Gaseous Form

Gaseous Form was originally introduced in the Legends expansion set in 1994, designed by Richard Garfield to capture the ethereal, intangible nature of spirits and ghosts within the game's mechanics. The card functions as an enchantment that grants a creature evasion and protection from damage at the cost of its ability to deal damage, a tactical trade-off that has made it a staple for defensive or utility-focused playstyles throughout the history of Magic: The Gathering.

The Fifth Edition version, released in 1997, utilized the classic, atmospheric illustration by artist Jesper Myrfors. As one of the core sets of the era, the Fifth Edition printing brought the card to a broader audience during a period when Wizards of the Coast was standardizing card frames and visual aesthetics. The design remains a quintessential example of early Magic's commitment to translating fantasy tropes directly into top-down mechanical interactions.