Masters Edition II

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Masters Edition II
A circle and two quarter-circles
Released	22 September 2008
Size	245 cards (80 rare, 80 uncommon, 80 common, 5 basic land)
Keywords	Banding, Cumulative Upkeep
Mechanics	Cantrips, Free spells, Snow, Thallids, Thrulls
Designers	Erik Lauer (lead)[1]
Exp. code	ME2
	v · d · e

Masters Edition II is a Magic: The Gathering expansion, exclusive for Magic: The Gathering Online, that was released on September 22, 2008. It is the seventh compilation set, and features 245 cards, 80 of each rarity and the 5 snow-covered basic lands of Ice Age. The cards in the set are mostly reprints from Fallen Empires through Alliances.

Set history

Masters Edition II was the second expansion exclusively released for Magic Online. The set was designed to bring previously unreleased cards to Magic Online. Starting with Mirage sets have been retroactively released, but many of the pre-Mirage cards were previously completely unavailable online. In 2007 its predecessor, Masters Edition was released and its successor Masters Edition III followed in 2009. On January 10, 2011 the fourth installment of the series was released.

While Masters Edition was rather unspecifically designed to bring some older cards to Magic Online, Masters Edition II, III, and IV were designed to bring more specific cards to the environment. The second installment of the series was to bring the youngest, previously unreleased cards to Magic Online. It thus consists mainly of cards from Fallen Empires, Ice Age, Homelands, and Alliances. On the mechanical side it is the "Snow" set, leaning heavily on Ice Age mechanics. Finally, the Masters Editions since Masters Edition II all have a minor tribal theme. Mostly due to their prevalence in Fallen Empires, Orcs and Soldiers are the tribes used in Masters Edition II.^[2].

The cards in Masters Edition II are all available in regular and premium foil versions. As all of the cards were originally released before the foiling process was introduced to Magic and most have not been reprinted since, these cards are now available as premium foils for the first time and exclusively for Magic Online.

Unlike the first Masters Edition, this set was meant to be drafted on its own. However, as head designer Erik Lauer admits in an article, "Masters Edition II wasn't a fan favorite." The limited environment was supposed to be slow and strategic, but often mistakes in drafting and playing were not apparent to players, thus leading to frustration as they could not make sense of the environment. Lauer also admitted that he made "a fair amount of mistakes" in the designing of the set.^[2]

Notable cards

• Allied duals —Badlands, Savannah, Taiga, Tundra, Underground Sea— The original dual lands can produce mana two different colors, but unlike any of their successors these lands do not come with a drawback which compensates for the fact that they are just stronger than basic lands. Of the ten original duals, Masters Edition II includes only the lands that can produce mana of colors that are neighbours on the color pie. These five cards are the most valuable in Masters Edition II. The other five duals were reprinted in Masters Edition III.

• Imperial Seal — This is a highly efficient "tutor" card, originally from Portal: Three Kingdoms. Its paper counterpart is the most expensive card from Portal: Three Kingdoms at more than $200 due to the extreme scarcity of P3K cards.

• Mana Crypt — This card is one of the most efficient mana acceleration cards in Magic. Mana Crypt was never part of a regular Magic expansion; it was only available as a promotional item to the buyers of the early Magic novel, Final Sacrifice.

• Necropotence — Has often been called one of the most powerful cards in Magic. The card lets its controller draw a card for each life he or she chooses to spend.

References

1. ^ LaPille, Tom (28 August 2009). "Masters of the Multiverse". Wizards of the Coast. http://www.wizards.com/Magic/Magazine/Article.aspx?x=mtg/daily/ld/53. Retrieved 2009-09-16. 
2. ^ ^{a b} Lauer, Erik (3 January 2011). "Designing the Masters". Wizards of the Coast. http://www.wizards.com/Magic/Magazine/Article.aspx?x=mtg/daily/feature/124. Retrieved 14 January 2011. 

External links

• Official Masters Edition II product page
• Official Masters Edition II spoiler list