How It All Began - The Undocumented History of Magic: The Gathering

[@CardmarketMagic]

Find the decklists from the video (and more) here: bit.ly/3DGZi7v Learn even more about early Magic here: www.cardmarket.com/en/Insight/Articles/thanks-i-hate-it-magic-as-garfield-intended

[@Spiqaro]

"A blueberry is a fruit..." at 5:00. I don't get it. Blueberries have always been fruit. Did you mean a blackberry?

[@CardmarketMagic]

@Spiqaro yes ;)

[@molamola5260]

The guy on the thumbnail is creepy af His messy hair and serial killer eyes makes me feel very uncomfortable

[@kimdron256]

You're great Carl! Jamin and Thoralf are pretty good as well ;). My favorite magic channel out there,

[@molamola5260]

Guys i know English isnt your native language but wtf do you say "30 euro" instead of "30 euroS" You dont say 30 dollar , do you ? You aay dollars with an S. 1 euro 2 euros 3 euros Etc Not 200 euro

[@smokyprogg]

Hearing about The Batch made me feel like I was hearing about some ancient evil that was locked away to protect humanity long ago

[@Xxzzertt]

The worst part that they didn't quite delve into in this video is that the order of resolution in the batch couldn't really happen "all at once", so in practice order was resolved by gentleman's agreement, or (often) failing that, at the sole whim of the nearest judge. Imagine this scenario occuring every single time someone casts giant growth in response to lightning bolt. Nightmarish.

[@styfen]

Small interesting fact. The first iteration of Red Deck Wins was beaten in the 2000 English National top 4 because the night before the eventual winner (piloting rebels) was part of the team that knew Red Deck Wins was coming and was terrified of it. So he borrowed 3 CoP: Red from an already qualified Welsh National who'd come over to help the English contingent test the two days before the tournament. I know this cause the cards in that Rebels deck were mine, I was the person who leant out the CoP:Reds after an evening of us all mindlessly chanting "RED DECK WINS. RED DECK WINS." Each time it conquered another opponent during testing.

[@emjjones6261]

With this chant you started a cult

[@styfen]

@@emjjones6261First up I regret everything about being present at its birth. Also it was John Ormerod who first uttered the phrase and he sounded bewildered when he did! 🤣

[@recusantvessel]

this should be pinned wtf this is sick lol

[@CelticMTG]

That is awesome!!

[@dillonmcgowan]

Dude, that's so cool. This community needs someone to interview folks like you and get that oral history recorded.

[@jeohist]

Can't believe you're playing SLEEVED 1993 Magic. This goes against everything our good Doctor Richard Garfield fought for.

[@BaronSengir1008]

Richard Garfield PhD

[@gspoiler]

Need a couple of cinder blocks and a riffle shuffle for good measure

[@MrABK108]

I so want sleeves that portray the back of magic cards

[@GraemeGunn]

@@MrABK108 I used to have some, but they were a really bad brand and shuffled terribly. It's crazy that Dragon Shield or whatever doesn't just have something like that.

[@henkdachief]

@@GraemeGunn the classic magic back sleeves were made by ultra pro

[@albo_ar]

Regeneration was imposible to grasp for me until I hear the phrase "Regenerate like Wolverine, not Jesus"

[@hyoroemongaming569]

Kitchkin should have regenerate, not persist

[@tabithafrank1917]

Omg! I’m so glad that Thoralf was also confused by regenerate! I remember a very old argument with a friend and I was adamant that regeneration worked from the graveyard.

[@russman3787]

To be fair the way it works is confusing. The word "regenerate" makes it sound like an effect that you activate AFTER something dies, not a preventative effect. There's a reason they don't use it anymore.

[@thatonefirekestral]

Thoralf's explanation of regenerate is exactly how I thought regeneration worked when I acquired my first(and only) copy of dredge skeletons. Good times.

[@johnkerber9578]

Like 10 years ago, I was trying to get legacy going at my local shop at the time. I played against someone who was trying to pull dredge skeletons out of their graveyard each turn for its regeneration cost. I had to explain that it didn’t work like that and called a judge to explain. This person got real salty for the rest of the match. I never saw them or their partner, who also played, again.

[@DamdyPirate]

Pretty sure the only card I'd ever seen with regenerate was my Urborg Skeleton. Obviously a skeleton comes back from the graveyard every turn in my mind.

[@russman3787]

@@johnkerber9578 I wonder if he ever found out about Reassembling Skeleton lol

[@violaknapp7904]

This is such a neat way to tell people about Magic's history and still have gameplay! I would love to see more videos like this, there are many years of Magic left, after all

[@EnRandomSten]

"bongwater propane" is now my new go-to for usernames in games

[@Sensei_Emu]

22:36 The fact that demonic tutor had a 30-day average of 66,60€ at the time of editing is both hilarious and incredibly scary

[@namekanal3897]

I feel like Carl is always almost bursting to tell you a fun fact about Magic and I'm here for it.

[@Rayan01012]

I like this style of video. Half gameplay, half information

[@kaostheory1050]

I played a tournament at the release of Ice Age (1995). My opponent (another child) convinced me I couldn't pump my Dragon Whelp after blockers were declared. I didn't call a judge and had to pack up my 100+ card deck and wait for my dad to finish his tournament run. Good times!

[@picassodilly]

12:11 So glad Carl could prevent the damage from disintegrate. I would’ve been so sad for him to be removed from the game of Magic entirely.

[@ColorfulHelices]

Bruh before the game even began that flashbang of Magic history was fantastic. Very gripping and energetic, but not annoying! Excellent work on that intro, great start

[@victhefoxygamer]

"Bongwater Propane" in reference to Bog Wraith is comedic gold

[@ReederMG]

Channel-Fireball is an iconic way to win this

[@Daug7add9addb13]

This channel makes me so happy. I don't understand it but i actually get a physical reaction of joy when i see a new video. Love you guys

[@CardmarketMagic]

Love you back

[@henkdachief]

for me its the opposite! when i see carl market on a thumbnail i start boiling inside thinking what he would get wrong this time and i start sweating and itching! i cant watch more than 20 seconds before i collapse and have to turn it off!

[@henkdachief]

i made it to 40 seconds and he is talking about how magic is a ripoff! thats it for this video i turned it off, maybe next time i make it to a minute

[@CardmarketMagic]

@@henkdachief I don't understand if you're being sarcastic or not 😬

[@GaybrohamStinkton]

​@@CardmarketMagic Thoralf 👍 Carl 👎

[@Powwer69]

"I cast steal artifact on your black lotus" "In response, I scoop"

[@Leuber]

Or just take the 3 mana burn?

[@crawdaddy1234]

15:40 Thoralf: "Probably the best land ever." Tolarian Academy: Raises hand

[@paulwinkler7303]

I love these history deep dives! They are so cool! Also Toffels outfit was ON POINT!

[@fel_95]

For a true 1993 experience, you should've played Unsleeved alpha decks and spread terror among the viewers

[@estellairon9448]

On top of a dirty cinder block!

[@mandollies]

Loved it - I was getting worried that Carl was going to to go 0-2 vs Thoralf; so glad to see that last turn play from out of nowhere; Go Carl!

[@BrootalMetalBanjo]

My friends and I also didn’t understand regenerate, because of this my zombie deck was insane, but any regenerating creature was the nuts.

[@EthanTowsley]

This video is fantastically done. I hope you guys know how much your work is appreciated

[@spencerbell8386]

LFG we love the long-form content Carl!

[@lastnamefirstname8655]

nice older days of mtg. thanks cardmarket magic for another blast to magic's very early past!

[@jasonmohn1472]

God, I remember an argument about if a creature has zero toughness it dies. To me that made sense, but of course to my opponent he said it still needed to take damage to die, it's just that any damage would kill it. Also they never mentioned interrupts as a thing.

[@janTesika]

... technically I can see the "needs to take damage to die even with 0 toughness", but also I play Maid RPG, so it probably only tracks to me because that's how health (or rather 'stress') works in that game.

[@laeclorentzen6111]

9:47 I played a guy who thought Llanowar elves made forests

[@greenwave819]

they do

[@cerocero2817]

I also did, but he was a kid. Also another one who thought that bloodthirst automatically put the card on the battlefield for free as soon as the opponent receives combat damage.

[@laeclorentzen6111]

@@greenwave819 is this satire

[@suprememasterleader3355]

ive had around seven new players think ezactly this

[@DirtyDog97]

16:23 Black Lotus and Library of Alexandria: that's some serious old-school power there! 🤩

[@BruderSeth]

Thanks Carl, awesome as always! Also thanks to Toralf and everyone else involved in the production of this video! ❤️

[@softxpandguest708]

I just want to say I *love* the new content direction. You guys are killing it and coming up with creative, well-edited, interesting content.

[@DirtyDog97]

8:12 Unholy Strength still had the pentagram in Revised/3rd Edition and was removed starting with 4th Edition.

[@andscifi]

getting a tshirt and a plaque may be a bit underwhelming, but they also got a box of alpha. I don't know what the highest prize value of something at a tournament in magic history was, but if you take the value of what it is now this would have to be somewhere on the list.

[@sh41]

Oh, the ending was quite epic

[@Curt-ze6hl]

I've delved into magic history quite a bit, and this was a wealth of new information. Thanks, Carl!

[@OldSpellMaster]

Thanks for all the information. I started 1994 but did not know everything or have forgotten the stuff. I started to play old-school Magic recently which is great. Old flavor cards etc. But it's not real old-school Magic. Like someone else said: it's just Magic with old cards. Because you play with modern rules and oracle cardtext and have new banned lists, you don't really play the games as they were in 1994. I try to find out how the game was really played under Revised rules with manaburn, batch, interrupts, tapped artifacts don't work, tapped blockers deal no damage, you don't lose immediately by having 0 life...what card erratas existed... But it's hard to get that information. I'd really love to play a real game of 1994 again with a Chaos Orb destroying everything it touches and not only one target... But probably with sleeves.

[@chudleycannonfodder]

This was so fun! Would love to see more videos like this that mix history with gameplay; I’m down for a series where you play decks from old tournament finals (and also just more pre-95 Magic)!

[@faydwerfreepress1]

Tidbit for you all. I actually got to speak to Mark Poole about the artwork on Birds of Paradise. It was not originally for Volcanic Island but for just a normal island. See, Volcanic Island is not in Alpha. The story of it being not enough island and to much birds is true though.

[@greenwave819]

I thought that was the reason they didn't print it... because they had to commission new artwork for it

[@antoniodalessandro3136]

thank you guys for this revival of the old times.. missing those vibes and cards. so much nostalgia

[@Wohma]

As someone who also misunderstood regenerate as a kid in the 90s but had a blast playing magic, I really appreciate you guys taking us back.

[@metalgamer21]

Toffel's fit is on point here. Loved the history lesson too!

[@frikifit]

"That's my secret cap, I've always been kinda horrible and you ain't seen nothing yet!" -Wizards

[@dormantformant]

Incredible video, Cardmarket channel is only getting better and better!

[@mouseofscorpio]

I love this blast to the past content you guys make here.

[@mikenahmias7102]

Loved this! I started playing in 1996 and still try to play as much old school Magic as possible.

[@Kryxx07]

I started playing Magic in middle school in the 90's when Revised came out. Played off and on for a while, but haven't played in about 10 years. Every once in a while I'll download Arena on Steam and mess around for a bit. Loved the video.

[@mikotagayuna8494]

Richard Garfield went on record to say that his primary inspiration for MtG was Cosmic Encounter. The asymmetry of player powers, use of game phases during turns and variability of individual playstyles were big leaps in game design at the time.

[@CardmarketMagic]

@@mikotagayuna8494 he went on record saying that both games were his inspiration :) I talked about both in the original script but cut out Cosmic Encounter because the video was too long

[@ajgraziano2710]

The best channel for content. Always a great video. Hope yoire taking care of yourselves.

[@vctrsigma]

the best channel fireball for winning

[@mitchelnext1]

High quality edit and storytelling love this vid

[@SebastianMorath]

I would like to express my sincere gratitude to Carl, Thoralf, and everyone who has contributed to Cardmarket KZbin Channel. As a newcomer to Magic: The Gathering, having started in late 2022 (just one month before the BRO release), I have always been deeply interested in the game's history. However, as English is not my native language, reading vast amounts of English literature often feels rather dry. This video, however, vividly tells the story of Magic's development. You are truly helping out a great cause. Long live Magic!

[@MrCrazycarlwinter]

Excellent video! Nice to refresh on the basics :)

[@eliotdonmoyer6081]

I love this video! I think it would be really cool to have a game of magic where you start when Magic was first published, and every turn you progress forward a year in Magic's timeline, so new cards are added to everyone's decks (or removed if some become restricted/banned) and the rules change as the game is played.

[@para111111]

I wanted this to be longer :D :D Very nice ^^

[@abjoern]

This is what Mengu's Workshop videos look like to CardMarket fans. Casual €100k decks

[@robertcousins2274]

I love these kinds of videos!

[@hadesnumberxiii9739]

Robo rally really is an awesome game! Been playing it since I was a kid thanks to my dad :)

[@BaronSengir1008]

Bongwater Propane explains so much...

[@ubernerrd]

Great band name.

[@bambabam1234]

2min in and i have already almost fell off the couch laughing three times xD Love the energy, the fun facts, the presentation and looking forward to the games as well

[@johnkerber9578]

I’m loving the old school stuff. I didn’t start playing until 95’ with ice age and revised, but this brought back a lot of memories from my childhood.

[@shadowisp]

This video makes me feel so old. Thanks for that, yah dang whipper snappers...

[@para111111]

5:35 there is also Goblin Balloon Brigade ^^

[@Cosmikaze]

Goblin king was in fact not a goblin back then, he was a "goblin king" which was by the rules considered a single creature type, so thing that would affect Goblins (or kings) would not affect him. Later he was made a Lord, but it wasn't until 9th edition, where he was changed to give other goblins +1/+1, and was finally given the goblin type himself.

[@Kell_of_Kellers]

This was a fun video. I appreciate you guys

[@stonerainproductions]

I started in early 94, it was so much fun back then. I didn't start collecting till later that year.

[@Aigis31]

An interesting thing about early Magic was mana burn. You could legitimately die to your own Sol Ring if you weren't careful!

[@janTesika]

I played with that for the first little while because my dad hadn't kept up with the rules.

[@NickHuntingtonKlein]

One of my favorite pieces of ephemera from that early period is a book called "Learn Magic Cards" by Larry Smith, which is a *perfect* illustration of how chaotic the rules etc were at the time. This is a guy who wrote an entire book about how to play Magic, with strategy guides, example games, trading tips, and everything, and got it published, but he *did not know how to play the game.* The rules were all wrong (even for the time), including things like having to play creatures "on" a land and weird combat rules. Even his attempt at making a full list of all the existing cards was incomplete because there simply wasn't a list of all known cards he could refer to. He describes in the book learning the rules from a 12 year old.

[@runescapewarrior66]

Wow stealing cards in the game meant you got to keep them forever is a crazy mechanic.

[@BaronSengir1008]

@@runescapewarrior66 Add in ante, and you really did steal them!

[@DucksAndCatnip]

There were also cards that were strong, but if you lost, you had to give them to your opponent

[@runescapewarrior66]

@DucksAndCatnip I loved playing Contract from below in my cube. What a busted card.

[@Ashebrethafe]

Once ante was made optional, "Remove [this] from your deck before playing if you're not playing for ante" appeared on every card that allowed you to keep cards permanently, even if it didn't interact with the ante itself. There were nine such cards: - Amulet of Quoz (6, rare in Ice Age): Artifact. Can be tapped and sacrificed during your upkeep to flip a coin unless target opponent antes the top card of their library. If you win the flip, they lose the game; if you lose, you lose the game. - Bronze Tablet (6, rare in Fourth Edition / Antiquities): Artifact. Enters tapped. Pay 4 mana and tap it to exile it and target nontoken permanent an opponent owns. If that opponent pays 10 life, put the Tablet into its owner's graveyard; otherwise, exchange ownership of the target card and the Tablet. - Contract from Below (B, rare in Alpha / Beta / Unlimited / Revised): Sorcery. Discard your hand, ante the top card of your library, then draw seven cards. - Darkpact (BBB, rare in Alpha / Beta / Unlimited / Revised): Sorcery. Exchange target card in the ante with the top card of your library. (Can't be played if you have no cards in your library.) - Demonic Attorney (B, rare in Alpha / Beta / Unlimited / Revised): Sorcery. Each player antes the top card of their library. (The printed wording notes that opponents can concede in response.) - Jeweled Bird (1, uncommon in Arabian Nights and rare in Chronicles): Artifact. Can be tapped and anted to put all other cards you own in the ante into your graveyard, then draw a card. - Rebirth (3GGG, rare in Fourth Edition / Legends): Sorcery. Each player may ante the top card of their library to reset their life total to 20. - Tempest Efreet (1RRR, rare in Fourth Edition / Legends): 3/3 creature. Can be tapped and sacrificed to exchange ownership of itself and a random card in an opponent's hand, unless they pay 10 life. That card goes to your hand and the Efreet goes to their graveyard. - Timmerian Fiends (1BB, rare in Homelands): 1/1 creature. Pay BBB and sacrifice to exchange ownership of it and target artifact, unless that artifact's owner antes the top card of their library. That card goes to your graveyard and the Fiends go to their graveyard.

[@bricelory9534]

5:00 did you mean BlackBerry or has there been some Blueberry-related development I missed in the last 30 years?

[@ethansalerius7998]

I think he meant blue rasberry

[@OceanicBacon]

I guess blueberries aren’t fruits anymore…

[@GamerayVideos]

Great video as always!

[@GrizonII]

20:30 Time Walk with the wording "Take an extra turn" actually coexisted with Starburst being "Opponent loses next turn" in the gamma playtest set (and both were commons, for some reason). Perhaps if the wording was clearer then turn skipping would have become a staple red effect (of course, eventually red started to get turn manipulation but with some massive drawbacks).

[@Ricardo-zo1ti]

Amazing video, cool history AND gameplay

[@charlesmarshall7045]

History lesson and actual gameplay? More please!

[@CelticMTG]

I feel old thinking those games are very similar to how I was playing back then! Good old durdly cards

[@jacksonhughes2417]

As soon as Carl tutored and then attacked into the Serra Angel, I looked at the life totals and knew he'd gotten Channel or Fireball! I got Channel plus a few good ways to use it in a chaos draft a while back! Best use was T2 Pathrazer of Ulamog. Too much fun 😄

[@Astflgh]

I love how Carl was joking about having to attack as an upside becaue of correct play, then he himself lost few free attacks with scryb spirtes :D

[@nooneofconsequence1251]

As someone who was playing this game in 1994, yes, Juggernaut was a very serious threat. My original favorite card.

[@Jobutron1]

Historical magic games are so much fun to watch; takes me back!

[@alfredofranceschini5606]

Woow that spinning hat look familiar ❤❤❤

[@CardmarketMagic]

Alfreeeee! Thank you for the lovely spinning monarch hat!

[@anthonystrickland7049]

Fun fact, there was no difference between enchant and enchantment back then. There was just an effect or a target for the effect. Additionally, there was instant and interrupt effects. Instants happened at any time, including as a response to another card. Interupts were just instants that could be played as a response to an effect. Yeah, there was the batch, but you could respond to anything with an instant, with a LIFO chain. Makes me want to track down my copy of Shandalar (the 90's planeswalker video game)...

[@73Arathorn]

I remember actually running blue elemental blast (BEB), simply because channel/fireball was so popular. But I always had the worst luck at tournaments. :(

[@nooneofconsequence1251]

My first aggro deck was black/blue. It used Sol Ring and Dark Ritual to accelerate out Juggernauts and Sengir Vampires as quickly as possible, and Terror and Psionic Blast to punch through enemy defenses. Arena and Nettling Imp were cool ways to ensure my vampires got even bigger and the other player had fewer defenders. Bad Moon ensured my vampires could eat any Serra Angels they encountered. And if the game stalled out, I had Royal Assassin along with Flood, Enervate, Arena, and the Imp to tap down and kill all of my opponents creatures. I considered running Storm Crow but decided it was too OP.

[@hamishfox]

One thing they forgot to mention is that on top of getting a free 7 card mulligan if you didn't have any lands is that there wasn't a maximum of four similar cards per deck, so you could theoretically have a deck of 20 mox opals, 20 balances, 18 black lotus, 1 channel, and 1 fireball and just mulligan until you win turn 1.

[@mrknarf4438]

It is mentioned at 13:38

[@Essex626]

"He took out the worst part, the baseball" Bro, you're killing me. Baseball is the best and nerdiest sport. If anyone likes reading blocks of monster stats in RPG books they will like reading blocks of player stats on Baseball Reference.

[@73Arathorn]

Agreed! That part hurt. And I still play both Strat-o-matic baseball and Magic!

[@jordanlarson8310]

Hey....I still have my DCI card...

[@AnonYmous-et4mz]

Can you imagine being a ground-zero-oldhead and having to relearn how this quirky game you picked up at Gen-Con several times because nobody expected it to grow this big? I really liked this video, combining Magic history with gameplay using decks of the time. That being said, the gold-border tournament decks you guys got from a community member have all been showcased, so there's no more parts to that series with Frank Karsten coming, right? Because I really loved those and this reminded me. So if you've got any more history showcases coming, that'd be awesome :)

[@73Arathorn]

I definitely remember learning Magic, being the local rules expert, getting stale, relearning Magic to become local rules expert, and re-relearning. I am not close to the local expert anymore, though.

[@TCG9777]

Dear Cardmarket team, please reshoot this video. It was very difficult to make out what cards are being played due to the glare of the sleeves you chose use. :3

[@CardmarketMagic]

I'm not sure what you are referring to. I double checked and there is no glare in our footage 🤔 I think you might be referring to the old footage from the 90s

[@christiandittrich2608]

@@CardmarketMagic This was the official reason against sleeves back in the day 😁

[@BoundlessxArts]

I love how happy they are playing this unhinged version of magic

[@73Arathorn]

Unhinged?!? This is how many of us learned. I still remember winning my first ever game of Magic using a Giant Growth and 2 berserks on an attacking samite healer. Chaos is the great equalizer....

[@francoisaubry6394]

I really loved this one!

[@denissinner4625]

"Your outfit was cool back then" - "Hey, it's cool right now!"

[@Trip_Fontaine]

Great video! It might have been a good play to enchant that Juggernaut with Black Ward to remove the Unholy Strength.

[@CardmarketMagic]

Unholy strength hadn't been played yet when it was cast ;)

[@Trip_Fontaine]

@@CardmarketMagic My bad - I'm dumb. 🙂

[@spicenico8331]

I keep thinking you’re gonna lunge out the screen at me brother 😂

[@hazeljoy1]

This is the first time I've ever seen Old man of the Sea and wow I love it

[@tulliusexmisc2191]

I always assumed Old Man of the Sea didn't appear until Arabian Nights. (For younger viewers, that was the first ever Universes Beyond crossover set.)

[@pjgoldstein6562]

14:07 the reason why Ali had to be restricted is that there was no legend rule for him and with things like the color wards you could literally ignore damage forever from a game where there were no alternative win conditions except for running out of cards in your deck. If Ali was out then all the sudden it was a game of waiting until you could figure out how to kill Ali while the Ali player tried to find ways to ping you to death. I distinctly recall a game where i faced an Ali, a Mesa Pegasus, and couple of blue wards slowly doing 1 damage a turn to me 20 times while I scrambled for a Tranquility so that my Tims could kill him first. Even facing a COP: Blue is more fun because at least I could overwhelm someone's mana theoretically.

[@doublethomas8415]

I remember in the mid 90's you could literally walk into the WOTC offices in Renton, WA and ask the employees there questions about anything. I miss MTG from the 90's.

[@joepiedepoepie1234]

I'm mostly impressed by Carl's hair defying gravity.

[@XTimTheEnchanterX]

Love these videos on the history of magic, only thing that could make it better is some Frank Karsten

[@sarahlally5111]

great video this channel is a lot of fun

[@CardmarketMagic]

I'm happy you enjoyed it :)

[@jinxsiemcdeath6250]

rofl Garfield at 0:22 looks like an 80's U2 member at home

[@omiq]

I love Carl's hair, immaculate vibe

[@moretar]

This is an excellent documentary