Set History
Urza's Saga has a storyline and thematic feel that suggest an artifact-based set, although the set was originally designed to be an enchantment-themed block. According to Mark Rosewater the decision to make the storyline of the set a story about Urza was made only when the design of the set had advanced beyond the point where the mechanical focus of the set could be shifted.
Urza's block ushered in a new era of combo decks. The period of play after the release of Urza's Saga is often referred to as "Combo Winter" by both players and Wizards staff. Standard and Urza Block constructed decks were so fast that they could often win before turn three. Several articles on the Wizards of the Coast website MagicTheGathering.com discuss various tournaments in which players would mulligan down to half their starting hand size just for the perfect initial hand. A ban on several of the sets most powerful cards followed. The joke of the era was that "the early game was the coin flip, the mid game was the mulligan, and the end game was the first turn."
In all, The Urza block has had more cards banned from tournament play than any other block. Over the course of the block's history, 16 different cards have at one point been banned in at least one DCI sanctioned format, nine of which debuted in Urza's Saga (Stroke of Genius, Time Spiral, Windfall, Yawgmoth's Will, Goblin Lackey, Voltaic Key, Gaea's Cradle, Serra's Sanctum, and Tolarian Academy).
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