Interesting historical MtG information

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berkumps
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Interesting historical MtG information

Post by berkumps » Wed Jan 22, 2014 3:54 pm

Found this awesome resource at crystalkeep, thought I'd post the link here for those that may not have seen this before:

http://www.crystalkeep.com/magic/lists/ ... il-all.txt

Some of the interesting information I've pasted below:
crystalkeep wrote:Mana symbols:
-------------
U=blUe mana, B=Black, W=White, R=Red, G=Green, T=tap, 1=any 1 mana
(i.e., the "colorless" mana symbol) In card texts, these symbols
are always shown between <>, using only one set of <> for several
mana symbols in a row. In casting costs the <> are omitted.

In A/B/UL/AN/AQ, the Tap symbol hadn't been invented yet, so the cards
either said "Tap to foo..." instead of "<T>: Foo..." or, in the case of
artifacts, indicated the tapping by using the card type "Mono Artifact".
Changes from this to the tap symbol aren't noted on the individual cards
because it would waste a lot of space in the already-long listings; all
cards are listed using the modern language.

In RV/LG/DK/FE, and the the Arena promo card from the Magic novel of
the same name, the tap symbol is a T, tilted to the right, in a gray
mana circle.

In the Ice Age promos, the Mana Crypt promo card from _Final Sacrifice_,
and 4E/IA/CH/HL and newer cards, the tap symbol is a black diamond shape
with a white curved arrow in it.

In the cards with the newer tap symbol, except the Ice Age promos,
the white mana symbol is now a sun with 8 matching, jagged-looking
points. All previous editions (A/B/UL/RV/AN/AQ/LG/DK/FE, and the
Ice Age promo cards) have the original, scribble-looking 12-pointed-sun
white mana symbol. The two white Ice Age promos appear with the old
mana symbol even in Ice Age, most likely so as not to make the promos
become collectors' items, as happened with the promo Blue Elemental
Blast and Fireball.

The first promos have apparently experimental designs that were
never used for a normal release. The Nalathni Dragon has the
same red mana symbol as other cards, but the circle behind it is
a weird pink color. The Sewers of Estark uses a black mana symbol
in which the eyes and nose of the skull are smaller and lower
on the skull -- more like a real skull -- and the cracks in the
top of the skull are smaller and farther apart. These two cards
and Arena all have deep, dark border colors, darker than even
beta/unlimited cards. This looks like an attempt to fix the revised
"lightness" problem that went too far.

Many Arabian Nights cards use colorless mana symbols that are smaller
than normal, and have a background the same color as the card, instead
of gray. These same cards have differently-colored backgrounds behind
the colored mana symbols. Some cards exist in two versions, one like
this and one like other cards; these are marked as comments by the
appropriate cards.
crystalkeep wrote:How many cards were printed?
----------------------------
These are the best estimates to my knowledge of the overall print
runs for each set. Where given, the numbers in the Duelist Magazine's
Complete Card List are used. The Collectors' Edition and International
Collectors' Edition are the square-cornered cards with gold borders on
the back, which were sold as boxed sets in late 1993 and early 1994, and
not intended to be played with.

Alpha: 2.6 million (roughly 1100 of each rare)
Beta: 7.3 million (3000 of each rare)
Collectors Edition: 3.6 million (10000 sets of 363 cards)
International C.E.: 1.8 million (5000 sets of 363 cards)
Unlimited: 35 million (14,500 of each rare)
Revised: est. 600 million (est. 289,000 of each rare)
4th edition: still in print, est. 700 million [Jan 96] (354,000 each rare)
Chronicles: still in print, est. 250 million [Jan 96] (517,000 each U1)
Arabian Nights: 5 million (20,700 of each U2)
Antiquities: 15 million (31,000 of each U1)
Legends: 35 million (19,300 of each rare)
Dark: 62 million (128,000 of each U1)
Fallen Empires: est.400 million (830,000 of each U1)
Ice Age: still in print, est 400 million [Jan 96] (200,000 each rare)
Homelands: unknown, est. 200 million (400,000 each U1)
Later sets: really unknown, lots

From these numbers a bit of analysis can be performed to determine
the actual number of each card printed. Cards are printed on sheets
of 121 cards, with all cards on the same sheet being printed in equal
quantities EXCEPT that (so far, only in expansion sets) some cards
appear more than once on their sheet, so are twice or three times or
however many times as common as other cards. In AN/AQ/DK/FE/HL there
were just two sheets, uncommon and common, printed in a 1 to 3 ratio
(just like the cards in the packs). Legends had rare, uncommon, and
common sheets printed in a 1:3:11 ratio. So divide any of the above
numbers by 121 to find the total number of sheets printed, and divide
that by 4 to get the number of uncommon sheets for any of the small
expansions or by 15 to get the number of rare sheets of Legends.

The Gathering sets are more difficult since there were both boosters
and starter decks so we don't know the exact ratio. In Alpha and
Beta WotC said they split the print run about evenly between starters
and boosters; this is probably still true for Unlimited. This gives
(using a starter and 4 boosters as a basis) a ratio of 6:25:89, or
approximately 1:4:15. In revised it is likely the ratio was shifted
more towards boosters, so if we use a starter and 8 boosters as the
basis we get 10:37:133 or 1:3.7:13.3 -- uncommons are slightly more
common than before, and rares are also more common, by a larger
degree than uncommons -- now 1/18 of the cards are rares rather than
1/20 in A/B/UL. It's actually more than that since a lot of late-run
starter decks were packed with 3 rares and 12 uncommons instead of
the usual 2 and 13.
If we estimate 1/5 of all the revised starter
decks were like this, then we have 4 normal starters, 1 3-rare
starter, and 40 boosters for a 51:184:665 ratio or 1:3.6:13. 4th
edition rares and uncommons will be even more common compared to
the uncommons and commons -- starters are 3:9:26:22 (22 land) and
boosters are 1:3:11 so the overall ratio will be something like
1:3:10.4:2. For Ice Age, this means that there are 2x6=12 of each
snow-covered basic land for each rare, making them only slightly
more common than regular commons.
crystalkeep wrote:Promotional Cards:
------------------
Starting in late 1994, quite a few promotional Magic cards became
available. Some of these are unique cards that will likely only
be available through a special offer, while others were printed in
4th edition or Ice Age. The 4th edition promos differ from the
actual cards in the copyright line only; the promos say 1994 but
the actual cards say 1995. The Ice Age promos say 1995, and are
identical to the real cards, even including the old white mana
symbol on the white cards, although some people claimed that the
promos and the regular cards felt different. I haven't personally
seen the Homelands and Chronicles promos but until I know otherwise,
I will assume they are identical to the regular card.

Altogether, the promos are:
13 Ice Age cards (normal Ice Age icon) [total 4 million cards]
2 4th edition cards (no icon)
5 cards from the novels (pen icon) [est. 75,000-150,000 each]
1 DragonCon card (dragon icon) [est. 275,000]
3 Homelands cards (normal HL icon)
3 Chronicles cards (normal mutant Chronicles versions of expansion icons)
many giant cards (1 with new art)
? giant promo cards available only in the PC game
7 alternate art versions of cards (for Arena league, M in a circle icon)
2 alternate art versions of cards (given to Legend DCI members, M in a circle)
1 Japanese Nalathni Dragon with no expansion icon.

The DragonCon card appeared in Duelist #3 and three were packed with
each copy of Duelist Companion #4, in addition to the ones sent to
convention-goers. The cards from the novels were available from the
first four Magic:the Gathering novels by sending in a SASE, a receipt,
and a certificate from the last page of the novel; the fifth novel had
an offer to get one of the other cards for a SASE & $1. Two of the
Ice Age cards, as well as the 4E, HL, and Chronicles cards, were
distributed with various M:tG comic books from Acclaim. The other
Ice Age cards were distributed in various gaming-related magazines.

Along with Duelist Companion #8, each Convocation member received a
packet of 20 of these cards -- Giant Badger, Sewers of Estark, 11 of
the Ice Age cards, and duplicates of 7 Ice Age cards. In Companion #9,
the two 4th edition previews and Gorilla Pack were included. Fylgja
was the only Ice Age promo not mailed to Convocation members.

Marc Schmalz (Sparky!!) said that there were a total of 4 million
Ice Age promo cards distributed; this would mean roughly 1.9 million
Norritts and an average of 175,000 of each of the other cards, but
these were definitely not printed in equal amounts. If there are
eventually a billion Ice Age cards printed, there will be about
5 million of each common, so only the promo Norritt will make any
significant impact on the overall commonality of any of the Ice Age
promo cards. The Homelands U1's printed in the comic book may be a
different story, because there will be a lot less Homelands than Ice
Age, and the rarest cards in the set are duplicated, not the commonest
ones. If you use the (wild guess) figure of 100 million Homelands
cards, that is about 200,000 of each U1. If there are 180,000 of the
comic book printed, that makes 60,000 extra of each of the three cards,
which is probably the minimum needed to make those cards noticeably
more common.

Stephen D'Angelo estimates 275,000 Nalathni Dragons, 150,000 each of
Arena and Sewers of Estark, 100,000 each of Windseeker Centaur and
Giant Badger, and 75,000 of Mana Crypt. This makes Mana Crypt about
as plentiful as A/B/UL uncommons (like Berserk) and Nalathni Dragon
about as plentiful as A/B/UL commons (like Sinkhole).

The Legend DCI cards are Counterspell and Incinerate. They use an M in
a circle (like the Magic Pro Tour logo) as the expansion symbol. The
Arena league has seven alternate-art cards with the same M-in-a-circle
expansion icon -- the five basic lands, Fireball, and Disenchant.

There is one giant "Astral" set card packed in each copy of the MtG for PC
game by Microprose. (Astral set is the 12 special cards only available
in the PC game, generally stuff that involves randomness beyond simple
coin tosses.) The box seems to indicate that all 12 giant cards are
available, but early buyers of the game reported that there was an Aswan
Jaguar in every box.

Giant card summary:
An oversized Black Lotus was packed with issue 15 of Scrye.
An oversized Chaos Orb appears in some (ca. May 1996) issue of Inquest.
An oversized Juzam Djinn was packaged with Duelist #12.
An oversized Serra Angel with new Rebecca Guay art was packed with
issue #1 of the Serra Angel comic book.
Oversized Hurloon Minotaurs and Serra Angels with the original art were
given out by the WotC caravan tour.
An oversized Jester's Cap was packed with Duelist #18.
Oversized basic lands with the Arena alternate art were given out
as freebies to those who signed up for certain Arena seasons; other
giant cards were used as prizes.
An oversized Shivan Dragon appeared with Duelist #20, #21, or so.

Ozawa Sakuro reports that a Japanese version of Nalathni Dragon was sent
out to people who used an exchange program offered with the Japanese
edition of Mirage -- an extra Crystal Vein appeared in place of the
Flood Plain, and Hobby Japan offered to replace two Japanese Crystal Veins
with a Flood Plain and a Crystal Vein, plus an extra card (the Nalathni
Dragon). This card does not have the dragon icon.
crystalkeep wrote:4th edition test print (a.k.a "Summer Edition")
----------------------
There was a printing of cards in late summer 1994 which was intended to
be 4th edition (back when it was going to be released in September 1994)
which had borders and colors similar to (but not identical to) the
now-released 4th edition. This was known to have the following features:
* misprinted Hurricane with BLUE borders
* correctly printed Serendib Efreet
* 1994 copyright date, exactly like Legends and Dark copyrights
(See Magic Encyclopedia (1st volume) just before the oversize errata
for pictures of some of these cards. Also a Summer Edition Bog Rats can
be seen in the Magic the Puzzling book.)

Tom Wylie just said this was a test print, and the cards were
intended to be destroyed, but some were released accidentally.

However (according to Eric Aldrich) at ConQuest in November, Richard
Garfield spoke about this printing; this was intended to be the real
4th edition. Due to typos and other errors, like the Hurricane, the
printing was stopped and 120 million cards were destroyed -- but
apparently not all of them. This was probably part of the reason for
the shortage of Revised cards that occurred in December 1994 -- almost
two months of printing (at that time) was wasted.

I will not attempt to note the changes for these cards on my list,
but if anybody has any of them, let me know and maybe I can assemble
a separate list. I particularly would like to know of any other
misprints in the test print, and cards in the test print that were
NOT in revised.
crystalkeep wrote:Foreign language editions:
--------------------------
Several printings of Magic in languages other than English have
been released. I will try to list these here, but lists containing
full text will be left to others. Some of this information may be
inaccurate or incomplete.

Italian Revised, limited and unlimited editions
Italian Dark
Italian Legends
German and French Revised, limited edition
German and French Revised, unlimited edition (These use 4E-style card layout).
Italian, German, French "Renaissance" sets -- short runs of limited
edition cards of the 122 cards being added in to 4th edition.
These have the original expansion set logos. Note: since there are
black bordered Italian Dark & Legends, the Italian Renaissance has
all that AN & AQ reprinted in either 4E or CH, except Piety is missing.
Spanish, Portuguese, Japanese, Chinese, and Korean 4th edition, limited ed.
Italian, German, French, Spanish, Portuguese, Japanese, Chinese, and
maybe Korean 4th edition, unlimited ed.
Italian, German, French, Spanish, and Portuguese Ice Age
French and German Chronicles, limited ed.
unlimited ed. chronicles?
Italian, German, French, Spanish, and Portuguese Homelands
German and French Alliances
various languages of Mirage, etc.

As of Visions, WotC seems to indicate that they will print every main
set and expansion in 9 languages, to provide 36 different boosters a
year to the international booster subscribers of Duelist.
I find it interesting that Chinese and Korean 4th unlimited editions were assumed/pondered to exist, and also that there may have been intentions for French and German to have a Chronicles printing (in addition to Renaissance)? With Chronicles having limited and unlimited editions?

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Post by GlobalBoosterHunter » Wed Jan 22, 2014 11:35 pm

I find it interesting that Chinese and Korean 4th unlimited editions were assumed/pondered to exist, and also that there may have been intentions for French and German to have a Chronicles printing (in addition to Renaissance)? With Chronicles having limited and unlimited editions?
Back in those days information was hard to come by, people still read magazines to get information and they were not usually peer reviewed so any errors were perpetuated.

Crystal Keep was great, I am pretty sure I got my Magic Set Updates from them for some software I once bought.

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