GRN Guild Kit (GK1): The Complete Guide
The five guilds of Guilds of Ravnica have always been more than factions - they're identities. The GRN Guild Kit leans into that completely, packaging each guild as its own 60-card preconstructed experience and layering in physical collectibles that make you feel like you've actually joined up.
What is GRN Guild Kit?
Released alongside Guilds of Ravnica (GRN) in 2018, the GRN Guild Kit (set code GK1) is a collection of five separate 60-card preconstructed theme decks, each built around one of the five guilds featured in that set: Dimir, Golgari, Izzet, Selesnya, and Boros.
The total card pool across all five kits is 127 cards. What makes these decks unusual is their scope - rather than drawing on a single set, each deck pulls together reprints from every Ravnica set released up to that point. That means cards from the original Ravnica: City of Guilds (2005), Guildpact (2006), Dissension (2006), Return to Ravnica (2012), Gatecrash (2013), and Dragon's Maze (2013) all show up alongside newer GRN cards.
Format check: The reprints in GK1 are not Standard legal. These are collector and casual products - great for playing with, not for sleeving into your Standard or Pioneer deck.
Each kit comes packaged with:
- A 60-card preconstructed deck
- Five double-sided tokens
- An official guild pin
- A guild sticker
- A spindown life counter
- An insert with guild mission instructions
Themes and mechanics
Each deck is built to reflect its guild's mechanical identity - the way it's played on the table should feel like the way that guild operates on Ravnica.
The five guilds
| Guild | Colors | Mechanical Identity | |---|---|---| | Selesnya | {G}{W} | Token generation, go-wide, lifegain | | Boros | {R}{W} | Aggressive combat, soldiers, attacking rewards | | Dimir | {U}{B} | Control, cipher, mill, evasion | | Golgari | {B}{G} | Graveyard recursion, sacrifice, value | | Izzet | {U}{R} | Spells matter, instants and sorceries, weird creatures |
Because the card pools span all three Ravnica blocks, you get to see how each guild's mechanics evolved over more than a decade of design. Selesnya's token strategies, Golgari's graveyard loops, Izzet's spell synergies - all represented in their fullest form here rather than the slice you'd get from any single set.
Notable presentation and card treatments
One of the most compelling reasons to pick up these kits - even if you already own the cards - is the presentation.
All legendary cards in the Guild Kits use the then-current legendary card frame treatment. More importantly, the face card of each deck features exclusive alternate art. Those five face cards are:
- Trostani, Selesnya's Voice (Selesnya)
- Aurelia, the Warleader (Boros)
- Izoni, Thousand-Eyed (Golgari)
- Niv-Mizzet, the Firemind (Izzet)
- Etrata, the Silencer (Dimir)
These alternate art versions are unique to GK1 and aren't available anywhere else, which makes them genuinely appealing for collectors and Commander players who want a distinctive copy of their commander.
The basic lands are also worth a mention. Each deck's lands feature a text box design tailored to the guild - a small detail, but one that rewards the kind of person who notices when a product has been made with care. Foil versions of these guild-flavored lands were distributed at Ravnica Weekend events.
The expansion symbol for each deck is a miniature version of that guild's symbol, rather than a shared GK1 symbol. Open five decks next to each other and you're looking at five different expansion symbols.
Tokens
Each kit includes five double-sided tokens. The full token roster across GK1 covers the breadth of what these guilds have created across Ravnica's history:
- Copy (for Stolen Identity)
- 1/1 Horror with flying (for Call of the Nightwing)
- 3/3 Weird with defender and flying (for Thunderheads)
- 1/1 Goblin (for Goblin Rally)
- 1/1 Saproling (for Korozda Guildmage; also for Pollenbright Wings, Scatter the Seeds, Selesnya Evangel, and Selesnya Guildmage)
- 1/1 Soldier (for Sunhome Guildmage)
- 3/3 Centaur (for Call of the Conclave)
- 5/5 Wurm with trample (for Advent of the Wurm and Armada Wurm)
- 8/8 Elemental with vigilance (for Grove of the Guardian)
- 2/2 Legendary Wolf named Voja (for Tolsimir Wolfblood)
The main set tokens include a 1/1 Soldier with lifelink, a 1/1 Goblin, a 1/1 Insect, and a 2/2 Elf Knight with vigilance.
Lore and setting
Ravnica is one of Magic's most beloved planes - an entire world covered by a single sprawling city, governed (and constantly destabilised) by ten guilds, each controlling a different aspect of civic life. The GRN Guild Kit leans into that identity hard.
The five guilds represented here each have distinct personalities and histories:
- Selesnya is the communal, nature-infused guild of unity and growth
- Boros is the militant guild of law, order, and righteous combat
- Dimir is the secretive, manipulative guild of information and shadows
- Golgari is the death-and-rebirth guild that keeps Ravnica's underbelly running
- Izzet is the chaotic league of mages and scientists who treat the city as their laboratory
The guild pin, sticker, and mission insert aren't just packaging - they're an invitation to pick a side. For many players, that's genuinely part of the appeal.
Set legacy
The GRN Guild Kit occupies an interesting space in Magic's product history. It arrived at a moment when Wizards was experimenting with products that blurred the line between game product and collectible, and by most accounts it landed well.
For long-time Ravnica fans, these kits offered something no booster product could: a curated, flavour-coherent slice of an entire guild's card history in one package, with unique treatments on the cards you'd most want to display or play. For newer players, they were a gentle on-ramp into one of Magic's richest settings.
The alternate art face cards - particularly Niv-Mizzet, the Firemind and Aurelia, the Warleader - remain sought-after by Commander players who want a version of those legends that feels distinct from the standard printings.
A companion product, the Ravnica Allegiance Guild Kits (GK2), followed in early 2019 with the other five guilds, making GK1 the first half of a complete ten-guild Ravnica collection.














