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Enemy colors, and the end of the saga
What this set is
Apocalypse ends the Invasion block and the Weatherlight Saga, and it flips Invasion's design: where Invasion's gold cards used allied color pairs, Apocalypse's 52 two-color cards use the enemy pairs, white-black, blue-red, black-green, red-white and green-blue.
It completed the painland cycle with the five enemy-color painlands, Battlefield Forge, Caves of Koilos, Llanowar Wastes, Shivan Reef and Yavimaya Coast, and printed five enemy-color split cards, Fire // Ice the best known of them.
Phyrexian Arena, a card a turn for 1 life each, is the set's most played Commander card. Nothing from it is banned in any eternal format.
Themes
Every mechanic in Apocalypse
Enemy-color gold cards
Not a keyword. Apocalypse's multicolor cards use the five enemy color pairs, the opposite of Invasion's allied pairs, so the block as a whole covers all ten.
Kicker and domain
Both return from Invasion, kicker as an optional extra cost and domain counting your basic land types.
Where You Can Play It
Format legality
Apocalypse is a single code with nothing banned in any eternal format.
Not Standard-legal, and not Modern-legal as a set: Modern starts at Eighth Edition (July 2003). A card from here that was reprinted in a later Modern-legal set is Modern-legal in this printing too, because legality follows the card, not the printing. None of its cards is banned or restricted in Legacy, Vintage or Commander. It is also legal in Premodern, the community format built on Fourth Edition through Scourge. Commons from any set are Pauper-legal; that isn't listed per set here.
Commanders
The most played commanders from Apocalypse
The legends this set is best known for. Tap one for its printings and what it costs.
Boosters, precons and singles from Apocalypse are on TCGplayer.
FAQ
Common questions
Where can I play Apocalypse cards?
In Legacy, Vintage and Commander, minus the cards each format bans. Apocalypse is too old for Standard, Pioneer or Modern as a set, though any card that was later reprinted in a Modern-legal set is Modern-legal in every printing. It is also legal in Premodern, a community format built on Fourth Edition through Scourge.
Which painlands are from Apocalypse?
The five enemy-color ones: Battlefield Forge, Caves of Koilos, Llanowar Wastes, Shivan Reef and Yavimaya Coast. The allied five came from Ice Age.
Is Phyrexian Arena from Apocalypse?
Yes. It was first printed in Apocalypse and is legal in every eternal format.
All card names, art, and mechanics belong to Wizards of the Coast. Apocalypse released on Jun 4, 2001; details reflect the set as published. Sources: Wizards of the Coast set pages and release notes, Draftsim, Untapped.gg.
Playing Apocalypse in Commander?
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