What is the difference between Editions in Magic the gathering?

Question

Like the title says, is there a diffecne between edditions or something? Are some edditions banned from tournament play? I was thinking about buying a magic the gathering starter deck but i want to know whats the diffence between older and newer edditions.

Answer 1

I give up on answering this question!  I have been trying to post this thing 11mins after you opened this but it just won't send!  If this goes through I am going to be pissed.

I'll make it short if this does work.

The editions mean nothing unless you go into tournaments.  There are different tournaments that allow you to use certain editions.  There are 4 of them.

Standard: It is an up-to-date format where you're only allowed to use the newest editions (they tell you which) to construct your deck from.  After a few months, they move a few out, and put in the new ones.  This keeps people changing their decks and keeping them up-to-date.

Extended: This is pretty much every edition.  There are a few ruled out for reasons I don't know but this lets people make decks of a much larger scale, giving more possibilities.

Block: Every few editions that come out are linked together in what are called "Blocks".  For example, there is the Kamigawa Block.  Which means you are only allowed to make a deck using cards from the 3 editions of that block.  (Champions of Kamigawa, Betrayers of Kamigawa, and Saviors of Kamigawa)  There is around a dozen blocks so there are a lot of options.  If you start to make a deck using cards from the Planar Chaos edition, you then (for this format) are only allowed to make the rest of the deck with the cards from the Time Spiral Block (Planar Chaos is one of the 3 editions in the block.  Time Spiral is the name of the block).

Two-Headed Giant: 2v2 games, using any editions.  There are some cards ruled out and the gameplay is changed a little bit.  You can read up on it as you play more.

And that's it.  There are other formats but that's for the online versions.

For some quick tips, buy some of the newer editions, which would be 10the Edition, Time Spiral, Future Sight, Morningtide, Shadowmoor,  and a bunch others.  I'll give you the link to the website that'll tell you exactly the details of these formats, all the allowed editions, the cards that are restricted, and more.  Welcome to Magic and good luck!

http://www.wizards.com/default.asp?x=jud...

Answer 2

The Editions just have a different selection of cards.  They recycle cards from previous Editions and add new cards to the Editions.  7th Edition had some nice cards and interesting artwork.  Then again, 10th Edition has a good selection of cards that you can run in just any deck.

You may want to check the Restricted/Banned list if you want to know what cards are usable in tournament play.

Answer 3

In Magic, there are the core sets, which are numbered in editions (the current core set is 10th Edition). Every year, Magic releases a new expansion set, usually composed of three blocks: one large and two small. When you are buying Magic, you must be aware that you are purchasing the most recent set or the most recent core set, because each new core set replaces the old, making the old realitively useless.

The easiest and cheapest format to break into is called Type II or Standard. This format involves the two most current sets and the current core set. Right now, cards that are legal in Standard are Time Spiral, Planar Chaos, Future Sight, Lorwyn, Morningtide, Shadowmoor, Eventide, Coldsnap, and 10th Edition. This will change in October, where Time Spiral to Future Sight will “rotate” (move out of legality) and be replaced by the next set, Shards of Alara.

I hope that helped.

Answer 4

The main difference is what cards are in the sets.

As for what's banned, it depends on the format. There are formats that only allow the last few newest sets out, but there are also formats that allow every set ever printed and there are formats for everything in between.

Answer 5

Each core sets, or edition, has a basic set of (primarily utility) cards that are re-printed in that set.  Some core sets (like 10th edition) publish a larger core set of cards and more rares.  Core sets represent the basic building blocks in the MtG overall card pool, including wide-use commons, mainly creatures, and lots of basic lands.

My recommendation if you're choosing between 10th and something else would be this:

If you already have a collection and are trying to boost it, go for 10th, which has a greater variety of cards.

If you are just buying your first set of cards, go for 8th or 9th, since you'll be more likely to get a full playset (4 of the same card) to use in your new deck of more cards.

One note - if you are building for the first time, you'll want to have at least several starter boxes to build a viable deck from.

If you need help developing a deck, you're welcome to e-mail me at [e-mail] - please include the list of cards you have to work with.