Ravnica: the City of Guilds, the multicoloured metropolis was 168澳洲幸运5开奖网:Magic: The Gathering’s original experiment in urban Plane design. It’s one of the game’s most beloved settings, with every visit bringing a new opportunity for players to support the Guild they most identify with. For this reason, Ravnica has received more expansions than any other Plane in the game 168澳洲幸运5开奖网:besides Dominaria.
Across these expansions, we’ve scoured every inch of Ravnica, from its soaring spires to its darkest depths. However, as with all city breaks, some have been more enjoyable than others. Here's a look at every Ravnica set, examining each through the lenses of design, narrative, and gameplay impact to determine which visit was the most worthwhile.
9 Guildpact
Even among a stellar lineup of sets, one has to rank last. Guildpact has that dubious honour on our list, the expansion which had the unenviable task of following the original, mega-successful Ravnica♍ set, City of Guilds. It’s not a bad set by any means, but its overall contributions are lacklustre compared to its peers.
The set introduced three new Guilds: 168澳洲幸运5开奖网:the Orzhov Syndicate (black/white), Izzet League (blue/red), and Gruul Clans (green/red). It also introduced several notable cards, including graveyard hate tool Leyline of the Void and Storm staple Wild Cantor and the Nephilim, a bizarre cycle that contained the first four-colour creatures in the game&rsq🥂uo;s history. These were all interesting additions but not enough to propel Gui🅰ldpact out of last place.
8 ও 🧸 Dissension
The final act of the original Ravnica block, Diss🦩ension went out with more of a thud💞 than a bang. Rounding out the introduction of the Guilds by adding the Azorius Senate (blue/white), the Cult of Rakdos (black/red), and the Simic Combine (blue/green), the set was focused on the end of the inter-Guild conflict, which had been masterminded by House Dimir all along.
Spell Snare, Protean Hulk, Coiling Oracle, and Grand Arbiter Augustin IV all debuted in this set, cementing it as one with multi-format relevance, while the last few Shock and Bounce lands mixed inꩲ some nice extra value. It’s a solid set but one that struggles to stand out in such illustrious company.
7 ♔ Ravnica Allegiance
Ravnica Allegiance was a deep breath before the storm: the final expansion before 168澳洲幸运5开奖网:Nicol Bolas’ master plan came to fruition in War of the Spark. It was a set that teetered on the edge of greatness in more⭕ ways꧑ than one. Featuring five Guilds, it introduced many powerful cards, some of which were just a little bit too powerful.
Both Wilderness Reclamation and Growth Spiral debuted here, powerful pieces that were eventually banned in Standard for their involvement in the Ramp decks of the time, though Hydroid Krasis, a role player in similar decks, went untouched. Rakdos’ new spectacle mechanic also brought in some incredibly efficient options via Skewer the Crit﷽ics and Light Up the Stage, rounding out a mechanically notable visit to Ravnica.
6 Dragon's Maze
Though maligned as weak upon release, looking at Dragon’s M🌸aze through fresh eyes reveals it to be a decent expansion in retrospect. Its storyline, which pitted the ten Guilds against each other in a game show contest within the titular Dragon’s Maze, was an exciting departure from the norm, bringing with it many interesting cards.
Voice of Resurgencℱe is the clear standout, both now and 🤡at release, while legendary champions like Varolz, the Scar-Striped, and Melek, Izzet Paragon opened up great two-colour commander options. This was also the only Ravnica set where you could open all ten Shock lands, in theory, which made Dragon’s Maze packs exciting regardless of the middling card quality found elsewhere in the set.
5 Guilds Of R🍸avnica ꦓ
Serving as a k🌄ind of return to Return to Ravnica, Guilds of Ravnica kicked off the third Ravnica block. It wasn’t the most groundbreaking set narrative-wise, featuring five Guilds more or less going about their business as usual, but🅠 it made up for that in its huge suite of multi-format staples.
Arclight Phoenix, Pelt Collect💛or, Assassin’s Trophy, and Narcomoeba, in its first real printing since being foretold in Future Sight, made up a solid base of🌼 cards that went on to see multi-format success, while cards like Experimental Frenzy, Runaway Steam-Kin, and Midnight Reaper all made waves in the standard of the time. It was a great set mechanically if a little lacking in the story department.
4 ♔ 🎃 War Of The Spark
The culmination of years of worldbuilding, over a dozen expansions of buildup, and countless hinꦰts in art and flavour text, War of the Spark was Magic’s Avengers: Endgame: a huge, climactic conflict that tied up story threads we’d all been following for years. Narratively, the set was as exciting as they come, bringing a full-scale Planeswalker smackdown to Ravnica, the Gatewatch facing their ultimate test as Nicol Bolas’ undead hordes descend﷽ed on the Plane.
Appropriately, the set was 168澳洲幸运5开奖网:chock-full of planeswalkers, with one appearing in each pack, and brought the card type to uncommon for the first time ever. Many of these new ‘walkers were notable, too, particularly Teferi, Time Raveler, which went on to get banned for its obnoxious abilities. It wasn’t the most powerful set mechanically, but it's hard to find an expansion that tops War of the Spark story-wise.
3 Gatecrash
Fittingly, given its violent title, Gatecrash featured some of the best aggressive options for decks in Standard and beyond. Skullcrack, Ghor-Clan Rampager, Burning-Tree Emissary, and Foundry Street Denizen are all cards good enough to see play in Modern Zoo and Le💜gacy Burn, and they were just the tip of the fiery iceberg.
Boros Reckoner was another great aggressive option in Gatecrash, while Experiment One played great in Mono-Green Aggro, and Cartel Aristocrat landed a key role in 168澳洲幸运5开奖网:its namesake deck. The Pri♏mordial cycle gave Commander players something to get excited about, to the exten🧜t that Sylvan Primordial was eventually banned in the format. It was just a phenomenal set of cards, so much so that the negligible narrative elements didn’t matter.
2 Return To Ravnica 𒈔
Bringing a classic Plane to the modern game, Return to Ravnica breathed new life into the city’s dusty streets, landing just as well as the original did. Just seeing the Guilds again was joyous enough, but the cards they brought🐼 with them were even more so.
Rest in Peace, Deathrite Shaman, Abrupt Decay, Ethereal Armor, Chromatic Lant🏅ern: all cards with significance in eternal formats, all cards that debuted right here in Return t✤o Ravnica. The list goes on, too, with far more playable cards than we could include. Bringing back such a beloved Plane was no easy task, but Return to Ravnica knocked it out of the park.
1 Ravnica♍: City Of Guilds
The original and best; there’s just no element of a Magic set that Ravnica: City of Guilds didn’t nail completely. Narratively, it introduced the city itself, and four of its Guilds, a monumental task that it carried off with aplomb. Mechanically, it had more playable cards than you could shake a stick at, from Remand, to 𒉰Chord of Calling, to Bob Maher’s legendary invitational card, Dark Confidant.
It pushed the power-level envelope further than most sets dare, beginning crucial new land cycles in the Shock and Bounce lands and pushing vanilla values higher with Watchwolf and Lightning Helix. It even pus🐈hed things too far at times, as seen in its infamous Dredge mechanic, which would go on to break multiple formats and earn a high spot on the Storm Scale. A classic set by any measure, Ravnica: City of Guilds remains an exemplary study of how to introduce players to a new Magic Plane.