dragsamou wrote:Hi Tav
Brilliant explanations, now according to what you wrote, can you provide more info about those (I don't own any):
*TEST PRINTING TEST PRINTS*
Those Test Prints are on the same card stock as GERMAN/FRENCH COPYRIGHT TEST PRINTS . They will not pass the bend test and are slightly oversized compared to a normal card. No additional info is available for the moment.
Do you have any idea for what Edition or Extension those were tested for ?
Unfortunately, I do not own any of the Test Printing test print cards, so I can not comment on their card stock.
My German/French copyright test prints have both passed the bend test (diagonal, corner to corner until they touch), So I'm not sure what to think about any claims that they don't pass the bend test. I still think it's best to not bend test anything. It's to risky.
As mentioned, I don't own any of the Test Printing test print cards, but I do have these high quality scans, so I took some measurements from them. The numbers I arrived at were...
3.47 inches tall (88.138 mm)
2.49 inches wide (63.246 mm)
If these numbers are accurate, that would be .01 inches (.254 mm) taller than a regular card & also .01 inches (.254 mm wider than a regular card.
It's a very small difference.
For comparison,...
The German/French test prints are .02 inches (.508 mm) taller than a regular card and the same width as a regular card.
The Textless test prints are the same height as a regular card, but .02 inches (.508 mm) narrower than a regular card.
In regards to what set these Test Printing test prints were made for, so far there is only circumstantial evidence, but I think that there is enough of it to form an educated opinion...
To start with, here is some background information that I've pieced together from various sources (old usenet posts from Wizards employees where possible) that sort of explains how Summer Magic (Edgar) happened and what the company was going through at that time.
Edgar was Tom Wannerstrands first set as production manager, and Fallen Empires was his second.
Dave Howell was production manager for Alpha through The Dark, and then he worked on the foreign language stuff.
Antiquities finished printing on February 20th.
I'm pretty sure they started printing Revised soon afterward in order to have enough to distribute by the April 9th release date.
The press making Revised would have continued to make it even after the release date.
About the time that Revised was released, Legends would have showed up at Carta Mundi and began printing on a different press.
Two days after Revised was released in April, Wizards was already getting a lot of complaints about the washed out coloring.
People were suggesting that others not buy any Revised cards until the problem was worked out.
Dave Howell (the production manager) said that it couldn't possibly be changed until new plates were made with adjusted dot gain, and they weren't scheduled to make new plates until September.
A month later in May, the amount of complaints was enough that Peter Adkison made a public announcement.
"So, here's our plan: first, we're sending one
of our production people, Sandra Everingham (of Dark Ritual and Drudge
Skeleton fame), to Belgium immediately to work with Carta Mundi on
tweaking the press runs to try and make the color as vivid as possible
without unduly sacrificing the quality of the text. In other words,
something between the unlimited edition and the revised edition. Of
course you won't see the results of this for a couple months since
they're currently printing cards for release in June. But there's
nothing we can do about that.
Second, to truly correct this problem we have to go back and
completely re-do all the pre-press work. That'll be our long term
solution. As soon as The Dark and Jyhad are out of our hair we're
going to re-work the cards so that the colors are more vibrant in the
art and less so on the borders that are hard to put legible text onto."
The part where Peter says they have to go back and completely re-do all the pre-press work after The Dark is out of their hair is where Summer Magic (Edgar) began.
The new Revised plates which were scheduled to be made in September may never have actually been made because they were making Summer instead.
Sandra Everingham went to Belgium to work with Carta Mundi on getting more vivid colors. Only minor adjustments could be done, but she was able to approve them without having to wait on shipping samples to the USA.
(Sandra was the assistant of Art Director Jesper Myrfors from Alpha through The Dark. She stepped up to Art Director for Summer Magic and was responsible for editing out the pentagrams on Demonic Tutor & Unholy Strength. She stepped down as Art Director in 1996.
http://www.hipstersofthecoast.com/2015/ ... veringham/ )
Legends was released June 13th.
Jyhad (other WotC card game) would have began printing on that press directly afterward.
In mid July, the Revised press, which had been making cards for starter decks, would have been stopped and switched to begin making The Dark.
The Dark was released August 8th, and the press it was made on would have began making Summer Magic (Edgar).
Jyhad (other WotC card game) was released on August 16th.
In September, Nalathni Dragon was printed with dark colors like Summer.
In September, Summer was released and recalled for destruction. 120 million cards.
The Fallen Empires color separations had arrived and would have been very dark like Summer and had to be redone with different dot gain settings, causing a delay.
Fallen Empires began printing as soon as possible.
Italian Black Border (FBB) also would have began printing in late September.
Meanwhile, there was a shortage of Revised boosters because they had stopped making them and destroyed Summer which was supposed to replace them, and the presses were to busy with other stuff to make more.
In late October, Italian Black border was released, and on Oct 24th the Wizards head of sales went to Belgium to discuss the Revised shortage. I suspect that press would have began making some Revised cards again to relieve the shortage.
Printing these additional Revised cards would satisfy customer demand but it also caused the delay of other products like French Black Border and German Black Border because the press was busy.
Fallen Empires was released in November, and the press would have continued to make it even after the release date.
Around January 1995, the Revised & Fallen Empires presses would have been stopped so that they could make French Black Border and German Black border which were both released in March 1995.
In summary, Wizards had a lot of customer complaints about Revised. So many that they felt the need to fix the problem. As Peter stated, the goal was to make cards with colors that were somewhere between Revised and Unlimited. When Summer did not turn out as expected, it was recalled and destroyed rather than risk upsetting the customers further. The core set (Revised) was the only place to get basic lands which were necessary for playing the game. There was concern that the game would fall apart and cease to exist if customers wouldn't or couldn't buy cards. It was VERY important to get the colors correct!
Dave Howell has said in this thread "The only reason test prints would ever be done is to check something that cannot be checked in any other way, and the only thing which fits that description is "the color balance." Is it too light/dark/greenish/blueish/what-have-you."
Making test prints is expensive, but it would be cheaper than destroying a bunch of cards like they did with Summer, and possibly upsetting your customers with an ugly product.
Tav