Fourth Edition Magic The Gathering Cards
Fourth Edition included the bevelled border missing from the previous
core set, Revised. The colors were also much brighter and crisper than
Revised, in contrast to that set's wash-out appearance. This set was
also the first core set to include a Wizards of the Coast copyright
notice at the bottom of the card, in addition to the standard
illustration credit.
Booster packs, for the first time in a core set, came in packs with
cropped card art on the packaging. Up to this point, Alpha, Beta,
Unlimited, and Revised all had a common-looking booster pack packaging.
The cards Brass Man, Hurloon Minotaur, Mana Vault, Mesa Pegasus, and
Spirit Link were shown on the booster packs. Starter packs were also
improved, with mana symbols replacing the simple pentagram pattern
present on the card back. Finally, an overall red theme was given to
the packaging, which would persist for Fifth Edition before changing to
green in Sixth.
Fourth Edition was the first set to offload its land printings to a
dedicated land sheet. This freed up room on the other card sheets to
include more spells. As a result, booster packs could now be produced
without any lands, which Wizards decided to do. Fourth Edition lands
were only available in starter decks. The change was mostly seen as a
positive, since by this time lands were ubiquitous and players were
unhappy to find a land in place of a "real" card.
Starter decks in this set included an additional rare, bringing the
total to three. However, the starter decks contained fewer uncommons,
going down to from the previous.
Fourth Edition introduced the modern turned arrow tapped symbol,
replacing the rotated "T" that had been introduced in Revised. This
symbol was first used in an expansion with Ice Age, which was released
in the summer. Current cards still use the turned arrow, albeit with a
slightly different illustration.
Like the previous core set and all core sets since, several cards were removed and new ones were added from Fourth Edition.
Among those cards removed were those that had attracted controversy
from those outside the game. Most of the cards whose art depicted nude
or near-nude humanoid forms (including Earthbind and Guardian Angel)
were excised, as were many that had overtly religious themes (including
Resurrection and Demonic Hordes), though one demon, Lord of the Pit,
remained. One card, Unholy Strength had its artwork altered to remove a
flaming inverted pentagram in the background.
Also removed were the original ten "dual lands" (one for each pair
of Magic's five colors). With the ability to tap for one mana of either
of two colors, they were deemed too powerful. Other cards pruned from
the set for being too potent included Fork, Regrowth, and Sol Ring,
while a few, such as Vesuvan Doppelganger or Kudzu, were considered too
complicated (and the cause of too many headaches) to warrant their
inclusion. One card dropped for being too complex, Clone, would return
to Magic in the tribally themed Onslaught and to the core set in Ninth
Edition after the rules dealing with cards of its kind had been
streamlined.
Alternate Fourth Edition
Wizards has used Cartamundi as their card printer since Alpha. For
some undocumented reason, during the production of Fourth Edition, the
company experimented with using other vendors. It is possible that this
was because the company was looking for a way to lower costs and gain
more control over printing as Magic's playerbase grew larger and more
international. Some cards were printed by the United States Playing
Card Corporation, and had a thicker stock along with a glossy overcoat
on the back. While these cards were not intended to be released, some
starter packs were leaked out into public circulation. The cards do not
glow under blacklight, unlike normal cards, and did not have the normal
dot design on the back.
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Make Your Own Card
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