they couldn't keep up with the demand! Garfield had cleverly invented an entirely new genre of portable, collectible, trading card game, especially suited to being played in the downtime at gaming conventions. It wasn't long before expansions and revisions of the base game ('core sets') began to be regularly released. Since 1993 there have been three major rules revisions -- in 1994 (Revised Edition) ,1999 (Classic Edition), and 2010 (Magic 2010) . Another defining aspect of the MTG experience is tournament play. The Pro Tour, a circuit of tournaments where players can compete for tens of thousands of dollars in cash prizes, was established by Wizards of the Coast in 1996. In fact, as of 2009 and according to Wikipedia, Wizards has given out $30,000,000 in prizes at various professional tournaments, and tournaments with hundreds of competitors from around the world are arranged many times every year by the DCI (Duelists' Convocation International), their official sanctioning body for competitive play. Of course, competitive play, cash prizes, and the general obsessiveness that is commonly a charactistic of gamers have all combined to create a thriving secondary market for MTG cards. A few of the oldest cards, now long out of print, can fetch exorbitant prices. The record is a 'pristine 10 grade' Beta Black Lotus card, which was sold in 2005 for $20,000! So, for the newbie, what is MTG all about? Players are powerful wizards called 'planeswalkers', battling for supremacy. You begin the game with twenty life points, and lose