Masters Edition III

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Masters Edition III
A circle behind two quarter-circles
Released	7 September 2009
Size	230 cards (70 rare, 70 uncommon, 75 common, 15 basic land)
Keywords	Horsemanship, Rampage
Mechanics	Legendary creatures , Tribal, World Enchantment
Designers	Erik Lauer (lead)[1]
Developers	Tom LaPille (lead), Erik Lauer, Dave Guskin, Peter Knudson[1]
Exp. code	ME3
	v · d · e

Masters Edition III is a Magic: The Gathering expansion, exclusive for Magic: The Gathering Online, that was released on September 7, 2009. It is the eighth compilation set, and consists of 230 cards, 70 rare, 70 uncommons, 75 commons, and 15 basic lands. The majority of the cards are originally either from Legends, The Dark, or Portal Three Kingdoms.

Set history

Masters Edition III was the third 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. Its predecessors, Masters Edition and Masters Edition II, were released in 2007 and 2008. The fourth installment of the series was released on January 10, 2011.

As Masters Edition II, Masters Edition III was designed to bring specific cards to the Magic Online environment. The third installment thus consists mainly of cards from The Dark, Legends, and Portal Three Kingdoms.^[2] While The Dark and Legends reflect the era Masters Edition III cards should be mostly from, the Portal Three Kingdoms cards are arguably the most distinctive part of ME3 even though that set was released five years after Legends and The Dark. This is due to the fact that one of the most widely used creature abilities in Magic, "Flying", is almost completely replaced by its Portal Three Kingdoms counterpart, "Horsemanship". The other mechanics employed in Masters Editon III are multicolored cards and Legendary Creatures. Finally, all Masters Editions since Masters Edition II have a minor tribal theme. Faeries, Kobolds, and Minotaurs are the tribes used in Masters Edition III.^[2]

The cards in Masters Edition III 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.

Mechanics and themes

• Horsemanship — This is the only keyword widely used in Masters Edition III. Horsemanship is an evasion ability that works like flying; creatures with horsemanship can be blocked only by creatures with horsemanship, but creatures with horsemanship can block creatures without horsemanship. In most Magic play environments this makes creatures with horsemanship almost unblockable as creatures with this ability are scarce, having been printed only in Portal Three Kingdoms. However, in Masters Edition III there are many creatures with horsemanship and the ability is thus very similar to flying in any regular Magic set. Masters Edition III also includes a few creatures with flying, making it the only set to have both abilities.

• Legendary creatures — In Masters Edition III most of the original Legendary creatures from the Legends expansion are reprinted, ten of them even as commons.

• Tribal — The set has a minor tribal theme. Minotaurs, Kobolds, and the green Faeries, mostly from the Homelands expansion appear in limited quantities. While most of the creatures in the set are Humans, the aforementioned tribes are helped by a few cards that encourage a player to play many cards of the tribe. For example a deck including many Minotaurs will profit more from the presence of Anaba Spirit Crafter than a deck with few Minotaurs.

• World Enchantments — Six of the World Enchantments from Legends are reprinted in Masters Edition III constituting a minor theme at rare only.

Notable cards

• Bazaar of Baghdad - This card, originally printed in Magic's first expansion Arabian Nights, is a staple of Vintage and Classic format "dredge" decks. In paper, it was considered a junk rare for many years. Copies of the card were not saved or cared for and it therefore sells for over $100. Online it sells for under $10.

• Mana Drain - Strictly better than the standard Counterspell, this card is one of the pillars that Vintage decks are based around.

• Enemy colored dual lands — Bayou, Plateau, Scrubland, Tropical Island, and Volcanic Island. These lands provide two colors of mana with no additional drawback.

References

1. ^ ^{a b} 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 III product page
• Official Masters Edition III spoiler list