What Is the List of Cards That Wizards of the Coast Will Never Print Again
Magic the Gathering is an incredibly former game. In its 30 years, over 20,000 cards take been published across more than than 100 sets, and more than are being released all the time. Information technology's also got a bustling 2d-hand market place, with players buying and selling cards to either collect or include in their decks.
Simply one of the about controversial aspects of the game that has been a part of it for almost its unabridged history has been The Reserved List. A constant source of discourse amid the customs, some contend it's damaging the game, while others accept staked their entire fortunes on it. Here's everything you need to know about Magic's Reserved Listing.
What Is The Reserved List?
The Reserved List is office of Wizards of the Coast'southward official reprint policy for Magic the Gathering. Reprints are when a card is reprinted in a different set at a later date, like how Hamlet Rites has been reprinted in both Kaldheim and Strixhaven since its debut in Core 2021.
While Wizards says that Reserved List cards will "never exist reprinted", the truth is more that the cards won't be reprinted for as long equally the Reserved List is in effect. Ongoing controversy and soapbox surrounding it may eventually convince Wizards to cancel the Reserved Listing or relax the restrictions on it, but in the game's long history that'south only always happened once for a handful of cards.
One important matter is that when Wizards says "reprints", information technology doesn't just mean a menu with the same name. The Reserved List also bans the printing of "functional reprints" that have the same qualities as the original card in every fashion but the name, such as how Krenko'southward Command and Dragon Forage are both one generic, one red sorceries that create 2 1/1 Goblin tokens. This means we'll not only never come across Reserved List cards exist reprinted, but we'll also never see a carte du jour that does the exact aforementioned matter equally it every bit a replacement.
The Reserved List bans concrete printings of cards on the list in any playable format. This means digital services like Loonshit and Online can release Reserved Listing cards, and non-legal cards like oversized ones can still be printed.
What Cards Are On The Reserved Listing?
As of 2021, there are 575 cards on the Reserved Listing. Every bill of fare on it was released betwixt the game's first release, Alpha, and its 17th expansion, Urza's Destiny.
Despite the Reserved Listing being a big, revered list of cards meant to retain their value, a lot of them are pretty rubbish by today's pattern standards. It fifty-fifty includes some cards considered to be the worst ever printed, like Wood Elemental.
That existence said, the Reserved List also includes some of the most powerful cards as well. The Power Ix (Black Lotus, Mox Emerald, Mox Jet, Mox Pearl, Mox Cherry, Mox Sapphire, Timetwister, Time Walk, and Ancestral Call up) are all on there, as are other notable cards like Divine Intervention, Time Screw, the 10 Dual Lands, and Fastbond.
No cards after 1999'south Urza'due south Destiny are on the Reserved List, and "never" volition be.
Where Did The Reserved Listing Come up From?
Way back in the early on days of the game, packs were incredibly difficult to get a hold of. Wizards of the Coast wasn't expecting Magic to exist as popular equally it was and were struggling to proceed upwardly with the demand. It wasn't until a few years into its life that cards became readily bachelor, and by and so several sets had come up and gone – leaving powerful cards in the hands of the few who managed to become them at the time.
Wanting to ensure the long-term health of the game, in 1995 Wizards printed its starting time reprint set, Chronicles. Chronicles included cards from the start iv expansions: Arabian Nights, Antiquities, Legends, and The Nighttime. At the fourth dimension, original editions of cards were printed with black borders, while reprints had white ones to differentiate them.
Unfortunately, this distinction made no departure, as Wizards hadn't realised that cards could exist valuable because of their abilities in the game also as their status as collector'due south pieces. Information technology massively overprinted Chronicles, completely tanking the secondhand value of any cards it included. This upset players who had been financially invested in the game, as the cards that were worth potentially hundreds of dollars before were at present a couple of dollars each at most.
With players threatening to abandon the game, Wizards introduced the Reserved List as a soft guarantee that information technology wouldn't reprint certain cards. Excluding cards that had already been reprinted, Wizards said information technology would no longer reprint whatever cards from Alpha and Beta, no uncommon or rares from Arabian Nights and Antiquities, and no rare cards from Legends or The Dark.
Over fourth dimension, the Reserved List changed slightly. In sets released after its introduction, Wizards had a policy of only reprinting a maximum of 25% of their rare cards, with the remaining 75% going into the Reserved Listing. At the time, Wizards would announce which sets would accept cards reprinted from them, and if a card wasn't reprinted by the time it 'rotated out', information technology would enter the Reserved List.
In 2002, the Reserved Listing was effectively frozen. Wizards reserved the rights to reprint any cards released in Mercadian Masks onward, catastrophe the program of sets gradually rotating into reserved condition. 2002 was also the first fourth dimension cards were removed from the Reserved Listing, when commons and uncommon from Alpha and Beta were taken off the list post-obit a public vote from the community.
Since then, the Reserved Listing has pretty much always stayed the aforementioned. The simply change came in 2011, when Wizards closed a loophole it had used to print Reserved List cards in the premium Phyrexia vs. the Coalition Duel Decks and the From the Vault: Relics collection. The decision to print Reserved List cards like Mox Diamond, Masticore, Karn the Silver Golem and Phyrexian Negator in foil (therefore making them "premium" and not bound by the Reserved List) was met with almost universal criticism, resulting in the determination to ban Reserved List cards from ever being printed in any playable product.
Why Is The Reserved List Controversial?
There is a lot of statement among Magic the Gathering players equally to whether the Reserved List should nevertheless be in outcome, or fifty-fifty if it's possible to revoke the listing.
On the 1 hand, people in back up of the Reserved List argue that the Reserved List ensures that older collections retain their value. Players who pulled a Black Lotus in 1994 are sitting on a veritable goldmine right now, and the concern is that a reprint could completely demolish what realistically could exist somebody'due south pension or investment program.
There'southward as well the argument of whether information technology would be correct for Wizards of the Coast to go back on a 'promise' it made in the past. The Reserved Listing is a rare example of a visitor sticking to its word on something – if Wizards suddenly abolished it, players argue they wouldn't be able to trust anything Wizards says after that. People would no longer heavily invest in the game, as the trust that Wizards would keep it going in a mutually beneficial way would exist gone.
The other statement 'for' the Reserved Listing is more than of a legal one, and concerns whether or not the policy constitutes an actual, legal duty for Wizards to uphold it. The most commonly held argument is that of Promissory Estoppel, which, in massively reductive terms, says a promise can be legally bounden, even if there was originally no legal proclamation or intent. With and so much money held in these cards, if Wizards decided to practice away with the Reserved Listing, at that place would about certainly be a majorly expensive legal backlash against them that they wouldn't necessarily win. That Wizards of the Coast has upheld the list in its current form for over 10 years, and before that for almost another 20, puts a lot of stock in it being something it must go on going.
On the other hand, people debate the Reserved List should exist abolished for the sake of accessibility to the game. Formats like Vintage and Legacy are currently incredibly expensive to go into, and having reprints bachelor would make doing and then much easier. As well with the rising popularity of an eternal format that can apply Reserved List cards like Commander, having them be reprinted more frequently would improve the game's most popular format considerably.
The second argument is that reprints don't lower the value of cards to the same extent they did when Chronicles was starting time released. People would likely notwithstanding pay the ridiculous prices they do now for an Alpha Blackness Lotus, fifty-fifty if at that place was a newer i readily available. As long as Wizards of the Coast controls the supply and doesn't overprint equally it did back in the day, there'south no reason to think a Reserved Listing Masters or something similar would hurt collectors in any significant style.
The other reason is much more than political: people see the Reserved Listing equally a way rich traders maintain power over the community. Some even argue that veterans at Wizards of the Declension, who have been there since near the start, may be financially incentivised to continue the Reserved List so they can retire with a folder full of cards from it. While this doesn't seem to be the case, as lead designer Mark Rosewater has already said he's experimented with getting rid of the Reserved List in the past, people meet the Reserved List equally an unnecessary restriction that simply helps the already profiting players.
Will The Reserved List Ever Be Removed?
Though 'never say never' certainly applies, the chances of it happening any fourth dimension before long are slim. Since 2011, at that place has been no motility from Wizards of the Coast on irresolute its reprint policy, though it has released Reserved Listing casts digitally in Vintage Masters on Magic the Gathering Online.
Reserved List cards have also appeared as extra effects, with a noteworthy instance being Garth One-eye from Modern Horizons 2's ability to make a Blackness Lotus. Once again, this doesn't violate the spirit of the Reserved List, but does evidence that Reserved List cards are a infinite Wizards is willing to pace into every in one case in a while.
If we were always going to see Reserved List bill of fare get reprinted, it would likely exist in incredibly small numbers. Perchance a Secret Lair release, or a limited print set like Fourth dimension Screw Remastered. These would certainly exist many years from now, though, when players who ain Reserved Listing cards have left the game in big enough numbers to make a demand for it near-universal.
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Source: https://www.thegamer.com/mtg-what-is-the-reserved-list-guide/