User:Purplebackpack89/Return to Ravnica

Return to Ravnica is a Magic: The Gathering block, consisting of Return to Ravnica (October 5, 2012), Gatecrash (February 1, 2013), and Dragon's Maze (May 3, 2013). It is the second block set on Ravnica, after Ravnica, and again focus on the multicolor cards and ten guilds of Ravnica. Return to Ravnica focuses on five guilds: the Izzet League, Cult of Rakdos, Golgari Swarm, Azorius Senate, and Selesnya Conclave. Gatecrash focuses on the other five guilds: the Boros Legion, House Dimir, The Orzhov Syndicate, The Gruul Clans, and The Simic Combine. All ten guilds appear in Dragon's Maze.

Storyline
The story told vaguely in the cards deals with the Izzet League searching for something deep within Ravnica's bowels and the other guilds responding to their mysterious actions. The storyline of Gatecrash told deals with the rise of another faction that does not ally with any of the Guilds. This group is referred to as the "Gateless". The Gateless was referred to in the first set in certain cards as well. Another storyline has the tension between the guilds rise, and their attempts to thwart one another. In Dragon's Maze, the storyline marks the culmination of the Izzet League's research into the depths of Ravnica, the eponymous Dragon's Maze, a path that treads all 10 guild gates in order to find and activate an energy source of immense power which is enough to subjugate and control all of the guilds. The Izzet propose a challenge in which each guild selects a champion in order to navigate and conquer the maze and subsequently the other guilds. Each Champion will have to traverse the maze, and they will have to deal with other guilds' attempts to halt their advance.

Set details
The Return to Ravnica block features a return of the hybrid mana cost as well as the famous "dual shock lands" from the original Ravnica block. The set also features many cycles of cards that are aligned with certain guilds. Each guild has a charm (last featured in the Shards of Alara block) that offers a caster the choice of three options. Each guild has a multicolored land known as a Guildgate; controlling guildgates offers a player certain benefits. Each guild has a legendary leader (in Return to Ravnica or Gatecrash), a legendary champion (in Dragon's Maze) and a guildmage.

Dragon's Maze
Dragon's Maze features all ten guilds from Ravnica. In the prerelease sealed format, players chose their guild and received a guild pack of the appropriate guild. The guild pack also contained a second "secret" guild that shared one of the two colors of the chosen guild. Each player that attended the prerelease received the same promotional card, Maze's End, which could not be played in the sealed deck (as opposed to the prereleases for Return to Ravnica and Gatecrash). The draft format for Dragon's Maze also reverts to the normal format of drafting the three sets in a block in reverse order of their release, in this case Dragon's Maze - Gatecrash - Return to Ravnica.

Booster packs for Dragon's Maze do not contain basic lands. Instead each booster contains either a guildgate, a shock land, or a mythic rare land from Dragon's Maze in the appropriate ratio of their rarities. The Shock lands have the appropriate expansion symbols of Return to Ravnica and Gatecrash, but the Gates are part of Dragon's Maze and have a Dragon's Maze expansion symbol making them part of the set and thus marking the first time cards other than basic lands are printed multiple times within the same block.

Dragon's Maze features the planeswalker Ral Zarek. Another returning feature of the set is the presence of the Guild champions. All ten champions appear at the rare slot rather than mythic rare. At one point in development some of the Champions were going to be mythic and much more powerful while others were going to be rare. It was eventually decided that all the Champions had to be equal in terms of rarity and power. The set marks the return of Split Cards which have two separate effects printed on the same card but with different mana costs.

Mechanics
Each of the five guilds has a mechanic that is completely new and only used by that guild
 * Overload: The mechanic used by the Izzet League. By paying the more expensive overload cost of a card instead of the normal cost, that spell has its text changed by replacing all instances of "target" with "each". This effectively extends the effects of the given spell to any and all other possible legal targets. For example, a spell with overload may read "Target creature you control gets +1/+0 and is unblockable until end of turn." Overloading this spell would cause it to affect "Each creature you control" instead.


 * Unleash: The mechanic used by the Cult of Rakdos. If a card has Unleash, its controller has the option of having it enter the battlefield with a +1/+1 counter on it. Creatures with Unleash are unable to block if they have a +1/+1 counter on them.


 * Detain: The mechanic used by the Azorius Senate. Detain occurs as an effect of a spell or ability, most commonly appearing on triggered abilities that trigger when the creature they're printed on enters the battlefield. While a permanent is detained, it is basically "locked-down" for a turn, being unable to attack or block(if it is a creature), or have its abilities activated. This effect lasts until the player who caused it begins his or her next turn.


 * Scavenge: The mechanic used by the Golgari Swarm. While a creature card with Scavenge is in a player's graveyard, its owner may pay its Scavenge cost and upon exiling that creature card from the graveyard, allows him/her to put +1/+1 counters equal to the power of the scavenged creature on target creature on the battlefield. Scavenge can only be activated as a sorcery.


 * Populate: The mechanic used by the Selesnya Conclave. Whenever a spell or ability tells a player to populate, that player puts a creature token onto the battlefield that is a copy of a creature token that player controls.


 * Evolve is the keyword belonging to the Simic Combine. Embodying the guild's focus on improving nature, if a creature with Evolve is on the battlefield when another creature with a higher power or toughness comes into play under its owner's control, the creature with Evolve gets a +1/+1 counter.


 * Bloodrush is the keyword belonging to the Gruul Clans. Used to represent the clans' eagerness to charge into conflict, cards with Bloodrush can be discarded for their Bloodrush cost in order to bolster an attacking creature with a beneficial effect. This effect is similar to the Channel keyword, used in the Kamigawa block.


 * Battalion is the keyword used by the Boros Legion. Representing the Boros ideal of working in concert, when a creature with Battalion attacks with at least two other creatures, the effect on the Battalion creature triggers.


 * Extort is the keyword belonging to the Orzhov Syndicate. Reflecting the guild's emphasis on payment and debts, if a creature with Extort is on the battlefield, upon casting a spell, if you pay the Extort cost (either one White or Black mana), each of your opponents will lose 1 life and you gain that total amount of life lost by all opponents. Each instance of Extort may only be paid for once.


 * Cipher is the keyword belonging to House Dimir. Symbolizing the house's focus on utilizing covert agents, when you cast a spell with cipher, you may exile it upon resolution and 'encode' the spell effect onto a creature you control on the battlefield. Then, whenever that creature deals combat damage to a player, its controller may cast a copy of the encoded card without paying its mana cost. This is similar to "Isochron Scepter", however, Isochron Scepter has different conditions for casting a spell (converted mana cost of two or less).

One new mechanic was introduced in Dragon's Maze:


 * Fuse: A new feature of split cards is the "Fuse" mechanic where a split card can be played with both effects at the cost of combining and paying both mana costs.

Notable cards
Notable cards include the "shock lands" cycle, ', ' and