The plane of
Taramir has reached the end of its time. The struggles of the Waning Age have been forgotten, for the sun has set for the final time, leaving the world in darkness. The nations of the old world are gone, vanishing into the night like so much else. Few now live who remember even their names. But, some relics endure, patiently awaiting the end of the world.
☼Taramir Block☼
Taramir Block consists of three sets: Taramir, Waning Light, and finally Age of Darkness. All three sets feature the new mechanics
Salvage and
Decay as well as the returning mechanic
Cumulative Upkeep. In addition, Waning Light brought
Fateseal into the picture. To this, Age of Darkness adds the return of
Vanishing.
Salvage: Salvage is an activated ability that can be activated only when the card with salvage is in its owner's graveyard, when he or she could cast a sorcery. Salvaging a card exiles it and has the listed effects. Taramir introduced Salvage while Waning Light added off-color salvage costs and Salvage spells with effects dissimilar to their initial effect from being cast. Age of Darkness introduces Colorless and Nonmana salvage costs.
Decay: Decay is an ability word that causes one or more depletion counters to be added to the permanent with Decay, and causes it to be sacrificed when too many depletion counters have been accumulated.
~Uncommon Artifacts~
There are five uncommon artifacts in Taramir: Efaruna Pennant-Thopter and Rusting Juggernaut, the Artifact creatures, are both relics of the Waning Age nation of Efaruna, which was known for its artifice. the primarily blue/white kingdom had several cards centered around artifacts in Taramir and waning light, but now these are all that remains.
Then there are the noncreatures -- three books, the personal records of three of the Lorekeepers of Voor. Tala, who lived in the Waning and left the order to try to better the world; Varrignan, who lived at the beginning of the Age of Darkness and went stark, raving mad from something he saw or thought he saw in the night; and Morgan, the last of all Lorekeepers of Voor, a young man in Taramir's final days.
Efaruna Pennant-Thopter
Artifact Creature – Thopter Flagbearer [U]
Flying
As Efaruna Pennant-Thopter enters the battlefield, choose a color
Creatures you control of the chosen color get +1/+1
While choosing targets as part of casting a spell or activating an ability of the chosen color, players must choose Efaruna Pennant-Thopter if able.
They long outlasted the nation whose colors they carry through eternally dark skies.1/2
Rusting Juggernaut
Artifact Creature – Juggernaut [U]
Trample, Vanishing 7
Rusting Juggernaut attacks each turn if able
Rusting Juggernaut’s base power and toughness are each equal to the number of time counters on it.
*/*
Record of Lorekeeper Tala
Artifact [U]
At the beginning of your upkeep, gain 2 life
: If you gained 4 or more life this turn, draw a card.
Tala wrote of hope for the future, that the knowledge of the Lorekeepers would be used for good rather than locked away from the world.Record of Lorekeeper Varrignan
Artifact [U]
At the beginning of your upkeep, each player puts the top 3 cards of his or her library into his or her graveyard
: If six or more cards were put into your graveyard from anywhere this turn, draw a card.
Varrignan wrote of mad things, a darkness worse than the eternal night coming to consume all of Taramir.Record of Lorekeeper Morgan
Artifact [U]
At the beginning of your upkeep, each player may draw a card
: If your hand has exactly seven cards in it, draw a card
Morgan wrote as the last Lorekeeper of Voor, of all their accumulated wisdom and all its uselessness in the face of the end.~Mythic Rare Artifact~
I don't normally like filler legends, ones that don't cross the plot (aww, who am I kidding? I love 'em), but this little trinket deserved it: in the final weeks of Taramir, the stars, the last though frequently shrouded natural light of Taramir, begin to go out. It seems that somewhere in the darkness, someone trapped the light from the very last one. However long Taramir persisted without a star in the sky, there seems to have been one upon the ground. Perhaps with its power, other things might persist beyond their due time as well... (though this was a bottom-up design: it had to be legendary from a gameplay standpoint, then the flavor fell into place.)
Talisman of the Last Star
Legendary Artifact [MR]
Cumulative Upkeep – 1 Life
You may pay
rather than the Cumulative Upkeep cost of other permanents you control.
One light yet remained…