Mtg card sets symbol in order
On the same day as the release of Unlimited comes the famous Arabian Nights, the game's first expansion. Still using Counterspell, in Unlimited, we noticed that the illustration is the same, the names are the same, but the border is white, that is, the distinction between Alpha/Beta and Unlimited is quite easy. Icy Manipulator, which appears Douglas Shuler, correct spelling.Īt the beginning of December 1993, Unlimited was launched, in English only, the first set that was within the printing policy, that is, the set brings the same Beta cards, but in a white border. Serra Angel, which appears Douglas Schuler, wrong name. Only two Beta cards have the illustrator's correct name. Something curious is that in Beta the cards of the illustrator Douglas Shuler have a printing error, in Beta, Douglas Schuler appears, with the letter c. In an attempt to illustrate this slight difference between Alpha and Beta, the following image shows an Alpha Island, on the left - rounded edge-, and a Beta Island, on the right: I'll also use Counterspell as an example: In Beta, the edges were not rounded as in Alpha, and only then can we identify the difference between the two sets, since both don't have a year or a symbol. Or just Beta, it was the second Magic release and came out on October 1, 1993, with 302 cards, also in black border and had the same specifications as Alpha cards, but with a small difference: the borders. Finally, the edges of Alpha's cards are slightly rounded. Here we see it does not have a set symbol in addition to not containing the year at the bottom which shows only in the illustrator's name. Released on August 5, 1993, Alpha is the first edition of the game, consisting of 295 cards, all with a black border. In the first year of the game we had 4 releases, 3 basic collections and 1 expansion. To simplify my observations, I decided to divide the following topics by year. That ended with the release of Tenth Edition, 2007, the first black border Core Set.Īnother factor that also made a card "new" was the illustration, which explains, for example, why Dark Ritual originating from Alpha was released with a black border in Ice Age:Īfter this explanation, it is important to emphasize the title of this article, precisely for this reason, we will delve deeper into the sets between 93 and 95. This "printing model" existed since Unlimited (1993), as the idea was to leave the cards of the original sets with a black border and the reprints with a white border. The Lightning Bolt of Fourth Edition black border is considered a "new" card, since the card did not exist in Portuguese until then, hence the black border. The Lightning Bolt of Fourth Edition White Border in English is nothing more than a reprint of Alpha's Lightning Bolt, that is, the card already existed in English. To illustrate, I'll use the Fourth Edition Lightning Bolt black border and white border: But, some things must still be considered, for example, when a card was unpublished in a certain language, it would be considered new, that is, it would have a black border. Later, I will talk a little more about Chronicles.Īnyway, I think you can get the idea of this Wizards card release policy. As they were reprints, the cards were released on a white border. The first Cores Sets were Alpha and Beta, both in 1993.Īs the name implies, they are sets with very specific print runs, our first "special set" was Chronicles, which featured reprints of the 4 previous releases. Following the same WotC policy, the Core Sets would come with a white border (except for Alpha and Beta, which despite being basic sets, were released in a black border). They are basic collections that bring reprints of cards. According to an old Wizards of the Coast policy, expansions would have black-bordered cards. The first expansion was Arabian Nights from 1993. It's any new set that brings new cards to the game, cards that didn't exist before, just to expand the range of card options when creating new decks. To start, let's understand what Expansions, Core Sets and Special Editions are. Differentiating expansions, core sets and special eset