Notes About Games

This is a helpful guide for anyone who wants to know exactly what set their Magic the Gathering cards come from. For most cards, this is quite easy, but for others it can be quite tricky. This article takes your through identifying all types of cards.

How to Identify Your Cards

There are three types of MTG cards that can be grouped together for identification purposes:

1. Cards with Set Markers

Most MTG cards in circulation today fall into this category. That’s all Expansion Sets, and Core Sets from 6th Edition onwards.

On each of these cards there is a set icon which uniquely identifies each Magic the Gathering set. This icon can be found in the information bar between the card’s picture and text box on the right hand side. There’s a useful and complete reference on my website which details how you can recognise each icon for each set; details are located in the resource box below.

There are also four different colours of icon that you can find for each set. Black is common, silver is uncommon, gold is rare and purple is mythic rare (or time-shifted for Timespiral cards only). These colour differences do not however change the set that the card comes from.

2. Cards without Set Markers

There are a number of cards without a set icon. They come from the following Magic the Gathering sets:

- Limited Edition Alpha – Limited Edition Beta – Unlimited – Revised Edition – Fourth Edition – Fifth Edition

4th and 5th Edition cards are easy to identify. These two sets have a date in the bottom left corner of the card. 4th Edition will have a date of 1995, 5th Edition will have a date of 1997.

The next differentiator is the border colour of the card; Unlimited and Revised cards have white bordered cards, Alpha and Beta Edition cards have black bordered cards.

You next need to tell the difference between Alpha and Beta Edition cards. This can be done by the shape of the card. Alpha cards have very rounded edges compared to all over MTG cards. Simply compare it to a newer card and you will see the difference; if it is very different then its a card from Alpha, else its a Beta card.

The final comparison to be made is between Unlimited and Revised MTG cards. This is a little more subtle and is in the print of the cards. Unlimited cards have a slightly blurry look due to the print run used. Another comparator is that Revised cards tend to look more “washed out” and pale due to the printing process used.

3. Promotional Textless Cards and Reward Cards

The final card types that we need to identify are that of DCI reward cards and textless cards.

Wizards of the Coast gives out textless reward cards to MTG tournament players when they have attended a certain number of tournaments. These cards have no text block, and the art is expanded to cover almost the whole face of the card. On account of the full art, there is no set marker, and these cards belong to no particular set. Playing with these cards is fine, they are counted as from any existing set that already has a copy of that card in it.

The other types of promotional cards you can get are FNM Foil cards and DCI reward cards. These card do have a set marker, but it is simply a DCI symbol. This again denotes that the card is from no particular set, but can be used as a copy of the card from any existing set that the named card in it already.

Summary

This simple guide tells you how to identify all types of Magic the Gathering card and where they come from. This identification process is essential if you want to sell your Magic the Gathering cards as the values vary greatly between the sets. Make sure you properly identify what set your cards come from and get the true value from your Magic the Gathering cards.

Want to know more? Need a complete Magic the Gathering (MTG) set list, help sorting or protecting your Magic the Gathering cards? Find complete tutorials and MTG set lists at How to Sell Magic the Gathering (MTG) Cards. Now you’ve identified what set your MTG cards come from, its simple to value and release the potential from your MTG cards, visit http://www.sell-magic-the-gathering.com to find out how, and for much more.