Magic: The Gathering Drive to Work Podcast - #720: What Was in Alpha

Episode Date: March 6, 2020

This is another trivia podcast. I ask about elements of Magic and see if you can identify whether it was part of Magic at the start of the game back in Alpha.

I'm pulling on my driveway. We all know what that means. It's time for another drive to work. Okay, so I have another interactive podcast for you. So there's been a lot of fun with some of the trivia ones. So this podcast is called, Did It Start in Alpha? So I'm going to talk about different aspects of the game. And the question is, did it start in alpha? So I will name it to you, and then you have to figure out whether or not it started in alpha or not. I will then tell you whether or not it started in alpha, and then I will, I'll give you extra information just because that's what I do. Okay, so we'll start with the five colors of magic. Did the five colors of magic start in alpha?

colors of magic? Did the five colors of magic start in Alpha? And the answer is, yes, they did. Now, here's a more interesting question. Did the five colors of magic, were they ever more than five colors? Obviously, when the game released in Alpha, it was five colors. But before the game released, when it was in playtesting ahead of time, were there more than five colors? And the answer is, no, there were not. So the story goes, Richard Garfield and his friend Mike Davis travel to, I guess they travel to Portland, actually, now that I know the story a little better, to pitch to Peter Atkinson, who was the CEO of Wizards at the time, their game RoboRally. But it had too many component parts. So Peter said to Richard what he could make

was something that was on cards because he could print cards. Richard had the idea of a trading card game. And what he did is he took an existing game he had that he called Five Colors and he adapted it from a more traditional card game into a trading card game. So from the best I understand, the five colors were the five colors you know is magic. So from the very beginning of him sort of making magic, I believe it was five color. I know it was

five colors. I believe it was those five colors. So I don't think the colors ever changed. I think from the very beginning, it's possible early, early on when he was making five colors before magic ever made a thing, maybe he experimented with different colors. But as far as for magic's whole life, including the very beginning, those were the five colors that it used.

Okay, next. The mana symbols. Do the mana symbols go all the way back to alpha? And this one is yes! with a little asterisk. All five mana symbols showed up in alpha, but one of them has been changed since alpha. In fact, it got changed right before Ice Age, so back in 94. So one of the symbols, it just got cleaned up. It didn't, it still was what it was. Which mana symbol of the five actually changed a little tiny bit since Alpha?

And the answer is the white mana symbol. So, it always was the sun, just they cleaned it up and changed a little bit. So, the mana symbols were made by Chris Rush and Jesper Miraforce. Jesper was the original art director and Chris did a lot of the initial graphic design. And so the symbols were always the symbols. The mana symbols go all the way to the beginning of the game. But like I said,

they cleaned up the white mana symbol. Okay, the mana cost as we know it. The idea that it's a mana cost, then colored mana cost. Was that always the way that it's been written? Yes, since Alpha, but no, not all the time since the game's been made.

So yes, it was in Alpha, so if you said yes for Alpha, that's correct. But, in playtesting, prior to Alpha, the mana cost was actually written differently. Okay, so let's take Prodigal Sorcerer. So Prodigal Sorcerer costs two generic mana and one blue mana. In

pre-playtesting, and when they were, before the game came out, the way the mana symbols or, sorry, the mana cost originally worked was there would be a number, so let's say Prodigal Sorcerer, it would say three, and then it would say a blue. And what that meant was, this be a number, so let's say prodigal sorcerer, it would say three and then it would say a blue. And what that meant was, this costs

three mana, one of which must be blue. So for example, Craw Worm, which costs four green green, would have said six green green. It must cost six mana total, two of which had to be green. What they found was, it was a little confusing

because it kind of double-counted things, total, two of which had to be green. What they found was it was a little confusing because it kind of double counted things. And so they realized it was easier if they just told you how much generic mana and how much colored mana. Now, another interesting thing is, I think if we had to do it all over again, we would put the color mana first and the generic mana second. It is how most people talk about it. I spend a lot of time trying to get people to talk about mana costs in the order that we write them, and they just don't want to, which tells me that intuitively, because the colored mana is more important, it wants to come first.

And really the issue there is that I think because the way he wrote it originally, when he changed it, because originally it was colored mana, meaning all of the mana. So I think when he changed it, that's why the generic mana comes first, just because of the nature of how it used to be written. But anyway, if we had to do it again, I think we would do the colored mana first.

Okay, the font in the name of the cards, does that go back to alpha? It does not! The current font we use in names is called Balerion, named after Jace Balerion. And Jace Balerion didn't show up until Lorwyn, so that should be a clue that this doesn't go back to Alpha. I believe the original font was called Medieval Gaudi,

I think that's what it was called. It was hard to read. And so we actually commissioned, we made our own alphabet to make something that was a little more magic-y, which is why it's called Balerion. We made it. But that did not exist until I'm sure when it started,

about ten years ago. Well, actually, what happened is we redid well, a couple things. We redid in 8. Well, actually, what happened is we redid, well, a couple things. We redid the, in 8th edition, well, sorry. I'm jumping ahead. I will explain this later on because I don't want to give away some future stuff. Okay, the frame.

Is the frame the same as the game back in Alpha? It is not! The frame has been through numerous changes. The first big change was during 8th edition, what we refer to as the 8th edition frame. And then in Magic 2015, we changed again. The 8th edition frame was the biggest change, if you know old Magic.

It's where we changed the whole frame itself. If you go back to Alpha, the colors used to have text boxes that were, like, the green one was wood. The red one, I think, was meat. The white one was lace. Black one was some sort of bubbling thing. And blue was water, I believe.

But anyway, we revamped in 8th edition, changed the frames, changed the backgrounds, and redid, like, the size of the art box and redid the lines that text goes on. It used to be, for example, pre-8th edition, that the words were written in white. And now we write them in black

against a lighter background. There's now bars. I mean, there were rough, there were similar spots, but the positioning is similar. Where things lie hasn't fundamentally changed. The name's the upper left-hand corner. The mana class is upper right-hand corner.

I mean, the orientation of stuff. But the size of things and what it looked like has changed over the years. The Magic 2015 change, the biggest thing about that was it added the black bar at the bottom that has the information, the written information. And it also, we added the security stamp for rare and mythic rares.

That got added during Magic 2015 change. Okay, the card types. So Magic is seven card types. Do those go back to Alpha? And the answer is no. Well, the answer is six of them do. One of them does not. So what is the card type that does not go back to Alpha?

And the answer is Planeswalker. So Land, Creature, Artifact, Enchantment, Instant, and Sorcery all go back to Alpha. Alpha did have seven card types, one of which went away. Okay, so what was the card type that, I mean, Planeswalker didn't exist until Lorwyn. We hinted at it in Future Sight, but it didn't exist until Lorwyn. What was the seventh card type when the game began?

And that was Interrupt. So Interrupt, before 6th edition rule changes, the stack did not exist. And the way the early rules worked was you could respond to instants with other instants, but you couldn't respond to an interrupt with an instant. You could only respond to interrupts with interrupts. And counterspells usually were interrupts. So it allowed you to counter something without them being able to

play other spells in response other than other counterspells. Yeah, so the interrupt went away with the 6th edition rules. Okay, power and toughness. Does power and toughness go all the way back to alpha? Written on the card.

And the answer is, it does. Yes, power and toughness goes all the way back. We've definitely messed around a lot with how we show it and how we represent variables and stuff. That has changed over the time. But the actual just having power toughness, that goes all the way back. Okay, so let's get into some, into

the text box now. So I'm going to talk about some evergreen abilities and you tell me whether, so this is a two-parter. I will say the ability and you have to say whether the keyword goes back to alpha and whether the ability goes back to alpha. Okay, we'll start with flying. Does the keyword goes back to alpha and whether the ability goes back to alpha. Okay, we'll start with flying.

Does the keyword go back to alpha? Does the ability go back to alpha? So, yes, the keyword goes back to alpha, which inherently means, of course, the ability went back to alpha. Yes, flying was in alpha. Okay, lifelink. Does lifelink, does the keyword go back to alpha? And does the ability go back to alpha? And does the ability go back to alpha?

And the answer is no and no. So the first thing that had a lifelink-like ability was a card called El Hajaj in Arabian Nights, which was the first expansion. So it goes back quite a ways. It was a black card, by the way, interestingly. And then in Legends, there was a card called Spirit Link, which is

kind of what got this ability popular. Now, Spirit Link is not 100% lifelink. It's a little bit different. For example, if you put Spirit Link on your opponent's creature, you gain the life. They didn't gain the life. Or if I put lifelink on my opponent's creature, they would gain the life.

But it was similar in the sense that it turned damage into life. But that ability did not exist until, I think, Future Sight premiered that. Okay, vigilance. Does the keyword go back to alpha? Does the ability go back to alpha? Okay, so no, the keyword does not go back to alpha. I think the keyword started in

Champions of Kamigawa, I think. The ability though does go back to alpha. Sarah Angel, which was an alpha, had basically written out the ability Vigilance. And for a long time we just called it the Sarah ability, because it was on Sarah Angel. Okay,

Death Touch. Does Death Touch go back to alpha? Well, does the keyboard go back to Alpha? Does the ability go back to Alpha? Okay, so, no, the keyboard does not go back to Alpha. It premiered in Future Sight, same time that Lifelink did. Does the ability go back to Alpha? I would say yes. Technically, technically it doesn't.

But there was Cockatrice and thicket basilisk, which if you blocked it, it would kill the creature. So it didn't kill things based on doing damage, which is what Death Touch does, but it was the precursor to it. It definitely was the idea of you get in a fight with me and you die. It was the general premise. So I would say yes with an aftrid, the ability, but the keyword did not. Okay, first strike.

Does first strike, the keyword and the ability? Yes, the keyword, obviously, and yes, the ability. First strike was in alpha. There were, I think it was mostly in white, although there was one rare green card that had first strike. Oh, and black knight. It was also in black. It was in white and black originally. Now it's a white or red

ability. Okay, Double Strike. Does Double Strike go back to Alpha? First off, the name and the ability. No! And no! So Double Strike came about when the very first You Make the Card,

Mr. Babycakes, Forgotten Ancient was his actual name, Mr. Baby Cakes, Forgotten Ancient was his actual name. Mr. Baby Cakes was his design name. When we asked people to submit abilities for it, one of the abilities submitted was Double Strike. It might even have been called Double Strike. And the problem was it was a green card, and green doesn't really do First Strike,

so it didn't make sense it did Double Strike, but we really liked the ability, and so we added it in. I think it first appeared I want to say Legion? That's a guess, though, but I think it was Legion. Legion. Not Legends, by the way. Legion, which is the

middle set in the Onslaught plot. Okay, next. Haste. Does the keyword go back to Alpha? And does the keyword go back to alpha and does the ability go back to alpha no and yes

so the I don't remember when we first keyworded it it was in some fall set I think I don't remember when we keyworded haste

haste was not keyworded in fact R&D for a while internally we called it celerity, which was a term from Vampire of the Eternal Struggle, I think, which just means you're super fast.

So the ability was in alpha, interestingly, but not on a red card. It was on nether shadow, which is a creature that came back from the graveyard, and you could attack with it right when it came back from the graveyard. So haste did exist as a concept in alpha, although later it would go on to be a core red thing. That was not true in Alpha.

Okay, menace. Did the ability exist? Did the keyboard exist? Did the ability exist? No and no. So menace first showed up in Fallen Empires on a card called Goblin Wardrums. So it was first in red. And the ability did not show up until relatively recently, until a couple years ago.

It's one of the newer additions to Evergreen. Okay, Trample. Did the keyword go back to alpha, and did the ability go back to alpha? And the answer there is yes and yes. Trample was one of the keywords in original alpha. It has gone through a bunch of rule changes over the years, exactly how it works. But yes, trample goes all the way back.

Okay, how about defender? Does defender go back to alpha? And once again, the keyword and the ability. So the answer is no and yes. So all the walls in Alpha, Wall of Stone, there are a bunch of different walls, Wall of Swords, all the walls in Alpha had a creature-type wall.

And when the game began, the creature-type wall just meant that it couldn't attack. That being creature-type wall meant that you essentially had Defender. We didn't name it at the time. That being creature type wall meant that you essentially had defender. We didn't name it at the time. It just was a quality of walls. And so one of the things that we did was we eventually decided that it wasn't a good idea to have creature type support rules text. And the reason we decided that it wasn't a good idea to have creature types support rules text. And the reason we decided that was there were cards that let you change things, change creature types. And we didn't want you to be able to grant defender to things by changing the creature type.

So we took that off. And then in order to do that, what we did was we made a creature keyword, and then one for one, all walls have defender, but we had to put that on. So we did put that on. So defender itself, the ability does go back to alpha, but the keyword does not. Okay, how about reach? Does the keyword go back to alpha? Does the ability go back to alpha? So no, the keyword does not. Yes, the ability does. So giant spider, for example, had reached back in alpha. The keyword, I think, also started in FutureSight. The funny thing is the reason we keyworded it,

I was behind the push in FutureSight to keyword more, you know, to give names to abilities we use all the time. And the reason that we did reach was the rules manager at the time said, if we name this, it'll make it a lot easier to write text on flying what flying does. Because you can just say, you can only move a blackboard creature

if it's flying in reach. And so for the rules manager, we made reach a keyword. Okay, how about hexproof? Does the keyword go back to alpha and does the name go back to alpha? No and no. Hexproof, in FutureSight, we created what was called Shroud,

which was like hexproof, but nobody could target, not even you. People played it wrong, so we eventually shifted Shroud over to hexproof. How about protection? Does the name go back to alpha? Does the ability go back to alpha? Does the ability go back to alpha? And the answer is yes and yes. So the reason, so back in early magic, protection, I think when we started, it was just protection from colors. We later would do protection from other things, but you go back to alpha, the only thing in alpha is protection from various colors.

It was mostly a white thing, but there were wards, for example, in alpha that had protection from various colors. It was mostly a white thing, but there were wards, for example, in alpha that had protection from each of the five colors. So protection from each of the five colors existed all the way back in alpha. Okay, how about indestructible? The ability and the keyword. And the answer is no and no. Indestructible first showed up in, um, uh, Darksteel. It was an ability in Darksteel. Later it became Evergreen, but it was not. And the idea of being Indestructible, right, wasn't a thing until Darksteel was a set. So, hold on one second, guys.

Safety first here. Somebody's not letting me in, but I got in. Okay. Next, fight. The term fight. Does the term go back to alpha? Does the concept go back to alpha? And the answer is no and no.

The term does not. The term is, I don't know, 10 years old. Came in one of the core sets. We first, I think it came in one of the core sets. The first card that did fighting, I think was Lurker. It's either from Legends or The Dark. It was a card called Lurker, I think, was the first card that did any kind of fighting. But anyway, no, it does not go back to Alpha.

How about dies? Both the term and the concept. The term does not. Dies actually is relatively recent. And the concept, yes. There were things that cared about things dying in Alpha. For example, like scavenging ghoul, you got to counter when things died, for example,

that's alpha. How about scry? Both the concept and the keyword and the ability. No and no both showed up for the first time in Fifth Dawn, created by Aaron Forsythe,

and it came back a couple times, came back in Theros and a core set, and then eventually we made it Evergreen. Okay, how about the battlefield? The term and the concept. No to the term, yes to the concept. It was called just play, in play. So it used to be when so-and-so comes into play

instead of enter the battlefield. So it used to be C-I-P, rather than E-T-D. How about exile? The concept and the name. So the name, no. The concept, yes. Swords to Plowshares was in alpha, and that, I think in the beginning we just said, remove from the game.

But, because there's ways to interact with it, it was kind of... Remove from the game was kind of weird, because there are ways to interact with things that are exiled. And so it was sort of like, remove from the game, but not quite. And so we ended up giving it a term. I think in... I think the same time we did Battlefield, but we did Exile, which... I think it's Magic 2015, I think. That's a guess, though. Okay, how about

the tap symbol? Does the tap symbol go all the way back to alpha? And the answer is, well, the tap symbol itself and the concept. So the tap symbol itself, no. The concept, yes. So there were things in alpha that you had to tap, but it just would write out, tap

2. It would just would write out tap to. It would just tell you to tap it. Eventually, we made a symbol. Originally, it was a T. And then we realized we had languages that we translated into where tap wasn't a T. So it then changed to a symbol that had a little card on it. And then eventually it changed to the arrow that we have now. How about expansion symbols?

Do those go back to alpha? They do not! Expansion symbols... Well, okay, to be fair, alpha... The first expansion did have an expansion symbol. So technically it did not go back to alpha. Alpha wasn't an expansion,

so it didn't have an expansion symbol. So that's a tricky one. If you said yes, the very first expansion of Raven Knights did have an expansion symbol. Originally, by the way, instead of having an expansion symbol. So that's a tricky one. If you said yes, the very first expansion, Arabian Nights did have an expansion symbol. Originally, by the way, instead of having an expansion symbol, they were going to change the back. I don't know if you've ever seen it. There was a different purple back for Arabian Nights, and that's how they were

going to tell the difference originally, was each expansion would have its own back. They realized that was a bad idea, but last minute they changed it, so the solution to tell you that this was from an expansion was to make a symbol. It was a little scimitar on Arabian Nights. Okay, how about rarity? Rarity symbols.

The black, silver, gold, and then, I don't know, flame color or whatever. Okay, so no. Rarity symbols started in okay, I want to say

weather light it was either um i think it was weather light it was either tempest block or zasaga block i think it was tempest block the end of tempest block i think it's where rarity symbol started okay how about the four rarities do the four rarities start in alpha no they did not three of the rarities did common uncommon and rare did but mythic rare did not start until um we didn't start shards of alara i want to say i think it's shards of alara um yeah i believe it's shards of alara okay how, how about collector numbers? Did collector numbers start in Alpha? They did not! Collector numbers started in...

I think the same time that Rarity started. So I'm thinking in Tempest Block. I think it was a light. It might have been Urza Saiga Block, but right around there. Okay, did flavor text exist in Alpha? It did! It did. One of the things we used to do with flavor text is sometimes we'd use real-world flavor text.

We've sort of moved away from that. All our flavor text now is in-world. But flavor text does go back to alpha. How about legal text? Technically, yes. We have copyright-type stuff there. Although we've expanded a lot on how we do our legal text. But yes, technically, there's a little bit of legal text.

Funny thing, on the back of the Magic card, I think it has a trademark on the back. Oh, okay, so the card back, does the card back go back to alpha? It does, it does. So let me explain the story. There's a trademark on the back of a TM trademark, which is like the simplest trademark. We now have a registered trademark, but at the time we made the game, that was what we had, so that's what we put on the back of the card, and we have since updated it. So you'll see the registered trademark on the front of the card,

but the back of the card, which doesn't change, has the old trademark. Okay, so now we get into, go beyond just the elements of a card. Does the idea of a 60 card deck go back to alpha? It does not. Originally the rules of alpha were you had a 40 card deck, not a 60 card deck. How about the four of card restriction? No! Original alpha, you could put as many cards as you want in your deck. It's why Plague Rats doesn't say you can have as many as you want.

Because at the time, you could have as many as you want. It would have said that had we had the rules at the time. It was Richard's intent you could play as many as you want. But by the time he made it, you could just do that. So both the 60-card deck construction and the 4-card construction came about when the DCI was first formed. Originally, the Duelist Convocation International. And the DCI solidified some stuff. And one of the things it did was it made a...

Oh, so here's another thing. Does ban restricted lists go back to alpha? It does not. It started at the same time here. The ban restricted lists started when the DCI started. So they made 60 card deck the norm for constructed, 40 card for limited. Obviously there's other formats like commander that

have more than 60. And they made the 4-0 rule for how many you can have on a card on the basic land. And they made the very first ban restricted list. How about standard? Does standard go back to alpha? It does not. How about Standard? Does Standard go back to Alpha? It does not. How about

Limited? How about like Sealed? Does it go back to Alpha? It was not. I would say no in the sense that Wizard did not push it at all. Yes, the people that made Magic, the playtesters, were playing with Limited formats before Magic came out. So the idea was there. But Wizards

did not push it at the time of Alpha. It was not really until around Ice Age that Wizards started pushing the concept of sealed. And the idea of draft didn't really happen until the Pro Tour. Once again, people informally did draft, like the playtesters had done some drafts. But as far as Wizards pushing it as a thing,

or us design, like the first set designed to be drafted was Mirage, for example. So anyway, formats did not exist when Alpha came out. When Alpha came out, you just could play the cards. There was a format of magic.

You could just play all the cards. And then what happened was, about a year and a half in, they decided that they would start rotating cards and made two formats. One which they called Type 1, which was kind of the existing format, what we now call Vintage.

Play whatever you want. And then Type 2 was essentially what we now call Standard, which is roughly the last two years worth of cards. So Standard started relatively early. I think it started back in 94, 95. But it did not start in Alpha. Okay, 15 card boosters. Does that go back to alpha?

It does! Alpha was a 15 card booster, but small sets used to be 8 card boosters, and then eventually we decided that just all magic product were 15 card boosters. We've had many exceptions over the years, but now the default is a 15 card booster. But alpha was a 15 card booster, so that does go back to Alpha. Okay, how about ad cards? No, ad cards were relatively new. How about token cards?

Well, if you listen to my token podcast, you would know. No, token cards, the very first token cards, well, the first ones we made showed up in Unglued. There were some external sources that had made stuff that kind of inspired Unglued to do it. But it was not until the add cards were a thing that we started regularly putting token cards into boosters. We had put token cards into some boxed product before. But as far as putting them in boosters, that didn't happen until add cards were a thing. Okay. How about basic lands in boosters? that didn't happen until add cards were a thing. Okay. How about basic lands in

boosters? Having a basic land in every booster. So that is kind of, but not exactly. Alpha did not guarantee you lands in boosters, but they put lands on the sheets at a high enough rarity on all sheets, too, common, uncommon, and rare,

that you tended to get land. In fact, you tended to get a number of land in your booster. It was not guaranteed. You could, in fact, open a booster in alpha and not get a land. But you often, most often got a land.

Often, more than, most of the time you got multiple lands. And you even, in your rare slot, could get a land. It was an island if you got that,

which was kind of sucky, but that could happen. How about having a rare per booster? Does that go back to alpha? It does. It does. Even back in alpha, you always had a rare per booster. Original alpha,

because the lands were mixed into things, you got, I think the way it worked was, you got 11, I think you got 11 commons, three uncommons, and a mythic rare, and a rare. Mythic rare didn't exist yet. Mythic rare didn't exist. But in alpha, you did get a rare in every pack. Okay, how about multicolor? Does multicolor go all the way back to alpha? It does not. It does not.

Multicolor goes back to Legends. Legends was the first set to have multicolor. Before that, there was not. Okay. Were there... Does Legendary go back to alpha? No, it does not. It was also premiered in Legends. And at the time when it premiered,

interestingly, Legendary was used on permanents, on enchantments and lands and stuff. But on creatures, it was a creature type and not a super type. So remember I talked about how walls had baggage? Legend also had baggage. If you were a creature type Legend So, remember I talked about how walls had baggage? Legend also had baggage. If you were a creature type legend, you followed all the legend rules, which at the time

I think were that you once a legend was played, no one else could play that legend, and you could only have one legend per deck. Only one copy. It was sort of self-restricted in the original rules. But that goes all the way back. How about dual lands? Do dual lands go all the way back. How about dual lands?

Do dual lands go all the way back to alpha? They do! The original dual lands were in alpha. Interestingly though, the original lands

in alpha, which were the basic lands and the dual lands, all they did was tap for mana. Yes, the dual lands tap for two different colored mana,

basic lands tap for one colored mana, but all they did is tap for mana. It was not until Rabian Knights, the first expansion, that lands even did something other than tap for mana. It was not until Rabian Knights, the first expansion, that lands even did something other than tap for mana.

That as a concept did not show up until then. How about plus one, plus one counters? Once again, I just did a podcast on this. If you heard my podcast, yes, plus one, plus one counters go all the way back to alpha. Fungusaur, for example, used plus one, plus one counters. There also was plus one, plus one counters go all the way back to alpha. Fungusaur, for example, used plus one, plus one counters. There also was plus one, plus zero counters, which were on

Clockwork Beast. In fact, I just did a podcast on counters, so you can listen to it. There were a whole bunch of counters that actually first showed up in alpha. So, and token cards, as I guess, did token cards show up? Not token cards, sorry. Did tokens show up in alpha?

And if you listen to my podcast, you know, yes, they did. It was on the Hive. There was a WASP token in alpha. But that was the only one. There was just one token. So one of the things, I'm almost at work, but one of the points of today's is to sort of show off how much of what you think of as being staple, staple magic does not go back to Alpha. You know, things like the stack that you think of being, oh, well, that's just the way magic is played.

Like, well, yeah, as of 6th edition, that's the way magic was played. Oh, the other thing that I didn't get into, here's a final trivia question for you. It's a little trickier one. Okay, so let's take all the card types. How many of the card types in alpha showed up with just the card type on their card type line?

Meaning, of the six card types that are still in the game that were in alpha, how many of them just said the card type hyphen and then maybe a subtype if it had a subtype? Okay, so let's go through them. How about creature? Did creature exist in Alpha? The concept of creatures did.

But no, they said summon. So a goblin will be summon goblin. Creature did not show up until, I can't, I think 6th edition? So creature hyphen showing up on creatures did not show up in the beginning. Okay, how about land? Yes, land said land in alpha. How about artifacts? Well, technically there were a few cards that just said artifacts. Most of the artifacts, there were mono artifacts and poly artifacts and continuous artifacts and artifact creatures. Artifacts had another type with it that described what it did. For example, mono-artifact meant it tapped.

It didn't have a tap symbol on it. It just told you you can only use it once. How about enchantments? Kind of. Global enchantments just said enchantments, but if it was a local enchantment, it was an ore of some kind, it said enchant whatever it was enchanting.

Enchant creature, enchant land. So it didn't say enchantment on it. How about instants? Yes, they saidment on it. How about instants? Yes, they said instant on it. How about sorceries? Yes, they said sorcery on it. So only land, instant, and sorcery just said their type. Artifacts, enchantments, and creatures all were a little different from how we ended up doing them later.

So anyway, I hope you guys enjoyed today's podcast. It was definitely trying to demonstrate how a lot has changed in Magic over the last 27 years. It is not... I mean, there were things that were there from the beginning. A bunch of things I said today were there from the very beginning. But a lot of stuff wasn't. And the other interesting thing is some things were conceptually there, but weren't named for a while. So anyway, I hope you guys found today's sort of history podcast interesting.

And what I found from my top 50 is you guys found today's sort of history podcast interesting. And what I found from my top 50 is you guys like the interactive one. So I'm trying to do more interactive podcasts. So hopefully you enjoyed that. But anyway, I'm now at work. So we all know what that means. It means it's the end of my drive to work. So instead of talking magic, it's time for me to be making magic. I'll see you guys next time.