Magic: The Gathering

• 1. Origins And Inception

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  Richard Garfield sat in a small office at Whitman College during the early months of 1991, sketching out rules for a game that would eventually become Magic: The Gathering. He was a doctoral candidate in combinatorial mathematics who had spent years playing games like Dungeons & Dragons and marbles with local youth while traveling abroad. His father worked as an architect and took the family to Bangladesh and Nepal, where Garfield made friends without speaking the native languages by simply playing cards together. Back in Oregon, he developed his own version of what he thought Dungeons & Dragons should be called Five Magics, based on five elemental magics drawn from geographically diverse areas. This remained the core concept even as he refined the game over many years, though he never planned to publish it initially.

  In mid-1991, Garfield met with Mike Davis and Peter Adkison, the founder of Wizards of the Coast, near Garfield's parents' home in Oregon. Adkison was impressed by RoboRally but felt it had too many logistics to publish successfully. He told Garfield he wanted a portable game that could be played during downtime at gaming conventions. While hiking near Multnomah Falls, Garfield realized he could apply his Five Magics concept to collectible color-themed cards so each player could make a customizable deck. When Adkison heard this idea, he recognized its potential immediately and wrote on a USENET post that if executed properly, the cards would make them millions. They arranged another meeting within the week, and Adkison agreed to produce the game.

  Garfield returned to Pennsylvania and designed the core rules along with about 150 initial cards over the following months. The gameplay centered on each color remaining consistent with how Five Magics had been structured, such as red representing aggressive attacks. Other games like Cosmic Encounter and Strat-o-matic Baseball influenced the design because they differed each time due to different sets of cards being in play. Initial cards were based on available copyrighted art copied onto paper for testing by university volunteers. About six months after meeting Adkison, Garfield refined the first complete version of his game. He also began setting the narrative in Dominia, a multiverse of infinite planes from which players could draw power.

  Adkison sought investment to prepare Wizards of the Coast for publishing while dealing with legal issues surrounding their previous product The Primal Order. A lawsuit from Palladium financially harmed the company, leading Adkison to create a separate entity called Garfield Games for publishing the card game. Although the game was simply called Magic through most playtesting, lawyers informed them that the name was too generic to trademark. Mana Clash became the temporary name used in the first solicitation before everyone involved continued referring to it as Magic. After further consultation, the name changed again to Magic: The Gathering to enable trademarking.

  By August 1993, Garfield and Adkison prepared to debut at Gen Con in Milwaukee but lacked funds for production. Adkison took a single box of cards to Origins Game Fair hoping to secure funding by demonstrating the game. Representatives from Wargames West saw the game and negotiated terms that allowed Adkison to return with enough money to make necessary orders. Magic underwent general release on the 5th of August 1993. Despite shipping delays, they sold out completely by the end of the convention. By October 1993, they had sold out their supply of ten million cards. Wizards remained reluctant to advertise because they could not keep pace with existing demand.

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• 2. Game Mechanics And Design

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  Each Magic card measures approximately sixty-three millimeters by eighty-eight millimeters and displays an illustration alongside rules text. Half of the face shows the card's art while the other half lists mechanics often relying on commonly-reused keywords to simplify the card's text. Cards fall into two classes: lands and spells. Lands produce mana or magical energy while players usually can only play one land card per turn. Most land provides a specific color of mana when tapped by rotating the card ninety degrees to show it has been used that turn.

  Spells consume mana typically requiring at least one mana of a specific color. More powerful spells cost more and require more specifically colored mana so as the game progresses more land will be in play and the quantity and relative power of spells played tends to increase. Non-permanents like sorceries and instants have a single one-time effect before going to the graveyard or discard pile. Enchantments and artifacts remain in play after being cast to provide lasting magical effects. Creature spells summon creatures that can attack and damage opponents as well as defend from opponent attacks. Planeswalker spells summon powerful allies acting similarly to other players.

  Players begin by shuffling their decks then drawing seven cards. On each player's turn following a set phase order they draw a card tap lands and other permanents as necessary to gain mana to cast spells engage creatures in a single attack round against an opponent who may use their own creatures to block the attack complete other actions with any remaining mana. Most actions enter the Stack a concept similar to computer programming stacks where the last card played onto the stack is the first card effect resolved since either player can react to these actions with counter-spells.

  The Color Wheel divides magic into five colors: white blue black red and green. Each represents a school or realm of magic shown on the back of every card. White draws mana from plains representing order peace and light while pulling its magic from islands for intellect logic manipulation and trickery. Black draws from swamps representing power death corruption and sacrifice while red pulls from mountains representing freedom chaos fury and warfare. Green draws from forests representing life nature evolution and indulgence.

  Most cards are based on a single color though multicolored cards were introduced in the Legends expansion using gold borders. Their casting cost includes mana from at least two colors plus additional mana from any color. Hybrid cards included with Ravnica use a two-color gradient border allowing them to be cast using mana from either color shown. Colorless cards like some artifacts do not have colored mana requirements but still require general mana to play. The color wheel influences deck construction choices as aligned colors often provide synergistic effects while opposing colors may lack favorable combinations yet deal with decks based on any other colors.

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• 3. Tournament Evolution And Pro Play

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  Thousands of game shops participate in Friday Night Magic events sponsored by the Wizards Play Network formerly known as the Duelists' Convocation International. These tournaments attract participants of all ages and are held around the world. In 2018 The New Yorker reported that even as Magic grew in popularity it thrived on people gathering at lunch tables apartments or one of six thousand stores worldwide licensed to put on weekly tournaments dubbed Friday Night Magic. FNM offers both sanctioned tournament formats and casual formats acting as stepping-stones to more competitive play.

  Larger tournaments with hundreds of competitors from around the globe occur many times every year with substantial cash prizes for top finishers. The WPN maintains rules for sanctioning tournaments and runs its own circuit. The Pro Tour took place over three days with Swiss format competition during the first two days followed by single-elimination matches among the top eight players on the final day. Players earned Pro Points depending on finishing places and received prize money if they finished high enough. Frequent winners made names like Luis Scott-Vargas Gabriel Nassif Kai Budde and Jon Finkel within the community.

  The DCI launched the Hall of Fame in 2005 to honor selected players. At year's end the Magic World Championship occurred functioning like a Pro Tour except competitors presented skill in three different formats usually Standard booster draft and a second constructed format rather than one. Invitations could only be earned via national championships though nations with minor communities sometimes sent just one player. A team-based competition allowed national teams to compete while new members were inducted into the Hall of Fame at the beginning of each event. The player earning most Pro Points during the year received the title Pro Player of the Year while those earning points without prior season competition became Rookie of the Year.

  Grand Prix events open to the general public were held more frequently throughout the years sometimes drawing more than two thousand players. The largest tournament ever held was Grand Prix Las Vegas in June 2013 with four thousand five hundred total participants. In 2018 Wizards announced that 2019 would be the last season for The Pro Tour eliminating Nationals the World Magic Cup and Team Series. Starting with partial seasons in 2019 the new structure split digital and tabletop play with separate Mythic Championships for Magic: The Gathering Arena and tabletop play.

  The Magic Pro League included top thirty-two players from previous seasons though two declined spots. Players received seven-five-thousand-dollar annual salaries plus opportunities to win much more money in exclusive tournaments. The system consisted of interconnected circuits including The Player's Tour Challengers Rivals Tabletop Mythic Championships and Arena Mythic Championships. While Mythic Championships catered to highest competitive levels the Player's Tour gave paths for average players moving from local stores to World Championship qualification through regional tours covering Europe Asia-Pacific and Americas.

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• 4. Production Schedules And Formats

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  Magic cards are produced similarly to normal playing cards with each measuring approximately sixty-three by eighty-eight millimeters. Twenty-three thousand three hundred eighteen unique cards have been produced as of late releases with six hundred to one thousand added annually. First cards were printed exclusively in English but current sets appear in Simplified Chinese Traditional Chinese French German Italian Japanese Korean Portuguese Russian and Spanish showing return to eleven languages as of late Magic 2011 release.

  Overwhelmingly most cards issued and marketed as sets under Wizards' scheme released quarterly. Majority sold in booster packs containing fifteen cards divided into four rarities differentiated by expansion symbol color. For cards prior to Exodus all symbols were black requiring external lists to check rarities. Fifteen-card boosters typically contain one rare gold three uncommons silver ten commons black and one basic land colored black though Shards of Alara debuted mythic rares replacing one in eight rare cards on average.

  Premium versions feature holographic foil randomly inserted into some boosters replacing about one in seventy cards. Each standard-legal set since Ikoria except Core 2021 features two to five Commander decks allowing creation of format-unique cards thematically tied to respective expansions while giving options to new players trying Commander. Sets from Kaladesh to Core 2021 except Ikoria featured two Planeswalker decks helping new players learn the game with sixty-card preconstructed decks exclusive Planeswalkers several exclusive cards two boosters rule guides and cardboard boxes with Planeswalker images.

  Sets from Shards of Alara to Eldritch Moon included five Intro Packs fulfilling same functions as planeswalker decks containing sixty-card preconstructed decks two boosters and rule guides. Mirrodin Besieged through Gatecrash featured two Event Decks designed as tournament introductions though Dragon's Maze reduced this to one before discontinuation after Battle for Zendikar. Previously Tournament Packs contained three rares ten uncommons thirty-two commons and thirty basic lands discontinued after Shards of Alara.

  As of 2018 consecutive sets on same worlds varied examples including Dominaria taking place in one set while Guilds of Ravnica block spanning three sets. Small sets removed due to developmental problems leaving only large ones now released quarterly. Prior to 2016 expansion sets released in three-set blocks beginning larger followed by two smaller three months later. Core Sets began annually coinciding with name change from Tenth Edition to Magic 2010 introducing never-before-printed cards into core sets previously biennially. Core sets discontinued following Magic Origins the 17th of July 2015 when two-set blocks introduced. the 12th of June 2017 announcement planned revamping reintroducing revamped core set released the 13th of July 2018.

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• 5. Digital Integration And Online Play

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  Unofficial online methods existed previously notably the Apprentice program but official versions emerged later. Magic Online often shortened to MTGO or Modo released in 2002 as an official digital version updated April 2008. Between 2008 and 2016 Wizards printed over twenty billion Magic: The Gathering cards according to February 2018 notes. By 2022 CBR reported over twenty thousand unique MTG cards created since release.

  Magic: The Gathering Arena entered open beta testing September 2018 as free-to-play digital collectible card game with microtransaction purchases based on Magic. Brett Andress analyst at KeyBanc Capital Markets predicted Arena adding ninety-eight cents per share incremental earnings by 2021 representing at least twenty percent boost. Joe Deaux for Bloomberg wrote nearly three million active users would play Arena by year end potentially swelling to eleven million by 2021 if expanding from PCs to mobile. Already Hasbro reported one billion games played online.

  Wizards continued releasing expansions through 2023 though number increased leading investor concerns about market fatigue. Accelerated release schedules began creating exhaustion within community draining enthusiasm dry according to The Gamer while Kotaku noted growing divide between casual players and collectors turning cards into commodities markets. Wizards increasingly catering to expensive products left many casual players unable to afford them. Bank of America downgraded Hasbro stock November 2022 citing primary concern overproduction destroying long-term brand value despite propping up recent results.

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• 6. Cultural Impact And Crossovers

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  Promotional crossovers introduced special cards legal for Standard play sometimes unplayable even in eternal formats. Four promotional cards sold at HasCon 2017 featured Transformers Nerf and Dungeons & Dragons. Three-card set based on My Little Pony Friendship Is Magic sold as physical product and digital items within MTG Arena supporting Extra Life charity. Ikoria Lair of Behemoths released April 2020 included sixteen kaiju monsters from Toho such as Godzilla as promotional cards.

  Secret Lair series used to introduce crossover cards from other brands including Special Guest cards generally playable using existing cards with new art names flavor fitting theme. 2020 Secret Lair featured cards based on AMC's The Walking Dead natural fit since zombies already part of game. Limited land cards featured paintings from Bob Ross licensed through estate. June 2021 announced Secret Lair based on Dungeons & Dragons cartoon while 2021 drops featured Stranger Things Fortnite Street Fighter 2022 cards illustrated by Junji Ito released as Special Guest cards.

  2024 Secret Lair featured Monty Python Holy Grail including Tim the Enchanter card nicknamed Tim honor film character by community. Musicians like Post Malone avid fan appeared multiple times alongside Hatsune Miku Vocaloid characters. November 2024 Marvel Secret Lair released. 2025 Secret Lair featured SpongeBob SquarePants Sonic the Hedgehog Universes Beyond series brought Warhammer 40,000 Lord of the Rings into Magic.

  Universes Beyond sets include dozens cards Commander decks boosters play-legal usable most formats. Doctor Who Jurassic Park released 2024 Final Fantasy Spider-Man scheduled 2025 all future Universes Beyond legal all formats. Fallout Assassin's Creed video games released. Wizards partnered Marvel Comics tent-pole sets starting Spider-Man themed set released 2025 continuing June 2026 Marvel Super Heroes set. Greg Tito Senior Communications Manager said huge crossover between Magic and D&D players.

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• 7. Community Reception And Criticism

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  Greg Gorden reviewed Magic: The Gathering in White Wolf #38 1993 rating four out five stating small game companies struggle until breakout product West End Games had Star Wars White Wolf Vampire feeling Magic Wizards breakout if cards fall right. Scott Haring reviewed Pyramid #4 Nov Dec 1993 calling best gaming bargain memory most original idea years delightfully addictive impossible put down. Marcelo A. Figueroa Space Gamer/Fantasy Gamer 1993 noted positives negatives despite flaws endearing as Star Fleet Battles rated seven out ten overall.

  Paul Pettengale Arcane magazine rated eight out ten stating excellent absorbing huge following rules structures clumsy overly complicated fifth edition less fun earlier core sets creating decks from other expansions exciting still very best CCGs adding little taking away too much. USA Today 2004 suggested playing might improve social mental skills interviewing parents believing similar sports teaches gracefully win lose contains strategy vocabulary children may not exposed regularly keeping children trouble illegal drugs criminal gangs highly addictive leading parents worried about obsession.

  Until 2007 better players competed for small number scholarships Jordan Weisman American game designer entrepreneur commented loving games challenging changing definition adventure gaming definitely short list titles accomplished elusive goal combining collecting trading baseball card elements fantasy play dynamics role-playing games created whole new genre changed industry forever. Guardian 2015 reported estimated twenty million people played worldwide thriving tournament scene professional league weekly Friday Night Magic program. Bloomberg July 2019 article stated part Hasbro franchise brands segment accounting $2.45 billion net revenue bigger emerging partner units combined Chris Cocks said meaningful portion KeyBanc estimating contribution already more than five hundred million including physical cards nascent digital version only Magic Monopoly logged revenue gains last year.

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