Instruct: Given a question, retrieve documents that can help answer the question.
Query: What's the 'strongest' Magic card?
The "Black Lotus" card can be played at zero cost, and grants three mana (the game's primary resource) when sacrificed (discarded from play). Thus, the card gives the player an enormous jump in the early stages of a Magic game. Former Pro player and Magic writer Zvi Mowshowitz has declared Black Lotus as the best card of its type of all time, claiming every deck in the history of the game is better with a Black Lotus in it.[7] It has since been banned from all official tournament formats save for Vintage, but even there, it is limited to one copy per deck, compared to the normal allowance of four.[8] The illustration on Black Lotus was painted by Christopher Rush, who was at the time a Wizards of the Coast employee. The Black Lotus illustration is a depiction of a black lotus flower over a foliage backdrop.
Seven "" core sets have been released since 2009: Magic 2010, Magic 2011, Magic 2012, Magic 2013, Magic 2014, Magic 2015, and Magic Origins. Unlike "10th Edition" and previous core sets, roughly half of each core set was entirely new cards. Beginning with "Magic 2010", Wizards decided to introduce new cards into the Core Set so that they could be relevant for both new players as well as veterans. Starting with "Magic 2011", core sets have included "returning mechanics", or non-evergreen keywords with cards printed in just one core set. All of these core sets were released in the summer of the year prior to the year in the title - for example, "Magic 2010" was released in 2009.
Self-working magic is magic that works simply from following a procedure that is known to the audience. It requires no secret set-up, trickery, sleight-of-hand, or other hidden objects or moves. Some self-working magic allows the audience to have a secret that they do not reveal to the magician until the end. The audience can be told every step, and can even repeat the trick. It can be done alone, since the "magician" may be just as surprised as anybody. All the magician has to do is follow a certain procedure, and everything will be good. Optical illusions and some other science demonstrations could fall into this category. The wonder comes from unexpectedness of a natural phenomenon. Basically, self-working magic relies on some expectation or lack of knowledge in the audience about what produces the outcome. Usually, self-working card tricks revolve around some mathematical principle, such as in the trick "Magical 13", where the spectator is asked to cut the deck 13 times, then split the deck into 13 piles. Upon revealing each pile, it is found that each pile contains only cards of the same value (i.e., one pile has all four fours, the other pile has all four twos, etc.). This is based on the principle that beforehand, the deck is set up with all the suits in order. No matter how many times you cut the deck, the same cards will always be 13 cards away from each other.
"Magic Duels: Origins" was developed by Stainless Games who have been creating computer versions of the "Magic" series since 2009's "" and new titles on an annual basis. These prior games did not include the ability to construct decks or build card libraries, instead primarily using designed decks that could be customized with predetermined additional cards earned through winning matches. Later games included sealed deck play where players would be given a number of booster packs and could build a deck from those cards, but those cards would only be available for that deck. With "Magic Duel: Origins", the series now includes the ability for players to collect and buy cards and construct decks as they would normally in the physical version of "Magic". Wizards of the Coast's Dan Barrett stated that with this change, the computer version now is much closer to the physical version, and hopes that this will help enable more players to experience "Magic" and transition to the physical game.
When all four cards of the trick are on the table, the pair that played the card with the strongest card wins the hand. The trump suit beats the other three suits, with the ranking of trump cards from strongest to weakest as follows: Ace-3-King-Knight-Knave-7-6-5-4-2. The next strongest suit is the one the first player played, again with the card rankings being Ace-3-King-Knight-Knave-7-6-5-4-2. Cards of the other two suits always lose to trumps and the first player's suit. The winning team places the four cards from the trick into their "baza". The rules for the declarations are similar to Two-player "Tute", but it is mandatory to declare the cards after a player or the partner begins a "baza". Only the scoring team can declare. To declare their cards, the opposing team has to begin a "baza". Declaring cards in the plays that follow the beginning of a "baza" is not allowed. After the hand is over, the counting starts (see Scoring below). When the counting ends, and after the score is calculated, the cards in the "bazas" are mixed again in a single stack to be dealt at the start of the next round. The deal of cards rotates counter-clockwise during the subsequent hands.
Card manipulation is the branch of magical illusion that deals with creating effects using sleight of hand techniques involving playing cards. Card manipulation is often used to perform card tricks in magical performances, especially in close-up, parlor, and street magic. A person who practices card manipulation may be called a card sharp, card shark, or card mechanic.
"Cardcaptor Sakura" takes place in the fictional Japanese city of Tomoeda which is somewhere near Tokyo. Ten-year-old Sakura Kinomoto accidentally releases a set of magical cards known as Clow Cards from a book in her basement created and named after the sorcerer Clow Reed. Each card has its own unique ability and can assume an alternate form when activated. The guardian of the cards, Cerberus, emerges from the book and chooses Sakura to retrieve the missing cards. As she finds each card, she battles its magical personification and defeats it by sealing it away. Cerberus acts as her guide, while her best friend and second cousin, Tomoyo Daidouji films her exploits and provides her with battle costumes. Sakura's older brother Toya Kinomoto watches over her, while pretending that he is unaware of what is going on.
Magic: The Gathering is both a trading card and digital collectible card game created by Richard Garfield. Released in 1993 by Wizards of the Coast, "Magic" was the first trading card game created and it continues to thrive, with approximately twenty million players , and over twenty billion "Magic" cards produced in the period of 2008 to 2016 alone.
"Magic: The Gathering" cards are produced in much the same way as normal playing cards. Each "Magic" card, approximately 63 × 88 mm in size (2.5 by 3.5 inches), has a face which displays the card's name and rules text as well as an illustration appropriate to the card's concept. 18,970 unique cards have been produced for the game ,
many of them with variant editions, artwork, or layouts, and 600–1000 new ones are added each year. The first "Magic" cards were printed exclusively in English, but current sets are also printed in Simplified Chinese, Traditional Chinese, French, German, Italian, Japanese, Korean, Portuguese, Russian, and Spanish.
The collectible card game "" published nine core sets from 1993–2007, also referred to as basic sets and base sets. These sets consisted entirely of reprints, usually focusing on staple cards Wizards of the Coast felt should always be available. These cards were generally simpler than cards in expansion sets, omitting multicolored cards, and used only the original abilities and keywords of "Magic" such as , and . As "Magic" grew, the base sets were considered descendants of the original "Limited Edition", and shaped the default setting and feel of "Magic". In contrast, "Magic" "expansion sets" usually chose a particular theme, such as artifacts for "". All cards were given a white border to mark them as reprints, with a few exceptions ("Tenth Edition", foil cards in "Seventh"-"Ninth" Editions). From "Fourth Edition" in 1995 onward, a new base set would come out once per two years in the spring or early summer; for tournament play, that set would be legal for two years in the Standard format until the next core set replaced it.
The Multiverse is the shared fictional universe depicted on "" cards, novels, comics, and other supplemental products. Though "Magic" is a strategy game, an intricate storyline underlies the cards released in each expansion. On the cards, elements of this multiverse are shown in the card art and through quotations and descriptions on the bottom of most cards (called flavor text). Novels and anthologies published by HarperPrism and Wizards of the Coast (WOTC), and the comic books published by Armada Comics expand upon the settings and characters hinted at on the cards. WOTC also publishes a weekly story (most often related to the plane explored in the current expansion set) in the Magic Fiction column, previously known as Official Magic Fiction and Uncharted Realms.
Cabals: Magic & Battle Cards is a digital collectible card game designed by Mika Rosendahl and developed by Finnish studio Kyy Games. The game combines a game board mechanic and cross-platform online multiplayer gameplay. Cabals: The Card Game was published on November 30, 2011 for iPhone, iPad, Android devices and Internet Browsers. The newly named Cabals: Magic & Battles cards was released on April 11, 2014
After cards are dealt, the "daihinmin" must hand over their two strongest cards to the "daifugō", while the "hinmin" must hand over their one strongest card to the "fugō". The "daifugō" and "fugō" then hand back an equal number of any "junk" cards they do not want. This process is known as "zeikin" (taxation).
"Magic 2013" is the first core set to have a multicolored card, (Bolas is also referenced on a number of other cards). It is the second "Magic" Core set ("" was the first) to feature legendary cards; one legendary creature of each color plus the artifact . "Magic 2013" contains the Exalted mechanic which first appeared in the "Shards of Alara" block. It is featured as the "returning mechanic" in Magic 2013, as both reprinted "Alara" cards and new cards with Exalted are in "Magic 2013". The Exalted ability gives a creature you control +1/+1 when it is the only creature attacking that combat, and multiple instances of Exalted are cumulative (e.g. 3 sources of Exalted will give a lone attacking creature +3/+3).
Magic 2015 was released on July 18, 2014. "Magic 2015" made the second major change to the card frame in "Magic's" history (the first being in ""). Changes include a slight font change (Starting with "Magic 2015", an in-house font known as Beleren will be used rather than the Matrix Bold font), the addition of a holofoil stamp in the bottom center of all rare and mythic rare cards, a slightly narrower black border, and a redesign of the collector's info at the bottom of each card. The new border will make it easier for machines to read the cards, helping to prevent mispackaging. Advertising for the set featured the planeswalker Garruk Wildspeaker, with a tagline of "Hunt Bigger Game."
Since 1995, Rosewater has worked for Wizards of the Coast, the company which makes "Magic: The Gathering". He wrote puzzles based on "Magic" cards and other articles for "The Duelist", the Wizards of the Coast magazine promoting and covering "Magic". In 1996 "Magic: The Puzzling" was published, a collection of 25 puzzles written for "The Duelist". Since 1996 Rosewater has worked for Wizards of the Coast as a designer of "Magic" cards. Rosewater has designed at least one card for every Magic expansion since "". While working for Wizards of the Coast, he wrote columns called “Insider Trading” for the magazines "The Duelist", "Topdeck", and "The Sideboard" which gave an inside look at "Magic" design.
The world of Cabals: Magic & Battle Cards is inspired by various real mystical and esoteric traditions. It has been developed specifically for Cabals: Magic & Battle Cards with the help of an award-winning author Johanna Sinisalo, and brought to life by original paintings for each individual card.
"Magic" can be played by two or more players in various formats, which fall into two categories: constructed and limited. Limited formats involve players building a deck spontaneously out of a pool of random cards with a minimum deck size of 40 cards. In constructed, players create decks from cards they own, usually 60 cards with no more than 4 of any given card. "Magic" is played in person with printed cards, or using a deck of virtual cards through the Internet-based "", or on a smartphone or tablet, or through such as "".
Each game represents a battle between wizards known as "planeswalkers", who employ spells, artifacts, and creatures depicted on individual "Magic" cards to defeat their opponents. Although the original concept of the game drew heavily from the motifs of traditional fantasy role-playing games such as "Dungeons & Dragons", the gameplay of "Magic" bears little similarity to pencil-and-paper adventure games, while having substantially more cards and more complex rules than many other card games.
"Odyssey" 's main theme is the graveyard. All the colors interact with the graveyard and use it as a resource, though green and black are the strongest graveyard colors. Previously, the graveyard rarely affected gameplay, but "Odyssey" 's cards forced players to constantly keep track of both graveyards at all times.
Growing up in Sonora, California, Daniel and David Buck wanted to become illusionists at the age of 12 after watching David Copperfield perform on television. After watching one of David Blaine's popular street magic specials, the twins switched to doing close-up magic and eventually just card magic. This interest grew when the brothers met magician Ricky Smith at a convention who lent them VHS tapes on card tricks by Lee Asher and Aron Fisher. After learning the five faces of Chris Kenner's famous Sybil cut, Dan and Dave became fascinated with card flourishing and spent the next years practicing nothing but flourishes. At this point there was extremely limited information on what is now known as cardistry.
In some versions of pinochle, after the bid has been taken and trump declared in a partnership game, the bid winning team exchanges cards. It may be two, three, or four cards, depending on the version of the game. The partner of the bid winner passes first. The objective of the partner is either to add to the total points in meld or to pass trick-winning cards. After receiving the cards, the bid winner examines what will create the strongest hand and then discards an equal number of cards back to their partner. Variations are for the bid winner and partner to exchange the designated number of cards simultaneously, or for no passing to occur.
Magic Cards will execute a special effect at the cost of a certain number of Stones. The cost and effects vary from card to card. A few examples of the effects of Magic Cards include recovering HP, damaging the opponent's cards, and increasing the stats of the player's cards.
Street magic most often consists of what has been referred to in the past as "hand" or "pocket" magic, sleight of hand. Whether card magic or magic performed with coins, balls, scarves, or rope, even occasionally mentalism (see notably: Kenny Lightfoot), regardless of the props involved, the ability to draw and hold an audience is cited by contemporary practitioners as a skill of greater importance than the illusions themselves.
Eighth Edition, also known as Core Set, was a "Magic: The Gathering" set released on July 28, 2003. Its expansion symbol is the number 8 with 3 cards behind it. "Eighth Edition" was released to coincide with the 10th Anniversary of the original release of "Magic". 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 the Wizards website deciding what got reprinted. "Eighth" was also the first base set with a promotional card given to players who played in a prerelease tournament. "Eighth" features many cards from older base sets and expansions. While many of these cards were powerful during their original print run, on the whole they were not perceived as measuring up to the power in Standard at the time, known for "Affinity" decks powered by cards from the "Mirrodin" block. Thus, few cards in "Eighth Edition" saw tournament play.
This variant was designed specifically for social play. Each player has a special card that affects the game. These cards change the players' starting life total and cards in hand, and have additional effects as well. Vanguard initially began with special oversized Vanguard cards, released as part of various promotions. Only four sets of avatar cards were made before the product was discontinued. The cards featured depicted major characters from the storyline of Magic, including Gerrard Capashen, Karn and Squee. A new version of Vanguard was eventually added to Magic Online, with a player's avatar filling the role of the oversized physical cards. Players are given a standard set of avatars and can receive more as entry and high-finishing prizes in release events. New avatars are regularly added as new sets of Magic cards are released, each depicting a card from the set. The wider availability online, combined with occasional tournaments, has made online Vanguard more of a success than its physical predecessor.