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Magic the Gathering MTG Tempest booster box contains 36 booster packs with 15 cards each. Tempest was the 20th Magic: The Gathering set and twelfth expert level set, and the first set in the Rath Block, released in October 1997. The release of Tempest represented a large jump in the power level of the card set, compared to the previous Mirage block. Many cards from Tempest instantly became (and still are) tournament staples. Its expansion symbol is a cloud, with a lightning bolt erupting out. On 8 December 2008 Tempest was released for Magic: The Gathering Online.The set contains 350 black-bordered cards (110 rare, 110 uncommon, 110 common, and 20 lands).
Tempest was the second set and the first standalone in the Weatherlight Saga, a continuous storyline for over four years' worth of Magic expansions.
Originally Tempest was intended to have a major "poison" theme, but in the end all poison cards were pulled from the set.
Tempest introduced two new keyworded mechanics to Magic: Buyback and Shadow.
Buyback appeared on instants and sorceries. Spells with buyback had an optional buyback cost which, if paid, caused the spell to return to its owner's hand after being cast instead of being placed in the graveyard.
Shadow appeared on creatures. Creatures with shadow could not block or be blocked, except by creatures with shadow. The shadow ability only appeared on certain blue, black or white creatures (with the exception of the red/white Soltari Guerrillas), and creatures with Shadow were all relatively small.
Several non-keyworded mechanics were also introduced. Licids were a creature type that had the ability to become creature enchantments. This caused numerous rules complications.
Slivers were also introduced in Tempest. These were creatures that shared their abilities with other Slivers in play. Slivers continued into Stronghold, and later made appearances in Legions, Scourge, Time Spiral, Planar Chaos and Future Sight.
The Medallions were a very popular cycle of artifacts, one for each color, that reduced the cost of spells of the appropriate color. Slower monocolor decks (mainly blue) saw them as first pick.
The "stuck" or "slow" lands were a cycle of 5 uncommon lands that add mana of two allied colors, but when used, did not untap on your next turn. This "slowness" made them less popular than the Ice Age "pain lands." Additionally, there was a cycle of 5 rare lands which could generate enemy colors. These lands came into play tapped and could provide colorless mana without penalty, but would deal a point of damage to their controller when tapped for colored mana. They were later replaced with the enemy-color "pain lands" in Apocalypse, which used a format similar to the aforementioned Ice Age pain lands. Reflecting Pool was a powerful land used in many multi-colored decks, only reprinted once in Shadowmoor.
Cursed Scroll - Ignored initially, it was later transformed into a powerful damage engine when players realized the 'guessing game' could be easily manipulated by having only 1 card in hand.
Grindstone - Though initially considered a slightly tweaked version of Millstone, it was later combined with color changing cards like Painter's Servant for to allow a quick 3rd turn win.
Intuition - Although printed to give an opponent a choice in which card you received, the choice could easily be manipulated into a lose-lose for the opponent. Examples include grabbing 3 cards that all function well out of the graveyard (i.e. via Dredge, Flashback, or reanimation), or simply grabbing 3 copies of exactly the same card.
Lotus Petal - Created as an attempt at creating a balanced version of Black Lotus, it still proved too powerful and was later banned or restricted in the eternal formats. This Common was later reprinted at Mythic Rare status in the From the Vault: Exiled set.
Scroll Rack - Allowed players to efficiently sort through the top of their library. When combined with library shuffling effects, it could quickly pull the best and most useful cards out of a deck.
Time Warp - Printed to be a balanced version of the Power Nine card Time Walk.
Wasteland - Although it is a strictly inferior version of Strip Mine printed as an Uncommon, Strip Mine is banned or restricted in the formats where it is legal, making Wasteland an attractive alternative. Tournament play and limited supply over time have created heavy demand and high prices for Wasteland. Excluding promos, Wasteland has not been reprinted outside of Tempest until recently.
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