2008

The year 2008 was the sixteenth year of existence for Magic: The Gathering.

Events

Date		Event
January		Announcement of the ending of the Magic Scholarship Series.
February 1		Release of Morningtide. "The Grand Creature Type Update Update".
February 15-17		Pro Tour Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. Won by Template:Flagicon USA Jon Finkel.
April 1		Announcement of Duel Decks: Pirates vs. Ninjas. April Fools.
May 2		Release of Shadowmoor. Large set, mirror to Lorwyn. Start of the second mini-block of the Lorwyn–Shadowmoor block. Extended use of -1/-1 counters and hybrid mana. Introduction of the untap symbol.
May 23-25		Pro Tour Hollywood, USA. Won by Template:Flagicon USA Charles Gindy.
July 25		Release of Eventide. Mirror to Morningtide.
July 28		Announcement of the closing down of the Gleemax social network.
August 29		Release of From the Vault: Dragons. First set in the From the Vault series.
September 22		Release of Masters Edition II on Magic Online.
October		Creation of the Wizards Play Network.
October 3		Release of Shards of Alara. Setting the new standard size for large sets. Introduction of mythic rares. Multicolor set, focusing on three-color combinations (Bant, Esper, Grixis, Jund and Naya) Introduction of colored artifacts. Introduction of the New World Order in design. Replacement of one of the commons in a booster pack with a basic land.
October 31 - November 2		Pro Tour Berlin, Germany. Won by Template:Flagicon USA Luis Scott-Vargas.
November 7		Release of Duel Decks: Jace vs. Chandra. First planeswalker vs. planeswalker Duel Decks.
December 11-14		2008 Magic World Championships in Memphis, USA. Won by Template:Flagicon FIN Antti Malin. Team champions: Template:Flagicon USA United States of America.
		Player of the Year: Template:Flagicon JPN Shuhei Nakamura.
		Rookie of the Year: Template:Flagicon AUS Aaron Nicastri.
		Hall of Fame inductees: Template:Flagicon DEU Dirk Baberowski Template:Flagicon USA Mike Turian Template:Flagicon NLD Jelger Wiegersma Template:Flagicon FRA Olivier Ruel Template:Flagicon USA Ben Rubin

Publications

• Morningtide (January)
• Shadowmoor (April)
• Eventide (June)
• A Planeswalker's Guide to Alara (September)

First involved

R&D

• Sean Fletcher
• Mark Globus
• Graeme Hopkins
• Alexis Janson
• Jeremy Jarvis
• Tom LaPille
• Erik Lauer
• Michael Mikaelian
• Kenneth Nagle
• Mark Purvis
• Andrew Smith
• Jake Theis
• Ken Troop

Artists

Morningtide

• Shelly Wan

Shadowmoor

• Ian Edward Ameling
• Izzy
• Jeremy Enecio
• Richard Whitters
• Ron Brown

Eventide

• Cole Eastburn
• Dan Seagrave
• Fred Harper
• Jaime Jones
• Joshua Hagler
• Paul Bonner

From the Vault: Dragons

• Chris Rahn

Shards of Alara

• Andrew Murray
• Ash Wood
• David Palumbo
• Jarreau Wimberly
• Karl Kopinski
• Mark Hyzer
• Michael Ryan
• Sal Villagran
• Steve Argyle
• Trevor Claxton