Magic Cards
Core Sets
1990's
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Early 1990's
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Core Sets of the 1990's (102)

The torrid pace of releasing core sets (then known as base sets) continued through 1994 as demand for magic cards seemed insatiable: after releasing an alpha (LEA) and beta version (LEB) of the Limited Edition and an Unlimited Edition (2ED) of substantially the same cards within 4 months, a Revised Edition was developed and released another 4 months later with rules changes and new cards. Very quickly thereafter, the first foreign language Revised cards were released to capture an international market (now known as Foreign Black Border). Three months later, the Revised Edition was again revised, but the print run contained more errors than fixes, was recalled and most cards were destroyed. Those cards that were leaked out (about 40 booster boxes) became known as the Summer Magic (SUM) edition. After this debacle, core set releases were substantially slowed and eight months would pass before Fourth Edition would be released. At this point, many of the over-powered cards were dropped in favor of play balance, rules text were standardized, artwork was enlarged and colors were enhanced. A parallel print run to Fourth Edition was covertly intiated by WOTC in an attempt to wean themselves off the Belgain printer, Carti Mundi. Known as Alternate Fourth Edition by the collector community, these cards were printed by the United States Playing Card Corporation, probably as a test run or to fill unmet demand for Magic. Due to conflicts between WOTC and USPCC, these cards were supposedly destroyed, but many leaked into the market. Probably due to these growing pains, WOTC waited almost a year to release the largest set ever, Fifth Edition, with a massive 449 cards. From then on, for the next 12 years, core sets would be released every two years. In early 1999, Magic underwent a massive change in rules and released (Classic) Sixth Edition; in late 1999, the toy giant Hasbro purchased the surging company for a reported $325 million.

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