2004

The year 2004 was the twelfth year of existence for Magic: The Gathering. 
== Events ==
Date 	Event
January, 15 	Third price increase for booster packs.
January, 16-18 	Pro Tour Amsterdam, the Netherlands. Won by Nicolai Herzog.
February, 6 	Release of Darksteel
* Introduction of Indestructable
* Continuation of the second Combo Winter.
** Rise of the Affinity deck, nicknamed "The Blob".
** Start of a large exodus of players, because of the degenerated playing environment.
February, 27-29	Pro Tour Kobe, Japan. Won by Masashiro Kuroda.
April 1 	Announcement of name change to Magique: the Gathering due to a trademark challenge by the Orlando Magic ™.
* April Fools
May, 11-13 	Magic Invitational in Los Angeles, California, USA. Won by Bob Maher.
* Hosted by Magic Online on the Electronic Entertainment Expo (E3).
May, 14-16 	Pro Tour San Diego. Won by Nicolai Herzog.
June 	Banning of <c>Skullclamp</c>.
June, 4 	Release of Fifth Dawn.
* Introduction of a darker card frame for artifact cards to help distinguish from white cards (a problem since Eighth Edition).
July, 9-11 	Pro Tour Seattle, won by team Von Dutch (Kamiel Cornelissen, Jelger Wiegersma and Jeroen Remie).
July, 11 	Founding of MTG Salvation.
September 	Introduction of Gatherer, the official Magic: The Gathering card database, on magicthegathering.com.
September, 1-5 	2004 World Championships in San Francisco, California, USA, won by Julien Nuijten.
* Team champions: Germany.
September, 1 	Split of the banlists for the Vintage and Legacy formats.
October, 1 	Release of the Japanese themed Champions of Kamigawa.
* Change of the "legend rule".
* Introduction of Defender, removing the rules baggage connected to the creature type Wall.
October, 29-31 	Pro Tour Columbus, won by Pierre Canali.
November, 20 	Release of Unhinged, the second Un-set.
* Introduction of a sixth color (pink), fractions and artist matters.
* Featuring the unannounced foil <c>Super Secret Tech</c>.
December 	Release of the 2004 World Championship Decks.
* Last release in this series.
 	Player of the Year: Gabriel Nassif.
 	Rookie of the Year: Julien Nuijten.
==Publications==
* The Darksteel Eye (January)
* The Fifth Dawn (May)
* Outlaw: Champions of Kamigawa (September)
==First involved==
===Wizards of the Coast===
* Matt Cavotta (Creative)
* John Carter (Rules Developer and Technical Writer)
====R&D====
* Aaron Forsythe
* Devin Low
* Gregory Marques
* Matt Place
===Artists===
Category:2004