CHRONICLES
Release Date: 7/7/95
Set Size: 116 Cards (46 Rares, 30 Uncommons, 40 Commons)
F C
Expansion Symbols: "
Expansion Code: CHR
Languages: English, Japanese
Set overview: At the time, Wizards of the Coast considered Chronicles
an extension of 4th Edition. Reprints were from Ai*abian Nights,
Antiquities, Legends, and The Dark, in order to meet the demand on cards
from these sold-out sets. English Chronicles is HHiite-Bordered; Japanese
Chronicles is Black-Bordered and worth more.
RENAISSANCE
Release Date: 8/4/95
Set Size: French and German, 122 Cards (76 Uncommons, 48
Commons); Italian, 60 Cards (35 Uncommons, 25 Commons)
Expansion Symbol: 卩
Expansion Code: None
Languages: French, German, Italian
Set overview: Renaissance is the spiritual companion to Chronicles,
but for the three European languages introduced in the Revised edition.
French and German Renaissance includes cards added to 4th Edition from
Revised, but did not appear in Revised. Since both Legends and The Dark
were printed in Italian, the set list for Italian Renaissance is different. It
includes cards from Chronicles and 4th Edition that did not appear in The Reserve List The print run of sets is a tightly guarded trade secret of Wizards of the Coast, but this was not the case when Magic first came out. as we know the print runs of older sets: Alpha: 2.6 million total cards (1,100 of each Rare, 4.500 of each Uncommon, 16,000 of each Common, 85,500 of each Basic Land) Beta: 7.8 million total cards (3,200 of each Rare, 13,500 of each Uncommon, 48,000 of each Common, 171,500 of each Basic Land) Unlimited: 40 million total cards (18,500 of each Rare, 68,000 of each Uncommon, 244,500 of each Common, 872,500 of each Basic Land) Arabian Nights: 5 million total cards (20,500 of each Rare, 31,000 or 41,000 of each Uncommon, 124,000 or 155,000 of each Common, 341.000 Desert, 31,000 Mountain) Antiquities: 15 million total cards (31,000 of each Rare, 69,000 or 93,000 of each Uncommon, 186,000 or 372,000 of each Common) Legends (English): 35 million total cards (19,500 of each Rare, 58,000 or 116,000 of each Uncommon, 212,000 or 424,000 of each Common, 2.3 Million Rules Cards) The Dark (English): 62 million total cards (128,000 of each Rare, 256,000 or 384,500 of each Uncommon, 1.15 million of each Common) Fallen Empires: 360 million total cards (744,000 of each Rare, 1.48
million or 2.23 million of each Uncommon, 6.69 million or 8.92 million of each Common) The print runs of all sets from Alpha through the Dark sold out at both the distributor and store level almost immediately. Tlie demand on the game was tremendous during those initial sets, leading Wizards to ramp up production nearly a ten-fold for Fallen Empires. While we don't have the print run information for sets past these, its clear that Revised — and more importantly 4th Edition and Chronicles — saw significant print run increases versus Alpha/Beta/Unlimited. When Chronicles and 4th Edition came out, the value of the original printings of the reprinted cards plummeted. This caused a market panic, and a general outcry from the player base against the aggressive reprinting of the cards. In response, Wizards of the Coast established the Reserve List. This is a list of cards that Wizards says that they will never reprint in a tournament-legal format, or as a functionally identical card under a different name. When the Reserve List first came out, it included all cards that hadn't been reprinted in a core set. Over time, Wizards of the Coast changed the Reserve List to include only Raves that hadn't been reprinted in a Core set (up until 4th Edition) and then a portion of Rares from sets going fonvard. Starting with Mercadian Masques, Wizards decided to stop adding cards to the Reserve List. Over time, Wizards lias gone back-and-forth with reprinting cards on the Reserve List as Promotional cards (most notably Judge Foils). For the past few years, Wizards has been adamant about closing that loophole, and sticking to the spirit of tlie Reserve List. A lot of tlie most valuable cards in Magic are cards on the Reserve List; since collectors and investors are assured bv Wizards that these cards will not be reprinted in a tournament-legal form, players know that, for instance, there are only 22,800 total copies of Black Lotus in existence, and only 4,300 of them (Alpha/Beta) are Black-Bordered. It s unclear how many of these copies have been lost to time (people throwing out their cards back in the day, lost them to house fires, theft, etc), but we do know that there will not be additional copies printed in the future. The Current Reserve List (By Set) ABU/REVISED Braingeyser Chaos Orb Contract from Below Copy Ai'tifact Cyclopean Tomb Darkpact Demonic Attorney J Demonic Hordes Farmstead Fastbond Forcefield Fork Gauntlet of Might Granite Gargoyle Illusionaiy Mask Kudzu Lich Mox Emerald Mox Jet
Mox Pearl Mox Ruby Mox Sapphire Natural Selection Plateau Raging River Roc of Klier Ridges Rock Hydra Savannah Scrubland Sedge Troll Taiga Time Vault Time Walk Timetvvister Tropical Island Tundra Two Headed Giant of Forivs Underground Sea Vesuvan Doppelganger Veteran Bodyguard Volcanic Island Wheel of Fortune Word of Command ARABIAN NIGHTS Ali from Cairo Bazaar of Baghdad Citv in a Bottle •r Diamond Valley Drop of Honey Elephant Graveyard Guardian Beast Ifli-Biff Efreet Island of Wak-Wak Jihad Juzam Djinn Kliabal Ghoul King Suleiman Libraiy of Alexandria Merchant Ship Old Man of the Sea Pyramids Ring of Ma'ruf Sandals of Abdallah Serendib Djinn Shahrazad Singing Tree Antiquities Ai'givdan Ai'chaeologist Candelabra of Tawnos Citanul Druid Damping Field Gaea's Avenger Gate to Phyrexia Golgothian Sylex Haunting Wind
