Alpha, Beta, and Unlimited laid the foundations for Magic the Gathering’s 30-year history. These editions of Magic, the cards, cycles, and mechanics set the tone for what follows, and tapping into those elements can channel that magic flavor onto your table.
The first editions of Magic did not have a specific storyline. However, the cards had a lot of flavor built into them based on the premise that players took on the role of a planeswalker who summoned creatures and cast spells in a duel against another planeswalker. Additionally, flavor text on the cards described the character of many people and places of Dominaria and elsewhere, and names established in Alpha were expanded upon in future stories and expansions, most notably Urza and Mishra.
Themes and mechanics
The first editions of Magic introduced many mechanics and themes. Keyword abilities introduced in this set include banding, first strike, flying, landwalk, protection, regeneration, and trample. The defender, fear, indestructible, reach, and vigilance mechanics were also introduced but were not keyworded until later. Cards with these mechanics have since received retroactive errata. Many other game mechanics were also introduced in this set but are too numerous to be listed here.
The set contains multiple hosers, which are cards that negatively affect one specific color or basic land type: Karma, Blue Elemental Blast, Deathgrip, Flashfires, Tsunami, Conversion, Lifetap, Gloom, Red Elemental Blast, Lifeforce, Volcanic Eruption, and Northern Paladin
Creature types
The first sets in magic utilized classic fantasy roleplaying tropes to populate the battlefields for player planeswalkers.
Notable cards
The Power Nine are some of the most valuable and powerful cards ever printed.
The original ten dual lands are some of the most powerful and valuable ever-printed lands.
Armageddon forms the basis of the Erhnamgeddon control deck. It would later be included in the beginner-oriented Portal and Portal Second Age sets and functionally reprinted as Ravages of War in the Portal Three Kingdoms set. Yet, it was removed from the core set after the Sixth Edition for being too powerful.
Balance was initially underestimated, as were many symmetrical effects, but quickly proved to be a very powerful card.
Berserk was once considered powerful enough to be added to the first Restricted List in January 1994. It was removed from the Restricted List in April 2003 because its relative power decreased as newer cards were printed. After the restriction, the card was removed from the core set for being a "spoiler" or too good. Richard Garfield explained its absence from the Revised set in The Duelist Supplement thus: "Anything that multiplies is potentially abusive. Failure to have a Fog should not warrant 80 damage."
Birds of Paradise is one of the best mana fixers ever printed.
Black Vise was far too powerful, especially when played on the first turn.
Braingeyser was once considered powerful enough to be added to the Restricted List. It was removed in September 2004 due to being expensive, slow, and worse than other cards in Vintage.
Channel is one of many cards that is overpowered because of its ability to trade one resource for another at a low cost, in this case, life for mana. It was a key component of the fabled Channel–Fireball's first-turn win in combination with Black Lotus and a source of red mana.
Chaos Orb is the first of the "dexterity cards", which require some physical skill to achieve maximum effect. All dexterity cards have been placed on the Banned List.
Contract from Below is an insanely powerful card that allows its caster to draw 7 cards at the price of adding to the ante, but the effect is powerful enough to make the added risk very acceptable. Some even consider this the most powerful card ever printed.
Dark Ritual enabled many black decks to accelerate powerful cards into play, especially Hypnotic Specter, quickly.
Demonic Tutor is another powerful effect with a small mana cost reaching the Restricted List.
Fastbond allows a player to access more mana quickly.
Hypnotic Specter was originally thought to be too powerful, but the real problem was eventually identified as its combination with Dark Ritual.
Icy Manipulator was used in many control decks to slow the opponent down.
Illusionary Mask later gained fame for its ability to get Phyrexian Dreadnought into play without triggering its drawback.
Lightning Bolt is a very powerful (and common) direct damage spell that still sees play.
Mind Twist proved to be very powerful, especially with all the mana acceleration available in Alpha. Like Black Vise, it quickly put an opponent at a great disadvantage and was added to the Restricted List.
Nevinyrral's Disk was especially useful in mono-colored black decks with no access to artifact and enchantment destruction.
Red Elemental Blast is a common anti-blue card that still sees play today.
Regrowth, like Demonic Tutor, has a powerful effect with a small mana cost, especially when combined with any number of other powerful cards, and is now found on the Restricted List.
Savannah Lions is considered one of the best White Weenie cards.
Serra Angel was used to finish many games in control decks and is one of the iconic creatures of the game. It was once considered too powerful and left the core set for a time.
Sinkhole, with a converted mana cost of 2, is considered to be far too cheap for the damaging effect of land destruction, especially as a common card.
Sol Ring is yet another card great at accelerating mana, and is also on the Restricted List.
Swords to Plowshares is the iconic white creature removal card.
Time Vault has had numerous changes to its oracle text in order to make it work as intended.
Wheel of Fortune is on the Restricted List due to the power of drawing 7 cards.
Wrath of God has been a tournament staple since players learned that powerful symmetrical effects can be good
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