Sampler

Sample decks, samplers, or demogame packs are decks given away as a free product to advertise Magic: The Gathering. They are handed out at conventions and distributed to stores to potential new players. Starting in 2013, sample decks were also used at the yearly Magic Celebration event. Since 2016, they had been advertised as welcome decks and welcome boosters.

Starter products

Portal

Portal Demogame boosters contained 24 cards. In these boosters, six cards were printed with either flavor or reminder text different than their booster pack counterparts. Those cards are: Armored Pegasus, Bull Hippo, Cloud Pirates, Feral Shadow, Snapping Drake, and Storm Crow.

Portal Second Age

Portal Second Age Demogame boosters contained 24 cards and a tip card (same cards in every pack).

Starter 1999

Starter Demogame boosters contained 24 cards, including 8 cards from the Starter Game Box that weren't available in regular boosters. Also included were a tip card, a rebate card, and an instruction sheet. Everything two players needed to play their first Magic game.

Starter 2000

The Starter 2000 set came with both 24-card Demogame boosters and 10-card sampler packs. Cards in the sampler are:

Core sets

Seventh Edition

Each Seventh Edition 10-card sampler contained:

Eighth Edition

Eighth Edition came with both 24-card Demogame boosters and 10-card sampler packs.

Ninth Edition

Ninth Edition came with both 24-card Demogame boosters and 10-card sampler packs.

Tenth Edition

Tenth Edition was the first core set that came with 10 preconstructed theme decks with just thirty basic lands, commons and uncommons.

Sample decks (Tenth Edition)

Magic 2011 until Magic Origins

From Magic 2011 on, each core set came with the preconstructed decks first seen in Tenth Edition.^[1] Initially there were ten decklists and from Magic 2013 onwards five. They mostly contain cards from the relevant core set, although there might be a few cards sprinkled in from previous blocks.^[2]

Welcome decks

In June 2016, five monocolored 30-card ready-to-play decks became available as free sample decks at Wizards Play Network locations around the world.^[3] These were also available in Booster Battle Packs. Welcome decks are distributed for free by Wizards of the Coast, so that game stores can give them away to new or potential Magic players.^[4] The Welcome decks are renewed each year.

Other than featuring cards from recent blocks, each welcome deck also contained a selected range of reprinted cards from older sets. Those cards had unique expansion symbols and code, and were considered to be part of the set that is simultaneously released in terms of Standard's rotation.

Welcome decks (Welcome Deck 2016)
Welcome decks (Welcome Deck 2017)

Going forward in the Three-and-One Model, the welcome decks gained a stronger integration with the revamped core set, planeswalker decks and the Deck Builder's Toolkit, allowing for an easier transition between the products.^[5] They now had the same expansion symbol as the core set, and were numbered in the same system. Note that, due to the changed naming convention, there is no Welcome Deck 2018.

These Welcome Decks are traditionally one color and tend to reduce the number of concepts to learn within any one deck. Each Welcome Deck has one rare, almost always a creature, which is meant for players to see a bigger, flavorful, and more powerful card. These Welcome Decks are especially designed to be a good "first thing players see."^[6]

Welcome decks (Core Set 2019)
Welcome decks (Core Set 2020)

The revamped Welcome Decks were considered a success and in 2019 were announced to be continued in the foreseeable future.^[7] However, the were replaced by Welcome boosters in 2020.^[8]^[9]

Welcome boosters

Welcome Boosters were introduced for Core Set 2021. Each Welcome Booster for a particular set is exactly the same and contains a sample of legendaries, planeswalkers, showcase cards, and more. They also have double-sided helper cards that contain tips on how to get started, find stores, and learn a lot more about the game.^[8] Welcome boosters will be refreshed with each new Standard set to keep the cards relevant.^[10]

Welcome booster (Core Set 2021)

Duels of the Planeswalkers

Duels of the Planeswalkers 2013

With each copy of Duels of the Planeswalkers 2013 a six card sampler (or "promo pack") could be obtained by redeeming a unique code on the official Wizards Duels of the Planeswalkers site. Five cards were random Magic 2013, the sixth was an Alternate Art promo card (dependant on which system the game was purchased).^[11]