Magic: The Gathering

Magic: The Gathering

Magic: The Gathering's card back design
Designers	Richard Garfield
Publishers	Wizards of the Coast
Players	2 or more
Setup time	< 2 minutes
Playing time	~ 25 minutes
Chance	Some (order of cards drawn, various card abilities)
Age range	13 and up
Skills	Card playing Arithmetic Reading Logic Strategy

Magic: The Gathering (MTG; also known as Magic) is the first trading card game, created by Richard Garfield and introduced in 1993 by Wizards of the Coast. Magic continues to thrive, with approximately twelve million players as of 2011. Magic can be played by two or more players each using a deck of printed cards or a deck of virtual cards through the Internet-based Magic: The Gathering Online or third-party programs.

Each game represents a battle between mighty wizards, known as "planeswalkers", who employ spells, items, and creatures depicted on individual Magic cards to defeat their opponents. Although the original concept of the game drew heavily from the motifs of traditional fantasy role-playing games such as Dungeons & Dragons, the gameplay of Magic bears little similarity to pencil-and-paper adventure games, while having substantially more cards and more complex rules than many other card games.

An organized tournament system and a community of professional Magic players has developed, as has a secondary market for Magic cards. Magic cards can be valuable due to their rarity and utility in gameplay.

History

Richard Garfield was a doctoral candidate at University of Pennsylvania when he first started to design the game. During his free time he worked with local volunteer playtesters to help refine the game. He had been brought on as an adjunct professor at Whitman College in 1993 when Peter Adkison (then CEO of Wizards of the Coast games company) first met with Garfield to discuss Garfield's new game RoboRally. Adkison saw the game as very promising, but decided that Wizards of the Coast lacked the resources to produce it at that point. He did like Garfield's ideas and mentioned that he was looking for a portable game that could be played in the downtime that frequently occurs at gaming conventions. Garfield returned and presented the general outline of the concept of a Trading Card Game. Adkison immediately saw the potential of this idea and agreed to produce it. Magic: The Gathering underwent a general release on August 5, 1993.

While the game was simply called Magic through most of playtesting, when the game had to be officially named, a lawyer informed them that Magic was too generic to be trademarked. Mana Clash was instead chosen to be the name used in the first solicitation of the game. Still, everybody involved with the game continued to refer to it as Magic. After further consultation with the lawyer it was decided to rename the game to Magic: The Gathering, thus enabling the name to be trademarked.

A patent was granted to Wizards of the Coast in 1997 for "a novel method of game play and game components that in one embodiment are in the form of trading cards" that includes claims covering games whose rules include many of Magic's elements in combination, including concepts such as changing orientation of a game component to indicate use (referred to in the Magic and Vampire: The Eternal Struggle rules as "tapping") and constructing a deck by selecting cards from a larger pool. The patent has aroused criticism from some observers, who believe some of its claims to be invalid. In 2003, the patent was an element of a larger legal dispute between Wizards of the Coast and Nintendo, regarding trade secrets related to Nintendo's Pokémon Trading Card Game. The legal action was settled out of court, and its terms were not disclosed.

The success of the initial edition prompted a reissue later in 1993, along with expansions to the game. Arabian Nights was released as the first expansion in December 1993. New expansions and revisions of the base game ("Core Sets") have since been released on a regular basis, amounting to four releases a year. While the essence of the game has always stayed the same, the rules of Magic have undergone three major revisions with the release of the Revised Edition in 1994, Classic Edition in 1999, and Magic 2010 in July 2009. With the release of the Eighth Edition in 2003, Magic also received a major visual redesign.

In 1996, Wizards of the Coast established the "Pro Tour", a circuit of tournaments where players can compete for sizeable cash prizes over the course of a single weekend-long tournament. In 2009 the top prize at a single tournament was US$40,000. Sanctioned through The DCI, the tournaments added an element of prestige to the game by virtue of the cash payouts and media coverage from within the community.

While unofficial methods of online play existed previously, Magic Online ("MTGO" or "Modo"), an official online version of the game, was released in 2002. A new, updated version of Magic Online was released in April 2008.

Reception

Magic was an immediate success for Wizards of the Coast. Early on they were even reluctant to advertise the game because they were unable to keep pace with existing demand. Initially Magic attracted many Dungeons & Dragons players, but the following included all types of other people as well. The success of the game quickly led to the creation of similar games by other companies as well as Wizards of the Coast themselves. TSR created the popular Spellfire game, which eventually included five editions in six languages, plus twelve expansion sets. Wizards of the Coast produced Jyhad (now called Vampire: The Eternal Struggle), a game about modern-day vampires. Other similar games included trading card games based on Star Trek and Star Wars.

While the game is quite popular, especially among young people, its gender demographic is highly skewed: few females play the game compared to males. In addition, the game is quite addictive, being jokingly referred to as "cardboard crack". Some players have spent large amounts of money acquiring cards.

A 2004 article in USA Today suggested that playing Magic might help improve the social and mental skills of some of the players. The article interviewed players' parents who believe that the game, similar to sports, teaches children how to more gracefully win and lose. Magic also contains a great amount of strategy and vocabulary that children may not be exposed to on a regular basis. Parents also claimed that playing Magic helped keep their children out of trouble, such as using illegal drugs or joining criminal gangs. In addition, until 2007, some of the better players had opportunities to compete for a small number of scholarships.

Awards

• 1994: Mensa Select Award winner
• 1994: Origins Awards for Best Fantasy or Science Fiction Board game of 1993 and Best Graphic Presentation of a Board game of 1993
• 1994: Origins Award for the Legends expansion as Best Game Accessory
• 1995: Deutscher Spiele Preis special award for new game mechanics
• 1995: Italian Gaming Society Gioco dell'Anno award winner
• 1996: Super As d'Or award for "Best New Game Concept and Genre Introduced in France"
• 1997: InQuest Fan Award for Best CCG Expansion for the Weatherlight expansion
• 1998 Origins Award for the Urza's Saga expansion as Collectible Card Game Expansion of the Year
• 1999: Inducted alongside Richard Garfield into the Origins Hall of Fame
• 2003: Games Magazine selected Magic for its Games Hall of Fame
• 2005: Origins Award for the Ravnica: City of Guilds expansion as Collectible Card Game Expansion of the Year
• 2009: Origins Award for the Shards of Alara expansion as Collectible Card Game Expansion of the Year
• 2012: Origins Award for the Innistrad expansion as Collectible Card Game Expansion of the Year

In addition several individuals including Richard Garfield and Donato Giancola won personal awards for their contributions to Magic.

Gameplay

Main article: Magic: The Gathering rules

In a game of Magic, two or more players are engaged in a battle as powerful wizards called "planeswalkers". A player starts the game with twenty "life points" and loses when he or she is reduced to zero . Players lose life when they are dealt "damage" by being attacked with summoned creatures or when spells or other cards cause them to lose life directly. Although reducing an opponent to zero life is the most common way of ending a game, a player also loses if he or she must draw from an empty deck (called the "library" during the game), or if they have acquired 10 "poison counters". In addition, some cards specify other ways to win or lose the game.

Players begin the game by shuffling their decks and then drawing seven cards. Players also draw one card at the beginning of each of their turns, except the first player on their first turn. Players take turns consisting of several phases. Certain cards can only be played during certain phases or during the player's own turn, and the player whose turn it is has the first chance to play cards. At the end of a player's turn, if that player has more than seven cards in hand, the player discards until their hand contains seven cards. The contents of other players' decks and hands are not usually known to players.

The two basic card types in Magic are "spells" and "lands". Lands provide "mana", or magical energy, which is used as magical fuel when the player attempts to cast spells. Players may only play one land per turn. More powerful spells generally cost more mana, so as the game progresses more mana becomes available, and the quantity and relative power of the spells played tends to increase. Some spells also require the payment of additional resources, such as cards in play or life points. Spells come in several varieties: "sorceries" and "instants" have a single, one-time effect before they go to the "graveyard" (discard pile); "enchantments" and "artifacts" are "permanents" that remain in play after being cast to provide a lasting magical effect; "creature" spells summon monsters that can attack and damage an opponent. The set Lorwyn introduced the new "planeswalker" card type, which represent powerful allies who fight with their own magic abilities depending on their loyalty to the player who summoned them. Spells can be of more than one type. For example, an "artifact creature" has all the benefits and drawbacks of being both an artifact and a creature.

Some spells have effects that override normal game rules. Garfield has stated that two major influences in his creation of Magic: the Gathering were the games Cosmic Encounter, which first used the concept that normal rules could sometimes be overridden, and Dungeons & Dragons. The "Golden Rules of Magic" state that "Whenever a card's text directly contradicts the rules, the card takes precedence." This allows Wizards of the Coast great flexibility in creating cards, but can cause problems when attempting to reconcile a card with the rules (or two cards with each other). The Comprehensive Rules, a detailed rulebook, exists to clarify these conflicts.

Deck construction

See also: Magic: The Gathering deck types

Each player needs a deck to play a game of Magic. In most tournament formats, decks are required to be a minimum of sixty cards, with no upper limit. Players may use no more than four copies of any named card, with the exception of "basic lands", which act as a standard resource in Magic. In "limited" tournament formats, where a small number of cards are opened for play from booster packs or tournament packs, a minimum deck size of forty cards is used. Depending on the type of play, some cards have been "restricted" (the card is limited to a single copy per deck) or "banned" (the card is no longer legal for tournament play). These limitations are usually for balance of power reasons, but have been occasionally made because of gameplay mechanics.

Deck building requires much strategy as players must choose among thousands of cards which they want to play. This requires players to evaluate the power of their cards, as well as the possible synergies between them, and their possible interactions with the cards they expect to play against (this "metagame" can vary in different locations or time periods). The choice of cards is usually narrowed by the player deciding which colors they want to include in the deck. This decision is a key part of creating a deck. In general, reducing the number of colors used increases the consistency of play and the probability of drawing the lands needed to cast one's spells. On the other hand, while a player utilizing more colors has access to a greater arsenal of cards, creatures and tactics, there is also a greater risk of not drawing the proper resources to utilize the cards effectively.

Colors of Magic

Most spells come in one of five colors. The colors can be seen on the back of the cards, in a pentagonal design, called the "Color Wheel" or "Pentagon of Colors". Clockwise from the top, they are: white, blue, black, red, and green, respectively abbreviated WUBRG (often pronounced "woo-berg" by players and designers). ("U" for "blue" comes from the fact that the mana symbols were typeset by their initials, and "B" was used for black. These same letter codes were used when Wizards released official card lists; also see Anatomy of a Magic Card.) To play a spell of a given color, at least one mana of that color is required. This mana is normally generated by a basic land: plains for white, island for blue, swamp for black, mountain for red, and forest for green. The balances and distinctions among the five colors form one of the defining aspects of the game. Each color has strengths and weaknesses based on the "style" of magic it represents.

• White is the color of order, equality, righteousness, healing, law, community, peace, absolutism/totalitarianism, and light. White's strengths are a roster of small creatures that are strong collectively; protecting those creatures with enchantments; gaining life; preventing damage to creatures or players; imposing restrictions on players; reducing the capabilities of opposing creatures, and powerful spells that "equalize" the playing field by destroying all cards of a given type. White creatures are known for their "Protection" from various other colors or even types of card, rendering them nearly impervious to harm from those things. Numerous white creatures also have "First Strike", "Lifelink", and "Vigilance". White's weaknesses include a focus on creatures, its unwillingness to simply kill creatures outright (instead hobbling them with restrictions that can be undone), and the fact that many of its most powerful spells affect all players equally—including the casting player.

• Blue is the color of intellect, reason, illusion, logic, knowledge, manipulation, and trickery, as well as the classical elements of air and water. Blue's cards are best at letting a player draw additional cards; permanently taking control of an opponent's cards; returning cards to their owner's hand; and countering spells, causing them to be discarded and the mana used to pay them wasted. Blue's creatures tend to be weaker than creatures of other colors, but commonly have abilities and traits which make them difficult to damage or block, particularly "Flying" and to a lesser extent "Shroud" or "Hexproof". Blue's weaknesses include having trouble permanently dealing with spells that have already been played, the reactive nature of most of its spells, and a small (and expensive) roster of creatures.

• Black is the color of power, ambition, greed, death, illness, corruption, selfishness, amorality, and sacrifice; it is not necessarily evil, though many of its cards refer directly or indirectly to this concept. Black cards are best at destroying creatures, forcing players to discard cards from their hand, making players lose life, and returning creatures from the players' graveyards. Furthermore, because Black seeks to win at all costs, it has limited access to many abilities or effects that are normally available only to one of the other colors; but these abilities often require large sacrifices of life totals, creatures, cards in hand, cards in library, and other difficult-to-replace resources. Black is known for having creatures with the ability "Intimidate", making them difficult to block. Lesser black abilities include "Deathtouch" and "Regeneration". Black's main weaknesses are an almost complete inability to deal with enchantments and artifacts, its tendency to hurt itself almost as badly as it hurts the opponent, and difficulties in removing other Black creatures.

• Red is the color of freedom, chaos, passion, creativity, impulse, fury, warfare, lightning, the classical element of fire, and the non-living geological aspects of the classical element earth. Red's strengths include destroying opposing lands and artifacts, sacrificing permanent resources for temporary but great power, and playing spells that deal "direct damage" to creatures or players, usually via applications of fire. Red has a wide array of creatures, but with the exception of extremely powerful dragons, most are fast and weak, or with low toughness, rendering them easier to destroy. Some of Red's cards can turn against or hurt their owner in return for being more powerful for their cost. Red also shares the trickery theme with Blue and can temporarily steal opponents' creatures or divert spells, although generally not permanently. Many of Red's most famous creatures have the "Haste" trait, which lets them attack and use many abilities earlier. The ability to raise a creature's power temporarily is also common among Red's creatures. Red's weaknesses include its inability to destroy enchantments, the self-destructive nature of many of its spells, and the way in which it trades early-game speed at the cost of late-game staying power. Red also has the vast majority of cards that involve random chance.

• Green is the color of life, nature, reality, evolution/adaptability, ecology, interdependence, instinct, and indulgence. Green's strengths are on the battlefield, usually winning through combat with creatures, of which it has a broad menagerie. These tend to be strong for their cost and have abilities that make them more survivable like Regenerate and Hexproof. Green creatures also often have "Trample", an ability which allows them to deal attack damage to an opponent if blocked by a weaker creature. Many Green spells bolster its creatures' potency, both permanently and temporarily. Green spells often focus on growth, such as regaining life points and getting lands faster, thus allowing the player more resources and the capacity to get strong creatures on the battlefield faster. Green's weakness is an inability to defend against indirect attacks. It has few cards that allow it to counterattack against the hand, library, or graveyard; Green also has few defenses against creatures that bypass its own powerful creatures when attacking, via abilities like Flying, Landwalk, or Intimidate.

The colors adjacent to each other on the pentagon are "allied" and often have similar, complementary abilities. For example, Blue has a relatively large number of flying creatures, as do White and Black, which are next to it. The two non-adjacent colors to a particular color are "enemy" colors, and are thematically opposed. For instance, Red tends to be very aggressive, while White and Blue are often more defensive in nature. The Research and Development (R&D) team at Wizards of the Coast aims to balance power and abilities among the five colors by using the "Color Pie" to differentiate the strengths and weaknesses of each. This guideline lays out the capabilities, themes, and mechanics of each color and allows for every color to have its own distinct attributes and gameplay. The Color Pie is used to ensure new cards are thematically in the correct color and do not infringe on the territory of other colors.

• Multi-color cards were introduced in the Legends set and typically use a gold frame to distinguish them from mono-color cards. These cards require mana from two or more different colors to be played and count as belonging to each of the colors used to play them. Multi-color cards typically combine the philosophy and mechanics of all the colors used in the spell's cost, and tend to be proportionally more powerful compared to single-color or hybrid cards, as requiring multiple colors of mana makes them harder to cast. More recently, two-color "hybrid" cards were introduced in the Ravnica set, and appeared extensively throughout the Shadowmoor and Eventide sets. Hybrid cards are distinguished by a gradient frame with those two colors, and can be paid with either of the card's colors; for instance, a card with two hybrid-red/white icons can be cast using two red mana, two white mana, or one of each.

• Colorless cards belong to no color, and most often appear in the form of Lands and Artifacts. Unlike the five colors, Colorless cards do not have a specific personality or style of play. Sometimes, colorless cards will imitate the mechanics of a particular color, though in a less-efficient manner than a similar colored card. Often colorless cards are linked to one or more colors via their abilities, through story references, or through flavor text on the cards themselves. With the Rise of the Eldrazi expansion, however, colorless cards that are neither artifacts nor lands have been introduced for the first time in larger quantities.

Luck vs. skill

Magic, like many other games, combines chance and skill. One frequent complaint about the game involves the notion that there is too much luck involved, especially concerning possessing too many or too few lands. Early in the game especially, too many or too few lands could ruin a player's chance at victory without the player having made a mistake. This in-game statistical variance can be minimized by proper deck construction, as an appropriate land count can reduce mana problems. The standard land count in most 60-card decks ranges from 19 to 26. In Duels of the Planeswalkers 2012 the mana-count will always automatically adjust to 40%. The use of special spells or lands and the relative costs of the main spells within the deck can substantially increase or decrease the number of lands required. Other cards can minimize the player's dependence on Lands for mana.

A "mulligan" rule was later introduced into the game, first informally in casual play and then in the official game rules. The modern "Paris mulligan" allows players to shuffle an unsatisfactory opening hand back into the deck at the start of the game, draw a new hand with one fewer card, and repeat until satisfied. In multiplayer, a player may take one mulligan without penalty, while subsequent mulligans will still cost one card (a rule known as "Partial Paris mulligan"). The original mulligan allowed a player a single redraw of seven new cards if that player's initial hand contained seven or zero lands. A variation of this rule called a "forced mulligan" is still used in some casual play circles and in multiplayer formats on Magic Online, and allows a single "free" redraw of seven new cards if a player's initial hand contains seven, six, one or zero lands.

Confessing his love for games combining both luck and skill, "Magic" creator Richard Garfield admitted its influence in his design of "Magic". In addressing the complaint about luck influencing a game, Dr. Garfield points out that new and casual players tend to appreciate luck as a leveling field, in which a random effect increases their chances of winning. Meanwhile, a player with higher skills appreciates a game with less chance, as the higher degree of control increases their chances of winning. According to Dr. Garfield, "Magic" has and would likely continue decreasing its degree of luck as the game matured. The "Mulligan rule", as well as card design, past vs. present, are good examples of this trend. He feels that this is a universal trend for maturing games. Dr. Garfield explained using chess as an example, that unlike modern chess, in predecessors, players would use dice to determine which chess piece to move.

Gambling

The original set of rules prescribed that all games were to be played for ante. Each player would remove a card at random from the deck they wished to play with and the two cards would be set aside. At the end of the match, the winner would take and keep both cards. Early sets included a few cards with rules designed to interact with this gambling aspect, allowing replacements of cards up for ante, adding more cards to the ante, or even permanently trading cards in play (such as "Demonic Attorney", which required an opponent to ante another card or forfeit the match). The cards came with the instruction that they should be removed from the deck in a game that was not being played for ante.

The ante concept became controversial because many regions had restrictions on games of chance. The rule was later made optional because of these restrictions and because of players' reluctance to possibly lose a card that they owned. The gambling rule is forbidden at sanctioned events and is now mostly a relic of the past, though it still sees occasional usage in friendly games as well as the "five color" format. The last card to mention ante was printed in the 1995 expansion set Homelands.

Variant rules

Main article: Magic: The Gathering formats

While the primary method of Magic play is one-on-one using standard deck construction rules, there are many alternative formats for playing the game. The most popular alternatives describe ways of playing with more than two players (with teams or free-for-all) or change the rules about how decks can be built.

Organized play

Officially sanctioned Magic tournaments attract participants of all ages and are held around the world. These players in Rostock, Germany competed for an invitation to a professional tournament in Nagoya, Japan.

Main article: The DCI

Magic tournaments regularly occur in gaming stores and other venues. Larger tournaments with hundreds of competitors from around the globe sponsored by Wizards of the Coast are arranged many times every year, with substantial cash prizes for the top finishers. A number of websites report on tournament news, give complete lists for the most currently popular decks, and feature articles on current issues of debate about the game. The DCI, which is owned and operated by Wizards of the Coast, is the organizing body for sanctioned Magic events. The two major categories of tournament play are "Constructed" and "Limited".

Constructed

In "Constructed" tournaments, each player arrives with a pre-built deck, which must have a minimum of sixty cards and follow other deck construction rules. The deck may also have a fifteen card sideboard, which allows players to modify their deck: following the first game of each match, each player is permitted to replace any number of cards in his or her deck with an equal number of cards from his or her sideboard. The original deck configuration is restored before the start of the next match. Normally the first player to win two games is the winner of the match.

Different formats of Constructed Magic exist, each allowing different cards. The DCI maintains a "Banned and Restricted List" for each format; players may not use banned cards at all, and restricted cards are limited to one copy per deck. The DCI bans cards that it determines are damaging the health of a format; it seeks to use this remedy as infrequently as possible, and only a handful of cards have been banned in recent years. Currently, the only format with a Restricted List is Vintage.

• Block Constructed formats are defined by the cycle of three sets of cards in a given block. For example, the Ravnica block format consists of Ravnica: City of Guilds, Guildpact, and Dissension. Only cards that were printed in one of the sets in the appropriate block can be used in these formats.

• Standard, formerly known as Type 2, contains the current block, the last completed block, and the most recent core set (except in the intervening months between the core set release in summer and rotation in October, wherein the most recent core set and previous core set are both Standard legal). The Standard card pool undergoes a "rotation" each year in October, when the first set of the next block is released. Currently the Standard card pool consists of the Magic 2013 core set, the Innistrad block, and the Return to Ravnica block.

• Extended is the format where all Magic blocks and core sets issued during the last four years are legal. As in Standard, the pool rotates once a year in October. The current Extended format consists of the Zendikar, Scars of Mirrodin, Innistrad, Return to Ravnica blocks, and their corresponding sets; and the Magic 2011, Magic 2012, and Magic 2013 core sets.

• Modern is a format that was first played at the Magic Online 2011 Community Cup, a response to players' desire for a non-rotating format that is more accessible to newer players. Modern consists of every block and core set using the modern card frame, currently consisting of Mirrodin, Kamigawa, Ravnica, Time Spiral, Lorwyn, Shadowmoor, Shards of Alara, Zendikar, Scars of Mirrodin, Innistrad, Return to Ravnica, and their corresponding blocks, as well as the stand-alone expansion Coldsnap, and the core sets Eighth Edition, Ninth Edition, Tenth Edition, Magic 2010, Magic 2011, Magic 2012, and Magic 2013. Cards that were not printed in one of these sets are not legal in Modern, even if they have the modern card frame.

• Legacy is considered an "Eternal" format because the card pool never rotates. This means that all the sets that are currently legal will continue to be legal and any new tournament-legal cards will automatically be included in the legal card pool upon their release.

• Vintage, previously known as Type 1, is also an Eternal format. The only banned cards in Vintage are cards using the "ante" mechanic and a few other cards that the DCI considers inappropriate for competitive Magic. Because of the expense in acquiring the scarce old cards to play competitive Vintage, many Vintage tournaments permit players to proxy a certain number of cards.

Limited

In "Limited" tournaments, players construct decks using booster packs plus any additional basic lands of their choice. The decks in Limited tournaments must be a minimum of forty cards. All unused cards function as the sideboard. In contrast to "Constructed" tournaments, the player is not restricted to exchange cards on a one-for-one basis when sideboarding, so long as the player adheres to the forty card minimum. The rule that a player may use only four copies of any given card does not apply.

• Sealed Deck tournaments give each player six 15-card booster packs from which to build his or her deck.

• Booster Draft is usually played with eight players. The players are seated around a table and each player is given three booster packs. Each player opens a pack, selects a card from it, and passes the remaining cards to the next player. Each player then selects one of the remaining cards from the pack he or she just received, and passes the remaining cards again. This continues until all of the cards are depleted. Players pass left for the first and third packs, and right for the second. Players then build decks out of any of the cards that they selected during the drafting. Talking, signaling, and showing cards is forbidden during the drafting process, except for double faced cards from the Innistrad block, which cannot be hidden as each side of the physical card has a spell printed on it.

By winning a yearly Invitational tournament, Jon Finkel won the right for this card to feature his design and likeness.

Tournament structure

The DCI maintains a set of rules for being able to sanction tournaments, as well as runs its own circuit. Some hobby shops offer "Gateway" tournaments as a "casual" entrance to structured play. The same shops often offer "Friday Night Magic" tournaments as a stepping-stone to more competitive play.

The DCI runs the Pro Tour as a series of major tournaments to attract interest. The right to compete in a Pro Tour has to be earned by either winning a Pro Tour Qualifier Tournament or being successful in a previous tournament on a similar level. A Pro Tour is usually structured into two days of individual competition played in the Swiss format. On the final day, the top eight players compete with each other in an elimination format to select the winner.

At the end of the competition in a Pro Tour, players are awarded Pro Points depending on their finishing place. If the player finishes high enough, they will also be awarded prize money. Frequent winners of these events have made names for themselves in the Magic community, such as Gabriel Nassif, Kai Budde and Jon Finkel. As a promotional tool, the DCI launched the Hall of Fame in 2005 to honor selected players.

At the end of the year the Magic World Championship is held. The World Championship functions like a Pro Tour, except that competitors have to present their skill in three different formats (usually Standard, booster draft and a second constructed format) rather than one. Another difference is that invitation to the World Championship can be gained not through Pro Tour Qualifiers, but via the national championship of a country. Most countries sends the top four players of the tournament as representatives, though nations with minor Magic playing communities may send just one player. There are also other means to be invited to the tournament. The World Championship also has a team-based competition, where the national teams compete with each other.

At the beginning of the World Championship, new members are inducted into the Hall of Fame. The tournament also concludes the current season of tournament play and at the end of the event, the player who earned the most Pro Points during the year is awarded the title "Pro Player of the Year". The player who earned the most Pro Points and did not compete in any previous season is awarded the title "Rookie of the Year".

Invitation to a Pro Tour, Pro Points and prize money can also be earned in lesser tournaments called Grand Prix that are open to the general public and are held more frequently throughout the year. Grand Prix events are usually the largest Magic tournaments, sometimes drawing more than 1,000 players. The largest Magic tournament ever held was a Grand Prix held in Madrid in 2010.

Product and marketing

See also: List of Magic: The Gathering sets

Magic: The Gathering cards are produced in much the same way as normal playing cards. Each Magic card, approximately 63 x 88 mm in size (2 15⁄32 by 3 7⁄16 inches), has a face which displays the card's name and rules text as well as an illustration appropriate to the card's concept. 12,988 unique cards have been produced for the game as of January 2013, many of them with variant editions, artwork, or layouts, and 600–1000 new ones are added each year. The first Magic cards were printed exclusively in English, but current sets are also printed in Simplified Chinese, Traditional Chinese, French, German, Italian, Japanese, Korean, Portuguese, Russian, and Spanish.

The overwhelming majority of Magic cards are issued and marketed in the form of sets, of which there are currently two types, the Core Set and the themed expansion sets. Under Wizards of the Coast's current production and marketing scheme, a new set is released quarterly. Various products are released with each set to appeal to different segments of the Magic playing community. The majority of cards are sold in booster packs, which contain fifteen cards normally divided into four rarities, which can be differentiated by the color of the expansion symbol. A fifteen-card Booster Pack will typically contain one Rare (gold), three Uncommons (silver), ten Commons (black), and one Basic Land (colored black, as Commons). Sets prior to Shards of Alara contained eleven commons instead of a basic land.

Shards of Alara also debuted Mythic Rares, which replace one in eight Rare cards on average. There are also premium versions of every card with holographic foil, randomly inserted into some boosters, which replace about every seventieth card. Four to five Intro Packs are released with each set; an Intro Pack is a pre-constructed deck aimed at newcomers that highlights one of the set's mechanical themes. It comes with a booster pack from that set, a rulebook, and a fixed selection of cards, including one foil rare. Each set starting from Mirrodin Besieged has also featured two Event Decks, which are preconstructed decks designed as an introduction to tournament play. Previously cards were also sold in Tournament Packs typically containing three Rares, ten Uncommons, thirty-two Commons, and thirty Basic Lands. Tournament Packs were discontinued after Shards of Alara.

The Core Set started to be released annually (previously biennially) in July 2009 coinciding with the name format change from 10th Edition to Magic 2010. This shift also introduced new, never before printed cards into the core set, something that previously had never been done. As of the previous set, Magic 2011, 140 of the 249 cards in the Core Sets are reprints of previously introduced cards and 109 are newly created. The current Core Set, Magic 2013, was released on July 13, 2012.

The expansion sets are released in a three-set block starting in October, typically with a large initial set (that gives its name to the block) and then two smaller follow-ups at three-month intervals. These sets consist almost exclusively of newly-designed cards. Contrasted with the wide-ranging Core Set, each expansion is focused around a subset of mechanics and ties into a set storyline. Expansions also dedicate several cards to a handful of particular, often newly introduced, game mechanics which do not appear in other sets. Expansion sets are released in a yearly three-set "block", starting with a large, roughly 250 card set in October which is followed by two small, roughly 150 card sets the following winter and spring. The follow-up sets typically continue the storyline established in the block's opening set and have related gameplay mechanics.

In addition to the quarterly set releases, Magic cards are released in other products as well, such as the recent Planechase and Archenemy spin-off games. These combine reprinted Magic cards with new, oversize cards with new functionality. Magic cards are also printed specifically for collectors, such as the From the Vault and Premium Deck Series sets, which contain exclusively premium foil cards.

In 2003, starting with the Eighth Edition Core Set, the game went through its biggest visual change since its creation—a new card frame layout was developed to allow more rules text and larger art on the cards, while reducing the thick, colored border to a minimum. The new frame design aimed to improve contrast and readability using black type instead of the previous white, a new font, and partitioned areas for the name, card type, and power and toughness.

For the first few years of its production, Magic: The Gathering featured a small number of cards with names or artwork with demonic or occultist themes, in 1995 the company elected to remove such references from the game. In 2002, believing that the depiction of demons was becoming less controversial and that the game had established itself sufficiently, Wizards of the Coast reversed this policy and resumed printing cards with "demon" in their names.

Spin-offs

Magic: The Gathering video games, comics, and books have been produced under licensing or directly by Wizards of the Coast. While comics and books have mostly been supplements to develop a background story for the game several video games have been produced which lean in varying degree on the original game. For the first computer games Wizards of the Coast had sold licenses to Acclaim and MicroProse roughly at the same time. While MicroProse's Magic: The Gathering received favorable reviews, Acclaim's Magic: The Gathering: BattleMage was mostly dismissed with negative reaction.

With Magic: The Gathering Online, Wizards developed and released a computer version of the game themselves that allows players to compete online against other players using the original Magic cards and rules. The latest computer implementation of Magic is Magic: The Gathering - Duels of the Planeswalkers which was developed by Stainless Games and released for the Xbox 360 in June 2009. The game was ported to Windows in June of the next year. Six months after the PC release of Duels of the Planeswalkers, the game was ported to the PlayStation 3 platform. The game was the most-played Xbox Live title for two weeks after its release.

In September 2011, Hasbro and IDW Publishing accorded to make a 4-issue mini-series about Magic: The Gathering with a new story but heavily based on MTG elements and with a new Planeswalker called Dack Fayden, which story is mainly developed in the planes of Ravnica and Innistrad. The ongoing series started in February 2012.

Knock-offs

In 1998 PGI Limited created Havic: The Bothering, which was a parody of Magic: The Gathering. Wizards of the Coast, which owned the rights to Magic: The Gathering, took active steps to hinder the distribution of the game and successfully shut out PGI Limited from attending GenCon in July 1998. In an attempt to avoid breaching copyright and Richard Garfield's patent, each starter deck of Havic had printed on the back side, "This is a Parody", and on the bottom of the rule card was printed, "Do not have each player: construct their own library of predetermined number of game components by examining and selecting [the] game components from [a] reservoir of game components or you may infringe on U.S. Patent No. 5,662,332 to Garfield."

Secondary market

The Alpha version of the Black Lotus card (here, signed by the artist) is usually considered to be the most valuable non-promotional Magic card ever printed, aside from misprinted cards.

There is an active secondary market in individual cards among players and game shops. Many physical and online stores sell single cards or "playsets" of four of a card. Common cards rarely sell for more than a few cents and are usually sold in bulk. Uncommon cards and weak rare ones typically sell for around US$1. The most expensive cards in standard tournament play are usually priced at $40 to $50, although a few have sold for $60 to $100. Foil versions of rare and mythic rare cards are typically priced at about 1.5x as much as the regular versions.

A few of the oldest cards, due to smaller printings and limited distribution, are highly valued and extremely rare. This is in part due to the "Reserve List", a list of cards from the sets Alpha to Urza's Destiny (1994–1999) that Wizards has promised never to reprint. The most expensive card that was in regular print (as opposed to being a promotional or special printing) is Black Lotus. In 2005, a "Pristine 10 grade" Beckett Grading Services graded Beta Black Lotus was bought by Darren Adams, owner of West Coast Sports Cards & Gaming Distributors in Federal Way, Washington, for a record $20,000. A small number of cards of similar age, rarity, and playability — chiefly the other cards in the so-called "Power Nine" — routinely reach prices of several hundred dollars as well.

Artwork

See also: List of Magic: The Gathering artists

Each card has an illustration to represent the flavor of the card, often reflecting the setting of the expansion for which it was designed. Much of Magic's early artwork was commissioned with little specific direction or concern for visual cohesion. One infamous example was the printing of the creature Whippoorwill without the "flying" ability even though its art showed a bird in flight. The art direction team later decided to impose a few constraints so that the artistic vision more closely aligned with the design and development of the cards. Each block of cards now has its own style guide with sketches and descriptions of the various races and places featured in the setting.

A few early sets experimented with alternate art for cards. However, Wizards came to believe that this impeded easy recognition of a card and that having multiple versions caused confusion when identifying a card at a glance. Consequently, alternate art is now only used sparingly and mostly for promotional cards. When older cards are reprinted in new sets, however, Wizards of the Coast has guaranteed that they will be printed with new art to make them more collectible.

Ever since 1995, the copyright on all artwork commissioned is transferred to Wizards of the Coast once a contract is signed. However, the artist is allowed to sell the original piece and printed reproductions of it, and for established and prolific Magic artists, this can be a lucrative source of revenue.

As Magic has expanded across the globe, its artwork has had to change for its international audience. Artwork has been edited or given alternate art to comply with the governmental standards. For example, the portrayal of skeletons and most undead in artwork was prohibited by the Chinese government until 2008.

Storyline

Main article: Magic: The Gathering storylines

The main premise of Magic is that countless possible worlds (planes) exist in the Multiverse, and only unique and rare beings called planeswalkers are capable of traversing the Multiverse. This allows the game to frequently change worlds so as to renew its mechanical inspiration, while maintaining planeswalkers as recurrent, common elements across worlds.

An intricate storyline underlies the cards released in each expansion and is shown in the art and flavor text of the cards, as well as in novels and anthologies published by Wizards of the Coast (and formerly by Harper Prism). Important storyline characters, objects and locations often appear as cards in Magic sets, usually as "Legendary" creatures, artifacts, and lands, or as "Planeswalker" cards.

The expansion sets from Antiquities through Scourge (with the exception of Homelands) revolve around the plane of Dominaria and are a roughly chronological timeline of that plane's history (with the exception of the Urza's Saga block). Major recurring characters include Urza (a planeswalker) and his brother Mishra. The sets from Weatherlight through Apocalypse particularly follow the story about the crew of the Weatherlight who fight against Yawgmoth and his army of Phyrexians, along with Urza's preparation against the Phyrexian invasion on Dominaria and his creation of the golem Karn. Odyssey through Scourge are an unconnected storyline set 100 years later on the continent of Otaria, where multiple factions battle for control of the Mirari, a powerful magical artifact left by Karn.

After Scourge, Magic ventured out of Dominaria into the new planes of Mirrodin, a metallic artificial plane created by Karn watched over and ruled by an animated Mirari; Kamigawa, a Japanese-themed plane set in the time of a great war between spirits and mortals; and Ravnica, a completely urbanised plane headed by ten guilds, at a time when their pact is at a turning point. It then returned to Dominaria, in a devastated apocalyptic state, for the Time Spiral block, but left it again upon the block's conclusion.

The following blocks took place on a series of new planes: Lorwyn, inspired by Celtic mythology, which shifts from a utopic and bucolic paradise to a shadowy and creepy land of darkness; Alara, a world split into five magically and culturally distinct "shards" but later reunited; and Zendikar, a world used as a prison to entrap a race of interplanar parasitic monsters called the Eldrazi.

Scars of Mirrodin revisited the plane of Mirrodin, where the Mirran natives battled against an invading Phyrexian corruption unwittilingly left by Karn (again interconnecting various storylines). To further integrate the storyline into the gameplay, certain events for the second set, Mirrodin Besieged, encouraged players to affiliate themselves with either the Mirran or Phyrexian faction. The storyline then proceeded to Innistrad, a horror themed plane where humanity struggles to survive against werewolves, vampires, zombies, and spirits. The block was completed with the release of Avacyn Restored on May 5, 2012.

The most recent block, Return to Ravnica tells of planeswalker Jace Beleren's investigation in Ravnica of Niv-Mizzet's machinations, leader of the Izzet guild of alchemists and engineers, during the struggle between the ten guilds for power after the dissolution of the Guildpact.

Academic research on Magic: The Gathering

There are several examples of academic, peer-reviewed research concerning different aspects of Magic: The Gathering. One example examined how players use their imaginations when playing. This research studied hobby players and showed how players sought to create and participate in an epic fantasy narrative. Another example used online auctions for Magic cards to test revenue outcomes for various auction types. A final example uses probability to examine Magic card-collecting strategies.

Magic: The Gathering has been shown to be Turing complete.

Further reading

• Baldwin & Waters (1998). The Art of Magic: A fantasy of world building and the art of the Rath Cycle. Renton, WA: Wizards of the Coast. ISBN 0-7869-1178-6.
• Flores, Michael J. (2006). Deckade - 10 Years of Decks, Thoughts and Theory. New York, NY: top8magic.com. ISBN 0-9778395-0-8.
• Moursund, Beth (2002). The Complete Encyclopedia of Magic: The Gathering. New York, NY: Thunder's Mouth Press. ISBN 1-56025-443-2.

External links

• MagicTheGathering.com Official site for Magic: The Gathering
  • Magic Academy, a strategy archive for beginners and intermediate players
• Gatherer Official Magic: The Gathering card database
• The DCI.com Official site for Wizards of the Coast organized play
• Official site for Magic Online