Card frame

The card frame or card face is printed onto the front of a card and gives a structural property of the card.

History

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The original card frame.

Since its inception the game had a card frame separated into two halves. The top half was dominated by the artwork of the card while the lower half was dominated by the text box. Other features such as name, cost type, rarity and power/toughness for creatures was printed directly onto the frame, which at times, especially in earlier editions, made it hard to read. Though some changes were made over the years, such as color coding the expansion symbol to reflect the card's rarity or the introduction of a collector's number (both changes introduced with Exodus), the frame stayed unchanged for a long time.

Post-8th-Edition card frame

With 8th Edition a new card frame was introduced in which the name and cost, types and expansion symbol as well as the power/toughness were given their own boxes to elevate them from the card frame and enhance readability. However critics noted that some individuality of colors was lost with the card frame, e.g. the textbox of green cards no longer looking like old parchment.

An early problem was that the new card frames of white and artifact cards were hard to tell apart with a quick glance, which lead to the darkening of the frame of artifact cards with Fifth Dawn. Another problem with artifacts was that the symbols for colored mana on artifact cards were gray in the textbox of artifact cards. This was corrected with Ravnica: City of Guilds.

With the exception of Timeshifted cards in Time Spiral, two cards from Unhinged, and some rare promotional cards, the old frame has not been reused and older cards that are reissued as reprints in new products or in promotional settings are changed into the new card frame.

Structure

Name

The Name of a card is positioned at the top left corner of the card and is the primary method of identification. Each English card name is unique, though in some other languages have used the same name for multiple cards.

Casting cost

The casting cost is in the top right corner of the card and specifies how much and what type of mana needs to be spent to play the card.

Illustration

The Illustration is a visual representation of the card in the middle of the top half of the card and has no in-game function outside the joke-set Unhinged.

Type line

To the left of the center box of the card is the Card type, possibly preceded by a Supertype and/or followed by one or more subtypes. This builds the Type line. The type specifies when and how a card can be played. The supertype gives additional game rules while the subtype is just a method of categorization with no rules specific to them, though other cards may refer to subtypes or are dependent on subtypes.

Expansion Symbol

To the right of the Type is the Expansion symbol, unique to each set and shows which set that card belongs to. Early Core Sets used no expansion symbol. Since Exodus this symbol is colorcoded to represent what rarity the card is; black for common cards, silver for uncommon cards and gold for rare cards. Shards of Alara introduced a fourth rarity, mythic rare in orange.

Text box

The text box dominates the lower half of the card and contains all relevant rules text as well as all possible flavor text. Flavor text is always the bottom-most and italicized in the text box and has no functionality on the card outside of Unglued and Unhinged. Some sets and blocks such as Ravnica block and Scars of Mirrodin, as well as promotional cards, utilize watermarks and background textures to further distinguish the cards or enhance the flavor of the card or set.

Power/toughness or loyalty

If the card is a creature card the Power/Toughness of the card is printed on the right side below the Text box. It specifies how much damage a creature deals in combat and how much damage is needed to destroy that creature respectively. If the card is a Planeswalker card instead a different box denotes the number of loyalty counters the Planeswalker enters play with.

Information below the text box

On the left side below the Text box (in some editions centralized below the text box) there is the credit for the illustration of the card. Below this is the copyright information for the card as well as a collector's number.

see Information below the text box

Background and box borders

The background of each card is dependent on the casting cost and type of the card. White, Blue, Black, Red and Green have backgrounds in these respective colors. A golden background represents multicolored cards. Lands and artifacts, usually colorless, have their own background. Starting with 8th Edition, the borders between the boxes are also in a color akin to the casting cost of the card. If the card is multicolored between two colors, the borders in between boxes will blend from one color into the other. However, the background of the card is golden. If the card is of three or more colors the box borders are gold as well. An exception to this are hybrid cards, the background will like the borders of the boxes fade from one color into the other.

Borders

The borders of a card denote legality to play. Borders have been printed in four different colors: Black for cards of expert expansions as well as Alpha, Beta and Core Sets from 10th Edition onward; White for Core Sets between Unlimited and 9th Edition inclusive; Silver borders for the Un-sets, and gold borders for Commemorative Sets. Cards with black or white borders are tournament legal while cards with silver and gold borders are not.

Back

The back of each card is identical outside Commemorative Sets and features the Magic: The Gathering logo, a representation of the color wheel and the word "Deckmaster" at the bottom, all on top of a brown background with an oval shape meant to represent the cover of a book. Originally it was planned to feature different backs for each expansion but this was infeasible as people would be able to tell which card they would probably draw next depending on the ratio of cards from each expansion in their decks.

The back also stayed unchanged during the 8th Edition revision of the card frame. Since the card back cannot change, it features some imperfections as the Logo is an older, blue version which has since been updated for yellow with red trim. It also has the markings of a ballpoint pen over the 'R' in Deckmaster which accidentally were introduced to the logo before the printing.

Innistrad introduced Double-faced Cards which replace the regular back with another card face. Special rules have been made to ensure that a deck, even including such double-faced cards, does not appear marked and the cards are indistinguishable from others by using placeholder checklist cards which have the regular card back, or playing with opaque sleeves.

Special Card frames

Planeswalkers

While the text boxes of normal cards have an opaque white background, the text box of planeswalkers are translucent and show additional part of the artwork. Often the artwork also protrudes outside the borders of the Illustration box and into the box for the name and casting cost. Additionally small shield-icons on the left side of the text box represent the change in loyalty to activate one of the planeswalkers abilities.

Planeshifted cards

The timeshifted cards in Planar Chaos, e.g. Damnation also known as planeshifted cards, use the same card frame as regular cards but with slight alterations. For planeshifted cards the type line box and the name/cost box is colored in a hue according to the casting cost and the text in those boxes is white instead of the usual black. Power/toughness, if present, is also printed in white font. Additionally, the background of planeshifted cards is different from regular cards of the same color, and the textbox has a special texture as a background unique to the color.

Futureshifted cards

The timeshifted cards in Future Sight such as Tarmogoyf are significantly different. The artwork is now in a circular frame rather than the usual rectangular. The frame extends behind the name on the top and below the type line box and behind the text box, all of which are now translucent. Starting below the name box on the left side the artwork has a row of semi-circular pockets, six of which are next to the artwork. The casting cost in altered mana symbols is placed inside these pockets. The top left corner of the card has a symbol inside a circle representing the type of the card. The expansion symbol on these cards is housed in a small circle next to the type line box. Additionally the text box on these cards is not rectangular but bends outward on either side and the information below the text box is right-justified.

There is also a cycle of vanilla creatures in Future Sight utilizing the frame which have no text box at all in exchange for a larger illustration spanning the entire card. These cards are Blade of the Sixth Pride, Blind Phantasm, Mass of Ghouls, Fomori Nomad, and Nessian Courser.

Split cards

While usually cards are oriented vertically, Split cards such as Fire//Ice are oriented horizontally and print two normal card frames next to each other.

Flip cards

The Kamigawa block introduced so called Flip cards, e.g. Nezumi Graverobber. These cards have an illustration in the middle and a structure consisting of a name/cost box, a text box and a type-box with a box for power/toughness on the right side on either side. Both boxes are oriented inward on the card so the bottom box is upside down. Below the bottom box is the artist credit, copyright information and collectors number as well as the expansion symbol.

Level-up

Rise of the Eldrazi introduced the Level up mechanic which makes use of a special card face. It is nearly identical to the regular card face, except the textbox is split horizontally into three sections. The topmost section has a regular white background, with the other two an increasingly darker shade of the cards color. Each of the section also has a Power-toughness box on the right, and an arrow-like symbol on the left with the level description in black font inside it.

Double-faced cards

Innistrad introduced double-faced cards which feature functional card faces. The front of the card is almost identical to a regular card frame, except it features a sun symbol on the top left corner next to the name, and it has the power and toughness of the other card face on the bottom left of the text box above the regular power/toughness box and small notch of the card border next to it.

The "back" of the card has a card face similar to the ones of Planeshifted cards. The Name, type and Power/toughness box are all the same color as the border frame, and the text in them is white rather than the regular black. The textbox has a darker shade of a background, but no special texture. Additionally, there is a moon symbol next to the name box and the type box has a small circular hole filled with the color of the creature.

Basic lands from specific sets

The basic lands of the Un-sets (the only tournament legal cards from those sets) and Zendikar feature different frames, shuffling parts of the cards around and eliminate the text box for a larger illustration.

Player Rewards cards

Since 2005, the Magic Player Rewards program has given out special Textless cards which feature no type line, expansion symbol or text box but only a larger illustration in an oval frame. So far only Sorcery and Instant cards have been given out featuring this frame.

Frameless promotion cards

Another rewards program gives out cards that have their card text printed upon a larger, alternate illustration which extends from below the name/cost box to the bottom of the card, occupying the same space as the illustration, type line box and text box of normal cards.

Unglued and Unhinged cards

Many cards from Unglued and Unhinged break norms for card frames and artwork that warps the organization of the parts of the card. Examples of this would be Topsy Turvy, Curse of the Fire Penguin, Burning Cinder Fury of Crimson Chaos Fire, B.F.M. (Big Furry Monster) and Greater Morphling. Additionally the artwork of many un-cards protrudes outside the frame for illustrations.

Token cards

While not actually functional cards, Token cards have been inserted in boosters and given out as rewards or promotions. These cards usually have a different box for the name centralized on the top, no mana cost and only a smaller text box denoting abilities if the creature has an ability at all. Older token cards had flavor text in text boxes but newer token cards feature no text box at all if the creature token has no abilities. All of this yields space for a larger illustration.

Alternate game format cards

Wizards of the Coast has printed a number of cards for specific alternate game formats which do not work like regular Magic cards and for that reason have a vastly different card frame as well as different card backs.

Character

In the Vanguard format a player plays with an additional card which represents a character from the Magic storyline meant to represent an ally in the battle against the opponent (who also has an ally). These cards are called Vanguard cards though they bear the type "Character" (not a regular card type). They are also larger than regular Magic cards. On the top is a golden name box with the name centered, followed by artwork representing the character. Below that is a smaller golden Type box with the word "Character", also centered. Below that is the text box with the ability of the character. The text box bends inward below that ability to give way for two circles inside ovals on either side. The left circle gives the starting and maximum hand size throughout the vanguard game when playing with that character. The right circle gives the starting life total when playing with that character. Both values are given as a difference from the regular values, 7 and 20 respectively. In between them is the flavor text. The information below the text box is inside a golden ornamental box with a purple circle at the bottom and the text is centered.

Plane

Planes are used in the Planechase format and represent a place in the Multiverse. They are twice the size of a regular Magic card and horizontally oriented. Almost all structural parts of the card face are translucent for the artwork. On top of the card is the a name box. On the bottom is a text box which is separated into two halves vertically. On the top is the regular card ability. On the bottom is the chaos ability preceded by a large chaos symbol. The background of the chaos ability is also a slightly darker shade than the regular ability. On top of the text box is a type-line box with the type-line centered and the expansion symbol on the right. The information below the text box is centered. The boxes are all bordered with ornamental copper lines which decorate the rest of the card as well.

Scheme

Scheme is a card type introduced in Archenemy, representing a large effect that may be a one-time effect or ongoing. Scheme cards are oversized full art cards, but overlayed with a rectangular gold and bronze ornament, separating the card in four sections. The topmost has the card name, below it is the actual art frame which is considerably taller than on regular cards, below it is the type box with the textbox underneath. All boxes except the art frame have a translucent white background and black font. Additionally, the art outside the frame appears to be darker than inside the art frame.

Further, the card is decorated with spike-ornaments in the four corners as well as to the left and right of the type box. There is no rarity of Scheme cards so the rarity symbol appears to be black on all of them. The information below the card frame is center-justified. The card back is unique to, featuring the Magic: The Gathering logo and the word "Archenemy" as well as the spike-ornaments also present on the front, connected by a large silver frame.