Alpha

Limited Edition Alpha
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Set Information
Set symbol
Symbol description	The letter “A”
Design	Richard Garfield and the Limited Edition design and development team
Development	Richard Garfield and the Limited Edition design and development team
Art direction	Jesper Myrfors
Release date	August 5, 1993
Plane	Dominaria
Themes and mechanics	Magic: The Gathering, Ante, Dexterity cards
Keywords/​ability words	Banding, First strike, Flying, Landwalk, Protection, Regeneration, Trample
Set size	295 (10 basic lands, 74 commons, 95 uncommons, 116 rares)
Expansion code	LEA
Core sets
'''Limited Edition Alpha''' [[Limited Edition Beta]] [[Unlimited Edition]]
Magic: The Gathering Chronology
N/A Limited Edition Alpha [[Limited Edition Beta]]

Limited Edition Alpha, commonly known as Alpha, is the first print run of Limited Edition, the first core set of Magic: The Gathering. Alpha contains 295 black-bordered cards and was released on August 5, 1993.

Alpha is actually a nickname, but widely accepted as the name for this print run of Limited Edition.

Set details

Alpha was designed by Richard Garfield and the Limited Edition design and development team (Charlie Cateeno, Skaff Elias, Don Felice, Tom Fontaine, Jim Lin, Joel Mick, Chris Page, Dave Pettey, Barry Reich, Bill Rose, and Elliott Segal).

Alpha cards can easily be distinguished from Beta and all other cards by their more rounded corners. Early tournament rules required that all cards must appear unmarked without the use of protective sleeves, and the unique corners of Alpha cards originally made them marked cards in a deck not entirely comprised of Alpha cards. This initially made them less desirable and thus less valuable than Beta and even Unlimited cards.

Due to the printing process, it is possible to get land cards in a rare, uncommon, or common card slot. The chance is approximately 4.13% for rares, 21.5% for uncommons and 38.84% for commons. This is because they put lands on all three print sheets. However, as part of the idea to keep players from guessing rarities, the only lands on the rare sheet were five copies of Island.

Alpha contained a number of errors that were fixed in the second, or Beta release: Circle of Protection: Black and Volcanic Island were accidentally left out of the set entirely. Additionally, only two versions of each basic land with unique artwork were included.

Design and development

Magic: The Gathering received its "The Gathering" subtitle for two reasons. First, "Magic" was thought to be too generic a name to trademark. Second, it left open the possibility for future expansions to have other subtitles, such as "Magic: Arabian Nights".

The names of many cards were initially very generic, such as "Angel" instead of Serra Angel and "Skeletons" instead of Drudge Skeletons. Adding these descriptors created more flavor on the cards and allowed other types of angels, skeletons, and everything else to appear in future expansions.

The rarity of many cards was based on the idea that players would have a limited set of cards in a particular area, such that there would only be a few copies of Mox Sapphire or Black Lotus in a particular area, thus naturally restricting the power of these cards. The rapid popularity of the game created a much larger community of players than initially considered, allowing players to amass large collections of these powerful cards.

The rule limiting only four copies of all cards except basic lands in decks did not exist in the earliest rules but was rapidly adopted from tournament play.

Under the original rules, players with life less than 1 were not considered to have lost until the end of the current phase, giving that player a chance to find a solution.

Ante was an optional part of the original game of Magic that remained a part of the game until after the Homelands expansion.

There were originally three types of artifacts: mono artifacts, poly artifacts, and continuous artifacts. Mono artifacts have activated abilities that can only be used once and tap the artifact with its use. These now have errata adding "T" to the activation cost. Poly artifacts have activated abilities that do not have "T" as part of the activation cost and can be used multiple times. Continuous artifacts have a continuous effect that does not require activation. Continuous artifacts were also understood to be "turned off" when tapped, and newer versions of some of these original artifacts now have this restriction printed on them. These three types were removed following the Antiquities expansion and before the Revised Edition.

Interrupts were similar to instants, only "faster." This meant that when an interrupt was played, only other interrupts could be played in response. The timing rules of interrupts caused some other cards (such as Red Elemental Blast) to be interrupts for them to work properly under these rules.

Wall was the only creature type with a rule associated with it: Walls can't attack (after errata, they have defender). This rule remained a part of the game until the Champions of Kamigawa expansion.

From a modern developer's viewpoint, some of the cards in Alpha were grossly miscost and others were complicated implementations of ideas that could be made into cards more simply.

Marketing

Alpha booster.

Alpha was released at Origins in July/August 1993 with a small run of 2.6 million cards. Cards were sold in 60-card starter decks and 15-card boosters. The set did not receive much exposure beyond the west coast of the United States.

The 32-page rulebook (added to the starter decks) had Bog Wraith on the cover and contained "Worzel's Story" by Richard Garfield.

Storyline

Alpha did not have a specific storyline, although the cards had a lot of flavor built into them based on the premise that players took on the role of a planeswalker who summoned creatures and cast spells in a duel against another planeswalker.

Themes and mechanics

As the first edition of Magic, Alpha introduced many mechanics and themes. Keyworded abilities introduced in this set include banding, first strike, flying, landwalk, protection, regeneration, and trample. The defender, fear, haste, indestructible, reach, and vigilance mechanics were also introduced, but were not keyworded until later. Cards with these mechanics have since received retroactive errata. Many other game mechanics were also introduced in this set but are too numerous to be listed here.

The set contains multiple hosers, which are cards that negatively affect one (or sometimes two) specific color(s) or basic land type associated with that color: Karma, Blue Elemental Blast, Deathgrip, Flashfires, Tsunami, Conversion, Lifetap, Gloom, Red Elemental Blast, and Lifeforce.

Creature types

Creature types were originally intended only to express flavor on creature cards, like flavor text. Thus, the intentional use of creature types to classify different races was not considered until around the design of the Fallen Empires expansion, despite cards like Lord of Atlantis that cared about a creature's race in this set.

The creature types introduced in this set are: Angel, Assassin (later changed to Human Assassin), Avatar, Basilisk, Bear, Bodyguard (later changed to Human), Cleric, Clone (later changed to Shapeshifter), Cockatrice, Demon, Djinn, Doppelganger (later changed to Shapeshifter), Dragon, Dwarf, Elemental, Elf, Enchantress (later changed to Human Druid), Faerie, Force (later changed to Elemental), Fungusaur (later changed to Fungus Dinosaur), Gaea's Liege (later changed to Avatar), Gargoyle, Ghoul (later changed to Zombie), Giant, Goblin, Goblin King (later changed to Goblin Lord), Hero (later changed to Human Soldier), Hydra, Imp, Knight, Lion (later changed to Cat), Lord, Lord of Atlantis (later changed to Merfolk Lord), Mammoth (later changed to Elephant), Mana Bird (later changed to Bird), Merfolk, Minotaur, Nightmare, Nymph (later changed to Dryad), Ogre, Orc, Paladin (later changed to Knight), Pegasus, Phantasm (later changed to Illusion), Rat, Roc, Serpent, Shade, Shadow (later changed to Spirit), Ship (later changed to Human Pirate), Skeleton, Specter, Spider, Treefolk, Troll, Unicorn, Vampire, Wall, Will-O'-the-Wisp (later changed to Spirit), Wizard (later changed to Human Wizard), Wolf, Wraith, Wurm, and Zombie.

Cycles

Alpha has seven cycles and three vertical cycles.

Cycle name	Description and notes
Basic lands	The five basic lands were introduced in Limited Edition.	Plains	Island	Swamp	Mountain	Forest
Boons	Each of these instants has a mana cost of M and an effect involving the number 3. This cycle is asymmetric in that Ancestral Recall is rare, while the other members are common.	Healing Salve	Ancestral Recall	Dark Ritual	Lightning Bolt	Giant Growth
Laces	Each of these rare instants permanently changes the color of a permanent.	Purelace	Thoughtlace	Deathlace	Chaoslace	Lifelace
Lucky charms	Each of these uncommon artifacts has a triggered ability that allows the controller pay to gain 1 life when a spell of a given color is cast.	Ivory Cup	Crystal Rod	Throne of Bone	Iron Star	Wooden Sphere
Moxes	Each of these rare artifacts has a mana cost of and ": Add M".	Mox Pearl	Mox Sapphire	Mox Jet	Mox Ruby	Mox Emerald
Top-down cycle	Each of these rare cards was designed at the last minute before the release of Alpha. They were never playtested and were designed to fit pieces of unused artwork.	Island Sanctuary	Stasis	Word of Command	Sedge Troll	Birds of Paradise
Wards	Each of these uncommon white Auras with enchant creature grants protection from a given color.	White Ward	Blue Ward	Black Ward	Red Ward	Green Ward

Vertical cycles

• Goblins: Each of these red Goblin creatures exists at a different level of rarity — Mons's Goblin Raiders, Goblin Balloon Brigade, Goblin King.
• Red three-drop humanoids: Each of these 2/2 red creatures has a mana cost of and increasingly powerful abilities — Gray Ogre, Uthden Troll, and Sedge Troll. Granite Gargoyle might also be considered part of this group, though it doesn't fit the theme of monstrous human-like creatures.
• Pingers — Each of these permanents has ": [This] deals 1 damage to target creature or player" — Prodigal Sorcerer, Rod of Ruin, and Pirate Ship.

Mirrored pairs

Alpha has 26 mirrored pairs.

• Ankh of Mishra and Dingus Egg are both rare artifacts that deal damage when a land enters or leaves play.

• Air Elemental and Earth Elemental are both uncommon Elementals with a mana cost of MM and a power of 4.

• Benalish Hero and Timber Wolves are both 1/1 creatures with banding and a mana cost of M.

• Castle and Orcish Oriflamme are both uncommon enchantments that conditionally affect a creature's power or toughness.

• Crusade and Bad Moon are both rare enchantments with a converted mana cost of 2 and an effect to give all creatures of its color +1/+1.

• White Knight and Black Knight are both uncommon Knights with a mana cost of MM, power/toughness of 2/2, first strike and protection from the other's color.

• Blue Elemental Blast and Red Elemental Blast are both common instants (formerly interrupts) with a mana cost of M and with a modal ability to either destroy a permanent of the other's color or counter a spell of the other's color.

• Braingeyser and Mind Twist are both rare sorceries that cause target player to draw or discard cards.

• Gaea's Liege and Cyclopean Tomb are both rare cards with an activated ability that can permanently change a land's type.

• Deathgrip and Lifeforce are each uncommon enchantments with an activated ability to counter a spell of the other's color for MM.

• Earthquake and Hurricane are both sorceries that have a mana cost of M and deal X damage to all non-flying or flying creatures and each player.

• Fear and Invisibility are both common Auras that make the enchanted creature more difficult to block.

• Feedback and Wanderlust are both uncommon Auras that deal 1 damage to the controller of the enchanted permanent during each of their upkeeps.

• Water Elemental and Fire Elemental are both uncommon Elementals with a mana cost of MM and a power/toughness of 5/4.

• Holy Strength and Unholy Strength are both common Auras with enchant creature that give a mirrored bonus to the enchanted creature's power/toughness.

• Living Lands and Kormus Bell are both rare cards that turned lands of a particular type into 1/1 creatures.

• Lord of Atlantis and Goblin King are both rare Lords that give +1/+1 and landwalk of its color to its creature type.

• Manabarbs and Power Surge are both rare red enchantments that deal damage to a player based on the number of lands he or she does or does not tap.

• Mons's Goblin Raiders and Merfolk of the Pearl Trident are both 1/1 common creatures with creature types that are affected by Lord of Atlantis and Goblin King.

• Phantom Monster and Roc of Kher Ridges are both 3/3 creatures with flying.

• Serra Angel and Sengir Vampire are both uncommon 4/4 flying creatures with a mana cost of MM and a combat-related ability.

• Smoke and Winter Orb both allow players to only untap one of a type of permanent each turn.

• Timetwister and Wheel of Fortune are both rare sorceries that cause all players to draw a new hand of 7 cards.

• Tsunami and Flashfires are both uncommon sorceries that have a mana cost of 3M and destroy lands of a particular enemy type.

• Wall of Bone and Wall of Brambles are both Walls with regeneration and a mana cost of M.

• Wall of Water and Wall of Fire are both 0/5 Walls illustrated by Richard Thomas with a silouetted figure behind a wall and the activated ability "M: [this] gets +1/+0 until end of turn."

Notable cards

• The Power Nine are some of the most valuable and powerful cards ever printed.

• The original ten Dual lands are some of the most powerful and valuable lands ever printed.

• Armageddon forms the basis of the Erhnamgeddon control deck. It would later be included in the beginner-oriented sets Portal and Portal Second Age and functionally reprinted as Ravages of War in the Portal Three Kingdoms set, yet it was removed from the core set after Sixth Edition for being too powerful.

• Balance was initially underestimated, as were many symmetrical effects, but quickly proved to be a very powerful card and is now on the Restricted List.

• Berserk was once considered powerful enough to be added to the first Restricted List in January 1994. Berserk was removed from the Restricted List in April 2003 because it has decreased in power as a result of the variety of cards now available in Vintage. After the restriction, the card had been removed from the core set for being a "spoiler," or too good. Richard Garfield explained its absence from the Revised set in The Duelist Supplement thus: "Anything that multiplies is potentially abusive. Failure to have a Fog should not warrant 80 damage."

• Birds of Paradise has proven itself to be one of the best mana fixers ever printed.

• Black Vise was far too powerful, especially when played on the first turn, and is also found on the Restricted List.

• Braingeyser was also once considered powerful enough to be added to the Restricted List. It was removed from it in September 2004 for being expensive, slow, and worse than other cards in Vintage.

• Channel is one of many cards that is overpowered because of its ability to trade one resource for another at a low cost, in this case life for mana. It was a key component of the fabled Channel–Fireball first-turn win in combination with Black Lotus and a source of red mana.

• Chaos Orb is the first of a class of "dexterity cards" that required some physical skill to achieve maximum effect, and like all dexterity cards and ante cards, are now on the Banned List.

• Contract from Below is an insanely powerful card that allows its caster to draw 7 cards at the price of adding to the ante, but the effect is powerful enough to make the added risk very acceptable. Some even consider this the most powerful card ever printed.

• Dark Ritual enabled many black decks to accelerate powerful cards into play quickly, especially Hypnotic Specter.

• Demonic Tutor is another powerful effect with a small mana cost that has found its way onto the Restricted List.

• Fastbond, like many other cards on the Restricted List, allows a player to quickly access more mana.

• Hypnotic Specter was originally thought to be too powerful, and indeed it is powerful, but the real problem was eventually revealed to be its combination with Dark Ritual.

• Icy Manipulator was used in many control decks to slow the opponent down.

• Illusionary Mask later gained fame for its ability to get Phyrexian Dreadnought into play quickly and cheaply.

• Lightning Bolt is a very powerful (and common) direct damage spell that still sees play.

• Mind Twist proved to be very powerful, especially with all the mana acceleration available in Alpha. Like Black Vise, it quickly put an opponent at a great disadvantage and was added to the Restricted List.

• Nevinyrral's Disk was especially useful in monocolored black decks with no access to artifact and enchantment destruction.

• Red Elemental Blast is a common anti-blue card that still sees play today.

• Regrowth, like Demonic Tutor, is a powerful effect with a small mana cost, especially when combined with any number of other powerful cards and is now found on the Restricted List.

• Savannah Lions is considered one of the best White Weenie cards.

• Serra Angel was used to finish many games in control decks and is one of the iconic creatures of the game. It was once considered too powerful and left the core set for a time.

• Sinkhole, with a converted mana cost of 2, is considered to be far too cheap for the damaging effect of land destruction, especially as a common card.

• Sol Ring is yet another card great at accelerating mana and is also found on the Restricted List.

• Swords to Plowshares is the iconic white creature removal card.

• Time Vault has had numerous changes to its function in order to make it work as intended. In 2006 the function at the time led to an infinite damage combo with Flame Fusillade.

• Wheel of Fortune is on the Restricted List for the power of drawing 7 cards.

• Wrath of God has been a tournament staple since players learned that powerful symmetrical effects can be good.

Misprints

There were numerous errors in Alpha, including the accidental omission of the cards Circle of Protection: Black and Volcanic Island. Many of these errors were corrected in Beta, although most of the misspellings of Douglas Shuler's name persisted through Beta and Unlimited before finally being corrected in Revised.

• Every instance of the artist Douglas Shuler's name was misspelled as "Schuler". (These include: Animate Artifact, Benalish Hero, Circle of Protection: White, Contract from Below, Demonic Tutor, Drain Life, Drain Power, Dwarven Warriors, Force of Nature, Frozen Shade, Glasses of Urza, Hypnotic Specter, Icy Manipulator, Mountain (#292) Mountain (#293), Northern Paladin, Power Surge, Prodigal Sorcerer, Psionic Blast, Righteousness, Serra Angel, Tranquility, Unholy Strength, Unsummon, Uthden Troll, Veteran Bodyguard, Volcanic Eruption, and Weakness.)
• Birds of Paradise — there are two slashes and a space after the word "Flying" instead of a hard return.
• Circle of Protection: Red — miscredited to Anson Maddocks; it should be Mark Tedin.
• Cyclopean Tomb — printed without a mana cost; it should be four colorless.
• Death Ward — miscredited to Dan Frazier; it should be Mark Poole.
• Demonic Hordes — printed with an upkeep cost of literally "BBB" instead of three black mana symbols.
• Elvish Archers — printed with power/toughness 1/2 instead of 2/1.
• Force of Nature — printed with an upkeep cost of literally "GGGG" instead of four green mana symbols. Douglas Shuler's name was also misspelled (see above).
• Goblin Balloon Brigade — the wording for the activated ability could be interpreted to give all Goblins Flying instead of only itself, which was the original intent. The wording was changed to reflect the original intent beginning with Revised Edition.
• Goblin King — the wording gave all Goblins +1/+1 and mountainwalk, but the original intent was that this would not apply to the Goblin King itself. Beginning with Revised Edition this problem was solved by listing the Goblin King's type as "Lord"; beginning with Ninth Edition the word "Goblin" returned to the type and the wording for the ability was changed to "Other Goblins get +1/+1 and have mountainwalk."
• Orcish Artillery — printed with a mana cost of instead of .
• Orcish Oriflamme — printed with the mana cost instead of .
• Phantasmal Forces — printed with an upkeep cost of literally "U" instead of a blue mana symbol.
• Red Elemental Blast — printed as an instant instead of an interrupt.
• Rock Hydra — printed with an upkeep cost of literally "RRR" instead of three red mana symbols; also the cost to preserve a head when the Rock Hydra suffers damage is depicted as "R" instead of one red mana symbol.
• Sedge Troll — miscredited to Jeff A. Menges; it should be Dan Frazier.
• Tropical Island — miscredited to Mark Poole; it should be Jesper Myrfors.
• Unsummon— the clause reading "enchantments on creature are CARD ed" should instead read "enchantments on creature are discarded". Douglas Shuler's name was also misspelled (see above).

External links

• Alpha Product Page (old)
• Alpha Product Page (new)
• Monty Ashley (September 21, 2010). "Alpha: Setting the Record Straight". magicthegathering.com. Wizards of the Coast.