Science Fair Project Encyclopedia
Magic: The Gathering sets
This is a table of card sets for the trading card game Magic: The Gathering.
Wizards of the Coast releases Magic cards in core sets and in expansion sets. Core sets typically contain more than 300 cards, which have all been printed before. Expansion sets expand the game by adding new cards. Expansion sets beginning with Ice Age have come in sets of three which form a block consisting of one base set, a large expansion set of more than 300 cards, followed by two small expansion sets of less than 200 cards, which continue the themes introduced in the large set. Like core sets, base sets contain basic land cards; other expansion sets do not. The base set of each block is released every October, with the small expansion sets associated with it being released the following February and June; this practice began with Alliances in June 1996.
All expansion sets, and all core sets Sixth Edition and afterwards, are identified by an expansion symbol printed on the right side of cards, below the art and above the text box. Wizards of the Coast also assigns a three-character expansion code to each expansion. In the table below, expansion symbols and expansion codes are listed in parentheses following the name.
Core sets | |||
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Expansion setsBeginning with Alliances in June 1996, expansion sets were released in a regular pattern: the base sets were released in October with the small expansion sets being released in February and June. Thus, beginning with Alliances, only year, not month, of release is given for expansion sets in the table below. Also beginning with Alliances, expansion sets were given codenames while in development; the code names of the three expansions of a block usually fit together to form a common phrase or a theme [1]. | |
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Sets not legal for DCI-sanctioned tournament play | |
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Footnotes
- 1 Chronicles, an expansion-sized set released in 1995 between Ice Age and Homelands, reprinted many previous cards, drawn from the Arabian Nights, Antiquities, Legends, and The Dark sets, that were becoming difficult to obtain but added no new cards to the game. Despite being published between Ice Age and Homelands, it is not considered part of the Ice Age Block. The cards in Chronicles were reprinted with white borders, as opposed to their original black borders.
- 2 The cards in Chronicles retained the expansion symbol of the original expansion in which the card was printed.
- 3 The open book was the Thran Tome, part of Urza’s Legacy artifacts.
- 4 The Coalition was a group assembled by Urza to defend Dominaria against the invasion of the Phyrexians. For more information about this expansion symbol, see [5].
- 5 The crying mask was the mask of Yawgmoth.
- 6 Many creatures in the Onslaught Block had the ability to morph. Morphed creatures looked like "clay spiders"; for an explanation, look under the "January 10, 2003" heading of this link: [6].
- 7 Unglued and Unhinged are satirical expansion sets published by Wizards of the Coast.
- 8 Portal was a series of sets featuring simplified rules intended to introduce novice players of Magic: The Gathering to the game. From October 2005 onwards it will become legal in the Vintage and Legacy Formats.
- 9 The expansion symbol for Portal: Three Kingdoms was the Chinese character for the number three.
External links
- http://www.wizards.com/default.asp?x=magic/products/cardsets - Official Magic: The Gathering sets page from Wizards of the Coast
- http://www.crystalkeep.com/magic/misc/symbols.html - images of all the expansion symbols plus coloration variations (starting after Sixth Edition and Exodus, expansion set symbols were colored to indicate rarity)
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