by Johnny Cycles, August 13th, 2025
I was looking through The Dark the other day and I started to wonder what cards from older sets are worth remembering and/or playing. I’ve already done a few videos on this concept, called Old Cards, Still Good, but that’s a pretty narrow series. Rather than highlight only playable cards, I thought it’d be fun and interesting to go back through older sets and appreciate the flavor, strangeness, and power (or lack thereof) of cards most of us haven’t thought about in years, if ever.
But rather than start with The Dark, let’s go back to Magic’s first expansion set, Arabian Nights.
If you’d rather read, than watch, here you go!
Intro
Arabian Nights was released December 1st, 1993 and was Magic’s first expansion set. It was based on Sandman #50 and One Thousand and One Nights.
Famous for its unique art and scimitar set symbol, along with its awesome flavor, Arabian Nights gave us iconic cards like Juzám Djinn, Ali from Cairo, and Island of Wak-Wak.
Perhaps because I was a big fan of Drizzt Do’Urden back in the 90s, I really liked this set. I have fond memories of playing a turn 1 Taiga followed by the pushed 1-drop Kird Ape. That’s right. Step aside Ragavan.
I also really liked the banding mechanic and tried to make it work in my play deck, which is what we called Standard decks before formats existed.
So let’s revisit what is one of Magic’s most unique, memorable, and recognizable sets…Arabian Nights.
Competitive Play
We often judge a set by its representation in tournaments. So, outside of casual play, how did Arabian Nights affect the game at higher levels?
Looking at the 1994 World Championship top 4, we see that the new set had an immediate impact on a format in which the power 9 were legal…
In total, 9 cards from the set made an appearance in the top 4.
Zak Dollan, who won the event with a Control deck built around Stasis, played two copies of Old Man of the Sea and one copy of Library of Alexandria in the main, and one copy of Diamond Valley in the board.
His opponent in the finals, Betrand Lestree, was playing a Zoo deck with the aforementioned Kird Ape. He was also running two copies of City of Brass to smooth out his mana base, while in his board he played a single copy of City in a Bottle alongside the full playset of Serendib Efreet, another pushed creature for the times.
Aladdin was played by Dominic Symens in his third place deck, while Cyrille de Foucaud played the most of any Arabian Nights cards in his 4th place deck: one copy of Erhnam Djinn alongside the playset of Kird Ape and Serendib Efreet, two copies of City of Brass, and one copy of Library of Alexandria.
Lands
Today, Arabian Nights is perhaps most well known for the lands it gave us. Bazaar of Baghdad, Library of Alexandria, and Diamond Valley are three unique lands from the set that have not been reprinted. Their price reflects this.
And of course, there’s the Mountain.
But most recognizable to today’s players is probably City of Brass, which still sees play in both Modern and Commander.
Meanwhile, Desert as a land type first appeared in Arabian Nights. With the release of Amonkhet and later Outlaws of Thunder Junction, this card finally got some friends.
Other Things of Note
Besides the mechanic banding, Arabian Nights gave us our first Oblivion Ring effect in Oubliette, a way to protect our lands, and a way to start a mini game within the regular game, because, you know, if one game is fun, two must be better!
And we can’t forget Rukh Egg. Before the card’s wording was fixed, players could discard the Egg to get a 4/4 flying creature. On the draw, players could pass with 8 cards in hand, discard Rukh Egg, and have a 4/4 flier on turn 2. Even in today’s Magic, that’s pretty busted.
Breaking the Color Pie
Some colors got effects not typically granted to them.
Desert Twister and Drop of Honey do things now normally reserved for Black.
Moorish Cavalry and War Elephant have trample, a keyword not often given to White creatures (only 22 White creatures have trample according to an Oracle search).
While Unstable Mutation is a Blue spell that puts counters on a creature (-1/-1), something it doesn’t typically do.
Commander
Here are some cards that could still see play in Commander (besides the obvious, like Library of Alexandria and the like):
Cuombajj Witches plays well with Ob Nixilis, Captive Kingpin.
Elephant Graveyard. With 84 Elephants to choose from, surely someone out there has an Elephant tribal deck.
Eye for an Eye could lead to some fun blowouts.
Flying Men would be playable in Standard today and could find a home in a Mono Blue Commander deck looking to tempo out opponents with cheap, evasive creatures.
Guardian Beast provides a layer of protection for artifacts.
Aladdin is a repeatable way to steal your opponent’s artifacts, which is a bit slow if you’re taking mana rocks, but if you’re stealing big fatties like Triplicate Titan or Blightsteel Colossus spun into by Urza, Lord High Artificer then that’s a huge win. Even nerfing a potential attack by an artifact creature cheated in by Purphoros, Bronze-Blooded is good.
Metamorphosis is a precursor to Birthing Pod, Neoform, and the like, even if strictly worse. Decks that can take advantage of death triggers can use this card to cast a big finisher from hand. Similarly, decks that can cheat a big threat into play, say using Goryo’s Vengeance targeting Atraxa, Grand Unifier can use Metamorphosis to sacrifice the reanimated creature and empty their hand of creatures with all that mana.
The Strange
Among the strangest cards from the set: City in a Bottle. I doubt there is another card in the game that targets only cards from a single set.
Another unique card is Desert Nomads, which have desertwalk. They would be the only creature to have it until the printing of Hazezon, Shaper of Sand in Outlaws of Thunder Junction more than 30 years later.
Flavor Win
Arabian Nights is a set full of flavor wins. With so many to choose from, I’ve picked just a few:
Abu Ja’far. A weird form of deathtouch is attached to this Leper…
Fishliver Oil. Spread this on a creature and it can swim.
King Suleiman can destroy Djinns and Efreets.
And then there’s Flying Carpet.
Banned Cards
Rukh Egg, Shahrazad, and Ali from Cairo all made it on Wizards first ever banned list.
Since then, Jeweled Bird, which some consider the first cantrip ever printed, was banned because of ante. And Jihad and Stone-Throwing Devils were banned in 2020 due to their racist context or image.
Lengthy Text
And if you thought Magic cards have gotten more and more text crammed on them, check out these beauties…
Conclusion
And that’s my set revisit of Arabian Nights! It will always have a special place in my heart thanks to the fond memories I have of opening packs of it and playing many of its cards back in the 90s.
What do you think? Do you play any cards from Arabian Nights in Commander? Vintage?
Let me know in the comments! And be sure to subscribe if you like this kind of content. Next up, I’ll be revisiting Antiquities!
