8th Edition (Magic: The Gathering)
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| Released | July 28, 2003 | ||
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Eighth Edition (8th Edition) or Core Set was the standard base set for the collectable trading card game, Magic: The Gathering from its release in 2003 until 9th Edition's release in 2005.
Set History
- Eighth Edition was set to be released to coincide with the 10th Anniversary of Magic's original release, so the creators took a different approach to the base set. Every previous expansion had at least one card reprinted in Eighth that had not been reprinted in the base set before, with a series of votes on Wizard's website deciding what got reprinted. Eighth was also the first base set with a prerelease card (though some claim it was a 10th Anniversary card, not a prerelease). Eighth features many cards from older base sets and expansions. While many of these cards were very powerful during their original print run, some are not quite as powerful in newer tournament settings.
- Eighth Edition is the first set to feature the controversial 'new look' for Magic cards, which brought about serious considerations for many players to leave the game. Such players claimed the new look ruined the 'classical' fantasy feel of the game. The most obvious changes were the card borders, but the font was also changed (from Goudy Medieval to Times New Roman) and mana symbols in the text box were no longer colored.
Notable Cards
To fulfill the goal of at least one card from each set, 8th edition included many new cards into the core set, many of which would in turn phase out when 9th edition rolled out in July 2005.
- Avatar of Hope, from Prophecy
- Dwarven Demolition Team, last seen in Unlimited
- Giant Badger, originally a promotional card for an MTG novel
- Merchant Scroll from Homelands
- Peach Garden Oath from Portal: Three Kingdoms
- Rukh Egg from Arabian Nights
- Vexing Arcanix from Ice Age
Notable Omissions & Modifications
With the transition to 8th edition, several 7th edition cards were left behind. Tournament staples such as Opposition, Llanowar Elves, Counterspell, Memory Lapse, and Duress, all fell by the wayside. Some of these cards were very famous and had been with the game since its inception, and their removal caused a major uproar among players.
The Circle of Protection series, a perennial core set entity, was modified from common to uncommon status.
Mechanics
Eighth Edition, as with its predecessors, does not feature any mechanics that were not present in previous versions of the base set, despite the reprintings from other sets. However, some abilities from previous versions of the base set were absent, including Banding.
Eighth Edition Draft
Ground stall is fairly typical to core set draft, but the introduction of more regenerating creatures at the common level in 8th edition led to an even higher propensity. In addition to the usual Drudge Skeletons, Deepwood Ghoul and Horned Troll both appeared as cheap and common answers to threats on the ground.
Various additions and omissions affected the strength of individual colors and archetypes in draft. While white lost the combat advantage of Heavy Ballista, Master Decoy and fliers like Angel of Mercy appeared as anchors for a drafting strategy focusing on board control and evasion. With the loss of pingers like Prodigal Sorcerer and the rare Mawcor, blue lost its direct damage strength. In 8th edition, blue drafters implemented cards like Puppeteer and Dehydration, supplemented by a wide array of fliers, for board control and evasion similar to white. Green continued to focus on churning out huge groundpounders, with Nantuko Disciple as a key element in combat dominance. Red observed some minor changes, but the general burn removal strategy remained the same.