The trading card game Magic: The Gathering has released a large number of sets since it was first published by Wizards of the Coast. After the 1993 release of Limited Edition, also known as Alpha and Beta, roughly 3-4 major sets have been released per year, in addition to various spin-off products. Magic has made three types of sets since Alpha and Beta: base/core sets, expansion sets, and compilation sets. Expansion sets are the most numerous and prevalent type of expansion; they primarily consist of new cards, with few or no reprints, and either explore a new setting, or advance the plot in an existing setting. Aether Revolt is the most recent expansion set. Base sets, later renamed core sets, were the successors to the original Limited Edition and meant to provide a baseline Magic experience; they tended to consist either largely or entirely of reprints. Wizards of the Coast published core sets from 1993–2015, but has not published any new core sets after Magic Origins. Compilation sets also exist entirely of reprints, and tend to be made as either a special themed product, or as a way to increase supply of cards with small printings. Examples of compilation sets with randomized boosters include Chronicles and Modern Masters. There also exist compilation products with a pre-selected and fixed card pool, such as the Duel Decks and From The Vault series. Theme decks serve a similar function; however, they are always attached to a specific set or block, while compilations are free to pick and choose cards from any set.
Contents
- Basecore set editions
- Expansion sets
- Masterpiece Series
- Compilationsreprint sets
- Multiplayer focused sets
- Introductory sets
- Sets not legal for tournament play
- Magic The Gathering Online exclusive sets
- References
All expansion sets, and all editions of the base set from Sixth Edition onward, are identified by an expansion symbol printed on the right side of cards, below the art and above the text box. From Exodus onward, the expansion symbols are also color-coded to denote rarity: black for common and basic land cards, silver for uncommon, and gold for rare. Beginning with the Shards of Alara set, a red-orange expansion symbol denotes a new rarity: "Mythic Rare" (the Time Spiral set featured an additional purple coloration for "timeshifted" cards). For the early expansion sets (from Arabian Nights to Alliances), the rarities of cards were often much more complicated than the breakdown into common, uncommon, and rare suggests. Cards in compilations are assigned rarity by Wizards, however, they do not necessarily match within the set, with some singletons rare and some mythic rare in a given set.
Wizards of the Coast assigns an internal development codename and a three-character expansion code to each set.
Base/core set editions
After the second version (Beta) of the first set, which contained two cards mistakenly excluded from the first version (Alpha), all subsequent base sets through 10th Edition consisted of cards that had been printed before in either the original base set or an expansion set. Alpha through Fifth Edition did not have set symbols printed on the actual cards, though those sets were retroactively given set symbols in Wizards of the Coast's official Gatherer database of Magic cards. Magic Origins, released in 2015, was the final core set.
Expansion sets
Expansion sets beginning with Ice Age have come in groups which form a block. From 1997–2008, Wizards of the Coast also used the term cycle when describing the associated storyline. Blocks generally consist of one large "stand-alone" expansion set of more than 300 cards, followed by one or two small expansion sets of less than 200 cards which continue the themes introduced in the large set. In recent years the large stand-alone expansion sets have had about 250 cards. Like the base set, stand-alone expansion sets contain basic land cards; other expansion sets do not. Beginning with Alliances, expansion sets were given codenames while in development; the code names of the expansions of a cycle usually fit together to form a phrase or common theme. Starting with Mirage in 1996, blocks would be three sets, large-small-small. With Zendikar block in 2009, the traditional large-small-small block structure began to be varied, with some blocks including a second large set later in the block. Starting with the Battle for Zendikar block in 2015, the default structure of a block was changed to large-small, with each block consisting of only two sets and two blocks released per year.
Ice Age and Alliances were the first two sets to have a well-defined relationship, but were not created as a canonical block at the time of printing. Also beginning 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 (Alliances was originally the third set of the block; it was retroactively made a second set with the release of Coldsnap in 2006). With the exceptions of Stronghold, a 1998 set released in March rather than February, and Scourge, a 2003 set which was released in May rather than June, this pattern of months was never broken, over a 10-year period, until 2006, when Dissension was also released a month early in May instead of June, because of the July release of Coldsnap. The third set in a block has since been released in late April or early May. From 2005–2015, there was a fourth release date each year in mid-July, usually reserved for Core Sets. Other summer releases included Coldsnap and Eventide.
Most early expansion sets did not have exact release dates; they were just shipped out within the space of a week, and retailers could start selling them as soon as the sets were received. By the time of Alliances in 1996, however, release dates were set as Mondays (the earliest set with an exact Monday release date might possibly have preceded Alliances, but Alliances is the earliest set with a cited and confirmed Monday release date). Beginning with Mirrodin in 2003, the release dates were changed from Monday to Friday.
All sets beginning with Homelands also have a pre-release date, on which cards are sold in limited quantities in pre-release tournaments. These tournaments were formerly always held two weeks before the release date, but since Shards of Alara they are now held one week before the release date.
Premium foil cards have been inserted into booster packs since Urza's Legacy. Originally 1 foil card was inserted for every 100 cards. The ratio was changed to 1 in 70 cards with the Torment expansion. Beginning with Tenth Edition the percentage was raised to 1 in 56 cards.
Starting with Kaladesh block, each block also contains an entry in the Masterpiece Series.
Masterpiece Series
Starting with Kaladesh block, each block also includes an entry in the Masterpiece Series. The Zendikar Expeditions from Battle for Zendikar were not released under the title of Masterpiece Series, but were retroactively included in the series. Cards in the Masterpiece Series entry for a given block appear in booster packs for that block's sets at a rate lower than that of Mythic Rares, and consist of either reprints, or cards from the set whose packs they appear in. However, they are not considered part of that set, and instead get their own expansion symbol; moreover, as with reprint sets (see below), printing in a Masterpiece Series entry does not affect format legality. Note that entries in the Masterpiece Series do not have expansion codes, except for Zendikar Expeditions, which has code "EXP".
Compilations/reprint sets
Reprint sets are sets of certain cards from previous sets that were re-released for different reasons. Some reasons include the cards were fan favorites and popular demand brought them back or in some cases, reprints were to commemorate certain events such as widely known matches or anniversary sets. Some reprint sets revolved around a certain theme; for example, Beatdown was themed around old, out-of-print, heavy-hitting creatures. Reprinting a card in one of these sets does not affect when it leaves Standard.
Deck Builder's Toolkits are released at the same time as a core set and contain only cards from sets that are legal in Standard at that time; they are not sets as such. These boxed sets therefore have no symbol or code of their own.
Multiplayer-focused sets
Starting with Planechase in 2009, Wizards of the Coast has occasionally printed sets intended primarily for multiplayer play, which do not necessarily consist entirely of reprints but are not legal in Standard; a card printed in one of these is legal only in eternal formats, and reprinting a card in one of these sets does not affect when it leaves Standard. These sets usually consisting of fixed decks.
Introductory sets
These introductory sets were intended for novice Magic: The Gathering players. They were illegal in sanctioned tournaments until October 2005, when they became legal in Legacy and Vintage.
Sets not legal for tournament play
These sets, though also published by Wizards of the Coast, are not legal for DCI-sanctioned tournament play.
Magic: The Gathering Online exclusive sets
Sets exclusive to Magic: The Gathering Online.