Last updated on March 28, 2024

Memory Lapse - Illustration by Mark Tedin

Memory Lapse | Illustration by Mark Tedin

Homelands was a set released in 1995, and one of the first Magic expansions ever. It’s also arguably the worst set ever made.

Designers did whatever they wanted without continuity at the time. Truth be told, no one knew how to make a card game or an expansion for one because there weren’t any on the market besides MTG.

Is Homelands truly all bad, and if so, why? Are any cards from Homelands still useful today? Let's jump right in and find out!

Homelands Basic Information

Didgeridoo (Homelands) - Illustration by Melissa A. Benson

Didgeridoo (Homelands) | Illustration by Melissa A. Benson

Set Details

Set SymbolInnistrad Midnight Hunt set symbol
Set CodeHML
Number of Cards115
Rarities25 commons, 47 uncommons, 43 rares
MechanicsCreature Tribal, Cantrips

Important Dates

EventDate
Set ReleaseOctober 14, 1995

About the Set: The Story

Jinx (Homelands) - Illustration by Mike Kimble

Jinx (Homelands) | Illustration by Mike Kimble

The story of Homelands is related to two iconic cards from Alpha: Serra Angel and Sengir Vampire. It’s set on the Ulgrotha plane, also known as “Homelands.” The plane is home to Baron Sengir, the leader of the Sengir Vampires, and Serra, the planeswalker and creator of the Serra Angels.

According to WotC, the plane of Ulgrotha was sealed off the rest of the multiverse (then known as Dominia) and wasn’t be affected by the Urza and Mishra’s war or its consequences. A planeswalker called Feroz met Serra and they were married.

The two worked to repair the plane and prepare it to defend against a magical cataclysm via a powerful spell called Feroz’s Ban. The magic of this shield spell had unintended consequences, one of which led to Feroz’s death.

Serra soon left the plane, and Homelands’ people went to war with one another. Baron Sengir is meanwhile preying on people to up his vampire count and gain a more powerful position.

Why Is Homelands So Bad?

Homelands is considered bad because it’s so disconnected from other sets in terms of lore and mechanics. Besides, the power level of the cards is so incredibly low. To quote Mark Rosewater, MTG’s lead designer:

And I’ll be blunt with you, as someone who’s dedicated the last eight years designing Magic cards, Homelands was a poorly designed set. It wasn’t very innovative. It didn’t introduce any strong mechanics. It didn’t have good synergy. It wasn’t particularly elegant. It didn’t have many of the qualities that we now judge a set’s design by.

Mark Rosewater

The designers that made Homelands didn’t communicate much with other designers, and MTG designer Richard Garfield didn’t take part at all. Homelands also doesn’t have a core creative conceit, or anything that makes the plane unique.

The gameplay is bad, with few cards becoming tournament staples. The set wasn’t designed for Limited play either, unlike most sets from its time. Don’t try to Draft it or play Sealed deck. The set is only praised for the lore, the art, and the flavor.

What Block Was Homelands In?

Homelands is part of a group of early sets like Fallen Empires that aren't a part of blocks. Block design in MTG started with Ice Age forward.

Homelands was designed around the time of the Ice Age block but by a different team, so there’s no continuity or mechanic connection between the sets. Alliances would be released later connected with the Ice Age set.

Homelands is set in the Ulgrotha plane, in opposition with Ice Age which is in the plane of Dominaria, the most common plane at the time.

Set Mechanics

Homelands is famous for being one of the few sets without keyworded mechanics, but there are a few themes and card patterns that could be considered mechanics.

Mono-Color Legendary Creatures

Homelands has 14 total mono-color legends, like Soraya the Falconer, Joven, Veldrane of Sengir, and Eron the Relentless. This was at a time when legendary creatures were pretty novel.

Tribal Elements

Aysen Crusader has power and toughness equal to the number of heroes you control, a term errata'd to soldiers and warriors. Heart Wolf supports dwarf tribal, and Faerie Noble supports faerie tribal (in green, no less).

Ice Age-Style Cantrip

Prophecy, Jinx, and Renewal all have the “draw a card at the beginning of the next upkeep” text.

Homelands Full Card List

White Cards

Blue Cards

Black Cards

Red Cards

Green Cards

Colorless Cards

Lands

Notable Cards

Memory Lapse

Memory Lapse is an excellent tempo card. It was misunderstood at first and considered bad, but had tournament success nevertheless.

Didgeridoo

A card that lets you cheat minotaurs into play, Aether Vial-like, Didgeridoo is on the Reserved List. There are finally tons of worthy minotaurs to play to save this from its 20-year limbo in a post-Theros and –Ixalan meta.

Spectral Bears

Even with downside, a 3/3 for two mana is a good card in an aggro deck, especially for a time when 3/3s usually cost four mana (Hill Giant).

Serrated Arrows

Serrated Arrows is still playable in Pauper to shrink creatures, kill some tokens, and deal with problematic creatures like Guardian of the Guildpact. It saw play at the time as a good answer to aggro and weenie decks.

Primal Order

Primal Order deals damage to a player based on the number of nonbasic lands they have in play. Imagine playing this card in a mono-green or Commander deck? You’d hit your opponents for at least three to four per turn, in green no less.

Leeches

To this day, Leeches is the only way to get rid of poison counters. Cards like Solemnity protect you from getting the counters in the first place, but they don’t get rid of them.

Koskun Falls

Koskun Falls is like a black Ghostly Prison, and it’s a color pie break by today’s standards.

Merchant Scroll

Who doesn’t like tutors? Merchant Scroll only gets a blue instant but there are plenty of targets for it.

Autumn Willow

Players tend to take a 6-mana 4/4 with shroud for granted nowadays, but at the time Autumn Willow was a hell of a card. It was also the first card to have the shroud text (can’t be the target of spells or abilities). And you can pay to target your creature, so it’s also effectively hexproof.

Ihsan’s Shade

Ihsan's Shade is useless by today’s standards, but a big black creature (5/5 for six mana) with protection from white allowed it to dodge two popular removal spells from the time, Terror and Swords to Plowshares. It was also big enough to dodge Lightning Bolt.

Sengir Autocrat

Sengir Autocrat represents four bodies for one which is good in sacrifice, swarm, and Braids, Cabal Minion decks.

How Many Cards Are in a Homelands Booster?

Each Homelands booster has eight cards, compared to a modern set booster with 15 cards. Of these eight cards two are considered uncommons and six commons. The booster collation techniques were very different back then, so some of those uncommons are considered rares because they were printed in different uncommon sheets.

Available Products

Homelands booster box

Since Homelands is a very old set, you won’t find retailers like Amazon selling sealed product. You’ll only find singles for sale on sites like TCGPlayer selling packs, booster boxes, and singles.

Some cards from Homelands are on the Reserved List and sell individually for a ton of money, which is why a Homelands booster box is also worth lots of cash.

Wrap Up

Koskun Falls (Homelands) - Illustration by Rob Alexander

Koskun Falls (Homelands) | Illustration by Rob Alexander

Thank you for returning to Homelands with me for a trip down memory lane. I remember buying boosters from old sets like Homelands, Ice Age, and Alliances just to collect the cards. They were flavorful and beautiful, but some old sets like The Dark, Homelands, and such haven’t aged well.

Do you have cards from Homelands? Do you play any of them in your EDH decks? Let me know in the comments below or on the Draftsim Twitter.

Stay safe folks, and until the next one!


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