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Magic: The Gathering

2007 Schools Wikipedia Selection. Related subjects: Games

   Magic: The Gathering
   Magic: The Gathering card back
   Magic: The Gathering's card back design
   Designer Richard Garfield
   Publisher Wizards of the Coast
   Players Two and up
   Setup time < 3 minutes
   Playing time ~ 20 minutes^1
   Rules complexity High
   Strategy depth High
   Random chance Some
   Skills required Card playing
   Arithmetic
   ^1 Games may take much longer or shorter depending on a deck's play
   style and the number of players.

   Magic: The Gathering (colloquially "Magic", "MTG", or "Magic Cards") is
   a collectible card game created by Richard Garfield and introduced in
   1994 by the company Wizards of the Coast, which was later purchased by
   Hasbro. Magic was the first example of the collectible card game genre
   and remains the most popular, with an estimated six million players
   world wide. Magic can be played by two or more players each using a
   deck(decks are often called libraries) of printed cards or through an
   internet-based computer version.

   Each game represents a battle between powerful wizards who use magical
   spells, items, and fantastic 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, Magic bears little resemblance to
   pencil-and-paper adventure games. Rather, Magic is more similar to
   bridge or poker but has substantially more cards and complex rules than
   other card games.

   The world-wide popularity of Magic has spawned an organized tournament
   system and a community of professional Magic players, as well as a
   secondary market for Magic cards. Magic cards can be valuable due to
   scarcity arising from their power and utility in game play or the
   aesthetic qualities of their artwork.

History

   When Peter Adkison, then CEO of the fledgling Wizards of the Coast
   games company, met Richard Garfield, then a graduate student who would
   become a mathematics professor, it was to discuss Garfield's new board
   game RoboRally. Adkison was not enthusiastic, as board games are
   expensive to produce and difficult to market. He did enjoy 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 later with a prototype he had been working with on
   and off over the last few years under the development name of Mana
   Clash. Adkison immediately saw the potential of the game and agreed to
   produce it.

   Role-players were enthusiastic early fans of Magic, but the game
   achieved much wider popularity among strategy gamers. The commercial
   success of the game prompted a wave of other collectible card games to
   flood the market in the mid-1990s. Many of them were poorly received
   and failed both commercially and in popularity while others were
   considered equal in gameplay quality, stature, and popularity to Magic:
   The Gathering. However, Magic’s gross card sales have been surpassed in
   recent years by other modern CCGs, particularly by Japanese import
   games based on the Pokémon and Yu-Gi-Oh! franchises.

   In 1996, Wizards of the Coast established the " Pro Tour", a circuit of
   tournaments where players can compete for a top prize of US$40,000 for
   a single weekend-long tournament. Sanctioned through the Duelists'
   Convocation International, the tournaments add an element of prestige
   to the game by virtue of the cash payouts and media coverage from
   within the community. The system is similar to those used in golf,
   tennis and other professional sports. The company publicizes good
   players who win frequently in order to create a "star" system; the
   stars are offered as inspirations to which other players aspire.

   In 2002, an official online version of the game was released. While
   unofficial methods of online play existed beforehand, Magic: The
   Gathering Online quickly became a success for the company thanks to its
   rules enforcement, feature-rich environment, and accessible nature. A
   new version of Magic Online is expected in early 2007.

Awards

     * 1994: Origins Awards for Best Fantasy or Science Fiction Board game
       of 1993 and Best Graphic Presentation of a Board game of 1993
     * 1999: Inducted alongside Richard Garfield into the Origins Hall of
       Fame
     * 2003: GAMES Magazine selected it for its Games Hall of Fame

Game play

   In a game of Magic, two or more players are engaged in a duel. A player
   starts the game with twenty life points. The player loses when he or
   she runs out of life points. The most common method of reducing an
   opponent's life is to attack with summoned creatures, although numerous
   other methods exist. There are other ways to win or lose the game, but
   loss of life is the most common.

   Players also start with seven cards. They duel each other by casting
   spell cards, using mana or magical energy, typically drawn from land
   cards. Spells can have a single, one-time effect, set up a lasting
   magical effect, or summon a creature to fight for its player. More
   powerful spells cost more mana, or even other resources such as a
   player's own life points.

   Some spells have effects that override normal game rules (e.g., allow a
   player to play more than one land per turn). The so-called "Golden Rule
   of Magic" is that if a card's text conflicts with the rules, the card
   has priority. Resolving interactions between conflicting spell effects
   is one of the more difficult aspects of game play. A detailed rulebook
   exists to clarify these conflicts.

Deck construction

   A player needs a deck before he or she can play a game of Magic.
   Beginners typically start with only a starter deck, which is pre-built
   and ready for play. Two players seldom play with the same type of deck,
   and decks are customized based on the particular player's technique,
   playing style or even the anticipated content of an opponent's deck.

   Decks are required to be at least sixty cards. Players may use no more
   than four of any named card, with the exception of "basic lands", which
   act as a standard resource in Magic. In Limited formats the minimum
   size is forty cards, and the four-of rule does not apply. Depending on
   the type of play, some more powerful cards are further restricted,
   allowing only one per deck, while others are banned outright.
   Experienced players often play with the minimum deck size in order to
   make their decks more consistent.

   The decision on what colors to use is a key part of creating a deck.
   Although five colors of spells are available, lowering the number of
   colors used makes it more likely that a player will draw a correct
   mixture of spells and land that create mana of the correct colour.
   Since each of the five colors each have different strengths and
   weaknesses, playing more colors can help create a more versatile and
   well-rounded deck.

The 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 "Pentagon of
   Colors". Starting from the top, going clockwise, they are: white, blue,
   black, red, and green. To play a spell of one color, mana of the same
   colour is required. This mana is normally generated by a land with one
   of the basic land types, respectively: plains, island, swamp, mountain,
   and forest.

   The equilibrium among the five colors is one of the defining aspects of
   the game. Also known as the "color pie," the various strengths and
   weaknesses of each color are attributed to the fact that each colour
   represents a different "style" of magic.
     * White is the colour of order, organization, purity, balance, law,
       justice, community, righteousness, and light (although not
       necessarily "good", in the same way that laws and the assumptions
       behind them can be flawed). White's strengths lie in protecting its
       creatures, healing damage, efficient small creatures (rather than
       large individual creatures), imposing restrictions on players, the
       removal of enchantments, and the ability to "equalize" the playing
       field. White's weaknesses include its difficulty in proactively and
       permanently removing the opponent's creatures, its inability to
       change game plans, and the fact that many of its most powerful
       spells affect all players equally.

     * Blue is the colour of knowledge, illusion, reason, dreams,
       ingenuity, 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, stealing control of opposing
       permanents indefinitely, returning permanents to their owner's
       hands (informally called "bouncing"), and countering (canceling)
       spells as they are being played. Blue's creatures tend to be
       "tricky" and precise; they often have weaker base statistics than
       other colors, but commonly have evasive abilities such as flying.
       Blue's weaknesses include having only limited ways of dealing with
       opposing threats once they have entered play, a fairly weak set of
       creatures, and a lack of ways to increase its mana production.

     * Black is the color of death, darkness, despair, plague,
       selfishness, ambition, greed, corruption, and amorality (although
       not necessarily "evil"). Black cards are best at killing creatures,
       making players discard cards from their hand, and raising creatures
       from the graveyard. Black is also the most flexible color in many
       ways; it is willing to do anything, which is reflected in being
       able to cast many unusual out-of-colour effects. However, black
       also tends to utilize or sacrifice resources to achieve its goals,
       such as creatures, life, or cards. Black's main weaknesses are its
       tendency to hurt itself in order to gain an advantage, an almost
       complete inability to destroy enchantments and artifacts, and
       difficulties in removing other black creatures directly from the
       field. This third restriction has been lightened in recent years.

     * Red is the colour of chaos, destruction, war, art, passion, and
       fury, as well as lightning and the classical element of fire. Red
       shares an association with the classical element of earth with the
       colour Green; Red has an affinity for the nonliving aspects of
       Earth while Green is focused on the organic aspects.Red is one of
       the best colors for destroying opposing lands, trading long-term
       resources for short-term power, and for playing spells that deal
       damage to creatures or players (colloquially, "burn" or "direct
       damage"). Red also has the vast majority of cards that involve
       random chance. Red shares the "trickery" theme with Blue and can
       temporarily steal an opponent's creatures or divert their spells.
       Red's weaknesses include its inability to destroy enchantments, the
       random or self-destructive nature of many of its spells, and its
       generally weak late-game play.

     * Green is the colour of life, nature, growth, instinct, and
       interdependence. Green creatures tend to have the strongest base
       statistics in the game, and many green cards further increase
       those. Green also excels at destroying artifacts and enchantments,
       increasing a player's life total, and increasing mana-production
       capabilities. However, green has difficulty removing opposing
       creatures from play, and it lacks damaging or controlling spells;
       nearly all of its strategies are creature-based. Furthermore, green
       shares with red a distinct lack of flying creatures.

   The colors adjacent to each other on the pentagram are "allied" and
   often have similar, complementary abilities. For example, blue has a
   relatively large number of flying creatures. White and black, being
   next to it, also have many flying creatures. The two non-adjacent
   colors to a particular colour are "enemy" colors, and are thematically
   opposed. For instance, red has many aggressive and damaging spells,
   white and blue have defensive and protective spells. Aside from the
   technical likeness, the colors are also linked by their "essence".
   White shares "humanity and civilization" with Blue, who shares "deceit
   and mischief" with Black, who is linked by "destruction" to Red, who is
   related to Green by "savagery and fury", whom is finially related to
   White by "purity" The R&D team at Wizards of the Coast balances the
   power between the five colors by using the Colour Pie to define each
   colour's strengths and weaknesses. Every color has its own distinct
   attributes; the pie is used to ensure new cards are thematically in the
   correct colour and do not impede on the territory of other colors.

   Multi-colour cards were introduced in the Legends set and use a gold
   background to distinguish them. More recently, two-color "hybrid" cards
   that can be paid for with either of the card's colors (as opposed to
   both, as is the case with normal multi-colour cards) were introduced in
   the Ravnica set. These cards tend to combine the philosophy and
   mechanics of all the colors used in the spell's cost. Due to the
   restriction of having to play all the colors in the casting cost,
   multi-color cards tend to be more powerful for their cost compared to
   single-color or hybrid-colour cards.

   Artifacts are cards that exist without the colors of magic. They do not
   require a specific color of mana to play. Flavorwise, artifacts are
   magical constructs that can be used by any planeswalker. Typically,
   abilities found on artifacts are those that can be used by any color or
   are abilities that do not normally fall into any of the colour
   categories, although some recent artifacts, most notably in the Ravnica
   block, have required colored mana to use their activated abilities.
   Some artifacts are also creatures, and a few others are also lands.

Variant rules

   While the primary method of Magic play is one-on-one using standard
   deck construction rules, casual play groups have developed many
   alternative formats for playing the game. The most popular alternatives
   describe ways of playing with more than two players and 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
   are competing for an invitation to a professional tournament in Nagoya,
   Japan.
   Enlarge
   Officially sanctioned Magic tournaments attract participants of all
   ages and are held around the world. These players in Rostock, Germany
   are competing for an invitation to a professional tournament in Nagoya,
   Japan.

   Magic: The Gathering has grown tremendously since it was first
   introduced in 1993, and a large culture has developed around the game.
   Magic tournaments are arranged almost every weekend in gaming stores,
   schools, universities and (in Europe) pubs and bars. Larger tournaments
   with hundreds of competitors from around the globe sponsored by Wizards
   of the Coast are arranged many times every year. Large sums of money
   are paid out to those players who place the best in the tournament. 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 Duelists' Convocation
   International (or DCI) is the organizing body for professional Magic
   events. The DCI is owned and operated by Wizards of the Coast.

   There are two types of organized play, Constructed and Limited.

Constructed

   In Constructed tournaments, each player comes with a pre-built deck.
   Decks must consist of no fewer than 60 cards, and no more than four of
   any one card (the basic land cards may be used in any quantity).
   Various tournament formats exist which define what card sets are
   allowed to be used, and which specific cards are disallowed.

   In addition to the main deck, players are allowed a 15-card sideboard.
   Following the first game of a 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. Thus a player may alter his or her
   deck to better deal with the opponent's strategy. Tournaments are
   normally structured so that the first player to win two games is the
   winner of the match. The original deck configuration is restored before
   the start of the next match.

   There are various formats in which Constructed tournaments can be held.
   They include Vintage (Type 1), Legacy (Type 1.5), Extended (Type 1.x),
   Standard (Type 2), and Block. The DCI maintains a Banned/Restricted
   list for each format, which defines certain abusive cards as not
   allowed or restricted to only one copy in a deck. Banning has generally
   been rare in the more modern formats, but is considered necessary for
   some of the older formats to control their power level. Restricted
   cards are cards that a player may only use one of in his or her deck.
   Restriction was more common in Magic's past, but currently the only
   format in which there is a Restricted list is Vintage, as the DCI
   prefers to ban cards outright rather than restrict them in modern
   times.

   Block 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 is the format defined by the current block, the last completed
   block, and the most recent core set. The current Standard card pool
   consists of Ravnica block, Time Spiral block, Coldsnap, and the Ninth
   Edition core set.

   Extended as a format rotates every three years and leaves the six most
   recent blocks and two most recent core sets. Any additional blocks to
   be released between rotations are automatically added to this format's
   card pool. The current extended format consists of the Invasion,
   Odyssey, Onslaught, Mirrodin, Kamigawa, Ravnica, and Time Spiral
   blocks; the Seventh, Eighth, and Ninth edition core sets; and Coldsnap.

   Vintage 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 sets will automatically be included in
   the legal card pool. The only banned cards for Vintage are cards using
   the ante mechanic, as well as Chaos Orb and Falling Star, two cards
   that involve flipping the card onto the table. Due to the expense in
   acquiring the old cards to play competitive Vintage, most Vintage
   tournaments held are unsanctioned ones where players are permitted to
   proxy a certain number of cards. Proxies are treated as stand-ins of
   existing cards. They are not normally permitted in tournaments
   sanctioned by the DCI.

   Legacy is the other eternal constructed format. It evolved from Type
   1.5, a format defined by a banned list that merely consisted of all
   banned and restricted cards in the old Type 1. In 2004, the format was
   revitalized by separating the banned list from the rechristened Vintage
   and banning many old, powerful, and expensive cards such as Mishra's
   Workshop, Mana Drain, and Bazaar of Baghdad. The result is that Legacy
   has a lower power level than Vintage, which makes for longer games, and
   is considerably more affordable. The DCI has attempted to promote the
   format with the addition of a Legacy Grand Prix circuit.

Limited

   Limited tournaments are based on a pool of cards which the player
   receives at the time of the event. The decks in limited tournaments
   need only be 40 cards; all the unused cards function as the sideboard.

   In sealed deck tournaments, each player receives five booster packs
   (each containing 15 cards), or a 75-card Tournament Pack (containing 45
   cards and 30 basic lands) and two booster packs from which to build
   their deck.

   In a booster draft, several players (usually eight) 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 his or
   her left. Each player then selects one of the 14 remaining cards from
   the pack that was just passed to him or her, and passes the remaining
   cards to the left again. This continues until all of the cards are
   depleted. The process is repeated with the second and third packs,
   except that the cards are passed to the right in the second pack.
   Players then build decks out of any of the cards that they selected
   during the drafting and add as many basic lands as they want. Booster
   draft tournaments are somewhat prone to collusion, as players can hold
   the cards their neighbours need at the expense of their own deck
   building.

Tournament Structure

   The DCI maintains a set of rules for being able to sanction
   tournaments, as well as runs its own circuit. Many hobby shops offer
   "Friday Night Magic" as an entrance to casual competitive play. The DCI
   runs the " Pro Tour" as a series of major tournaments to attract
   interest. They also run a special tournament set called the Junior
   Super Series for underage competitors. This allows for a very broad
   base of gameplay.

   Frequent winners of these events have made names for themselves in the
   Magic community, such as Kai Budde and Jon Finkel. As a promotional
   tool, the DCI launched the Hall of Fame in 2005 to honour these
   players.

Product and Marketing

   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 (2.5
   by 3.5 inches), has a face which displays the card's name and rules
   text as well as an illustration appropriate to the card's concept. Over
   8000 unique cards have been produced for the game, with about 600 new
   ones added each year.

   The first Magic cards were printed exclusively in English, but current
   sets are also printed in Simplified Chinese, French, German, Italian,
   Japanese, Portuguese, Russian and Spanish.

   Magic cards are divided into three rarities. These are Rare, Uncommon
   and Common. Most new cards are purchased in the form of "Booster Packs"
   or "Tournament Decks." Typically, a fifteen-card Booster Pack will
   contain one Rare, three Uncommons, and eleven Commons. A Tournament
   Deck typically contains three Rares, ten Uncommons, thirty-two Commons,
   and thirty Basic Lands. This means that three Booster Packs are roughly
   equivalent to one Tournament Deck.

   The vast majority of Magic cards are marketed to the public in one of
   two ways. The first is via the now biennially-released Core Set, Ninth
   Edition being most recent. Currently, Core Sets consist of
   three-hundred and fifty-nine reissued older cards, with a mixture of
   old and new artwork on the cards. The second is via the release of
   expansion sets. These are the sets in which newly-designed cards are
   first sold. A "Block" consists of three theme-related expansion sets
   released over a period of a year. The first and largest part of a Block
   consists of a set of roughly three hundred cards. At subsequent
   four-month intervals, the second and third expansion sets of the Block
   are issued. Each of these sets typically consists around one hundred
   sixty cards. The exact number of cards per set and the rarity
   distribution has varied over time.

   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. This change received a
   mixed reception when first announced, but players quickly adapted, and
   most people have at least made their peace with the new frame design,
   with many still hailing it as better than the original.

Secondary market

   There is an active secondary market in individual cards among players
   and game shops. On eBay, for example, there are an estimated 30,000
   Magic: The Gathering card auctions running at any one time. Many other
   physical and online stores also sell single cards or, more commonly,
   "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 rares
   typically cost under US$1. The most expensive cards in Standard
   tournament play usually cost approximately US$10-20.

   The most expensive card which was in regular print (as opposed to being
   a promotional or special printing) is Black Lotus, with as of 2006
   average prices of above US$600 and high-quality "graded" copies rising
   above US$3000. A small number of cards of similar age, rarity, and
   playability—chiefly among them the other cards in the so-called " Power
   Nine"—routinely reach high prices as well. In 2003, after the rotation
   of the Extended tournament format and in combination with the first
   Type 1 Championships, the prices for such old, tournament-level cards
   underwent a large, unexpected increase.

   As new sets come out, older cards are occasionally reprinted. If a card
   has high play value, reprinting will often increase the original
   version's price because of renewed demand among players. However, if
   the card is primarily attractive to collectors, reprinting will often
   decrease the original version's value. Wizards of the Coast formulated
   an official "Reprint Policy" in 1995 in an attempt to guarantee to
   collectors the value of many old cards. The Policy details certain
   cards that are unavailable to be printed again.

   Wholesale distributors are not allowed to ship product to foreign
   nationalities. Additionally, several countries still have import
   restrictions that could be construed to bar the import of Magic: The
   Gathering or other collectible card games (Italy, for example, places
   restrictions on the importation of "playing cards").

   Non-English cards often have different prices on the secondary market
   than their English equivalents, depending on the desirability on the
   language. Certain languages, such as Spanish, French, Portuguese, and
   Italian, are less valuable than English cards, while Asian languages,
   along with Russian and German, are often worth more; especially as
   foils. The spike in price is often associated with a card's playability
   in Vintage, or Type 1 tournaments; a highly played Type 1 English card
   worth $8 may fetch up to $200 for the Japanese foil version.

Artwork

   Each card has an illustration to represent the flavor of the card,
   often reflecting the setting of the expansion for which it was
   designed. Magic’s initial few sets were a mixed bag in art quality;
   while Wizards of the Coast had hired some established and well-known
   artists, they also commissioned card art from newcomers to the industry
   with mixed results. Since that initial period, the quality of the
   artwork has generally stabilized, and many well-known fantasy and
   science-fiction illustrators have worked for Magic. Wizards of the
   Coast's purchase of TSR, and with it, the Dungeons & Dragons property,
   has led to some bleed between the games, with artists performing work
   for both. Notable artists who have contributed art for Magic cards
   include John Avon, Brom, Ciruelo Cabral, John Coulthart, Mike
   Dringenberg, Kaja Foglio, Phil Foglio, Frank Kelly Freas, Donato
   Giancola, Rebecca Guay, John Howe, Todd Lockwood, Keith Parkinson, rk
   post, Christopher Rush, Bill Sienkiewicz, Ron Spencer, Bryan Talbot,
   Kev Walker, and Michael Whelan.

   Most of the artwork created was initially left completely in the hands
   of the artist. However, after a few years of submissions featuring
   beings with wings on creatures unable to fly, or multiple creatures in
   the art of what was intended to be a single creature, the art direction
   team 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. That said, when older cards
   are reprinted in new (non-Core Edition, and the new Time Shifted cards
   in the Time Spiral set which have the original artwork and card
   design/colour, but modern text) sets, Wizards of the Coast has
   guaranteed that they will be printed with new art to make them more
   collectible.

   Ever since 1995, all artwork commissioned becomes property of 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.

   In 1998, Wizards published a coffee-table book of Magic artwork
   entitled The Art of Magic : a fantasy of world building and the art of
   the Rath Cycle by Lizz Baldwin and Anthony Waters.

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

Storyline

   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 HarperPrism). It takes place in the multiverse, which consists of an
   infinite number of planes. Important storyline characters or objects
   often appear as cards in Magic sets as "Legendary" creatures, unique
   cards of which there can only be one in play at a time.

   The expansion sets from Antiquites through Scourge are set on 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 and his brother Mishra. The sets from
   Weatherlight through Apocalypse follow in particular the story of the
   crew of the Weatherlight, allies of Urza against Yawgmoth. Recently,
   Magic has begun to venture out of Dominaria and into new planes
   including Mirrodin, Kamigawa, and Ravnica. The Magic storyline has
   since returned to Dominaria with the release of the Time Spiral set,
   with the next set, Planar Chaos, speculated to focus on the newer
   planes.

Controversial aspects

Expense

   With three to four new sets appearing each year, many players complain
   that it requires a substantial investment to maintain a Magic
   collection that is competitive and/or complete. The principal
   competitive format, Standard, uses only cards from the last completed
   block, the block currently in print, and the most recent "core set",
   forcing players who wish to remain competitive to constantly update
   their collection. Formats such as Extended, Legacy, and Vintage that
   allow older sets to be played, on the other hand, may have cards that
   are out-of-print, hard-to-find, or simply widely-used; this can cause
   older cards with high competitive value to increase in price
   dramatically.

   Many players find it a fun challenge to make a good, solid deck on a
   tight budget. The viability of "budget" decks is at best variable for
   serious tournament competition; some metagames have strong decks
   composed entirely of commons and uncommons, but others require an $80
   investment in just lands to even begin. The average cost of a good
   quality Block deck (which is arguably the cheapest Constructed format)
   for the Ravnica block is well over US$100. Still, the most notorious
   case is the Vintage metagame, where cards with only a tiny printing in
   the original release of the game are format-definers and nearly
   required for competitive play.

   Those who wish to play the game without paying for rarer cards use
   proxy cards, buy non-tournament-legal "gold bordered" decks, or use
   free magic software clients such as Magic Workstation and Apprentice.

Luck vs. skill

   Magic, like many other games, combines chance and skill. A common
   complaint, however, is that there is too much luck involved with the
   basic resource of the game: land. Too much or too little land ("mana
   flood" and "mana screw/drought", respectively), especially early in the
   game, can ruin a player's chance at victory without the player having
   made a mistake. A common response is to say that the luck in the game
   can be minimized by proper deck construction. A proper land count can
   minimize mana problems. Other cards can minimize the player's
   dependence on mana. The standard land count in most decks ranges from
   18 to 26, although the use of special spells or lands (such as Land
   Tax, Harrow, and Brushland) and the relative costs of the main spells
   within the deck can substantially increase or decrease the number of
   lands required.

   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 less
   card, and repeat until satisfied. The "standard mulligan," still used
   in some casual play circles and in multiplayer formats on Magic Online,
   allows a single "free" redraw of seven new cards if your initial hand
   contains 0, 1, 6, or 7 lands. An excellent source for information on
   the "mulligan" can be found in the article "Starting Over" by Mark
   Rosewater.

Net decking

   The Internet has played an important role in competitive Magic.
   Strategy discussions and tournament reports frequently include a
   listing of the exact contents of a deck and descriptions of its
   performance against others. Some players will take this information and
   construct a similar (or even the same) deck, relying on the expertise
   and experience of other players. This strategy, referred to as "net
   decking," is often a good one, but it is not a guarantee that the
   player will be able to repeat the deck's earlier success. The player
   may be inexperienced, unfamiliar with the operation of the deck, or
   enter an event where a large number of other players have also "net
   decked." In such a tournament, a metagamed-deck (a deck designed to
   defeat common builds in an environment) may be a superior choice. Many
   players advocate Limited formats of competitive Magic over Constructed
   formats because of this phenomenon.

Demonic themes

   For the first few years of its life, Magic: The Gathering featured
   occasional cards with names or artwork that implied demonic or
   occultist themes (such as the cards Demonic Tutor and Unholy Strength,
   which both featured pentagrams in their artwork). For reasons discussed
   in the article Where Have All The Demons Gone? by Mark Rosewater, these
   kinds of cards were removed from later sets. Although there was a long
   period when all references to demons were carefully avoided, the game
   still received criticism for its occult themes. For a few years, some
   schools banned Magic games altogether from being played on school
   grounds.

   Later, believing that the concept of "demons" was becoming less
   controversial, Wizards of the Coast abandoned this policy and started
   reprinting demons and cards with "demonic" in their name in 2002. This
   change was foreshadowed in Ask Wizards, a question-and-answer section
   of MagicTheGathering.com, with a tongue-in-cheek response from Brady
   Dommermuth, Creative Director of Magic at the time:

          So in short, we would never, ever, ever print anything gross
          like a Demon in a million million years. Unless it was a fun,
          happy demon. Like a Grinning Demon, for example. That would be
          super fun!

   However, although there are a number of cards that represent demons,
   Magic boasts over 8,400 different cards, most of which have no relation
   to demonic themes (in fact, there are many more angels in Magic than
   demons). The themes most often used in Magic are folklore, classic
   fantasy and cultures inspired by the real world.

Gambling

   The original set of rules prescribed 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 those cards would be set aside. At the end of
   the match, the winner would become the owner of both cards. There were
   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. This was controversial
   due to many regions having restrictions on games of chance. The rule
   was later made optional due to these restrictions and due to the
   dislike most players have for having to possibly lose a card they own.
   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 "5 colour" format. The last card to mention ante
   was in the 1995 expansion set Homelands.

Patent

   Magic was the basis for a controversial patent granted to Wizards of
   the Coast in 1997. The patent describes several of the game's concepts
   such as "tapping" and constructing a play deck by selecting cards from
   a larger pool. As of 2006, the patent's legal standing has not been
   fully challenged in court.
   Retrieved from " http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Magic:_The_Gathering"
   This reference article is mainly selected from the English Wikipedia
   with only minor checks and changes (see www.wikipedia.org for details
   of authors and sources) and is available under the GNU Free
   Documentation License. See also our Disclaimer.
