Dark Ascension
Two backwards-facing herons
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| Released | September 30, 2011 | |||
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| Size | 264 cards (16 Mythic Rare, 59 Rare, 67 Uncommon, 107 Common, 15 Basic Land) | |||
| Mechanics | Curse, Fight, Flashback, Morbid, Transform | |||
| Designers | Mark Rosewater (lead), Richard Garfield, Jenna Helland, Graeme Hopkins, Tom LaPille | |||
| Developers | Erik Lauer (lead), Mark L. Gottlieb, David Humpherys, Tom LaPille, Adam Lee, Kenneth Nagle | |||
| Development code | Shake | |||
| Expansion code | ISD | |||
| First set in the Innistrad block | ||||
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The Innistrad symbol turned inside out
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| Released | February 3, 2012 | |||
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| Size | 158 cards (12 Mythic Rare, 38 Rare, 44 Uncommon, 64 Common, 0 Basic Land) | |||
| Mechanics | Undying, Fateful Hour, Morbid, Flashback, Transform | |||
| Designers | Mark Rosewater (lead), Jenna Helland, Zac Hill, Graeme Hopkins, Matt Tabak | |||
| Developers | Tom LaPille (lead), Mark L. Gottlieb, Zac Hill, David Humpherys, Ken Troop | |||
| Development code | Rattle | |||
| Expansion code | DKA | |||
| Second set in the Innistrad block | ||||
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Avacyn's Collar
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| Released | May 4, 2012 | |||
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| Size | 244 cards (15 Mythic Rare, 53 Rare, 60 Uncommon, 101 Common, 15 Basic Land) | |||
| Mechanics | Undying, Soulbond, Miracle | |||
| Designers | Brian Tinsman (lead), Mark L. Gottlieb, Dave Guskin, Kenneth Nagle, Bill Rose, Mark Rosewater | |||
| Developers | David Humpherys (lead), Mark Globus, Dave Guskin, Erik Lauer, Billy Moreno, Matt Sernett | |||
| Development code | Roll | |||
| Expansion code | AVR | |||
| Third set in the Innistrad block | ||||
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The Innistrad block is a block of the collectible card game Magic: The Gathering, consisting of the expansion sets Innistrad (September 30, 2011), Dark Ascension (February 3, 2012) and Avacyn Restored (May 4, 2012). Innistrad is a "top-down" designed block based on Gothic horror. The set's mechanics and effects take mainly graveyard themes, with a minor focus on tribal themes. The tagline for the set is "Horror Lurks Within". It has 264 cards.
Magic returned to the plane of Innistrad in 2016 with the Shadows Over Innistrad block, consisting of Shadows Over Innistrad and Eldritch Moon. This article deals with the original Innistrad block.
According to Magic lead designer Mark Rosewater, "The number-one role of this set's design was capturing the feel of the horror genre." Monsters were one of the first tropes explored which led to the tribal component of the set.
Dark Ascension was first revealed at the 2011 Comic-Con in San Diego, California. Just like Worldwake, Dark Ascension is a small set in between two large sets. Dark Ascension boosters always contain a double-faced card of any rarity to replace one of the commons in the pack. Much of the development had a top down approach.
Dark Ascension develops the themes of Innistrad. The plane is still plagued by Werewolves, Zombies, Vampires, Spirits and other creatures of the night. The set puts a stronger emphasis on those creature types, giving each type of monster more support. Meanwhile, the humans are on the verge of extinction and have to take desperate measures to stem the tide. Dark Ascension has several broken cycles (a cycle where one color is omitted) to show how humans are flagging.
The events of the Innistrad block center on the events after the sundering of the Helvault, a giant chunk of silver metal that was used by the archangel Avacyn to imprison Innistrad's worst horrors, the demons. It is then revealed why the archangel Avacyn vanished from the plane in the first place, leaving the humans of the plane defenseless against the gothic horrors of Innistrad.
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Wikipedia