
Game Guide
Magic: How to identify the set of older cards
04/08/22 0 comments
Learn how to identify the right edition of older Magic: the Gathering cards.
Differentiating expansions, core sets and special eset
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Expansion
It's any new set that brings new cards to the game, cards that didn't exist before, just to expand the range of card options when creating new decks. The first expansion was Arabian Nights from 1993. According to an old Wizards of the Coast policy, expansions would have black-bordered cards.Core Sets
They are basic collections that bring reprints of cards. Following the same WotC policy, the Core Sets would come with a white border (except for Alpha and Beta, which despite being basic sets, were released in a black border). The first Cores Sets were Alpha and Beta, both in 1993.Special Sets
As the name implies, they are sets with very specific print runs, our first "special set" was Chronicles, which featured reprints of the 4 previous releases. As they were reprints, the cards were released on a white border. Later, I will talk a little more about Chronicles. Anyway, I think you can get the idea of this Wizards card release policy. But, some things must still be considered, for example, when a card was unpublished in a certain language, it would be considered new, that is, it would have a black border. To illustrate, I'll use the Fourth Edition Lightning Bolt black border and white border:



The Beginning: 1993
Limited Edition Alpha
Released on August 5, 1993, Alpha is the first edition of the game, consisting of 295 cards, all with a black border. I will use Counterspell as an example:
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Limited Edition Beta
Or just Beta, it was the second Magic release and came out on October 1, 1993, with 302 cards, also in black border and had the same specifications as Alpha cards, but with a small difference: the borders. In Beta, the edges were not rounded as in Alpha, and only then can we identify the difference between the two sets, since both don't have a year or a symbol. I'll also use Counterspell as an example:



Unlimited
At the beginning of December 1993, Unlimited was launched, in English only, the first set that was within the printing policy, that is, the set brings the same Beta cards, but in a white border.
Arabian Nights
On the same day as the release of Unlimited comes the famous Arabian Nights, the game's first expansion. With only 92 cards, all new and with a black border, the set still remained with the same layout as the previous releases, with one difference: now the cards came with a symbol on the right side. Using Library of Alexandria as an example, we can analyze a few things:
1994: Magic in new languages
Antiquities
The year 1994 begins with the launch of Antiquities, in March. An artifact-focused release. To identify an Antiquities card is very easy: they have a black border, with an anvil symbol on the right side and without the year of publication under the illustrator's name. A curiosity is that Antiquities is the first set that brings different illustrations for the same card.


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Revised
On April 1st, 1994 we have access to Revised, filled with reprints in English and white-bordered. In Revised, Magic was released in German, French and Italian, so there is Revised black border in those languages because they are "unpublished" cards and only white border in English, precisely the purpose of the company's printing policy. Other innovations of the set are that now some cards had the "tap" symbol, a letter T inside a small circle illustrating that the card should be turned over and the cards in German, French and Italian would have the year below the illustrator's name.

Legends
The next set is Legends, made up of 310 cards, all new to the game and consequently black bordered. Legends had two releases, one in English on June 1, 1994 and one in Italian on January 1, 1995. Its symbol is the top of a Doric column, but we will find one more difference between the cards of the two languages:

The Dark
The Dark was released on August 1, 1994, consisting of 119 new cards - black border - and has a small moon as a symbol. Like Legends, The Dark also had a new release in Italy in 1995. The identification of a card from The Dark is even simple, however, between versions in English and Italian we have the dates and their different positions.

Fallen Empires
To close 1994, we have Fallen Empires, which was made public on November 1 of that year. 187 new cards - black border - English only. The set symbol is a small crown.
1995: Magic in Other Languages
Fourth Edition
1995 begins with the release of the Fourth Edition core set with white-bordered cards in English, French, German and Italian and, for the first time, cards in Portuguese, Japanese, Traditional Chinese, Korean and Spanish, in black border. The set has no symbols and contains 378 cards.Ad


Ice Age
June 1st, 1995 was the release date for Ice Age. It had 383 unpublished cards, in black border and had a snowflake as the symbol and came with the year below the illustrator's name. Ice Age sales were so great that all booster packs were sold in 1995 anyway, so in 1996 a second shipment of cards was needed, so we found Ice Age cards with both years printed. It was also the first set to have a Pre-Release event.

Chronicles
Chronicles was released on July 1, 1995 and is considered a supplementary Special Set that brought the reprint of 116 existing cards, taken from the Arabian Nights, Antiquities, Legends and The Dark expansions, without however bringing any new cards. This was done just to bring back cards that were too hard to get. Although the Chronicles cards were white-bordered, they came with the symbol of the original set. One of the additions is that Chronicles in Japanese was released in black border, as such cards were unpublished in the Asian language. Anyway, let's go to the analysis of some cards, starting with Cuombajj Witches



Rinascimento and Renaissance
Well, here we come to a very interesting part. As we saw earlier, Wizards sold everything rapidly and some countries in Europe were unable to access various cards from Arabian Nights, Antiquities, Legends and The Dark. The solution was to launch Special Sets. Chronicles had the same function and because it brought cards in English, it came out in a white border. Rinascimento and Renaissance came out with a black border, as it would bring new cards for those languages.Ad


Homelands
We are approaching the end of our text and the year 1995 as well. On October 14, 1995 Homelands is released, with 140 cards and its symbol is a globe of Ulgrotha, the plane in which the set takes place. Regarding the identification of Homelands cards, we have: black border cards, set symbol and the year below the illustrator's name. I used the Merchant Scroll card as an example.
One point further: Fifth Edition


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