The trading card game Magic: The Gathering has released a large number of sets since it was first published by Wizards of the Coast. After the 1993 release of Limited Edition, also known as Alpha and Beta, roughly 3-4 major sets have been released per year, in addition to various spin-off products.
Magic has made three types of sets since Alpha and Beta: base/core sets, expansion sets, and compilation sets. Expansion sets are the most numerous and prevalent type of expansion; they primarily consist of new cards, with few or no reprints, and either explore a new setting, or advance the plot in an existing setting. Base sets, later renamed core sets, are the successors to the original Limited Edition and are meant to provide a baseline Magic experience; they tended to consist either largely or entirely of reprints. Compilation sets also exist entirely of reprints, and tend to be made as either a special themed product, or as a way to increase supply of cards with small printings. Examples of compilation sets with randomized boosters include Chronicles and Modern Masters. There also exist compilation products with a pre-selected and fixed card pool, such as the Duel Decks and From The Vault series. Theme decks serve a similar function; however, they are always attached to a specific set or block, while compilations are free to pick and choose cards from any set.
All expansion sets, and all editions of the base set from Sixth Edition onward, are identified by an expansion symbol printed on the right side of cards, below the art and above the text box. From Exodus onward, the expansion symbols are also color-coded to denote rarity: black for common and basic land cards, silver for uncommon, and gold for rare. Beginning with the Shards of Alara set, a red-orange expansion symbol denotes a new rarity: "Mythic Rare" (the Time Spiral set featured an additional purple coloration for "timeshifted" cards). For the early expansion sets (from Arabian Nights to Alliances), the rarities of cards were often much more complicated than the breakdown into common, uncommon, and rare suggests. Cards in compilations are assigned partially arbitrary rarity by Wizards, with some cards assigned rare status and some assigned mythic rare in a given set.
Base/core set editions
After the second version (Beta) of the first set, which contained two cards mistakenly excluded from the first version (Alpha), all subsequent base sets through 10th Edition consisted of cards that had been printed before in either the original base set or an expansion set. Alpha through Fifth Edition did not have set symbols printed on the actual cards, though those sets were retroactively given set symbols in Wizards of the Coast's official Gatherer database of Magic cards.
Set Set symbol description Set code) Pre-release date Release date Size Total cards Common Uncommon Rare Mythic Rare Basic Land Other Limited Edition Alpha LEA August 5, 1993 295 74 95 116 — 10 — Limited Edition Beta LEB October 4, 1993 302 75 95 117 — 15 — Unlimited Edition 2ED December 1, 1993 302 75 95 117 — 15 — Revised Edition 3ED April 11, 1994 306 75 95 121 — 15 — Fourth Edition Roman-numeral four 4ED April 1995 378 121 121 121 — 15 — Fifth EditionRoman-numeral five 5ED March 24, 1997 449 165 132 132 — 20 — Classic Sixth Edition A Roman-numeral six 6ED April 28, 1999 350 110 110 110 — 20 — Seventh Edition A serif numeral seven 7ED April 11, 2001 350 110 110 110 — 20 — Eighth Edition The number eight superimposed over three fanned cards 8ED July 28, 2003 357 110 110 110 — 20 7 Ninth Edition The number nine superimposed over three fanned cards 9ED July 29, 2005 359 110 110 110 — 20 9 Tenth Edition A Roman-numeral ten 10E July 13, 2007 383 121 121 121 — 20 — Magic 2010 "M10" M10 July 11, 2009 July 17, 2009 249 101 60 53 15 20 — Magic 2011 "M11" M11 July 10, 2010 July 16, 2010 249 101 60 53 15 20 — Magic 2012 "M12" M12 July 9, 2011 July 15, 2011 249 101 60 53 15 20 — Magic 2013 "M13" M13 July 7, 2012 July 13, 2012 249 101 60 53 15 20 — Magic 2014 "M14" M14 July 13, 2013 July 19, 2013 249 101 60 53 15 20 — Magic 2015 "M15" M15 July 12, 2014 July 18, 2014 284 101 80 53 15 20 15 Magic Origins Planeswalker symbol breaking through the horizon ORI July 11, 2015 July 17, 2015 288 101 80 55 16 20 16Core Set 2019 "M19"M19July 7, 2018July 13, 2018 280 111 80 53 16 20 —Core Set 2020 "M20"M20July 5, 2019July 12, 2019 321 152 86 65 16 20 —Core Set 2021 "M21"M21June 26, 2020July 3, 2020 274 111 80 53 15 15 —Magic: The Gathering FoundationsA five-point star-shaped portalFDNNovember 15, 2024292 91 101 60 20 20 —
Expansion sets Expansion sets from Ice Age to Rivals of Ixalan (with the exception of Homelands) came in groups called "blocks". Blocks were cohesive products: they usually centered around one plane, followed a particular storyline, and contained cards and mechanics that supported both. Blocks generally consisted of one large "stand-alone" expansion set of 250-380 cards, followed by one or two small expansion sets of 141-200 cards which continue the themes introduced in the large set. Like the base set, stand-alone expansion sets contain basic land cards; other expansion sets do not. Beginning with Alliances, expansion sets were given codenames while in development; the code names of the expansions of a block usually fit together to form a phrase or common theme. Ice Age, Homelands, and Alliances were retroactively declared a block at some point, despite Homelands not being connected to the other two in any way. In 2006, WotC retroactively dropped Homelands from the Ice Age cycle and added Coldsnap to it. With the Zendikar cycle in 2009, the traditional large-small-small block structure began to be varied, with some blocks including a second large set later in the cycle. Starting with the Battle for Zendikar block in 2015, the default structure of a block was changed to large-small, with two blocks released per year and each block consisting of only two sets.
Ice Age and Alliances were the first two sets to have a well-defined relationship, but the idea of calling connected sets a "block" or "cycle" did not exist at the time of printing. Also beginning with Alliances in June 1996, expansion sets were released in a regular pattern: the base sets were released in October with the small expansion sets being released in February and June. With the exceptions of Stronghold, a 1998 set released in March rather than February, and Scourge, a 2003 set which was released in May rather than June, this pattern of months was never broken, over a 10-year period, until 2006, when Dissension was also released a month early in May instead of June, because of the July release of Coldsnap. The third set in a block has since been released in late April or early May. From 2005-2015, there was a fourth release date each year in mid-July, usually reserved for base sets. Other summer releases included Coldsnap and Eventide.
Fallen Empires was an experimental expansion in which most cards have three or four different pieces of artwork. You could see them as 121 common cards, by art, or 36 cards by the text. It was also a major expansion in the idea of tribes, especially Goblins and Merfolk.
Most early expansion sets did not have exact release dates; they were just shipped out within the space of a week, and retailers could start selling them as soon as the sets were received. By the time of Alliances in 1996, however, release dates were set as Mondays (the earliest set with an exact Monday release date might possibly have preceded Alliances, but Alliances is the earliest set with a cited and confirmed Monday release date). Beginning with Mirrodin in 2003, the release dates were changed from Monday to Friday. All sets beginning with Homelands also have a pre-release date, on which cards are sold in limited quantities in pre-release tournaments. These tournaments were formerly always held two weeks before the release date, but since Shards of Alara they are now held one week before the release date.
Premium cards have been inserted into booster packs since Urza's Legacy. Originally 1 premium card was inserted for every 100 cards. The ratio was changed to 1 in 70 cards with the Torment expansion. Beginning with Tenth Edition the rate was increased to 1 in 56 cards.Magic Online (Tooltips when browsing the boosters in a collection) This later changed to 1 in 45 cards with "Core Set 2020"
Starting with Battle for Zendikar cycle, sets sometimes also contain an entry in the Masterpiece Series.
The block model has evolved as time went on. In addition to a formalized structure (which was occasionally varied) Wizards began to have trouble developing small sets that satisfied their own quality standards. Players also reported fatigue at playing in the same environment for a year at a time. The decision to remove one small set from each block, as showcased in Battle For Zendikar block, was a result of this dissatisfaction. It culminated in the decision to delete small sets entirely; since the conclusion of Ixalan cycle, all sets have been large-sized sets. However, not all large-size sets will involve travel to a new plane; some will be sequels to the set prior to it, if the depth of the plane's story and mechanics allows. Dominaria, released in 2018, was the first set under this model.