Heres my second guide for Magic The Gathering cards, this time I'll be focusing on the various promotional cards in Magic. It would not be a full list however, but it will include the more well known promos and some less well known ones. I'll give a full description of a certain promotional cards and then give a short summarized one. This guide covers 4 promos and my next few guides will cover more:

1. Artist Proofs
2. Prerelease Promos
3. Release Promos
4. HarperPrism Promos

Artist Proofs:

When an artist completes an artwork of a magic card, Wizards will give the artist 50 of such artist proofs, to also see how their art will look like on a card. However in some cases, for several cards, Wizards did not give 50 to a artist. A case being Kird Ape, which 35 artist proofs were given to Ken Meyer, Jr. These artist proofs are exactly like a normal magic card, except the back of the card is entirely white. Artists usually sell these artist proofs on their personal websites or at conventions. Upon purchasing artist proofs, the artist would usually sign them and could probably do a nifty sketch on the back of the card (which is entirely blank) for a small fee. Sometimes an artist does this for free. The fact that artist proofs usually have a print run of 50, means they are extremely collectable. The white backs make them non tournament legal however.

Here are the information about artist proofs in a nutshell:

1. They have a print run of 50 and are given to the artists directly. Several sets might a print run greater than 50 proofs, this include Antiquities.
2. They have white backs.
3. They are non tournament legal.
4. Alpha/Beta/Unlimited do not have artist proofs. The template for proofs from that set comes from CE, and thus having square corners. These proofs are black bordered, no Unlimited proofs are printed. Arabian Nights do have have artist proofs either.
5. Several sets (an example being Ice Age) has proofs in various languages other than English.

Prerelease Promos:

Prereleases are events that are held before the actual release of a set. A sealed deck tournament is played, using 3 boosters of the set and 1 tournament pack from the first expansion in that block. The more games you win, the more prize you get. Since Tempest, each player taking part in this event will receive a Prerelease card, and sinceUrza's Saga, all of these cards were foils. Prerelease cards have the date of the Prerelease stamped on the card.

Heres the entire list of Prerelease cards:

• Tempest: Dirtcowl Wurm
• Stronghold Revenant
• Exodus: Monstrous Hound
• Urza's Saga: Lightning Dragon
• Urza's Legacy: Beast of Burden
• Portal 3 Kingdoms: Lu Bu, Master-at-Arms 1999-04-29 Japan Prerelease
• Portal 3 Kingdoms: Lu Bu. Master-at-Arms 1999-07-04 Singapore Prerelease
• Urza's Destiny: False Prophet
• Mercadian Masques: Overtaker
• Nemesis: Rathi Assasin
• Prophecy: Avatar of Hope
• Invasion: Raging Kavu
• Planeshift: Questing Phelddgrif
• Apocalyspe: Fungal Shambler
• Oddysey: Stone-Tongue Basilisk
• Torment: Laquatus's Champion
• Judgement: Glory
• Onslaught: Silent Specter
• Legions: Feral Throwback
• Scourge: Soul Collector
• Mirrodin: Sword of Kaldra
• Darksteel: Shield of Kaldra
• Fifth Dawn: Helm of Kaldra
• Champions of Kamigawa: Ryusei, the Falling Star
• Betrayers of Kamigawa: Ink-Eyes, Servant of Oni
• Saviors of Kamigawa: Kiyomaro, First to Stand
• Ravnica: City of Guilds: Gleancrawler
• Guildpact: Djinn Illuminatus
• Dissension: Avatar of Discord
• Time Spiral: Lotus Bloom
• Planar Chaos: Oros, the Avenger

Release Promos:

From Unhinged, Release Promos are given out during the release events, which are held the weekend after the Prerelease tournaments.

The Release (all foils) promos are as follow:

• 8th Edition: Rukh Egg
• Unhinged: Ass Whuppin'
• Betrayers of Kamigawa: Budoka Pupil
• Saviors of Kamigawa: Ghost-Lit Raider
• 9th Edition: Force of Nature (Every country's events except Russia, Ukraine and Belarus)
• 9th Edition: Shivan Dragon (Russia, Ukraine and Belarus only)
• Ravnica: City of Guilds: Dimir Guildmage
• Guildpact: Gruul Guildmage
• Dissension: Azorius Guildmage
• Time Spiral: Sudden Shock
• Planar Chaos: Hedge Troll

HarperPrism Book Promos:

These were one of the first promos made for this Magic The Gathering card game. HarperPrism published several novels. The novels include Arena, Whispering Woods, Shattered Chains, Final Sacrifice and The Cursed Land. Each promo has a coupon where you could redeem a promo card, the novel Arena could be used to redeem for 2 cards. The cards were fixed except for the fifth novel with was a random card while stocks last. The promos were available in English, Portuguese, Italian, French and Spanish. Spanish versions have white borders.

The promos are as follows:

• Arena (from Arena novel)
• Sewers of Estark (from Arena novel)
• Windseeker Centaur (from Whispering Woods novel)
• Giant Badger (from Shattered Chains novel)
• Mana Crypt (from Final Sacrifice novel)

The Cursed Land could be used to redeem a random card. Italian versions of Mana Crypt and Giant Badger are not available due to poor sales of the books and the books were thus withdrawned.

Heres Guide #2. #3 would be coming soon when I have the time. Please up the helpfulness count if this article helps you.

Thanks,

sgcardgames