Magic: The Gathering – Born of the Gods (2014)

Overview

Theros is a Magic: The Gathering block, consisting of the expansion sets Theros (September 27, 2013), Born of the Gods (February 7, 2014) and Journey into Nyx (May 2, 2014). The block is a "top-down" design inspired by Greek mythology.

The second set of the block, Born of the Gods, was released on February 7, 2014. Born of the Gods is a small set consisting of 165 cards; of those, one is a planeswalker, the blue/green Kiora, the Crashing Wave. The set also introduces the ten "demigods" of Theros's pantheon, which are dual-colored and care about their controller's devotion to two colors. Born of the Gods features five of them with allied-color combinations; Journey Into Nyx will feature the remaining five.

In addition to the block-wide mechanics, Born of the Gods features two unique mechanics:

Inspired: a triggered ability that occurs whenever an Inspired creature becomes untapped. When an Inspired ability triggers, it provides additional bonuses such as drawing a card; occasionally, it may require additional costs to be paid. Tribute: an activated ability of creatures, replacing Monstrous and intending to evoke a similar flavor. However, it occurs only when the creature comes into play. At this time, an opponent may choose to give the Tribute creature a certain number of +1/+1 counters. If no opponent chooses to do this, the Tribute creature has a separate effect on the game state, such as spawning token creatures or causing the player to gain life. In addition to more enchantment creatures, Born of the Gods also introduces cards that can create enchantment creature tokens; these tokens are also printed with the starry Nyx background.