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.
June 20		Release of the 15th Anniversary 2-Player Starter Game.
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