On top of this, from the explosion that spawned Karona, the Sliver Overlord, a new leader of the slivers, controlling others via the hive-mind, was born. In addition to this, the continent that was spared from a majority of the devastation occurring elsewhere on the plane of Dominaria during the events of Apocalypse, remains poisoned by the profuse perfusion of mana from the Mirari, with warping effects upon the populace the weapons and armor of soldiers are merging with the soldiers themselves to produce virtually featureless, greatly muscle-bound living juggernauts wizards becoming insubstantial and tenuous, as though they consisted of water or energy elves, becoming taller, stronger, and wilder, begin to resemble the trees amongst which they live and that they protect and, more grotesque variations of zombies, with more heads, limbs, and other appendages, are seen. With the vicious war between Phage and Akroma, and their followers, over with their deaths and fusion into Karona, an incredibly destructive and powerful avatar formed from all five colors of mana, Otaria is, once again, torn by various militant factions, all keen to claim Karona for themselves. The set was accompanied by the novel of the same name. At the Scourge prerelease (May 17–18, 2003), a foil Soul Collector was handed out. The cards were sold in 15-card boosters (which featured art from Dragonstorm, Dragon Tyrant and Bladewing the Risen), in four preconstructed theme decks and a fat pack. Scourge was marketed as the ''Dragon Set'. Scourge was the last set to feature the old-style card faces or a storyline set in Dominaria until the release of the Time Spiral block. With Bladewing the Risen, the set even featured a dragon lord. Scourge was notable for having a focus on cards with high converted mana costs ('cost matters' or 'size matters') and dragon/dragon-related cards.

Like its preceding expansions, Onslaught and Legions, the set featured a theme that focused heavily on 'tribal' cards, or cards that are concerned with creature types. Its expansion symbol is a dragon skull to reflect its dragon theme.

Scourge contains 143 black-bordered cards (44 rare, 44 uncommon, and 55 commons 1 rare and 1 uncommon less than Legions).

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