Expansion
Mercadian Masques is the nineteenth Magic expansion and was released in October 1999 as the first set in the Masques block.
Set details
Mercadian Masques featured 350 cards and was the first large expansion to use the new 6th Edition rules. This was the first set to have an accompanying fat pack.
Keywords and mechanics
Unusually, Masques introduced no new keyword abilities to the game, although it did have several themes that were continued throughout its block. These included:
- Rebels and Mercenaries: creatures able to search through their controller's library and "recruit" creatures of a specific type into play.
- Spellshapers: creatures that had repeatable activated abilities that mimiced various classic spells, potentially turning otherwise useless cards into powerful effects. All of Masques's spellshapers required paying mana, tapping the creature and discarding a card to use their ability.
- Masques also reintroduced instants and sorceries with alternative casting costs, such as Invigorate. This mechanic had not been used since Visions.
- Creatures with abilities usable by any player, such as Squallmonger and Flailing Manticore.
| “ | Designers were puzzled and frustrated by the question "Why didn't Masques have any new mechanics?" They pointed to the Rebel/Mercenary "recruitment" mechanic of Ramosian Lieutenant and friends as one of several new mechanics in the set, but without a keyword, it was dismissed by many players. If it were printed for the first time today, "Recruit" would likely be an ability word, and it—along with "Gating" creatures such as Marsh Crocodile and "Spiritcraft" creatures such as Teller of Tales—became one of the strong arguments in favor of ability words. | ” |
Cycles
Mercadian Masques has eight cycles:
- Depletion lands: These common lands came into play tapped with two depletion counters. Whenever each land is tapped for mana, a depletion counter is removed and the controller adds two mana of the appropriate color to his/her mana pool; when there are no depletion counters left, the land is sacrificed — Remote Farm, Saprazzan Skerry, Peat Bog, Sandstone Needle, and Hickory Woodlot.
- Flailing creatures vertical cycle: Each of these red creatures can be made either more or less powerful, by any player willing to pay the mana — Flailing Soldier, Flailing Ogre, Flailing Manticore.
- Instantments: Each of these common Aura enchantments has flash — Cho-Manno's Blessing, Buoyancy, Maggot Therapy, Flaming Sword, and Tiger Claws.
- Mongers: Each of these uncommon 3/3 creatures has a cost of
and one colored mana, depicted as strange-looking supernatural beings, have activated abilities costing 
that any player (not just the controller) can play — Wishmonger, Sailmonger, Scandalmonger, Warmonger, and Squallmonger. - Rishadan pirates vertical cycle: When each of these blue Pirate creatures comes into play, each of the controller's opponents is required to pay a certain amount of mana or sacrifice a permanent — Rishadan Cutpurse, Rishadan Footpad, Rishadan Brigand.
- Storage lands: Each of these uncommon lands come into play tapped and can be tapped either to add one storage counter to it, or to remove any number of storage counters to add that amount of colored mana to its controller's mana pool — Fountain of Cho, Saprazzan Cove, Subterranean Hangar, Mercadian Bazaar, Rushwood Grove. These lands are similar to another cycle of "storage lands" in the Fallen Empires expansion.
- Unwilling creatures: Each of these uncommon creatures is undercosted for its color and power/toughness, but grants a boon to your opponent when it comes into play — Charmed Griffin, Indentured Djinn, Enslaved Horror, Hired Giant, and Hunted Wumpus.
- Walls: Each of these common Wall creatures has defender and a
ability — Alabaster Wall, Stinging Barrier, Wall of Distortion, Battle Rampart, Vine Trellis. The latter seeing the most amount of constructed play.
Tournament impact
Mercadian Masques is not considered to be as high caliber as compared to the powerful sets of the Urza block. Reportedly, the designers were extremely gun-shy following the runaway power of the previous block and dialed back the power a tad too much; the same phenomenon would take place between the latter-day Mirrodin and Kamigawa blocks. However, the set did produce some tournament-quality cards. Gush; Rishadan Port; Squee, Goblin Nabob; Waterfront Bouncer; Hunted Wumpus; and Food Chain have all seen various degrees of tournament play.
Reprinted cards
The following 21 cards have been reprinted from previous sets and included in Mercadian Masques:
- Afterlife — was last seen in Mirage.
- Brainstorm — was last seen in 5th Edition.
- Counterspell — was last seen in 6th Edition. This would be the last expansion to print the staple card Counterspell.
- Dark Ritual — was last seen in Urza's Saga. This would be the last expansion to print the staple card Dark Ritual, though it would be reprinted with its Ice Age art and expansion symbol in one of Coldsnap 's theme decks.
- Deadly Insect — was last seen in Alliances.
- Desert Twister — was last seen in 5th Edition.
- Disenchant — was last seen in 6th Edition. This wouldn't be seen in another expansion until Time Spiral (Eight years later).
- Energy Flux — was last seen in 5th Editon.
- False Demise — was last seen in Alliances.
- Giant Caterpillar — was last seen in Visions.
- Lure — was last seen in 6th Edition.
- Ogre Taskmaster — was last seen in Portal Second Age.
- Rain of Tears — was last seen in Tempest.
- Righteous Aura — was last seen in Visions.
- Squall — was last seen in Starter 1999.
- Stone Rain — was last seen in Portal Three Kingdoms.
- Timid Drake — was last seen in Weatherlight.
- Tranquility — was last seen in 6th Edition.
- Tremor — was last seen in 6th Edition.
- Venomous Breath — was last seen in Ice Age.
- Word of Blasting — was last seen in 5th Edition.
Functional reprints
Mercadian Masques has 17 functional reprints:
- Cloud Sprite is a functional reprint of Cloud Pirates from Portal, save for creature type.
- Drake Hatchling is a functional reprint of Azimaet Drake from Mirage.
- Fresh Volunteers is a functional reprint of Knight Errant from Starter 1999, save for creature type.
- Henge Guardian is a functional reprint of Igneous Golem from Mirage.
- Henge of Ramos is a functional reprint of School of the Unseen from Alliances.
- Highway Robber is a functional reprint of Dakmor Ghoul from Starter 1999, save for creature type.
- Iron Lance is a functional reprint of Fyndhorn Bow from Ice Age.
- Jhovall Rider is a functional reprint of Iron Tusk Elephant from Mirage, save for creature type.
- Kyren Glider is a functional reprint of Goblin Glider from Portal Second Age.
- Misshapen Fiend is a functional reprint of Dakmor Bat from Portal Second Age and Bog Imp from Starter 1999, save for creature type.
- Rampart Crawler is a functional reprint of Bog Rats from 6th Edition, save for creature type.
- Rishadan Airship is a functional reprint of Cloud Spirit from Stronghold, save for creature type.
- Rushwood Dryad is a functional reprint of Lynx from Starter 1999 and Zodiac Monkey from Portal Three Kingdoms, save for creature type.
- Skulking Fugitive is a functional reprint of Tar Pit Warrior from Visions, save for creature type.
- Snorting Gahr is a functional reprint of Slashing Tiger from Portal Three Kingdoms and Razorclaw Bear from Portal Second Age, save for creature type.
- Steadfast Guard is a functional reprint of Veteran Cavalier from Starter 1999 and Alaborn Grenadier from Portal Second Age.
- Wild Jhovall is a functional reprint of Hill Giant from Portal, Tor Giant from Ice Age, Ogre Warrior from Starter 1999 and Barbarian Horde from Portal Three Kingdoms, save for creature type.
Notable Cards
- Arrest became a staple of many white Magic decks, either alongside Pacifism or in place of it, for its similar effect in disabling the creature it enchants from attacking or blocking, but going one step beyond Pacifism for an extra
in its casting cost by disabling the creature from being able to employ its activated abilities. Since its release, players have more frequently used Arrest in Legacy and Vintage formats than its somewhat functional predecessor Serra Bestiary, which while costing instead of Arrest's has the drawback of having to pay at the beginning of each upkeep or sacrificing it. - Bribery has been a popular choice in Legacy, Vintage, and Elder Dragon Highlander decks that emphasize taking control of opponents' creatures as a key deck component.
- Cateran Overlord has the strongest "recruit" ability for mercenaries in the game, serving as one of the two pinnacle cards to emphasize the utility of the mechanic, which was principally used for rebels and mercenaries. It is currently able to search for every single other mercenary card in the game and put that card into play, since each other mercenary card has a converted mana cost of 6 or less. Cateran Overlord also has the highest combined power and toughness of any mercenary in the game, at 12. It partially serves as a mirrored pair to Ramosian Sky Marshal as each card searches for a creature of converted mana cost 6 or less of its "occupation" creature type, and as they are the only two cards in the game with this specific ability.
- Cho-Manno, Revolutionary was the first creature card to have the static ability "Prevent all damage that would be dealt to (this creature)" [from any source]. Some previous creature cards, such as Uncle Istvan, have a similar static ability, "Prevent all damage that would be dealt to (this creature) by creatures," although Cho-Manno, Revolutionary's ability differs in that it also prevents damage to Cho-Manno from non-creature permanents, instants, and sorceries.
- Collective Unconscious has been used in many aggro decks to augment card advantage.
- Diplomatic Immunity is widely considered to be one of the most effective means in the game of granting a single creature shroud.
- Fountain Watch was the first card to give all of a player's artifacts shroud, and it was the first card to give all of a player's enchantments shroud. It remains the only card in the game with a static ability that specifically gives shroud to all artifacts and enchantments its controller controls.
- Ivory Mask was the first card to give players the ability to grant themselves shroud. As the shroud ability was not keyworded until May 2007 with the release of Future Sight, and as Mercadian Masques was released almost eight years earlier in October 1999, the original printing of Ivory Mask says "You can't be the target of spells or abilities." Ivory Mask remained the only card that enabled players to grant themselves shroud for almost three years, until the printing of Solitary Confinement in the Judgment expansion in May 2002.
- Magistrate's Scepter has been used in various combo decks since it utilizes the acquisition of charge counters to enable its controller to take an extra turn, and since numerous cards, especially from the two Mirrodin blocks, combo well with Magistrate's Scepter, even in some cases enabling the player to take infinite turns. Notable cards that combo well with Magistrate's Scepter are Energy Chamber and Coretapper from the first Mirrodin block, Doubling Season from the Ravnica: City of Guilds expansion, and cards with the proliferate ability from the Scars of Mirrodin block.
- Misdirection has seen use in Legacy, Vintage, and Elder Dragon Highlander for its enabling its controller to cast the significant effect of changing the target of a target spell with a single target without having to pay Misdirection's mana cost. Misdirection's functional mechanics are quite similar to those of the very popular Force of Will, as they are both instants that have casting costs of , both enable a blue card may be exiled from its controller's hand rather than playing the casting cost, and both serve to defeat the intentions of what an opponent had intended by casting a target spell.
- Ramosian Sky Marshal has the strongest "recruit" ability for rebels in the game, serving as one of the two pinnacle cards to emphasize the utility of the mechanic, which was principally used for rebels and mercenaries. It is currently able to search for every single other rebel card in the game and put that card into play, since each other rebel card has a converted mana cost of 6 or less. It partially serves as a mirrored pair to Cateran Overlord as each card searches for a creature of converted mana cost 6 or less of its "occupation" creature type, and as they are the only two cards in the game with this specific ability.
- Rishadan Port saw very frequent use in aggro, control, and/or combo decks at the time of its release for its ability to prevent opponents from having access to certain key land cards. It continues to be a a rather popular addition to control decks in Legacy and Vintage.
Theme decks
Each of the Mercadian Masques theme decks has at least one spellshaper, a theme of the set. The pre-constructed theme decks are: Template:Theme decks