Rands posts about Magic: The Gathering historyさんのイラストまとめ

This weekend marks 16yrs since the most *half-assed* Magic set released

The second non-tournament legal "un-set"—UNHINGED—subverted Magic's typical rules with things like fractions & challenges (arm-wrestling, staring contest etc)

The first Planeswalker v Planeswalker Duel Deck hit stores 12yrs ago today

It contained a mono-U control deck representing Jace Beleren's mind magic & a mono-R burn deck representing Chandra Nalaar's fire magic

2yrs later, an anime-inspired alt-art version was released in Japan

About 20yrs ago this week, the "BEATDOWN" boxset was released, a two pre-constructed deck set that aimed to spotlight high powered creatures clashing

[notably, this set was the first to include a d20 as a "spindown life counter", which has now become a staple for boxed products]

The set that celebrated MTGs first 13yrs (1993-2006), TIME SPIRAL, was released 14yrs ago today!

TSP emphasised its 'nostalgia' theme by having a "Timeshifted" card—a reprint of a pre-Modern card with the original frame—in each booster pack (denoted by a purple expansion symbol)

Happy 6th Birthday to KHANS OF TARKIR!

as it was painted

The 1996 World Championships were taking place 24yrs ago today

After defeating favorite Mark Justice in the final, the new world champ Tom Chanpheng was awarded more than prize money—

He received a trophy that encased a literally one-of-a-kind Magic card: "1996 World Champion"

@servosavant id say tiny.

poor guy probably got this cast on him

"Takklemaggot" was designed for LEGENDS

LEGENDS co-designer—Robin Herbert—named it for a Blue Oyster Cult lyric:

"Where the TACKLE MAGGOTS swell,
And been sliding into Hell"

However it turned out he'd misheard it but it was too cool not to use
[..actual lyric highlighted ↘️]

This week, back in 1996, retailers across the US started to receive booster boxes of the latest MTG set

They contained 48 booster packs each!(12 cards per pack though)

ALLIANCES shook up MTG by introducing "pitch" cards—spells which could be played without using their mana cost