Set symbol: VI (but see note about early set symbols and card rarity, below).No set symbol (except for the Chinese release which had a Roman numeral V).Copyright 1997 on the bottom of the card.Copyright 1995 on the bottom of the card.

Card colors look lighter overall–light print run.

Normal rounded corners (same as modern-day cards).

Heavily-rounded corners (compare to modern card and see the difference).Who knows, you might be sitting on a small fortune and not know it!įor these illustrations, I used the card “Healing Salve,” which was printed from Alpha all the way through 8th edition–it shows how the early sets changed and varied. So I compiled this handy little guide, with the help of my awesome boyfriend (who’s been playing Magic since Revised came out), to help all of us know what sets some of those unidentifiable “old cards” come from.

Because of this, sometimes it can be hard to know exactly what value your cards have, or even what set the cards are from in some cases. Most of us Magic: the Gathering players began our collections with a fairly random assortment of cards, a mix of the most current booster packs plus some donated cards from other players’ collections.

Mtg card sets by symbol