Magic: Alpha in M14 Reprints, part 1

Serra Angel = Anita Ekberg /boggle

Those of you who have been following the collectible card game Magic: The Gathering since its inception in 1993 will have noticed that the overall look of the cards has changed several times over the years. Well, not the backs of the cards, otherwise you couldn't shuffle older and newer cards into the same deck without giving vital information away. Although if you can show me someone with 20-year-old cards in good enough condition that they wouldn't be immediately distinguishable from cards out of a just-opened pack, I'll show you someone who can sell those cards for A LOT of money.

The first major visual changes to a Core Set corresponded to the first major rules changes of Classic Sixth Edition (which welcomed the stack), six years after the release of the first (Alpha) edition. Card types were clarified ("Creature" spells replaced "Summon" spells), expansion symbols and collectors' numbers were added, and basic lands had everything in their text box replaced by a gigantic mana symbol. Four years later, corresponding to the tenth anniversary of Alpha's release, Eighth Edition became the first core set to be printed with the "modern" layout: the font was changed from the ornate Goudy Medieval to the more standard Matrix Bold, the border was reduced, and each text box got a clear border. Tenth Edition in 2007 was the first core set since Beta to be printed with black borders, and that visual style has persisted ever since, even when Wizards started releasing a core set every year instead of every other year.

There is purportedly another change coming up with the release of Magic 2015 in July of this year - I know the math doesn't quite add up, but I guess you just have to think of Magic sets like new car models. From what I've heard, the font will change (to an in-house one this time, called Beleren, after the original Blue Planeswalker) and the border will shrink. Just when I had planned to take a break from the game after the Theros block resolved, Wizards had to put just enough change on the stack to keep me interested. You see, I'm what you might call an amateur Magic historian. So in light of this upcoming never-before-seen layout change, I'd like to take a look back at the most enduring cards in the game, by analyzing (in a two-part post) the 12 cards from the original Alpha set that have been reprinted in the most recent and (for the moment) still active Core Set - Magic 2014.

M14 marked the first reprint of Blessing beyond the Alpha-Beta-Unlimited-Revised-Fourth Edition situation (I know that's technically five editions, but again with the confusing math), which means it gets its first ever new artwork. (Side note: based on my admittedly non-comprehensive research, none of the artwork from the original Alpha cards remains in any modern legal reprint. I don't know off the top of my head what the oldest art is to still survive - my guess would be Pacifism, originally from Mirage - but that's definitely a project I'd be excited to take on at a later date.) The M14 version of Blessing is also its first printing to include rules text that clearly defines what the card does - according to the Alpha rules, you should be able to tap one white mana (abbreviated as {W}) to give ANY target creature +1/+1. The Fourth Edition text was close, but still needlessly complicated: "Target creature Blessing enchants gets +1/+1 until end of turn." More importantly, the reprint introduces us to a new character via flavor text, Ardanna of the Angelic Council, who will surely take the Magic world by storm.

Ah, the original Serra Angel, arguably the hottest chick ever represented on a Magic card (see comparison with La Dolce Vita above). Not much has changed on this card except for the addition of the Vigilance keyword ability to replace "Does not tap when attacking" or "Attacking does not cause Serra Angel to tap" as it appeared in Revised and Fourth edition. In contrast to Blessing, the first ever Creature with the Angel subtype has been reprinted in every edition since Seventh (she got her current art in Ninth Edition, with Seventh and Eighth using an alternate version), plus the Divine vs. Demonic Duel Deck and the first Commander casual supplement.

The Alpha set included 10 creatures of the Wall subtype, three of which have been reprinted in the yearly core set era starting in 2010: Wall of Bone (M10), Wall of Fire (M10 and M13), and Wall of Swords (M14). Originally it was a characteristic of the type Wall that it could not attack, but starting in Tenth Edition (the last set in which Angelic Wall appeared, the first time with its current art), that characteristic was removed, and each Wall was errata'd to include the keyword ability "Defender" in the rules text, with a parenthetical reminder. This change likely happened so that a creature could be a Changeling (i.e. every creature type at all times, introduced in Lorwyn, the block immediately following Tenth Edition) and still attack as normal.

Speaking of Changelings - all of which have the Shapeshifter creature type - Clone was errata'd in Ninth Edition (where it also got its current art) to be a Shapeshifter, after being referred to merely as "Clone" even through its Onslaught printing, after "Summon" had been replaced with "Creature." Of all the cards on this list, Clone is possibly the best example of how the expression of Magic's rules have evolved over time. The card's ability seems pretty basic, but in the game's infancy it took a lot of complicated verbiage to explain - 47 words in all. The new errata'd version has been streamlined to 16 words that actually cover more situations than the original (i.e. the possibility of Clone working in multiplayer matches) AND allow enough space for some cool flavor text.

Remember Classic Sixth Edition that I referenced before? Well, that's the last time Spell Blast was reprinted, which means it was one of the first card types to be changed from "Interrupt" to "Instant" in the big time rules change. I once read (and agree with) the criticism that you don't want to be paying MORE mana to counter an opponent's spell than the player paid to cast the spell to begin with, but sometimes it's better to have the option to make a spell not to come into play than not, even at an exorbitant cost. Also, I have the suspicion that Wizards just put this card in the core set to have an excuse to explain the concept of converted mana cost in a parenthetical reminder (cf. Strionic Resonator and triggered abilities). Rules Change of Note: the change from the passive voice ("Target spell is countered") to the imperative ("Counter target spell...").

Nightmare is one of those cards where a pun seemingly unsuspectingly became an official part of the game's rules, although now it's a little less pointed with the addition of Horse to its creature type. The first of the 21 creatures with the same type that now exist is back from a three year absence after not missing one core set since the very beginning! He definitely went out on top, being the featured foil rare in a Magic 2010 intro pack, but now he's back and with new artwork to boot. With mono black devotion being a working archetype these days - the Born of the Gods event deck was based around the Gray Merchant of Asphodel ability.

Back next time with the final six!