1998

The year 1998 was the sixth year of existence for Magic: The Gathering.

Events

Date	Event
	First Judge Gift cards.
Early 1998	Release of the alternate art APAC land promotional cards.
January, 29 - February, 2	Duelist Invitational in Rio de Janeiro. Won by Darwin Kastle.
Winter	Second release of Vanguard cards in the Arena League.
February	Re-release of the Microprose computergame in a special edition named Duels of the Planeswalkers.
March, 2	Release of Stronghold.
March	Start of the Gerrard's Quest comic series published by Dark Horse Comics.
March, 6-8	Pro Tour Los Angeles, won by David Price.
April, 17-19	Pro Tour New York, won by Jon Finkel.
May, 18	First opening of a Wizards of the Coast game store.
June, 15	Release of Exodus, first set to use color-coding of the expansion symbol to indicate the rarity of the cards.
June, 24	Release of Portal Second Age, another attempt to make a simplified Magic set for beginners. First and only depiction of firearms on Magic art.
July	PGI Limited, maker of the Havic: The Bothering parody set, banned from attending GenCon.
August	Release of a poker deck box by Wizards of the Coast.
August, 11	Release of Unglued, the first supplemental set to be used outside of normal Magic. The first un-set, featuring silver-bordered joke cards.
August, 12-16	1998 World Championships in Seattle. Winner is Brian Selden. Team champions: United States of America.
Autumn	Third release of Vanguard cards in the Arena League.
September, 25-27	Pro Tour Chicago, won by Dirk Baberowski.
September, 26	Prerelease events for Urza's Saga, featuring the first release of a foil card (Lightning Dragon).
October, 12	Release of Urza's Saga, the first set to replace 60-card starter decks with 75-card tournament decks. Later considered to be a Bah-roken set.
Winter	Combo Winter, too many overpowered cards and combos fill the tournament formats.
November	Release of the Anthologies box set, celebrating the fifth anniversary of Magic.
November, 13-15	Pro Tour Rome, won by Tommi Hovi.
December	The DCI bans a large amount of cards.
December	Release of the 1998 World Championship Decks.
	Player of the Year: Jon Finkel.
	Rookie of the Year: Randy Buehler.

Publications

• The Brothers' War (May)
• Rath and Storm (July)
• Planeswalker (September)
• Magic: The Gathering Official Encyclopedia - Volume 3
• The Official Guide to Portal Second Age
• The Official Guide to Urza's Saga
• Advanced Strategy Guide
• The Art of Magic: The Gathering - The Rath Cycle
• Gerrard's Quest

First involved

Wizards of the Coast

• Chaz Elliott (art director)
• Ron Spears (as art director)
• Scott Larabee (organized play)

Artists

Stronghold

• Keith Parkinson
• M.W. Kaluta
• Michael Sutfin

Exodus

• Ciruleo
• Mark Zug
• rk post

Portal Second Age

• Bradley Williams
• Cris Dornaus
• David Horne
• Henry van der Linde
• Jeffrey R. Busch
• Lubov
• Matt Stawicki
• Michael Weaver
• Sam Wood

Unglued

• Mark Rosewater

Urza's Saga

• Andrew Goldhawk
• Berry
• Brian Despain
• Christopher Moeller
• Greg Staples
• Henry G. Higgenbotham
• Mark Nelson
• Robh Ruppel
• Ron Spears
• Steve Firchow
• Tom Fleming
• Vincent Evans