Promotional cards

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Promotional cards are ones that are not normally found in core or expansion sets. They can be obtained through giveaways, redemption programs or other such non-traditional sources. The following is a list of Magic promotional cards not from core or expansion sets:

Contents

[edit] Alternate-art land promos

[edit] APAC lands

APAC (Asia-Pacific) lands are alternate art lands that were available to people living in the Asia-Pacific region. The cards were available in three packs: red, blue, and clear. These packs were given to purchasers of boxes of Tempest boosters. The artwork features scenes from around the Asia-Pacific region.

See also APAC land.

[edit] Euro lands

Euro lands are alternate art lands that were available to people living in Europe. Their artwork features scenes from around this region. The cards were available in three packs: blue, red, and purple. These packs were given to European purchasers of boxes of Nemesis, Prophecy, and Invasion boosters. The bar code of a booster box had to be cut out and mailed to the appropriate Magic distributor in each country to receive one land booster.

[edit] Guru lands

The Guru program was initiated by Wizards of the Coast on July 12, 1999 to promote Magic more effectively. Participants in the Guru program received a Guru kit which included a Guru book to explain how the program worked, personalized Guru labels, new player referral postcards, and Magic Guru referral cards which looked like a real Magic card. Additionally, special Demogame boosters of Starter level Magic sets and playmats were added. The design of the Guru book changed over time.

Gurus could report new players by sending in one of the new player referral postcards, filled out by the new player and individualized by one of the Guru labels. The new player was then registered in a database and the Guru received 1 Guru point for his work. Additionally both the Guru and the new player were entered into a contest with quarterly prize schedules. Gurus could win a booster box of the current expert level set, new players had a chance to win a $ 100 US gift certificate which could be redeemed at selected stores.

Gurus could also recruit new Gurus by giving them one of the Magic Guru referral cards, personalized with a Guru label. The new Guru could add them to his Guru kit order. If he did, both the referred and the referring Guru received 5 Guru points.

For every 10 Guru points, the Guru received one randomly chosen Guru land and one booster of the latest expert level Magic set. Wizards of the Coast kept a record which lands had been rewarded to insure that after 50 Guru points each Guru had a complete set of Guru lands.

Each of the Guru lands were illustrated by Terese Nielsen. The lands show five stages of a "double eclipse."

The Guru program was discontinued on February 27, 2001.

[edit] External links

[edit] Celebration cards

[edit] Richard Garfield cards

Richard Garfield created a card called Proposal for his marriage proposal to Lily Wu. There are nine copies of this card in existence. He later created a card to celebrate each of the births of his children (Splendid Genesis and Fraternal Exaltation).

[edit] 1996 World Champion

The unique card 1996 World Champion was given to Tom Chanpheng of Australia for winning the 1996 World Championship. The card is encased in lucite, apparently floating above a silver globe. In 2001 it was sold to a private collector. One sheet of this card was printed, but all other copies including printing plates were ceremonially destroyed. Vidoetapes of the destruction were shown at the Championship. Rumor has it that artist proofs of this card exist.

See also 1996 World Championship (deck).


[edit] Shichifukujin Dragon

The unique card Shichifukujin Dragon was created to celebrate the opening of the Japan DCI Tournament Center in Tokyo, Japan. All copies except for one were destroyed. The remaining Shichifukujin Dragon has been encased at the Tournament Center for public view together with the original artwork of the card. The Tournament Center was closed on February 28, 2003, and the card was moved to the Hobby Japan Head Office where it currently resides. Shichifukujin is the name of the Seven Deities of Good Fortune of Japanese mythology [1].

[edit] Event cards

[edit] Dragon Con

The Dragon*Con is a famous convention in Atlanta, Georgia, USA for fans of fantasy, science-fiction, and horror genres. In July 1994, visitors were given a postcard voucher which could be mailed in and redeemed for a Nalathni Dragon promotional card. The card was sent in October 1994, along with a certificate of authenticity. Originally, the card was announced with a print run of 10,000 and was supposed to be available exclusively for attendants of the convention, but due to complaints about the limited availability and to stem price gouging, the print run was increased, and the card was additionally distributed in issue #3 of the The Duelist magazine and in issue #4 of the The Duelist Companion magazine. There also exists a Japanese version which has been distributed in one of the Wizards of the Coast Redemption Programs. As a result of the DragonCon card controversy, Wizards of the Coast stopped releasing functionally unique "promotional" cards.

[edit] Grand prix cards

The Magic: The Gathering Grand Prix tournament series is an international circuit of large-scale Qualifier tournaments featuring $30,000 in cash prizes, invitations to the Pro Tour for the top 16 finishers, and exclusive foil promo cards for participants. Starting in 2007 a promotional card was given to all visitors of any Grand Prix in that year's Cycle upon presentation of their DCI number.

[edit] Magic game day cards

2007 participants received a special commemorative foil card of Reya Dawnbringer, while supplies last. This event was in commemoration of the release of 10th Edition.

[edit] Pro tour promos

Given to all visitors of any Pro Tour in that year's Cycle upon presentation of their DCI number.

[edit] Worlds cards

  • Side events participation bonus at 1999 World Championships in Yokohama — Balduvian Horde

[edit] Gift cards

[edit] Happy Holidays cards

The Happy Holidays cards are tournament-prohibited fun cards in foil, which were given out to Wizards’ internal teams and business partners.

[edit] External links

[edit] Judge Gift cards

The Judge Gift cards were handed out or mailed to judges for judging at magic tournaments and events. All of the cards are foil.

See also Judge Gift cards.

[edit] Media inserts

[edit] Armada comic book inserts

The Shadow Mage is a four part mini-series comic book published in 1994 by Armada Comics, an imprint of Acclaim Comics. The first two issues include special printings of Magic cards. These cards are identical to 4th Edition cards but have a copyright date of 1994 rather than 1995, like regular 4th Edition cards.

[edit] Coro Coro comic book insert

Coro Coro is a comic book published in Japan. It is famous for its fair number of Pokémon promotional cards included.

[edit] Gotta magazine inserts

Gotta is a Japanese magazine aimed to cover all sorts of free-time activities of younger people, like comics, sports, and games. It debuted in December 1999 with a special introductory issue, with regular issues starting in January 2000. The magazine series has published four promotional Magic cards over time, one of them featuring alternate art. The cards are white-bordered and have a special backside.

[edit] HarperPrism book coupon redemption

HarperPrism, an imprint of Harper Collins, published ten Magic: The Gathering novels, starting with the first named Arena in September 1994. The first five of them had a coupon on the last page which could be sent to Harper Prism to get a free card. While in the first four novels the rewarded card (or in the case of Arena, two cards) was fixed, HarperPrism used the fifth novel to distribute the remaining cards randomly while supply lasted. The cards were available in English, Italian, French, Portuguese, and Spanish, with the Spanish set erroneously printed with white borders. The books were also available in German but were not distributed by HarperPrism and therefore have no cards associated with them. The Italian book cycle was discontinued after the second novel due to poor sales.

Novel Name Mail-in Promo Card(s)
ArenaArena or Sewers of Estark
Whispering WoodsWindseeker Centaur
Shattered ChainsGiant Badger
Final SacrificeMana Crypt
The Cursed LandOne of the above

In Peeking in the Black Box a card named "Curse of Nazir" was mentioned. This has been confirmed to be only an April's Fool.[1]

[edit] Kartefakt inserts

Kartefakt is the most popular German trading card magazine. After three prerelease issues its first regular issue debuted in July 1995, and the magazine has been released bimonthly thereafter. During all the years it has managed to outlive all other trading card magazines in Germany. Aside from the main Kartefakt series, two Special issues have been published which both focus on Magic.

The Jamuraan Lion from Visions is unique in its way that all non-English versions, including the German one, have a differently cropped image compared to the English version.

[edit] Player's guide inserts

The Official Player's Guide to Mercadian Masques is the first of a series of player's guides for every new expert level set. It was available as part of the Mercadian Masques Fat Pack, which is the first Fat Pack in existence, and for subscribers of the The Duelist magazine. Unofficially, this guide is referred to as The Duelist issue #42. Player's Guides from Nemesis to Invasion were also available in different issues of the TopDeck magazine.

  • Official Player's Guide to Mercadian Masques addition — Mercadian Masques Warmonger


[edit] The Duelist inserts

The Duelist was the first official Wizards of the Coast magazine released in Fall 1993 and soon evolved into a comprehensive source of information for all Wizards of the Coast products and related topics. Starting as a highly artistic magazine, over time it lost some of its aesthetic appeal. Due to the increasing popularity of the internet and its inherent advantages, The Duelist was discontinued after 41 issues in September 1999.

The card Nalathni Dragon was supposed to be available exclusively for attendants of the Dragon Con convention, but due to complaints about the limited availability and to stem price gouging, the print run was increased, and the card was additionally distributed in issue #3 of the The Duelist magazine and in issue #4 of the The Duelist Companion magazine.

The alternate art version of Scent of Cinder from Urza's Destiny, illustrated by Carl Critchlow, was created to be a giveaway in the Duelist magazine. The card was included in every issue of Duelist #39, which was released in July 1999. This alternate version was given a collector number of "96a/143."


[edit] Top Deck inserts

In December 1999, Wizards of the Coast published a magazine named TopDeck. It was dedicated to trading card games, while other Wizards of the Coast magazines covered other parts of their product line. However, due to the increasing popularity of the internet and its inherent advantages, TopDeck ceased production in February 2001 with issue #15.

Issue #14 features a Starter 2000 Sampler pack which includes nine standard Sixth Edition cards and a Spined Wurm without expansion symbol.

Some issues of the TopDeck magazine included a player's guide for specific Magic sets.

[edit] Membership incentives

[edit] DCI legend membership promos

The DCI, the Duelists' Convocation International, is an organization which administers the whole tournament structure of Wizards of the Coast games. Founded in September 1993, the DCI, at that time named Duelists' Convocation, offered two different membership levels: The free Mana membership and the $30 US Legend membership. While the Mana membership was sufficient to participate in DCI sanctioned tournaments, the Legend membership provided some additional items:


[edit] Oversize cards

[edit] 6x9 cards

Most of the 6x9 cards were distributed in the Arena League between 1997 to 1999. Changing with every Arena League season, they were awarded for the best four placements for each season and as a special prize chosen by the organizers of each season. Additionally, some cards were given out as a participation bonus. Participation cards were given out at the beginning of each season, prize cards at the end of each season. As before, player rankings were determined by a complex point system similar to the DCI ranking and match reports had to be sent to Wizards of the Coast by every store where they were analyzed and player ranks were calculated. This system was replaced with a much simpler system beginning in 1999. Along with the renaming of the Arena League into Arena Outpost League, players received 2 points for winning a match and 1 point for losing a match. Points were now organized by each store separately.

Due to a continually decreasing popularity, oversized cards were discontinued after the Radiant 1999 season.

[edit] 9x12 cards

These cards measure about 9" x 12" / 23 x 32 cm. They were used to advertise Magic in general and different Magic sets in specific. They feature holes which facilitate hanging them up.

  1. 6th Edition — Raging Goblin
  2. Nemesis — Ascendant Evincar
  3. Nemesis — Rhox
Obliterate - World Championships participation bonus
Obliterate - World Championships participation bonus

[edit] Box-topper cards

In order to commemorate the tenth anniversary of Magic, Wizards of the Coast decided to add to Eighth Edition one card of every set which had never been reprinted before, including the HarperPrism book promos, but excluding Unglued. With the exception of the cards originating from Starter and the reprinted HarperPrism promo card Giant Badger, these cards were also produced in an oversized version, measuring about 4" x 6" (11 x 15 cm). One random card was added to each box of Eighth Edition boosters which gave them their name "box topper" cards. Six of them were used as give-aways at shows and conventions over the summer of 2003. Ninth Edition also had Box Topper cards but not as many as Eighth Edition.

See also Box-topper.


[edit] Vanguard

Vanguard cards are oversized character cards, measuring about 3.5" × 5" / 9 x 12.5 cm which are set aside at the beginning of the game. They modify the maximum hand size and the starting life point total and grant additional abilities throughout the game.

See also Vanguard.

[edit] Special purpose reprints

[edit] Hobby Japan commemorative cards

In July 2002 Magic the Gathering had its sixth anniversary in Japan. To commemorate the event, Hobby Japan, the local Magic distributor in Japan and organizer of the Japanese tournament environment, published five cards selected from the Ice Age block which were not otherwise available in Japanese because the first expansion printed in Japanese was Mirage. They were distributed via a mail-in program until 30 September 2002. Nine bar codes of Japanese 7th Edition, Odyssey or Torment boosters had to be cut out and sent in to receive one randomly selected present card. These cards were: Goblin Mutant, Ihsan's Shade, Krovikan Vampire, Surge of Strength and Yavimaya Ants.

[edit] External links


[edit] Redemption program cards

The Redemption Program is created by Wizards of the Coast to appease customers in the case of major product flaw occurs. This program has been invoked four times:

  1. Due to a sorting error in June 1994, prior to packaging, all uncommon Legends cards were divided into two groups. As a result, whole booster boxes were filled with duplicates of only one group of uncommon cards. In response, Wizards of the Coast published a list of all affected cards in The Duelist magazine issue #2 and offered to replace sent-in cards from one group with the same amount of cards from the other group, chosen by the customer. No more than two copies of a card could be sent in, and the offer was limited to 100 cards per person.
  2. Caused by a printing error in October 1996, the Japanese Mirage set was missing the card Flood Plain. In its place an extra Crystal Vein was printed. Wizards of the Coast offered a replacement: For two sent-in Japanese Crystal Veins, the customer received one Japanese Crystal Vein and a Japanese Flood Plain. Additionally a Japanese Nalathni Dragon was added as a bonus card.
  3. In a similar case in September 1999, the Spanish Mercadian Masques set was missing the card Eye of Ramos. In its place an additional Worry Beads card was printed. As a method of redemption, Wizards of the Coast offered to replace sent-in Spanish Worry Beads with Spanish Eye of Ramos cards.
  4. Because of the high quantity of banned cards in the Standard tournament environment during the Tempest and Urza block area, in April 1998 Wizards of the Coast activated their Redemption Program for the fourth time. Customers could send in all banned rare cards of both expert level blocks, in specific Earthcraft, Dream Halls, Mind over Matter, Recurring Nightmare, Fluctuator, Time Spiral, Tolarian Academy, and Memory Jar, and received one booster pack of the same set the banned card originated from per card.


[edit] Wizards of the Coast online store cards

On May 16th, 1997, Wizards of the Coast opened an online store which allowed customers to buy their products directly over the internet. In order to promote sales and to win customers for the online store, a temporary reward program was initialized in 1999. For each purchased Mercadian Masques booster box, the buyer was presented a Serra Angel foil card while supply lasted.

In July 2002, Wizards of the Coast decided to outsource their online shop to Sean Vanderdasson, former Wizards of the Coast employee and owner of the online store SVGames.

[edit] Tournament promos

[edit] Arena league promos

Arena League debuted at Origins on July 4, 1996. The league was introduced to close the gap between casual and professional play, offering a possibility to play competitively in public without the pressure of participation requirements or ranking issues. Arena League tournaments are organized by registered store owners all over the globe. The choice of formats is completely at their disposal to allow casual formats which will attract less competitive players.

In order to increase the attractiveness of joining the league, promotional cards are given out. In 1996, participants received one of five alternate art basic lands randomly at the beginning of each season. The best player of a season was additionally given an alternate art Disenchant, the second best player was awarded an alternate art Fireball. These prize cards were given out at the end of each season. Player ranks were determined by a complex ranking system similar to the DCI ranking. Players had to sign up and were assigned a member card with a membership number. All matches had to be reported to Wizards of the Coast by every store where they were analyzed and player ranks were calculated. This system prevailed for six seasons which were given names: Summer 96 starting at the 2nd of August, Harvest 96 starting the 20th of September, Autumn 96 starting the 8th of November, Winter 97 starting the 3rd of January, Tempest 97 starting the 21st of February, and Spring 97 starting the 11th of April. Uncut sheets depicting all cards were awarded to judges helping to organize the events.

Starting with the Radiant 97 season, oversized cards replaced the alternate art cards, but the basics of the prize system did not change. During this period of the Arena League, four seasons spread over the years 1997, 1998, and 1999 were assigned to a special format named Vanguard which needed specially created character cards for play.

With the successful introduction of foil cards into the world of Magic, the prize structure was changed again after the Radiant 99 season. At the end of each season, the two top-ranked players and a randomly chosen player with at least 30 points were rewarded with a promotional foil card. Furthermore, every player who managed to collect 15 or more points during the season received one foil basic land. Points were awarded for winning (2 points) and losing (1 point) matches. Over the years, some of the land cards were reissued. This first era of promotional foil cards ended in disarray in 2002 when a cycle of foil Limited Edition basic lands was aborted midway, already released promo cards were reissued and during the last season starting at October the 14th, Friday Night Magic promo cards Jackal Pup and Quirion Ranger were given out as prize cards instead of Arena League promo cards.

Starting with 2003, the Arena League introduced yet another prize schedule. Seasons were now synchronized with the release of new expert level sets and could be held until the release of the next set. After each season, the 20 players with the most points were rewarded with a randomly chosen alternate art basic land out of a set of five issued for the whole year. Players with the 10 topmost scores were awarded with an Arena League foil prize card changing with each season. The two highest ranked players were presented a special Arena League life counter. Points were again collected by winning (2 points) and losing (1 point) matches.

The prize system was slightly altered starting with the special Unhinged Arena League season at the end of 2004. Henceforth, prize cards are given out immediately after a certain requirement is met. For collecting 8 tick marks, a player is given one randomly chosen non-foil alternate art basic land. For collecting 16 tick marks, he is given a promotional foil card. Further cards may be handed out for additional tick marks at the discretion of the tournament organizer. Tick marks can be collected by winning (you gain 2 tick marks) and by losing (you gain 1 tick mark) a match. Tick mark counters are reset with the beginning of a new season. The Unhinged season was special because alternate art Unhinged cards were given out instead of basic lands and because it partially overlapped with the Champions of Kamigawa season.

For unknown reasons, during the Guildpact season in 2006, two prize cards, Castigate and Wee Dragonauts, were given out instead of one. The exact distribution of these cards was left to the tournament organizer.

Due to a sorting error, the promotional cards Pouncing Jaguar, Rewind, Skittering Skirge, Duress, and Karn, Silver Golem were additionally distributed in English Urza's Destiny booster packs in place of uncommon cards.

[edit] Champs/States promos

The card prizes for Champs 2007 included:

  • Special frame participation promotional card for all attendees while supplies lasted
  • Special frame Top 8 foil promotional card for the Top 8 players.

The card prizes for States 2007 included:

  • Special frame participation promotional card for all attendees while supplies lasted
  • Special frame Top 8 foil promotional card for the Top 8 players.


[edit] Friday Night Magic promos

The Friday Night Magic program was created to offer a low-level DCI sanctioned tournament environment. Every Friday in registered shops all over the world, small tournaments with at least eight people are held by the shop owners. Participants compete against each other in Standard Constructed, Sealed Deck, Booster Draft formats. Three participants are given a special foil card which is rotated monthly: the winner of the tournament, the fairest player, and a random participant who has not been rewarded with a prize card already.

Starting with 2005, the prize system was slightly changed. Now four copies of the monthly prize card are given out, one to the top-ranking player, one to the second-best player, and two to random participants who have not been rewarded with a prize card already.

Unlike the other cards, the foil alternate art Disenchant was not supposed to be a Friday Night Magic promotional card. It had been printed in 2000, probably at that time supposed to be a future judge reward card like its cousin, the foil alternate art Counterspell. Due to internal conflicts between different departments of Wizards of the Coast, the card was never scheduled, though, and lay dormant for years. A few copies were leaked to the public at that time, fetching exorbitant prices. In 2003, the prize card for March, a foil Crystalline Sliver, was unexpectedly skipped, allegedly because it has been stolen. As an intermediary solution, upcoming prize cards were moved up one month ahead of schedule, but since the new card layout was not supposed to debut before the release of Eighth Edition, the foil alternate art Disenchant was eventually released in July 2003 to fill the gap.

See also FNM promo.


[edit] Gateway promos

The Gateway Organized Play program was a program by Wizards to send promotional cards to players for participating in tournaments at local stores. In October 2008 The Magic Gateway-program has come to an end and was replaced by a new program called the "Wizards Play Network".

See also Gateway promos.


[edit] Magic Player Rewards

The Magic Player Rewards program was set up by Wizards of the Coast to promote play in DCI tournaments. Promotional cards were sent to eligible players based on the number of DCI-sanctioned tournaments they participate in.

See also Magic Player Rewards.

[edit] Prerelease cards

Prerelease Tournaments are held about two weeks prior to the release of a new Magic set in selected card stores all over the world. Participants play a Sealed Deck tournament, using cards from a number of booster packs from the new expansion plus a few boosters and a tournament pack from preceding expansions of the current expansion block. Winners of the tournament receive additional boosters and sometimes other Magic products at the discretion of the tournament organizer. In addition, since the release of Tempest, all participants are awarded a promotional prerelease card which is an altered version of a rare card from the new expansion set.

See also Prerelease cards.


[edit] Release event cards

Starting with Unhinged, a new series of Release Events was introduced in North and South America at the end of 2004. These events are held the weekend next to the street release date of new Magic sets. Like in prerelease tournaments, participants compete in a Sealed Deck environment, utilizing the new cards. A promotional version of a card from the the card set is given out to the first 32 participants. In addition to that, additional booster packs and a life counter are rewarded to the top-ranking players. In other countries, the Release Event card is sometimes given out as participation bonus at additional prerelease tournaments held the weekend after the global prerelease tournaments have taken place.

The Rukh Egg can be considered the first Release Event card, not only commemorating the release of the Eighth Edition card set, but also commemorating the tenth anniversary of Magic itself. Consequently, all Eighth Edition release tournaments were named Global Celebration tournaments and were held in card stores around the world on the weekend before the official release of Eighth Edition.

In order to commemorate the release of Russian Magic cards, for the Ninth Edition Release Events in Russia, Ukraine, and Belarus, a Russian Shivan Dragon promotional card was given out to participants instead of the Force of Nature promo issued everywhere else.

See also Release event cards.

[edit] References

  1. ↑ "Inside "You Decide!"", by Scott Johns, MTG.com, Monday, April 5, 2004.

[edit] External links

Retrieved from "http://wiki.mtgsalvation.com/article/Promotional_cards"
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