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Magic: The Gathering (Magic and MTG are common nicknames) is a card game originally created by Richard Garfield, but is now owned released by Wizards of the Coast since 1993. Players use decks of illustrated playing cards to play. Games of MTG typically have two players, but any number of players may play.


Card sets[ | ]

There are three types of sets, starter, advanced and expert. Expert sets starting with Ice Age have one core set and two expansion sets.

Starter sets

  • Portal
  • Portal: Second Age
  • Portal: Three Kingdoms

Advanced sets

Expert sets

  • Arabian Nights
  • Antiquities
  • Legends
  • The Dark
  • Fallen Empires
  • Ice Age
  • Homelands
  • Alliances
  • Mirage
  • Visions
  • Weatherlight
  • Tempest
  • Stronghold
  • Exodus
  • Urza's Saga
  • Urza's Legacy
  • Urza's Destiny
  • Mercadian Masques
  • Nemesis
  • Prophecy
  • Invasion
  • Planeshift
  • Apocalypse
  • Odyssey
  • Torment
  • Judgment
  • Onslaught
  • Legions
  • Scourge
  • Mirrodin
  • Darksteel
  • Fifth Dawn
  • Champions of Kamigawa
  • Betrayors of Kamigawa
  • Saviors of Kamigawa (coming June 2005)
  • Ravnica: City of Guilds (coming October 2005)

Joke sets

Miscellaneous

  • Promotional cards

Tournament formats[ | ]

There are two forms of tournaments, constructed and limited. Constructed lets you build a deck with a minimum of sixty cards of your own. In Limited, you must build a deck with a minimum of forty cards with the cards given to you through boosters (and tournament packs).

Constructed can be divided into Block Constructed, Standard, Extended, Legacy and Vintage.

Limited can be divided into Booster Draft, Rochester Draft, Sealed and Team Sealed.

Popular archetypes[ | ]

(Feel free to add and/or correct. Spelling may be incorrect.)

  • Aluren Combo
  • Artifact Red

Uses Goblin Welder.

  • Blue-Green Madness
  • Blue-White Control

Control with Wrath of God, Story Circle and Blinding Angel. Millstone for a win condition.

  • Blue Skies

Cheap blue flying creatures and Curiosity to draw and control with free Counterspells.

  • Broken Blue (alright, I made this up)

Tolarian Academy + Mind Over Matter + Stroke of Genius = instant death

  • Counter-Burn

Shard Phoenix to kill weenies. Sometimes uses Forbid and Squee for reusable counterspells.

  • Counter-Rebel

Lin Sivvi and her army of Rebels.

  • Counter-Sliver

Fear the Slivers.

  • Draw-Go
  • Enchantress
  • Fires

Fires of Yavimaya combined with Saproling Burst hurts a lot.

  • Forbidian
  • Fruity Pebbles

Uses Enduring Renewal and Goblin Bombardment.

  • Goblins

Goblin Lackey got banned. =(

  • Machine Head
  • Miracle Grow

An Blue-Green deck that makes Quirion Dryad grow.

  • Mono Black Control
  • Necro

Revolves around the most powerful black card ever: Necropotence

  • Nether-Go
  • Orbosition

Uses Opposition and Winter Orb/Static Orb for a lockdown.

  • PandeBurst

Pandemonium and Saproling Burst does exactly 21 damage. Spike Feeder laughes at this.

  • PT Junk

A variant of Three-Deuce that uses Black instead of White for discard.

  • ProsBloom

Prosperity and Cadaverous Bloom combo

  • Ponza
  • Pox
  • Psychatog
  • Raffinity
  • Reanimator

Uses Entomb to dump creatures and Reanimate or Exhume to get resurrect big creatures.

  • Recurring Survival

The deck that won Brian Selden the world championship in 1998.

  • Secret Force

Uses Natural Order to fish out Verdant Force for the win.

  • Star Spangled Slaughter
  • Stasis

Annoying Stasis

  • Sligh
  • Stompy
  • Suicide Black

A fast deck that uses Dark Ritual as its fuel. Cards like Duress and Hatred help its goal.

  • Three-Deuce

A utility Green-White-Red deck with cheap spells from the three colors.

  • Tinker

The deck that won Jon Finkel the world championship in 2000.

  • Tradewind Survival
  • Trinity Green

An aggro deck that uses Plow Under, Tangle Wire and Deranged Hermit.

  • Trix

Also known as Illusions-Donate.

  • Turbo Land
  • White Weenie

A White deck that uses small creatures and Armageddon or Cataclysm to win.

The deck that won Kai Budde the world championship in 1999.

Banned and Resticted list[ | ]

(Maybe we should have a separate page for this. It's pretty huge.)


The following cards are banned in the Standard format as of March 1, 2005.

  • Ancient Den
  • Arcbound Ravager
  • Darksteel Citadel
  • Disciple of the Vault
  • Great Furnace
  • Seat of the Synod
  • Skullclamp
  • Tree of Tales
  • Vault of Whispers


The following cards are banned in the Extended format as of March 1, 2005.

  • Ancient Tomb
  • Dark Ritual
  • Dream Halls
  • Earthcraft
  • Entomb
  • Frantic Search
  • Goblin Lackey
  • Goblin Recruiter
  • Grim Monolith
  • Hermit Druid
  • Lotus Petal
  • Memory Jar
  • Metalworker
  • Mind Over Matter
  • Oath of Druids
  • Replenish
  • Survival of the Fittest
  • Skullclamp
  • Time Spiral
  • Tinker
  • Tolarian Academy
  • Windfall
  • Yawgmoth's Bargain
  • Yawgmoth's Will


The following cards are banned in the Legacy format as of March 1, 2005.

  • Amulet of Quoz
  • Ancestral Recall
  • Balance
  • Bazaar of Baghdad
  • Black Lotus
  • Black Vise
  • Bronze Tablet
  • Channel
  • Chaos Orb
  • Contract from Below
  • Darkpact
  • Demonic Attorney
  • Demonic Consultation
  • Demonic Tutor
  • Dream Halls
  • Earthcraft
  • Entomb Falling Star
  • Fastbond
  • Frantic Search
  • Goblin Recruiter
  • Grim Monolith
  • Gush
  • Hermit Druid
  • Illusionary Mask
  • Jeweled Bird
  • Land Tax
  • Library of Alexandria
  • Mana Crypt
  • Mana Drain
  • Mana Vault
  • Memory Jar
  • Metalworker
  • Mind Over Matter
  • Mind Twist
  • Mind's Desire
  • Mishra's Workshop
  • Mox Emerald
  • Mox Jet
  • Mox Pearl
  • Mox Ruby
  • Mox Sapphire
  • Necropotence
  • Oath of Druids
  • Rebirth
  • Replenish
  • Skullclamp
  • Sol Ring
  • Strip Mine
  • Tempest Efreet
  • Time Spiral
  • Time Walk
  • Timetwister
  • Timmerian Fiends
  • Tinker
  • Tolarian Academy
  • Vampiric Tutor
  • Wheel of Fortune
  • Windfall
  • Worldgorger Dragon
  • Yawgmoth's Bargain
  • Yawgmoth's Will

The following cards are banned in the Vintage format as of March 1, 2005.

  • Any ante card
  • Chaos Orb
  • Falling Star

The following cards are restricted in the Vintage format as of March 1, 2005.

  • Ancestral Recall
  • Balance
  • Black Lotus
  • Black Vise
  • Burning Wish
  • Channel
  • Chrome Mox
  • Crop Rotation
  • Demonic Consultation
  • Demonic Tutor
  • Dream Halls
  • Enlightened Tutor
  • Entomb
  • Fact or Fiction
  • Fastbond
  • Frantic Search
  • Grim Monolith
  • Gush
  • Library of Alexandria
  • Lion's Eye Diamond
  • Lotus Petal
  • Mana Crypt
  • Mana Vault
  • Memory Jar
  • Mind Over Matter
  • Mind Twist
  • Mind's Desire
  • Mox Diamond
  • Mox Emerald
  • Mox Jet
  • Mox Pearl
  • Mox Ruby
  • Mox Sapphire
  • Mystical Tutor
  • Necropotence
  • Regrowth
  • Sol Ring
  • Strip Mine
  • Time Spiral
  • Time Walk
  • Timetwister
  • Tinker
  • Tolarian Academy
  • Trinisphere—effective March 20, 2005
  • Vampiric Tutor
  • Voltaic Key
  • Wheel of Fortune
  • Windfall
  • Yawgmoth's Bargain
  • Yawgmoth's Will

Video Games[ | ]

See also[ | ]

External links[ | ]

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