Magic: The Gathering (colloquially " Magic " or " MTG ") is a collectible card game created by mathematics professor Richard Garfield and introduced in 1993 by Wizards of the Coast. Magic is the first example of the modern collectible card game genre and still thrives today, with an estimated six million players in over seventy countries. Magic can be played by two or more players each using a deck of printed cards or a deck of virtual cards through the Internet-based Magic: The Gathering Online or third-party programs.
Each game represents a battle between powerful wizards, known as "planeswalkers", who use the 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 , the gameplay of Magic bears little resemblance to pencil-and-paper adventure games, while having substantially more cards and more complex rules than many other card games.
An organized tournament system and a community of professional Magic players has developed, as has a secondary market for Magic cards. Magic cards can be valuable due to their scarcity and utility in game play.
History
Dr. Richard Garfield, the creator of the game, was a professor at Whitman College in 1993. He worked in his spare time with local volunteer playtesters to help refine the game during the 1993 school year. Peter Adkison (then CEO of Wizards of the Coast games company) first met with Richard Garfield to discuss Garfield's new game RoboRally . Adkison was enthusiastic about the game, but decided that Wizards of the Coast lacked the resources to produce it at that point. 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 and presented the general outline of the concept of a Trading Card Game. Adkison immediately saw the potential of the game and agreed to produce it. After two years of development Magic: The Gathering underwent a general release on 5 August 1993.
While the game was simply called " Magic " through most of playtesting, when the game had to be officially named a lawyer informed them that Magic was too generic to be trademarked. "Mana Clash" was instead chosen to be the name used in the first solicitation of the game. Everybody involved with the game still called it Magic , though. After further consultation with the lawyer it was decided to rename the game to Magic: The Gathering , thus making the name able to be trademarked.
A patent was granted to Wizards of the Coast in 1997 for "a novel method of game play and game components that in one embodiment are in the form of trading cards" that includes claims covering games whose rules include many of Magic's elements in combination, including concepts such as changing orientation of a game component to indicate use (referred to in the Magic and Vampire: The Eternal Struggle rules as "tapping") and constructing a deck by selecting cards from a larger pool. The patent has aroused criticism from some observers, who believe some of its claims to be invalid. In 2003, the patent was an element of a larger legal dispute between Wizards of the Coast and Nintendo, regarding trade secrets related to Nintendo's Pokémon Trading Card Game. The legal action was settled out of court, and its terms were not disclosed.
The success of the initial edition prompted a reissue later in 1993, along with expansions to the game. Arabian Nights was released as the first expansion in December 1993. New expansions and revisions of the base game ("Core Sets") have since been released on a regular basis, amounting to four releases a year. While the essence of the game has always stayed the same, the rules of Magic have undergone three major revisions with the release of the Revised Edition in 1994, Classic Edition in 1999, and Magic 2010 in July 2009. With the release of the Eighth Edition in 2003, Magic also received a major visual redesign.
In 1996, Wizards of the Coast established the "Pro Tour", a circuit of tournaments where players can compete for sizable cash prizes over the course of a single weekend-long tournament. In 2009 the top prize is US$40,000. Sanctioned through The DCI, the tournaments added an element of prestige to the game by virtue of the cash payouts and media coverage from within the community. As of 2009 Wizards of the Coast has given out more than $30,000,000 in prizes at various professional tournaments, including Pro Tours, Grand Prixs, and National championships.
While unofficial methods of online play existed previously, Magic Online ("MTGO" or "Modo"), an official online version of the game, was released in 2002. A new, updated version of Magic Online was released in April 2008.
Reception
Magic was an immediate success for Wizards of the Coast. Early on they were even reluctant to advertise the game as they couldn't keep up with the existing demand. Initially Magic attracted many Dungeons & Dragons players, but the following included all types of other people as well. The success of the game quickly led to the creation of similar games by other companies as well as Wizards of the Coast themselves. While TSR's Spellfire did not become very popular Wizards of the Coast tried to follow up Magic' s success with Jyhad, a game about modern-day vampires. Other similar games included Trading Card Games based on Star Trek and Star Wars.
Awards
- 1994: Mensa Select Award winner
- 1994: Origins Awards for Best Fantasy or Science Fiction Board game of 1993 and Best Graphic Presentation of a Board game of 1993
- 1994: Origins Award for the Legends expansion as Best Game Accessory
- 1995: Italian Gaming Society Gioco dell'Anno award winner
- 1996: Super As d'Or award for "Best New Game Concept and Genre Introduced in France"
- 1997: InQuest Fan Award for Best CCG Expansion for the Weatherlight expansion
- 1998 Origins Award for the Urza's Saga expansion as Collectable Card Game Expansion of the Year
- 1999: Inducted alongside Richard Garfield into the Origins Hall of Fame
- 2003: Games Magazine selected Magic for its Games Hall of Fame
- 2005 Origins Award for the Ravnica: City of Guilds expansion as Collectable Card Game Expansion of the Year
In addition several individuals including Richard Garfield and Donato Giancola won personal awards for their contributions to Magic .
Gameplay
Main article: Magic: The Gathering rulesIn a game of Magic , two or more players are engaged in a battle as powerful wizards called "planeswalkers". A player starts the game with twenty "life points" and loses when he or she is reduced to zero or less. Players lose life when they are dealt "damage" by being attacked with summoned creatures or when spells or other cards cause them to lose life directly. Although reducing an opponent to zero life is the most common way of ending a game, a player also loses if he or she must draw from an empty deck (called the "library" during the game). In addition, some cards specify other ways to win or lose the game.
Players begin the game with seven cards in hand. The two basic card types in Magic are "spells" and "lands". Lands provide "mana", or magical energy, which is used as magical fuel when the player attempts to cast spells. Players may only play one land per turn. More powerful spells generally cost more mana, so as the game progresses and more mana becomes available, the quantity and relative power of the spells played tends to increase. Some spells also require the payment of additional resources, such as cards in play or life points. Spells come in several varieties: "sorceries" and "instants" have a single, one-time effect before they go to the "graveyard" (discard pile); "enchantments" and "artifacts" are "permanents" that remain in play after being cast to provide a lasting magical effect; creature spells summon monsters that can attack and damage an opponent. The set Lorwyn introduced the new "planeswalker" card type, which represent powerful allies who fight with their own magic abilities depending on their loyalty to the player who summoned them. Spells can be of more than one type. For example, an "artifact creature" has all the benefits and drawbacks of being both an artifact and a creature.
Some spells have effects that override normal game rules. The "Golden Rules of Magic " state that "Whenever a card's text directly contradicts the rules, the card takes precedence." This allows Wizards of the Coast great flexibility in creating cards, but can cause problems when attempting to reconcile a card with the rules (or two cards with each other). The Comprehensive Rules , a detailed rulebook, exists to clarify these conflicts.
Deck construction
See also: Magic: The Gathering deck typesEach player needs a deck to play a game of Magic . Beginners often start with an initial "Intro Pack", which can then be modified using cards from "booster packs
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