List of Magic: The Gathering sets

The trading card game Magic: The Gathering has released a large number of sets since it was first published by Wizards of the Coast. After the 1993 release of Limited Edition, also known as Alpha and Beta, roughly 3-4 major sets have been released per year, in addition to various spin-off products.
Magic has made three types of sets since Alpha and Beta: base/core sets, expansion sets, and compilation sets. Expansion sets are the most numerous and prevalent type of expansion; they primarily consist of new cards, with few or no reprints, and either explore a new setting, or advance the plot in an existing setting. Base sets, later renamed core sets, are the successors to the original Limited Edition and are meant to provide a baseline Magic experience; they tended to consist either largely or entirely of reprints. Compilation sets also exist entirely of reprints, and tend to be made as either a special themed product, or as a way to increase supply of cards with small printings. Examples of compilation sets with randomized boosters include Chronicles and Modern Masters. There also exist compilation products with a pre-selected and fixed card pool, such as the Duel Decks and From The Vault series. Theme decks serve a similar function; however, they are always attached to a specific set or block, while compilations are free to pick and choose cards from any set.
All expansion sets, and all editions of the base set from Sixth Edition onward, are identified by an expansion symbol printed on the right side of cards, below the art and above the text box. From Exodus onward, the expansion symbols are also color-coded to denote rarity: black for common and basic land cards, silver for uncommon, and gold for rare. Beginning with the Shards of Alara set, a red-orange expansion symbol denotes a new rarity: "Mythic Rare" (the Time Spiral set featured an additional purple coloration for "timeshifted" cards). For the early expansion sets (from Arabian Nights to Alliances), the rarities of cards were often much more complicated than the breakdown into common, uncommon, and rare suggests. Cards in compilations are assigned partially arbitrary rarity by Wizards, with some cards assigned rare status and some assigned mythic rare in a given set.
After the second version (Beta) of the first set, which contained two cards mistakenly excluded from the first version (Alpha), all subsequent base sets through 10th Edition consisted of cards that had been printed before in either the original base set or an expansion set. Alpha through Fifth Edition did not have set symbols printed on the actual cards, though those sets were retroactively given set symbols in Wizards of the Coast's official Gatherer database of Magic cards.
Expansion sets from Ice Age to Rivals of Ixalan (with the exception of Homelands) came in groups called "blocks". Blocks were cohesive products: they usually centered around one plane, followed a particular storyline, and contained cards and mechanics that supported both. Blocks generally consisted of one large "stand-alone" expansion set of 250-380 cards, followed by one or two small expansion sets of 141-200 cards which continue the themes introduced in the large set. Like the base set, stand-alone expansion sets contain basic land cards; other expansion sets do not. Beginning with Alliances, expansion sets were given codenames while in development; the code names of the expansions of a block usually fit together to form a phrase or common theme. Ice Age, Homelands, and Alliances were retroactively declared a block at some point, despite Homelands not being connected to the other two in any way. In 2006, WotC retroactively dropped Homelands from the Ice Age cycle and added Coldsnap to it. With the Zendikar cycle in 2009, the traditional large-small-small block structure began to be varied, with some blocks including a second large set later in the cycle. Starting with the Battle for Zendikar block in 2015, the default structure of a block was changed to large-small, with two blocks released per year and each block consisting of only two sets.
Ice Age and Alliances were the first two sets to have a well-defined relationship, but the idea of calling connected sets a "block" or "cycle" did not exist at the time of printing. Also beginning with Alliances in June 1996, expansion sets were released in a regular pattern: the base sets were released in October with the small expansion sets being released in February and June. With the exceptions of Stronghold, a 1998 set released in March rather than February, and Scourge, a 2003 set which was released in May rather than June, this pattern of months was never broken, over a 10-year period, until 2006, when Dissension was also released a month early in May instead of June, because of the July release of Coldsnap. The third set in a block has since been released in late April or early May. From 2005-2015, there was a fourth release date each year in mid-July, usually reserved for base sets. Other summer releases included Coldsnap and Eventide.
Fallen Empires was an experimental expansion in which most cards have three or four different pieces of artwork. You could see them as 121 common cards, by art, or 36 cards by the text. It was also a major expansion in the idea of tribes, especially Goblins and Merfolk.
Most early expansion sets did not have exact release dates; they were just shipped out within the space of a week, and retailers could start selling them as soon as the sets were received. By the time of Alliances in 1996, however, release dates were set as Mondays (the earliest set with an exact Monday release date might possibly have preceded Alliances, but Alliances is the earliest set with a cited and confirmed Monday release date). Beginning with Mirrodin in 2003, the release dates were changed from Monday to Friday. All sets beginning with Homelands also have a pre-release date, on which cards are sold in limited quantities in pre-release tournaments. These tournaments were formerly always held two weeks before the release date, but since Shards of Alara they are now held one week before the release date.
Premium cards have been inserted into booster packs since Urza's Legacy. Originally 1 premium card was inserted for every 100 cards. The ratio was changed to 1 in 70 cards with the Torment expansion. Beginning with Tenth Edition the rate was increased to 1 in 56 cards. This later changed to 1 in 45 cards with "Core Set 2020"
Starting with Battle for Zendikar cycle, sets sometimes also contain an entry in the Masterpiece Series.
The block model has evolved as time went on. In addition to a formalized structure (which was occasionally varied) Wizards began to have trouble developing small sets that satisfied their own quality standards. Players also reported fatigue at playing in the same environment for a year at a time. The decision to remove one small set from each block, as showcased in Battle For Zendikar block, was a result of this dissatisfaction. It culminated in the decision to delete small sets entirely; since the conclusion of Ixalan cycle, all sets have been large-sized sets. However, not all large-size sets will involve travel to a new plane; some will be sequels to the set prior to it, if the depth of the plane's story and mechanics allows. Dominaria, released in 2018, was the first set under this model.
These sets are legal in non-rotating formats such as Modern or Legacy, but not rotating formats such as Standard.
They are notably not legal in Pioneer.
These introductory sets were intended for novice Magic: The Gathering players. They were illegal in sanctioned tournaments until October 2005, when they became legal in Legacy and Vintage.
Reprint sets are sets of certain cards from previous sets that were re-released for different reasons. Some reasons include the cards were fan favorites and popular demand brought them back or in some cases, reprints were to commemorate certain events such as widely known matches or anniversary sets. Some reprint sets revolved around a certain theme; for example, Beatdown was themed around old, out-of-print, heavy-hitting creatures. Reprinting a card in one of these sets does not affect when it leaves Standard.
Deck Builder's Toolkits are released at the same time as a core set and contain only cards from sets that are legal in Standard at that time; they are not sets as such. These boxed sets therefore have no symbol or code of their own.
Starting with the Kaladesh block, some sets include the Masterpiece Series. Wizards of the coast has stated "the Masterpiece Series... began with Zendikar Expeditions". They were retroactively added with the announcement of Kaladesh Inventions. Cards in the Masterpiece Series appear at a higher rarity than Mythic Rares, and consist of either reprints, or cards from the set whose packs they appear in. However, they are not considered part of that set, and instead get their own expansion symbol; moreover, as with reprint sets (see below), printing in a Masterpiece Series entry does not affect format legality. Note that entries in the Masterpiece Series do not have expansion codes, except for Zendikar Expeditions, which has code "EXP".
The Guilds of Ravnica Mythic Edition is a package that is sold exclusively on Hasbro's website. It contains 24 Guilds of Ravnica packs, 8 of which contain a predetermined Masterpiece card.
On January 10, 2019, the Ravnica Allegiance Mythic Edition was announced. Unlike the Guilds of Ravnica version, the Ravnica Allegiance Mythic Edition was sold on eBay and shipped globally. It contains 24 Ravnica Allegiance packs, 8 of which contain a predetermined Masterpiece card.
The set codes listed below come from the 3-letter code printed on the card frames at the bottom.
Starting with the Ravnica Allegiance expansion, collector packs started. Wizards of the Coast also had collector packs (premium packs) in Shards of Alara, but no sets after that until Ravnica Allegiance. Collector packs in Throne of Eldraine consist of five to six foil commons, three to four foil uncommons, three alternate art cards, one card from supplemental sets (from the Brawl deck series or planeswalker deck exclusive cards), one rare or mythic rare, one extended art rare or mythic rare, one foil rare or mythic rare, and a foil double faced token. Theros Beyond Death collector boosters consist of four to five foil commons, two to three foil uncommons, two full art foil basic lands, one card from supplemental sets (Theros Beyond Death planeswalker deck exclusive cards), one rare or mythic rare, one foil rare or mythic rare, two alternate art "Constellation" cards, and a foil double faced token.
The Secret Lair Series is Wizard of the Coast's first full foray into selling single reprints directly to players.
The first Secret Lair series all consisted of alternate art reprints. Wizards of the Coast was trying to work with artists they usually didn't: street artists, comic book artists, album cover designers, etc. Alternately, they used traditional Magic artists working with very non-traditional art briefs. In some later series, original art was used in combination with alternate card frames.
With The Walking Dead series, the premise of only reprints with alternate art was abandoned. Mark Heggen revealed that R&D views the Secret Lair platform as a product-testing grounds platform that lets them try things they can't do in normal products. He acknowledged that it had been art up to 2020, but that they had broadened the concept to speak to audiences of different sizes. If they identify a small group that would be thrilled by a specific product, this could cater to them: "like the game of Magic the Secret Lair will always try new things and evolve - the first year focused on art which is the low hanging fruit" and "as we have new ideas and want to try new things to make the game joyful for more people, Secret Lair is the place to do that experimentation".
Even though the reaction among the fans was very negative, the Walking Dead was the best-selling drop, luring buyers from outside of the Magic world. This prompted the company to keep on experimenting in this realm and creating the Universes Beyond product line. "Universes Within" is the popular name given to cards that are functional reprints of Universes Beyond cards, made to fit within the lore of Magic: The Gathering.
Most cards are legal in the Vintage, Legacy and Commander formats.
Starting with Planechase in 2009, Wizards of the Coast has occasionally printed sets intended primarily for multiplayer play, which do not necessarily consist entirely of reprints but are not legal in Standard; a card printed in one of these is legal only in Eternal formats, and reprinting a card in one of these sets does not affect when it leaves Standard. These sets usually consist of fixed decks.
These sets, though also published by Wizards of the Coast, are not legal for DCI-sanctioned tournament play.
These sets are exclusive to Magic: The Gathering Online.