Alpha

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Alpha
 
Trivia
 
Limited Edition
Alpha
[[File:{{#setmainimage:MTG.jpg}}|250px]]
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 Multiverse
Themes and mechanics Magic: The Gathering,
Ante, Dexterity cards
Keywords/​ability words Banding, First strike, Flying, Landwalk, Protection, Regeneration, Trample
Set size 295 cards
(74 commons, 95 uncommons, 116 rares, 10 basic lands)
Expansion code LEA[2]
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.[3][4]

Alpha is actually a nickname, but widely accepted as the name for this print run of Limited Edition.[5]

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).[6]

Alpha cards can easily be distinguished from Beta and all other cards by their more rounded corners. The radius of these corner was about 2 mm instead of the 1 mm which has been standard since then.[7] 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that all cards must appear unmarked without the use of protective sleeves, and the unique corners of Alpha cards originally made them marked cards in a deck not entirely comprised of Alpha cards.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.[8][9]

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.[10][11] 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 modern 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.[12] Many cards and abilities were phrased in a looser way, sometimes describing abilities in flavorful rather than mechanical terms, which resulted in convoluted rules text when converted into more modern and precise rules templating.

Marketing

Alpha booster.
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. Cards were available from late August 1993 through late September 1993.[7]

The 32-page rulebook (added to the starter decks) had Bog Wraith on the cover and contained "Worzel's Story" by Richard Garfield.[6]

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. Additionally, flavor text described the character of many people and places of Dominaria and elsewhere, and additional names were established in Alpha that were later expanded upon in further stories and expansions, notably Urza and Mishra among others.

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 {W} {U} {B} {R} {G}
Basic lands Plains Island Swamp Mountain Forest
The five basic lands were introduced in Limited Edition.
Moxes Mox Pearl Mox Sapphire Mox Jet Mox Ruby Mox Emerald
Each of these rare artifacts has a mana cost of {0} and "{T}: Add M".
Laces Purelace Thoughtlace Deathlace Chaoslace Lifelace
Each of these rare instants permanently changes the color of a permanent.
Boons Healing Salve Ancestral Recall Dark Ritual Lightning Bolt Giant Growth
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.
Lucky charms Ivory Cup Crystal Rod Throne of Bone Iron Star Wooden Sphere
Each of these uncommon artifacts has a triggered ability that allows the controller pay {1} to gain 1 life when a spell of a given color is cast.
Top-down cycle Island Sanctuary Stasis Word of Command Sedge Troll Birds of Paradise
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.[13]
Wards White Ward Blue Ward Black Ward Red Ward Green Ward
Each of these uncommon white Auras with enchant creature grants protection from a given color.

Vertical cycles

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

Pairs

Alpha has 26 mirrored pairs.

Mirrored Pairs Description
Ankh of Mishra
({C}) 		Dingus Egg
({C}) 		Rare artifacts that deal damage when a land enters or leaves the battlefield.
Air Elemental
({U}) 		Earth Elemental
({R}) 		Uncommon Elemental creatures that each have a mana cost of {3}MM and a power of 4.
Benalish Hero
({W}) 		Timber Wolves
({G}) 		1/1 creatures with banding and a mana cost of M.
Castle
({W}) 		Orcish Oriflamme
({R}) 		Uncommon enchantments that conditionally affect its owner's creature's power or toughness.
Crusade
({W}) 		Bad Moon
({B}) 		Rare enchantments with a converted mana cost of 2 and an effect to give all creatures of its color +1/+1.
White Knight
({W}) 		Black Knight
({B}) 		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
({U}) 		Red Elemental Blast
({R}) 		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
({U}) 		Cyclopean Tomb
({C}) 		Rare sorceries that cause target player to draw or discard cards.
Gaea's Liege
({G}) 		Mind Twist
({B}) 		Rare cards with an activated ability that can permanently change a land's type.
Deathgrip
({B}) 		Lifeforce
({G}) 		Uncommon enchantments with an activated ability to counter a spell of the other's color for MM.
Earthquake
({R}) 		Hurricane
({G}) 		Sorceries that have a mana cost of {X}M and deal {X} damage to all non-flying or flying creatures and each player.
Fear
({B}) 		Invisibility
({U}) 		Common Auras that make the enchanted creature more difficult to block.
Feedback
({U}) 		Wanderlust
({G}) 		Uncommon Auras that deal 1 damage to the controller of the enchanted permanent during each of their upkeeps.
Water Elemental
({U}) 		Fire Elemental
({R}) 		Uncommon elementals with a mana cost of 3MM and a power/toughness of 5/4.
Holy Strength
({W}) 		Unholy Strength
({B}) 		Common auras with enchant creature that give a mirrored bonus to the enchanted creature's power/toughness.
Living Lands
({G}) 		Kormus Bell
({C}) 		Rare cards that turned lands of a particular type into 1/1 creatures.
Lord of Atlantis
({U}) 		Goblin King
({R}) 		Rare lords that give +1/+1 and landwalk of its color to its creature type.
Manabarbs
({R}) 		Power Surge
({R}) 		Rare red enchantments that deal damage to a player based on the number of lands they do or don't tap.
Mons's Goblin Raiders
({R}) 		Merfolk of the Pearl Trident
({U}) 		1/1 common creatures with creature types that are affected by their respective lords (e.g., Goblin King and Lord of Atlantis).
Phantom Monster
({U}) 		Roc of Kher Ridges
({R}) 		3/3 creatures with flying and a mana cost of {3}M.
Serra Angel
({W}) 		Sengir Vampire
({B}) 		Uncommon 4/4 flying creatures with a mana cost of {3}MM and a combat-related ability.
Smoke
({R}) 		Winter Orb
({C}) 		Both allow players to only untap one of a type of permanent each turn.
Timetwister
({U}) 		Wheel of Fortune
({R}) 		Rare sorceries that cause all players to draw a new hand of 7 cards.
Tsunami
({G}) 		Flashfires
({R}) 		Uncommon sorceries that have a mana cost of {3}M and destroy lands of a particular enemy type.
Wall of Bone
({B}) 		Wall of Brambles
({G}) 		Walls with regeneration and a mana cost of {2}M and a combined power/toughness of 5.
Wall of Water
({U}) 		Wall of Fire
({R}) 		0/5 walls illustrated by Richard Thomas with a silhouetted 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.[14]
  • The original ten dual lands are some of the most powerful and valuable lands ever printed.
  • 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."
  • 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.
  • 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.
  • 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.
  • 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.
  • 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.
  • 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.
  • Wrath of God has been a tournament staple since players learned that powerful symmetrical effects can be good.[15]

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.

Trivia

Main article: Alpha/Trivia

References

  1. ↑ Wizards of the Coast (August 02, 2004). "Ask Wizards - August, 2004". magicthegathering.com. Wizards of the Coast.
  2. ↑ [1]
  3. ↑ Magic: Limited Edition — Crystal Keep
  4. ↑ Alpha, Beta, and Unlimited Editions — Wizards of the Coast
  5. ↑ Wizards of the Coast (June 2, 2008). "Ask Wizards, June 2008". magicthegathering.com. Wizards of the Coast.
  6. ↑ a b John Carter (December 25, 2004). "The Original Magic Rulebook". magicthegathering.com. Wizards of the Coast.
  7. ↑ a b Stephen D'Angelo (February 2, 1999) "Card Rulings Summary". Usenet.
  8. ↑ Magic Arcana (October 31, 2002). ""Revising" the base set". magicthegathering.com. Wizards of the Coast.
  9. ↑ a b Mark Rosewater (February 16, 2009). "25 Random Things About Magic". magicthegathering.com. Wizards of the Coast.
  10. ↑ Magic Arcana (April 10, 2002). "Alpha "Oops…" III". magicthegathering.com. Wizards of the Coast.
  11. ↑ Magic Arcana (July 12, 2002). "Alpha "Oops…" V". magicthegathering.com. Wizards of the Coast.
  12. ↑ Tom LaPille (June 19, 2009). "Developing Alpha". magicthegathering.com. Wizards of the Coast.
  13. ↑ Magic Arcana (June 13, 2003). "Alpha Top-Down cards". magicthegathering.com. Wizards of the Coast.
  14. ↑ Magic Arcana (October 15, 2003). "The Power Nine". magicthegathering.com. Wizards of the Coast.
  15. ↑ Mark Rosewater (February 21, 2005). "Design of the Times". magicthegathering.com. Wizards of the Coast.
  16. ↑ Magic Arcana (May 15, 2002). "Alpha "Oops…" IV". magicthegathering.com. Wizards of the Coast.
  17. ↑ Magic Arcana (October 4, 2002). "Alpha "Oops…" VII". magicthegathering.com. Wizards of the Coast.
  18. ↑ a b Magic Arcana (February 1, 2002). "Alpha "Oops..."". magicthegathering.com. Wizards of the Coast.
  19. ↑ a b Magic Arcana (September 22, 2009). "Alpha Typos". magicthegathering.com. Wizards of the Coast.
  20. ↑ a b Magic Arcana (February 25, 2002). "Alpha "Oops..." II". magicthegathering.com. Wizards of the Coast.
  21. ↑ Magic Arcana (September 12, 2002). "Alpha "Oops…" VI". magicthegathering.com. Wizards of the Coast.
  22. ↑ Magic Arcana (March 30, 2004). "Alpha Red Elemental Blast". magicthegathering.com. Wizards of the Coast.

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