Return to Ravnica

The story told vaguely in the cards deals with the Izzet League searching for something deep within Ravnica's bowels and the other guilds responding to their mysterious actions.[7] This is largely due to the collapse of the Guildpact, which kept the guilds in relative peace for almost 10,000 years, mainly because of the desires of the parun (original founder) of the House Dimir, Szadek, who signed the Guildpact on the condition that the Dimir remain a secret.[8] The storyline of Gatecrash deals with the rise of another faction that does not ally with any of the Guilds, referred to in-game as the "Gateless".[9] The Gateless were referred to in the first set in certain cards as well. While the Gateless are rising to power, the guilds are in the process of trying to thwart each other, adding layers to the story. The Dragon's Maze set marks the culmination of the Izzet League's research into the depths of Ravnica, the eponymous Dragon's Maze (also known as the Implicit Maze[10]), a path that treads all 10 guild gates in order to find and activate an energy source of enough power to allow the winner of the maze to subjugate and control all of the other guilds. By this point, the other guilds have gotten suspicious of something, partially by the Dimir spreading rumors,[8] about the Izzet's true purpose for their experiments, and have begun to arm themselves for an all-out war. Niv-Mizzet, leader of the Izzet League, seeing it as the only way to avoid a complete obliteration of all the guilds by each other, proposes a challenge in which each guild selects a champion in order to navigate and conquer the maze and subsequently the other guilds. Each Champion, also called a Mazerunner, will have to traverse the maze, and they will have to deal with other guilds' attempts to halt their advance.[11] Like in the original Ravnica block, each Mazerunner is a Legendary Creature card.[12]

The Return to Ravnica block features a return of the hybrid mana cost as well as the famous "dual shock lands" from the original Ravnica block.[15] The set also features many cycles of cards that are aligned with certain guilds. Each guild has a charm (last featured in the Shards of Alara block) that offers a caster the choice of three options. Each guild has a multicolored land known as a Guildgate and also a shockland; controlling a Guildgate allows a player to tap it for one mana of either color of that guild. Each guild has a legendary leader (in Return to Ravnica or Gatecrash), a legendary champion (in Dragon's Maze) and a guildmage.[16] Return to Ravnica features the Planeswalkers of Jace, Architect of Thought (The most recent incarnation of the blue member of the Lorwyn Five, this time living in his adopted home of Ravnica) and the new black/green Vraska the Unseen (Her name is actually derived from the Czech for "ditch" or "furrow", probably as a reference to her rise to power in the Golgari).[17] Gatecrash's Planeswalkers are Gideon, Champion of Justice (The newest version of the white-aligned warrior) and Domri Rade (A red/green who fits in perfectly with the Gruul). Dragon's Maze only has one Planeswalker: Ral Zarek, a red/blue Izzet mage who would rather run the maze himself rather than let Melek do it.[18] The homunculus Fblthp (Who only shows up in the art and flavor text of the card Totally Lost) has also become quite popular, spawning plushies,[19] a Twitter feed,[20] and his own website.

Five new guild mechanics are introduced in both Return to Ravnica and Gatecrash. Each of the ten guild mechanics introduced in the previous sets is also featured in Dragon's Maze.[21] According to Mark Rosewater, each mechanic was designed to go along with the corresponding one from the original Ravnica block.[27]

• Overload (Izzet):. Just like the uncontrolled experiments of the Izzet, if its controller pays the more expensive overload cost of a card instead of the normal cost, that spell has its text changed by replacing all instances of "target" with "each". This effectively extends the effects of the given spell to any and all other possible legal targets. For example, a spell with overload may read "Target creature you control gets +1/+0 and is unblockable until end of turn." Overloading this spell would cause it to affect "Each creature you control" instead.
• Unleash (Rakdos): Embodying the Rakdos ideal of putting on a good show, if a card has Unleash, its controller has the option of having it enter the battlefield with a +1/+1 counter on it. Creatures with Unleash are unable to block if they have a +1/+1 counter on them.
• Detain (Azorius): Showing the will of the Azorius to uphold the law before all else, Detain occurs as an effect of a spell or ability, most commonly appearing on triggered abilities that trigger when the creature they're printed on enters the battlefield. While a permanent is detained, it is basically "locked-down" for a turn, being unable to attack or block(if it is a creature), or have its abilities activated. This effect lasts until the player who caused it begins his or her next turn.
• Populate (Selesnya): Used to multiply their "one for all" guild, whenever a spell or ability tells a player to populate, that player puts a creature token onto the battlefield that is a copy of a creature token that player controls.
• Scavenge (Golgari): To utilize the dead (something they do best), when a creature with Scavenge is in the graveyard, its owner may pay its Scavenge cost and upon exiling that creature card from the graveyard, allows him/her to put +1/+1 counters equal to the power of the scavenged creature on target creature on the battlefield. Scavenge can only be activated as a sorcery.
• Evolve (Simic): Embodying the guild's focus on improving nature, if a creature with Evolve is on the battlefield when another creature with a higher power or toughness comes into play under its owner's control, the creature with Evolve gets a +1/+1 counter.[28]
• Bloodrush (Gruul): Used to represent the clans' eagerness to charge into conflict, cards with Bloodrush can be discarded for their Bloodrush cost in order to bolster an attacking creature with a beneficial effect, though you do have to discard the card bloodrushed. This effect is similar to the Channel keyword, used in the Kamigawa block.[28]
• Battalion (Boros): Representing the Boros ideal of working in concert, when a creature with Battalion attacks with at least two other creatures, the effect on the Battalion creature triggers.[28]
• Extort (Orzhov): Reflecting the guild's emphasis on payment and debts, if a creature with Extort is on the battlefield, upon casting a spell, if you pay the Extort cost (either one White or Black mana), each of your opponents will lose 1 life and you gain that total amount of life lost by all opponents. Each instance of Extort may only be paid for once.[28]
• Cipher (Dimir): Symbolizing the house's focus on utilizing covert agents, when you cast a spell with cipher, you may exile it upon resolution and 'encode' the spell effect onto a creature you control on the battlefield. Then, whenever that creature deals combat damage to a player, its controller may cast a copy of the encoded card without paying its mana cost. This is similar to "Isochron Scepter", however, Isochron Scepter has different conditions for casting a spell (converted mana cost of two or less).[28]

One new mechanic was introduced in Dragon's Maze:

• Fuse: A new mechanic appearing on split cards, a returning card type. "Fuse" allows the controller of a split card to cast both halves simultaneously by combining and paying both mana costs together.[21]

There are many cards that deal with the Gates, especially in the third set, including a cycle of Gatekeepers that have an effect if you control two or more Gates[10] and a card that lets you win immediately if you control all ten.[29]

Notable cards include the "shock lands" cycle, the "charm" cycle, Abrupt Decay, Deathrite Shaman, Burning-Tree Emissary, Domri Rade, Sphinx's Revelation, Goblin Electromancer, Maze's End, Obzedat, Ghost Council, Blood Baron of Vizkopa, and Voice of Resurgence