Enter the Battlefield: The Alpha Playtesters

Go inside Magic's very first players: The Alpha Playtesters. You know about Richard Garfield, but do you know about the people who helped him build the game we all love? Meet them here.

[@creamoftomatosoup]

"The two pieces of feedback were either 'this card sucks' or 'this card is broken'." Some things never change XD

[@pphyjynx8217]

War....war never changes

[@JohnSmith-ox3gy]

Instead it's mill sucks and storm is broken.

[@A1Authority]

One of the phrases that makes me smile, a compliment to the discussed card of the moment, is one casually saying "best card in the game"... which gives one pause for additional thought and reflection of the card in question.

[@RhysticStudies]

Richard Garfield's voice is so pleasant and composed. I could listen to him speak for hours.

[@Name-dh1vo]

Rhystic Studies love every video you’ve made. I watch them for hours over and over

[@gagewoodcock2479]

Kinda similar to LSV if you ask me....

[@sdfkjgh]

Rhystic Studies: You're no gravel-gargling slouch yourself!

[@jedidr4918]

Rhystic Studies PODCAST WE NEED A PODCAST KF HIM JUST TALKING ABOUT MAGIC

[@cutecommie]

Kinda similar to Rhystic Studies if you ask me...

[@soldierofmankind]

Thank you Richard Garfield for this amazing game. I can't wait to teach this to my son. You're the man.

[@thorbenvelden9116]

Trading a Mox Jet for a Forest? This has been the worst trade deal in the history of trade deals, maybe ever!

[@Juggernuts]

i traded my mox emerald for lunch one day, my friends still give me hell, saying i traded it for a ham sammich, in my defense, the mox was worth like 10 bucks, and it was one hell of a ham sammich

[@voltcorp]

to be fair, those original xerox proxies are probably all worth very little

[@andrewsparkes8829]

Tiago dos Reis Rodrigues Why think that? They're even rarer, for actual collectors, than Alpha cards...sure they're bad for investment, since it'd be harder to auction off to anyone but the highest tier of collectors, but that doesn't make them not pricy, if that makes sense?

[@kcsnipes]

Just print another one !

[@kcsnipes]

Emerald

[@Hyde_and_Seek]

In West Philadelphia born and raised At Colonial Pizza played most of my games Chillin’ out maxin’ relaxin’ all cool And all slingin’ some fireballs outside of the school When a couple of guys who were up to no good, Tried to trade my Time Walk for a Wall of Wood I wouldn’t make the trade and my friend got scared (and said) “Why don’t you guys play for ante and that should seem fair..”

[@jacobrichards4448]

ercichewman great

[@shanegedekoh121]

YES

[@Dan-fe6gs]

i need that on the radio

[@mattdrafts1235]

KEEP GOING!!!!

[@kcsnipes]

Got me at wall of wood!

[@shivambhatt8380]

an ALPHA RARE SHEET! my eyes seriously popped wide open

[@Dan-fe6gs]

ikr XD

[@MastaVo]

Imagine it was on your wall, you'd look at it and part of you would want the cards out and part of you would say you have to leave it. That internal struggle everyday would be rough.

[@saintmerakbeta]

Too bad it was actually a Beta sheet, still very impressive.

[@KingBobXVI]

TheWill A. - nice catch! At first I was thinking, "What would the tell be? The main difference between Alpha and Beta was the corners, which wouldn't be here" - but then I remembered: Volcanic Island was accidentally left off of Alpha, and _bam!_ 2:44 - Volcanic Island right there, third from the right, fifth from the top.

[@Cyrus_III]

1 frame and I can find more value than what I'm likely to acheive in my entire life.

[@ChainguiRafaeldaSilva]

Thanks, Dr. Garfield... Your creation literally saved me from depression and suicidal thoughts.

[@Coeurebene1]

I wish a game can recreate that initial feeling of the first few months of Magic. No info, no resource, we discovered cards in each other decks. Wonderful.

[@p3kittyopa07]

i can do it if you want i am okay with that

[@Blackadder75]

playing vanilla World of Warcraft in pre launch beta, or early launch was JUST like it it. No internet resources, just exploring this vast new world with your friends... for about 6 months I didn't talk about anything else. it was a brilliant experience.

[@Jesup1204]

Dear Richard Garfield I am a college senior and I have been playing Magic The Gathering since my freshmen year of high school. The summer after I finished Middle School, my family moved from Texas to Boston, so when I started high school, I didn’t know anyone around me. One day, I saw a group of kids around my age playing a strange card game they called Magic. I went over, sat with them and watched the game. I didn’t know the rules at the time, but I just wanted to know. I had a quarter on me at the time, so I bought a card off one of the kids to get my deck started. I believe that Magic The Gathering not only helped me get acquainted with those kids, but with the rest of that high school community. I kept playing Magic The Gathering since then, but during my second year of College I had a second experience similar to my freshman year, but this time, I was helping someone else get aquatinted with the community around them through Magic The Gathering. I was hanging out in the common room of my friends dorm when this new student walked over to us. She explained she was a foreign exchange student from Kuwait and she wanted help finding her room. I decided to help her and we paused our game to assist. At the beginning of the semester, I saw her around from time to time, but she wasn’t p socializing with anyone. Eventually, she found her way to a hang out session between me and some fellow Magic The Gathering players where she sits down next to me and starts watching the game. She begins asking about the rules and my friends and I teach her how to play. I had a deck back then I was not using anymore, but was good enough for starting players, so I just gave it to her freely. She started hanging out with us more and more and the more she hung out with us, the more I noticed her talking to other students and making friends. Eventually I had the courage to ask her out, and we have been together for eighteen months. Mr. Garfield you may never read this since it’s just a comment on a KZbin video you were in. If somehow you read this, all I want to say is, Magic The Gathering not only changed my life for the better but for the lives of thousands of people, like my girlfriend as well. She has admitted she was at first scared of studying in America, but has also said she wouldn’t give it up for anything because it’s where she learned how to play Magic The Gathering and met me. I now know that many players have a story like mine and they would never be told if it weren’t for a simple game you created.

[@Blackadder75]

What a lovely story.. Richard does know about you. (well not you, but people like you) He often wrote columns for WoTC and in those writings he explained that he saw playing games as some kind of universal language between humans of every race sex and cultural background. I am sure he had heard stories like yours often and is extremely pleased that his creations helped people connect in this way. I was lucky enough to play in a world championship event of magic. I think we had 50 or 60 nationalities at that tournament , all playing the same game. I played against people from Portugal, Japan, Argentina, Sweden and others. I won games, I lost games it was all good. I loved the experience. First you played only with players from your own city, then your own nation, then your continent and eventually the whole world. It really was an international movement and I have often seen people from far away being helped by magic players, hotel rooms shared, friendships being made. it was a golden age of magic (for me this was about 2000-2010)

[@1choas]

Besides the whole videos of Friday Nights, this has been the best video MTG channel had uploaded by far. Love to know the history of the game and the creator.

[@Blackadder75]

this video was very good, and then the credits rolled and I saw it was made by Nate and Shawn... ah! of course...

[@MassacreVegan]

Richard honestly needs to play a bigger part in Magic’s development again.

[@Juggernuts]

100% truth

[@jacobrichards4448]

He just worked on dominaria.....what do u want

[@barrett6929]

Jacob Richards and look how awesome it was.

[@hellNo116]

Jacob Richards more sets like dominaria ??

[@Hyde_and_Seek]

“Needs to play a bigger part in Magic’s development” When inventing the game is not enough.

[@joshuadewaal]

I've had the pleasure of meeting him twice in my life, and one of those times I got to sit and play a game of magic with him. It was really a neat experience. He was very humble and had a lot of excitement and passion for games.

[@benrehbeck7431]

I feel like this is the first time in a while that I've seen a light of true enthusiasm and passion in Richard's eyes whilst talking about Magic. Every other recent time it seems as though he's somewhat disappointed or even annoyed at how much the game has changed over the years. This being the very FIRST version of Magic it seems to bring him back to his roots of why he loves making games, because it was much simpler and more based around fun than it is today. It's nice to see that passion again

[@nuisanceparameters]

Thank you Mr. Garfield -- I've been playing for 24 years and cannot wait to teach my son!

[@dr6ke]

my chest sunk when he said that a forest and a mox jet are the same thing

[@Blackadder75]

This is like Egyptologists finding and uncovering an unspoiled Pharaoh grave. I remember almost 30 years ago when the game was new, reading the Pocket Player's Guide, checking the card list, finding the cards of my revised starter deck (Fast Bond and Lord of The Pit as rares, I remember it to this day) and reading about these people who playtested pre-pre alpha.. the names of these playtested were so alien to me (who in the world is named Skaff?) and their legendary decks... The alpha testers stories are also familiar in another way. about 10 years later me and my friends were beta world of warcraft testers, and it took over our lives in the same way, we would spend almost every minute of the day thinking about WoW when we were not working or sleeping.

[@Voimandiimon]

This should have been an hour long! Amazing and inspiring piece!

[@Kinesicz]

What a master. Oh, how I miss playing magic before knowing every card that existed. Shuffling a starter and two boosters together will always be magic in its purest form to me.

[@PalPlays]

Chad K.W.D.L. I remember ranting about how Kraul Warrior was the worst card ever printed without realizing that it was a strictly better Grizzly Bear in draft.

[@farpointgamingdirect]

Chad K.W.D.L. I miss playing for ante...

[@connerriley3575]

I cant wait till he designs another set because playing with dominaria feels like playing with the old cards

[@voltcorp]

"things I thought were mistakes..." *cue nexus of fate*

[@Monkeyshaman]

Tiago dos Reis Rodrigues somehow you all survived having timestream navigator in standard. And part the waterveil.

[@KingBobXVI]

+MonkeyShaman - it's not the extra turn that's got people in a tizzy; it's the... let's say... "special" rarity.

[@Monkeyshaman]

KingBobXIV timestream navigator and part the waterveil are mythics. A game of telephone guarantees you at least one with purchase. Teferi runs the same range (though twice as expensive when the 'tizzy' started) and neither are as provable forever cards as two of the cheapest value cards in fog (Azcanta and Glacial Fortress). Edit: buy a box rarity is artificial and $300 could net you the knowledge that you are neither a fog or eggs player or it could net you 30 some drafts or ~150 standard queues both of which will make you a better player. We're in one of the widest formats ever, make a point of searching for and exiling it in your meta. If someone is telling you there is roof yet to be reached for a 7mana instant post rotation or even mid season it might be because they somehow got a number of them already.

[@nightingaleseraph]

[laughs in black winter]

[@MastaVo]

Garfield is such a legend, still seems so down to earth and humble about things.

[@grantwithers]

From the lineage of pres Garfield apparently.

[@leesadleridge]

This almost had me in tears. Such an intelligent, and beautiful man Mr. Garfield is. Thank you so much for creating something that has given so many people such wonderful memories, and continues to invite both young and old into Magic😊

[@Damnationization]

Watching this helps me understand MTG further. As an old school D&D player I recognize the art taken from Monster Manual, Monster Manual 2, and Fiend Folio. Richard took the monsters from D&D and made them just 2 numbers, power/toughness. The spells/enchantments were to add other effects to the game. It's actually simple, but brilliant also. Damn it.

[@Blackadder75]

one of his brilliant things was to add arbitrary random names to cards, like 'Serra' or 'sengir' or 'Banalish' or 'Urza' Just a name gave whole sets of design space to the future

[@helderboymh]

One of the best "enter the battlefield" so far, great job!

[@youropinionistrash666]

Very good Production Value. Very nice mood and tone! You have come a very long way! Respect!

[@kewpieqt]

literally moved to right in front of Colonial Pizza. wow historic. The building needs a historical plaque or something.

[@farpointgamingdirect]

frigginsushi Maybe you could talk the owners into putting one up.

[@Ghaz013]

Definitely taking my GF here this weekend, although more like dragging her.

[@NinjaSushi2]

frigginsushi Whatchu got against sushi? NinjaSushi best Sushi.

[@zenithquasar9623]

Thank you so much for bringing so much joy to us all Richard!

[@vsully360]

I love everything about this video. I discovered this game in the summer of 1994 after just having graduated high school. My friend bought cards back from Seattle Washington where he had been living. We lived in a suburb of Tampa Florida. Those first few years were a magical time for me. Revised was the currently available base set and the Dark had just come out. You couldn't get packs, but people in my area had tons of alpha/beta/unlimited, Arabian nights, Legends, etc. and those original sets are still to this day what I find the most fascinating about the game. I stopped playing with any sort of regularity in the early 2000s and I sort of follow the game somewhat casually today, but I’ll never forget the long nights spent playing cards at that time in my life that I sometimes wish I could go back and relive.

[@raindropdreams8]

Fantastic video. These guys are the real deal. I love how much personality they have and how the little index cards they played with became what they are today. =)

[@moxavenger]

Very nice video, thanks for sharing this. I think a video about how Richard recruited the Alpha artists and got the game to the market would be pretty awesome.

[@krisdenton8637]

I just want to say that this is a really good video and explores a part of magic that I imagine very few people knew about.

[@Awesomer929]

Amazing story behind Magic, and told so well, great editing

[@NileSings]

He's recaptured this with KeyForge. It's the most fun I've ever had playing a card game, it's constant discovery, and I can't stop thinking about it!

[@Blackadder75]

another observation: I just LOVE how Captain Haddock (a world famous character in international comic books, Belgian Tintin by Hergé , but not so well known in the USA) is the Clone

[@jwt4810]

The test filler art for Instill Energy is Richard Simmons Exercise Pose from "Sweatin' to the Oldies", I about fell out of my chair laughing so hard!!!!

[@user-xu5gi4fo5t]

So that's the Barry of the Barry's land! Good to see him in videos.

[@BonHTCG]

one of the best videos i've seen. Richard Garfield is a legend.

[@johnvonmartin7501]

Richard Garfield is like the DaVinci or Dr. James Naismith of trading cards. His creativity is incomparable plus his creations are also valuable like the alpha lotus which is equivalent to the 1998 PSA10 Jordan Card or the 1419 Mona Lisa in terms of its significance and popularity.

[@fr0ztibytez]

“You’re gonna give me a mox emerald for a forest?” “Yeah it’s the same thing” - i died inside

[@jacobrichards4448]

Those alpha rare sheets and original play test decks got be worth a billion

[@bestbry1]

Love unpretentious people. Richard sounds like a really cool guy

[@zibberebbiz]

It's incredible to me that even the play testers already organically developed a mini-economy of valuing and trading cards. This is before Alpha was even printed!

[@summpwner7837]

And that's another compliment to Garfield, because he engineered the economics behind how he gave the cards out. Truly brilliant how he tested the game itself AND the possible interactions OUTSIDE the game at the same time

[@hermaninclusus2800]

Can anyone tell me; Has WoTC ever produced a commemorative/celebratory replica set of the Alpha playtest cards for retail? I would LOVE a chance to play with such cards along with a copy of the first draft of rules. Failing that; has anyone compiled images of the cards anywhere online?

[@tackle47]

Herman Inclusus was thinking the same thing

[@saintmerakbeta]

The closest thing to that is just a pdf they released of the old rules, and honestly there's no way they could reprint the test cards because these contain some copyrighted material.

[@MastaVo]

Many of the images came from D&D books as D&D partially inspired the game :)

[@hermaninclusus2800]

Really interesting. But if WoTC acquired TSR back in 1997, doesn't that mean they'll own the rights to all the D&D content and would be able to reprint the illustrations pasted onto these playtest cards? And they could easily replace any of the artwork they don't own with something similar from their huge back catalogue. It'll never happen, but still, it'd be so cool.

[@saintmerakbeta]

Herman Inclusus The problem is that they used more than just D&D art for the test cards, there's also pictures of celebrities and comic book characters i think.

[@sikorsky99ew17]

Power creep: I am invincible! Power 9: Hold My beer

[@eusouzoom]

Beautiful video. This game is without a shadow of doubt the most amazing game I ever knew! And will ever know.

[@chrisgirth7373]

Nothing will ever recreate being 12 in 1994 and getting my first deck. I would dream about building decks and getting more cards. It opened my eyes to a world not known just like video games. I spent many summer night playing magic and Daggerfall for endless hours.

[@stphndxn]

I love this game so much, and it's so awesome to watch something like this, showing you its origin. 😁

[@musicfighter282]

I love this. And I love that Dr. Garfield is still innovating in game design. Very interested to play Keyforge when it comes out.

[@BurntFrost]

I'm just curious how many of these guys still play Magic.

[@Quroe_]

This was my first biography I have seen about Richard Garfield. This was interesting and educational for me.

[@Lotties_handsaw]

bro, that uncut alpha sheet is probably worth more than his house.

[@barknochenbamboo5286]

Where can I find the fabulous music always used in these videos?

[@TheVnholy]

Thank you Dr. Garfield

[@kryttercakes]

This a cool little documentary. Thanks for posting :)

[@sasha-2574]

So that's what Professor Garfield was cooking in his Arcane Laboratory - Magic: The Gathering Cards.

[@avealdarkOne]

Thank you so much for sharing this.

[@JBergmansson]

Did you see, at 11:20? Time walk as a sorcery, costing 2U (or 3U if we count the handwritten errata) and making you sacrifice an island when you play it. Is that... a fair Time Walk?

[@raulperez2308]

Jonas Bergmansson If I remember correctly, it means 2cmc, one of them having to be blue, 3cmc if we count the errata, but still one of them blue and still and extra turn for 3 mana so still broken as fuck

[@JBergmansson]

Oh, ok, that changes things. But it seems the card made you sacrifice an island when you played it, so that's still something. I don't understand how they though it reasonable to buff it for alpha. The question is, would "Alternate Time walk" costing 1UU and making you sacrifice an island still have been good enough to be part of the Power 9? By the way, what do you reckon is the baseline these days for getting an extra turn, 5 cmc? 6? "Temporal manipulation" is 3UU, but that's pretty old now. "Karn's temporal sundering" from Dominaria costs 4UU, but has some other effects and conditions. "Part the watervail" is 4UU sorcery with an optional upside. Oh, ixalan had "Time warp" for 3UU, which is just an extra turn immediately. And that has not seen any play.

[@raulperez2308]

Jonas Bergmansson well time warp does technically see play in the old blue turns, but yeah, nobody plays that. and idk, i'd say the base cmc would be five. I mean, there's time warp and also that portal three kingdoms card that is exactly the same but you don't see people complaining about them being broken, because they are not. On the other hand, a cmc4 timewalk effect could definitely be tried, but of course giving it a significant downside

[@A1Authority]

From Rochester, NY, we were a test city, and it was great. My tourney's competed with official ones in the area. The sad thing about MTG, is it's current complexity, which in the first five years was nothing like it is now. It was more fun. These days the endless mechanics and formats allow for decks that are seriously, over-the-top, broken, defying the spirit of the game, exacerbated by how those at your local store are playing not their own ideas, but a bastardization of tourney winning decks they see online. Now, add the cost of being an enthusiast. Back when my friends and I only owned a few boxes of cards, we would just haul our collection around, and build from scratch in 20-30 minutes as we jabbered. Great as it is, I miss the early days.

[@Come2Japan]

Such a good watch!!! Wish i saw this earlier!

[@joncarroll2040]

I wonder how much a playtest Lotus would fetch at auction.

[@missingbeet3301]

Magic changed my life

[@TransformersTalkRAW]

Absolute legend.

[@cross5574]

Ah, so THIS guy is the reason I'm addicted to cardboard

[@PAUPERGANDA]

THIS IS AWESOME!

[@ty_sylicus]

Would love to see more historical videos on Magic. I enjoy MaRo's articles.

[@guillermojrboy3292]

Richard is a living treasure.

[@GUIHTD]

5:49 The original Time Walk!

[@FrowningTable]

"how can we make this more fair?" "I know, make it cost 1 less mana"

[@Ritokure]

Back then, 2R meant "2 Mana, one of which is Red". So technically it actually costs 1R. Either way, it's funny to imagine a world where Time Walk is Red.

[@Mandolorian1001]

I miss these videos

[@dylbinawesomeperson]

so time walk was created because Richard Garfield got a little salty

[@grantmcdougall7801]

that photo of richard at 1:50 is so good quality it looks digital i wonder what kind of camera that was backthen??

[@NathanShepard]

film

[@wjeffcunningham]

very well done.

[@ctubridy]

This was fascinating.

[@Tijlliekens]

the dark ritual test card art is beautifull! wizards shoul print these kinda cards as promo's!

[@Juggernuts]

that instill energy with Richard Simmons on it, LOL!

[@piterbread]

Hahahaha right!

[@maryfelice5657]

How do I get a copy of this video?

[@Coalgolem]

This is amazing!

[@JacquesSnacques]

I can see Keyforge trying to be the thing to fill that void of exploring something new, and I wonder if that played a role in its development.

[@luliby2309]

Interesting looking at Keyforge, Richard's newest game he's created, and how it too has qualities that seem to be trying to "fix" some of the "problem" with Magic like other games he's made. I wonder if it will still turn out that these were strengths in disguise.

[@barknochenbamboo5286]

Just a great video!

[@LanceEhlers]

What happened to these mini documentaries? They’re great. You absolutely should make more.

[@KarlKatten]

love this game

[@atumdemar]

thank you richard garfield

[@CeleTheRef]

4:34 any chance we'll ever get a scan of that document?

[@rockylosco5596]

I would like to have some of those originals ,talk about value

[@joebaumgart1146]

I did my thesis on Game Theory in relation to Magic: The Gathering.

[@KarmicXRestrictions]

I would do terrible things for a set of reprints themed this way

[@fiendfrank]

How much would one of those white card alpha decks cost? 😮 I've never seen them before today.

[@willcordes4584]

So THIS is the way Richard Garfield intended.

[@carsonweekly]

Barry Reich: *grabs frame* “This...is what a two semesters at college looks like.”

[@fourtwentythree]

My man said this is what an alpha rare sheet looks like 😮😅

[@tonpalacios2964]

amazing video! but mox emerald for a forest, dude must be kicking himself after that one

[@midwestdbs5967]

Anyone who plays any tcg needs to thank Richard Garfield thank you been playing from 1996 till today. I would get a free lunch from school and take my lunch money my dad gave me to by packs lol

[@rockylosco5596]

That hit exactly what I’d been thinking lately ,the rules of magic r not exactly straight,there really r no direct line of rules,I knew something didn’t feel right,I love every bit of that too lol

[@mtgdog5657]

1993: "1 blue mana draws 3 cards at instant speed, 3WW gets you a 4/4 Angel with Flying and Vigilance." 2018: "2U draws 2 cards at sorcery speed, 3WW gets you a 5/5 Angel with Flying, Lifelink, First Strike, and it pumps all your other Angels by +1/+1." 2043: 4UU draws 2 cards at sorcery speed, 3WW gets you a 6/6 Angel with Flying, Vigilance, Lifelink, Double Strike, Indestructible, and Hexproof."

[@cutecommie]

That makes me wonder if Modern will still be a thing in 2043 and with the same rules.

[@mtgdog5657]

Soviet Loli It will be a thing, but it will be different, and it won't be called "Modern" anymore. It will be called the "Master" Format, and new cards will be added directly to the format through supplemental (non-standard) sets on a regular basis. Extended will also be a thing again, with the last 8 years worth of sets being legal. Legacy and Vintage will be long dead by then, though.

[@5t0nedgamer57]

wishing we had the old wizards of the coast back....... : an original A,B,U player

[@drewp9819]

I imagined Richard with a beard down to his toes, like Gandalf. But I guess there is only one Gandalf. But there is only one Richard also. Even if lots of people were and are and will be named Richard.

[@lovetownsend]

So Magic started from the idea of Richard hiking and thinking "Not all players in a card game need to start with same cards" Wow, fascinating.

[@fourtwentythree]

6:10 I feel this 😅being so old that leaning over casting a spell on a low table the air comes out of me 👴🏽

[@HigherMammal]

A Captain Haddock clone would be very powerful indeed.

[@jedidr4918]

How can 7 people dislike this?