Sometimes it's hard to get things right the first time around.
In May of 1997, Wizards of the Coast introduced to the game of Magic: The Gathering a new beginner-level set designed to introduce players to the game in an easy-to-understand and approachable way.
That set was Portal. Portal, however, didn’t quite meet expectations in part to it being seen as a bit too different from traditional Magic play. So, slightly more than a year after its release, Wizards of the Coast decided to try again and released Portal Second Age as its successor.
Released on June 24, 1998, the 165-card set, Portal Second Age, serves at the “fixed” follow-up to the beginner-level introductory Magic: The Gathering set, Portal, released just 13 months prior.
WATCH: Portal Second Age - Magic: The Gathering's Second Attempt at a Beginner's Set
With both design and development led by Bill Rose, Portal Second Age (like its predecessor) was made to be a simplified version of Magic to serve as an entry point for new players wanting to get into the game.
It was sold in 15-card booster packs, five different theme decks – one for each of Magic’s five colors –, and a two-player starter set that included two 30-card preconstructed decks, two small paper playmates, a play guide to be used with the preconstructed decks, a small rulebook, and one Portal Second Age booster pack. There was also a Portal Second Age gift box that included the two-player starter set as well as an extra booster pack, two score-keeping beads, and a Portal Second Age checklist.
Wizards of the Coast also published a book for the set, called The Official Guide to Portal Second Age, which provides tips and details to help players better get into the swing of things. The book also provides players with something the original Portal set lacked: Story.
Okay, so it’s more just a bit of context about the setting and the civilizations associated with each color, but it’s something.
Here’s what the book says:
The Portal Second Age setting is Caliman, an island to the south of the vast world of Dominaria.
Caliman's elves, goblins and humans have long coexisted in relative harmony — or ignorance of each other. But in the last 150 years, disagreements between the races have led to skirmishes, and those skirmishes may eventually lead to war.
The island uses a mixture of technology and magic. Seagoing merchants draw on ancient Thran technology; the swamp dwellers have evil Phyrexian artifacts and trade them with the goblins; the humans benefit from the genius of a great inventor. Only the elves of the northwest forest, masters of green magic, are without any technology.
White
White is the color of Alaborn, a human kingdom dominating Caliman's southern plains. It is a civilization at the height of its architectural, intellectual, and artistic accomplishments.
Over thousands of years of peace, Alaborn's weapons and armor became increasingly elaborate and useless. When the Alaborn finally encountered the goblin tribes of the mountains, humiliating military defeats followed. Only ingenious military inventions saved them from complete destruction.
Recently, the Alaborn have discovered a new enemy, whose cunning and ruthlessness far exceeds that of the goblins — the swamp queen, Tojira.
Blue
Blue is the color of the Talas, an agile and muscular race from far to the west of Caliman. Over thousands of years, they have become a significant power on the seas and scattered islands of this part of Dominaria.
Merchants and pirates, the Talas control timber towns to the east as well as several port towns built on ancient Thran ruins. About thirty years ago, they began harvesting the elves' rare featherwood trees, which yield an immensely light timber valuable for crafting ships and thopters.
Green
Green is the color of the elves of Norwood, the northern forest. Over the thousands of years since they settled on Caliman, they have transformed their home into a sylvan paradise.
Elves are generally a little smaller than humans, with a slight but muscular build. Their skin color is primarily caucasian, and their average lifespan is 500 years.
All elves are well trained and proficient with missile weapons, and their ability to move silently makes them virtually unbeatable in their own territory.
Red
Red is the color of the mountain tribes — goblins, ogres, and giants.
Goblins are sneaky and tend to attack in small bands. Their weapons range from rocks and sharpened sticks to slings, bows, and some Phyrexian airguns they've traded for with the swamp queen.
Ogres are large humanoids with massive, muscular builds. They recently created the dreaded battlesaw, a large chainsaw-like weapon that combines Phyrexian mana battery with a specially forged blade.
Giants are brooding and dangerous creatures. Their solitary nature means that little is known of them.
Black
Black is the color of the swamp queen and her minions.
For centuries, the salt marsh at Caliman's north end was uninhabited except for a few animals and semi-intelligent monsters. Ten years ago, this sorceress appeared in the ruins of the ancient Thran city there. Since then, she's grown in power, sending an increasing number of her forces out in search of artifacts and slaves.
The swamp queen is served by nightstalkers, magically created black-mana creatures. They ride large mechanical beasts whose spread feet allows them to easily lope through the uneven swamp terrain.
The stage is set for the forces of good and evil to march into battle.
Now, in getting back to the nuts-and-bolts of Portal Second Age, the set (which, again, was supposed to be an improvement over the first Portal set) features the same simplified rules of its predecessor, including having no artifact or enchantment cards. It also features the same sword and shield icons next to a creature’s power and toughness, as well as having rules text in bold face type and separating it from a card’s flavor text by means of a horizontal line.
Also, the set (like Portal before it) has no instants – only sorceries. And that includes those that can be played at instant speed, which was a complaint about the first set as it makes things awkward when transitioning from the beginner-level set to full-fledged Magic: The Gathering play. Since printing, though, these sorcery spells at instant speed have been eratta’d to be instants.
But not everything between Portal and Portal Second Age remained the same. In fact, there are two significant differences between the two beginner-level sets.
For one, Portal Second Age uses the proper Magic terminology of “library,” “graveyard,” and “blocking” rather than the terms “deck,” “discard pile,” and “intercept” as in the original Portal set. Second, creature cards in Portal Second Age have creature types. While, in Portal, creature cards simply said “Summon Creature,” cards in Portal Second Age say “Creature” followed by that creature’s type. It’s a practice that would later become the standard for the game.
Speaking of the game of Magic overall, a number of pre-existing cards from previous sets made their way into Portal Second Age as reprints including a number that were previously printed (or reprinted) in the original Portal set, such as Armageddon, Earthquake, Hurricane, Mystic Denial, and Volcanic Hammer.
There were also nine reprints included from other sets that were not included in the original Portal, such as (for example) Air Elemental (last seen in Fifth Edition), Coercion (last seen in Tempest), Hidden Horror (last seen in Weatherlight), and (most notably) Relentless Assault (last seen in Visions).
As for cards that made their debut in Portal Second Age, there are a handful worth a mention despite it being a beginner-level set with cards designed for Magic newcomers, including:
- Angel of Mercy, a life gain creature with flying that has since been reprinted in one expansion (Invasion) as well as core sets;
- Bee Sting, one of Magic’s very few direct damage spells in green. It’s a functional reprint of the card Unyaro Bee Sting from the set Mirage;
- Brimstone Dragon, a 6/6 with flying and haste for eight total mana. Up until its inclusion on “The List,” it was the only printing of the creature;
- Dakmor Sorceress, a popular card from the set whose power is equal to the number of swamps its controller has in play;
- Deathcoil Wurm and Lone Wolf, which are the first two cards ever printed in Magic that allow combat damage to essentially trample over to the defending player as if the creatures weren’t blocked;
- Norwood Priestess, a 1/1 creature that lets you play a creature from your hand for free during your first main phase;
- Ravenous Rats, a classic black creature that forces your opponent to discard a card as an enter-the-battlefield trigger;
- Temporal Manipulation, a card that lets you take an extra turn for five mana (3UU), and;
- Wildfire, a card that was reprinted in Urza’s Saga just four months later and subsequently saw a fair amount of tournament play back in the day.
Like with Portal before it, none of the cards original to Portal Second Age were allowed in sanctioned play of any kind until Wizards of the Coast decided to finally include them in eternal formats in late October, 2005.
And there’s something fairly unique to the card art Portal Second Age that you may or may not have noticed by now. Namely, the obvious use of various firearms in this high-fantasy setting.
If you liked this article, please be generous and toss a buck in our Patreon tip jar to support Magic Untapped.
