The war between Urza and Mishra, glimpsed on the Antiquities cards, fueled the development of vast number of weapons and other devices and caused widespread destruction. In its wake, the world of Dominaria fell into a Dark Age. The fourth Magic expansion, The Dark, gave players glimpses of the horrors of that age and of the extremes that magicians were driven to…even those who supposedly sevred the forces of good.
The Dark cards don’t tell a story; instead they create a mysterious, more gothic mood. Many of the cards require sacrifices or damage their controller, reinforcing the dark theme. The flavor text contributes as well; as one piece puts it, “Even the goblins shun this place, where the tree limbs twist in agony and the ground seems to scuttle under your feet.” The art, too, is mostly gloomy, with none of comic touches that brought giggles to players opening Legends booster packs.
Close on the heels of Legends success, The Dark wasn’t as popular. This was partly because of its smaller size; it used the same packaging format as the Arabian Nights and Antiquities expansions and had about the same number of cards. More than that, though, the set just didn’t have the glamour of Legends. It had its share of strong cards, including one, Maze of Ith, which was soon restricted. Most cards’ strengths, though, were subtler. The set did eventually sell out in most places, but not as quickly as Legends had, and the prices didn’t go as high.
Other than Maze of Ith, the card in The Dark that had the most impact was probably Blood Moon. The dual lands that had been in Revised were heavily used in Classic tournament decks, as they had always been; Library of Alexandria, Maze of Ith, and Strip Mine were also nearly universal. Blood Moon could deflate all of these, crippling a deck that’s not prepared for it.
The Dark also had the dubious honor of containing two of the most mocked cards in Magic: Whippoorwill and Sorrow’s Path. A whippoorwill is a bird, and its art shows one flying through the air-but it is not a flying creature. Sorrow’s Path, quite simply, has been called the worst card in Magic.
