The collectible card game Magic: The Gathering published nine base sets from 1993–2007, also referred to as core sets. The base sets were considered descendants of the original Limited Edition, and shaped the default setting and feel of Magic. These sets consisted entirely of reprinted cards. These cards were generally simpler than cards in expansion sets, omitting multicolored cards, and used only the original abilities and keywords of Magic such as Flying and Trample. This simplicity led to many cards from these sets being considered "staples" of deck design. All cards were given a white border to mark them as reprints, with a few exceptions (Tenth Edition, foil cards in Seventh-Ninth Editions). From Fourth Edition in 1995 onward, a new base set would come out once per two years in the spring or early summer; for tournament play, that set would be legal for two years in the Standard format until the next core set replaced it.
Early in the history of Magic, the sets sold out nearly instantaneously, and supplying the game's growing fan base proved tricky. Sales were also concentrated on the West Coast of the United States, where Wizards of the Coast was based. The earliest base sets—Unlimited, Revised, and Fourth Edition—helped provide the first experience with Magic for many players in areas where Magic had never been sold before, enabling them to catch up on the base game with cards that, while technically reprints, had never been available to them before. As the market became saturated, the base sets took on a changed role; they began to be marketed as the entry point for new Magic players, with less interest expected from dedicated Magic players who likely owned many of the cards already. Seventh Edition, released in 2001, was sold both as a "Basic" and an "Advanced" product, with the expansion sets of the time marked as "Expert". Eighth and Ninth editions were marketed similarly. However, sales were disappointing, an alarming problem for Wizards, as some entry point for newer players was required to keep Magic alive.Why Ninth Edition Will Suck (At Least For You) In 2009, Wizards of the Coast changed their policy for base sets, and began making smaller base sets that included new cards, starting with the Magic 2010 set. According to Wizards of the Coast, the previous base sets had "been completely marginalized by the enfranchised player base", and change was required to make the base sets of interest to players of all skill levels once more.Recapturing the Magic with Magic 2010 . Forsythe, Aaron.
Unlimited
Unlimited Edition, occasionally referred to as Second Edition, was the second Magic: The Gathering set and the second base set. It was released on December 1, 1993; this time the run was 40 million cards. Unlimited Edition contains exactly the same cards as Limited Edition, including the Power Nine cards. Unlimited cards have white borders rather than black, however. This precedent that white borders implied a reprint was honored until the 2007 release of Tenth Edition, which returned to black borders.
Unlimited was sold in starter packs of 60 cards and booster packs of 15 cards. It was the first set to be officially titled as something other than just Magic: The Gathering. The "Unlimited Edition" label appears on the booster boxes, decks, and booster packs. While it is possible to distinguish Unlimited cards from Revised cards by just looking at the text (wording and type set) the cards from both sets are more easily distinguished by comparing the borders of the cards. The picture frame of Unlimited cards has a beveled edge which Revised cards have not.
Revised Edition
Revised Edition (also simply known as Revised) was the sixth set and third core set released for Magic: The Gathering. Like previous core sets, it had no expansion symbol. Revised Edition cards are white-bordered and generally known for their washed-out look. The set was released in April 1994 and contained 306 cards. It was the first base set to contain cards from black-bordered sets other than Alpha and Beta.
An advertisement in the first issue of The Duelist stated that the set would have gray borders and be released with a "constantly changing card mix", the first of which would be 30 cards from Arabian Nights.
Printing and distribution
Printing of Revised began in early April 1994 and continued until April 1995, when Fourth Edition was announced. It is estimated that about 500 million cards of the set were produced, which fully eliminated the distribution problems of earlier sets. The cards of Revised were still widely available even well into 1996.
The cards of Revised like the cards of the preceding Unlimited Edition all had white borders, no expansion symbol, and the artist credit at the bottom left. However, the cards were far paler than their Unlimited counterparts, and the three-dimensional beveling of the cards was cropped out. The omission of the bevel in the card frame was an error. This gave the cards an appearance that was widely criticized as "washed out" and even unprofessional. The beveling was returned in 4th Edition, and the colors were much more vibrant in that set. The large print run meant that Revised basic lands were so numerous and common that it was uncommon to find any other lands in decks until several years later.
The collation of the cards made it possible for a basic land card to appear in the common and uncommon slots of a pack. This was intentional; the land cards were printed on the common and uncommon print sheets. Basic lands would get their own full print sheets in 4th Edition, making Revised the last tournament-legal set until Seventh Edition in which basic lands could be found in booster packs. Basic lands returned as a card slot in the Shards of Alara block of 2008.
Revised was the first base edition of the game to be sold in multiple languages. Black bordered, limited editions were produced in French, German, and Italian. Unlimited, white bordered editions in the same languages were produced after the limited editions had sold out.
Misprints One card-printing error of note appeared on the card . This blue creature card was misprinted with a green border and a picture of another card, . The name, mana cost and rules text were all correct, though. The Revised version is now the most common due to the limited print run of the original, intended versions.
The card was missing the clause "and cannot be regenerated".
The card incorrectly listed the artist as Kerstin Kaman instead of Anson Maddocks.
Rule changes The printing of Revised cleared up a number of problems with the Limited Edition and Unlimited Edition rules. Two changes had a large effect on game play. First, the rule that "multiple effects resolve simultaneously unless a conflict arises" was changed to "effects always resolve last-in-first-out". The concept was later refined and then referred to as the "stack", an idea taken from computer programing's stack. Second, the rule for Protection from was changed from "the creature is unaffected by X" to the more precise "the creature cannot be blocked by X creatures, be the target of X spells or abilities, or be enchanted by X enchantments; and all damage dealt to this creature by X sources is reduced to zero".
The most visually obvious of Reviseds changes was the elimination of the Mono/Poly/Continuous qualifiers to artifacts. With the advent of the game's first tap symbol (a "T" turned forty-five degrees clockwise in a light gray circle), the qualifiers used to differentiate when and how often an artifact could be used were no longer needed. Artifacts that were previously classified as Mono artifacts were given the new tap symbol, while Poly and Continuous artifacts were simply re-templated without the tap symbol.
Summer Magic The Summer Magic print run of Revised Edition were printed in the summer of 1994. This print run intended to fix some of the errors with Revised, including the washed-out color, but had problems of its own. The colors were considered too dark and the artist credited for stayed uncorrected as well as the artist credited for Serendib Efreet, although the Efreet had received its original color and art again. A new misprint occurred with the green card ; the so-called "blue Hurricane" is one of the rarest and most sought-after cards in the entirety of Magic because of its misprint with a blue border. On the secondary market it sells for thousands of dollars. The print run was recalled and destroyed; however, about 40 booster boxes that were shipped to England and Tennessee survived. No more than 11 or 12 of each rare exists.
This print run is known primarily for its extremely scarce and valuable cards and packs. Cards are distinguished by dark coloring and a 1994 copyright date displayed at the bottom, along with the artist credit. Booster packs look identical to normal Revised Edition packs, and as such, telling them apart is impossible without opening them. No starter decks were made.
Notable cards and card changes Twenty Revised cards were originally in the Arabian Nights expansion, and another nineteen were originally in the Antiquities expansion. Thirty-five cards that were in Unlimited were not in Revised, including the Power Nine. A few of the cards that were removed from the base set reappeared in later sets, such as , which would be reprinted in Ice Age. A few others would be reprinted in Eighth Edition to celebrate the game's 10th anniversary. Cards removed were generally thought to either be confusing, or to have power level issues.
Notable cards include: The Dual Lands: , , , , , , , , and . These lands provide two colors of mana with the benefit of possessing two basic land types, an uncommon trait on non-basic lands. All future dual lands would be printed with restrictions. They are now a defining part of the Legacy and Vintage formats, due in particular to their ability to be searched for by the various Fetchlands released many years later. While many cards were removed from Revised for power reasons, the original dual lands were retained. – The original and most powerful "tutor" card ever printed. This card is restricted in Vintage and banned in Legacy. All future tutors were printed with restrictions or made more expensive like Odyssey's . - This blue card was printed with the wrong art and a green card frame, making it the most commonly seen misprint. – While all of the zero-casting cost mana artifacts were removed from Revised, Sol Ring remained with its single casting cost. Its mana acceleration has caused it to be restricted in Vintage and banned in Legacy. - By far the most broken card in the set, Channel was famous for enabling first-turn kills when combined with spells that had "x" in the casting cost, such as Fireball and Disintegrate. It was reprinted in Fourth Edition. and - notable for being the only Revised Edition cards to be removed from Fourth Edition but "make a triumphant return in Fifth Edition", in the words of Beth Moursund in the MTG Encyclopedia volume 2.
Fourth Edition
The Fourth Edition of Magic: The Gathering was the tenth set released for the game, and the fourth base set. The set was released in April 1995 and contained 378 cards. It was the first set to reprint cards from the expansions Legends and The Dark. Fourth Edition cards have white borders. The set has no expansion symbol.
Fourth Edition was the first Magic set to be printed in Asian languages. It was published in English, French, German, Italian, and as a first for a Magic set in Japanese, traditional Chinese, Korean, Spanish, and Portuguese, which was printed primarily for the Brazilian market. Korean and Chinese Fourth Edition cards have been made with black borders, Japanese, Portuguese, and Spanish cards exist with white and black borders.
Physical attributes