From: New Release WIZARDS.COM

Sent: Friday, January 17, 2003 1:19 PM

Subject: New Card Face Design comes to Magic for 10th Anniversary

 

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE  

 

 

WIZARDS OF THE COAST GIVES MAGIC: THE GATHERING® CARDS FRESH LOOK AND FEEL FOR GAME'S 10TH ANNIVERSARY

 

Card face re-design to be introduced with release of new core set

 

 

January 17, 2003 (Renton, WA) - Wizards of the Coast, a subsidiary of Hasbro, Inc. (NYSE: HAS), today unveiled an enhanced card face design for its Magic: The Gathering® trading card game, which celebrates its 10th anniversary this year.  The new card face treatment - featuring enlarged art and text boxes that further showcase Magic's premier fantasy art and make it easier to read the power, toughness and card names from across the table - was previewed by players attending the Magic: The Gathering Pro Tour(tm) -Chicago event.

 

"With Magic's 10th anniversary, we felt there was an opportunity to refresh the look of the Magic® cards and enhance the design from the standpoint of both aesthetics and the functionality of the cards," explained Joe Hauck, Vice President of Trading Card Games at Wizards of the Coast.  "Magic will continue to set the standard for trading card games for years to come."

 

The refreshed card face design also features an expanded color palette, according to Magic: The Gathering Art Director Jeremy Cranford.  "For the first time, the artifact cards will have a color all their own - a metallic silver that we feel conveys the industrial nature of these cards," Cranford said.  "We've paid extreme attention to detail in developing the new card face design.  Color and texture are among the important attributes that we worked to enhance." Magic foil cards will also get a facelift intended to make them even more vibrant.

 

"The new cards are stunning and, from a functionality standpoint, the enlarged power and toughness and card names are a real plus," added Randy Buehler, Director of Magic: The Gathering R&D.

 

The enhanced card face design will be introduced with the new core set - Magic: The Gathering Eighth Edition®, scheduled for release July 28, 2003.  As a result of last summer's "Selecting Eighth Edition" promotion, fans voted on various aspects of 41 cards that will be included in the new core set. These 41 cards, including such fan-favorites as Worship, Nekrataal and Two-Headed Dragon, are currently listed on www.magicthegathering.com.

 

The official Magic: The Gathering 10th Anniversary Celebration will be held at GenCon.  Following GenCon and coinciding with the release of Eighth Edition, Wizards of the Coast will host the largest-ever global Magic tournament.  Stay tuned for details!

 

The Magic: The Gathering game, invented by Richard Garfield and first released in 1993, is the most widely played trading card game, with an active base of more than seven million players in 52 countries.  Magic: The Gathering trading card games are available in nine languages.  More than 100,000 official tournaments are held annually, hosted by the DCI® players' organization, the governing authority for all officially sanctioned Magic tournaments.

 

Wizards of the Coast, Inc., a subsidiary of Hasbro Inc. (NYSE: HAS), is the worldwide market share leader in the trading card game and tabletop roleplaying game categories.  A leading developer and publisher of game-based entertainment products, the company holds an exclusive patent on the play mechanic of trading card games (TCGs).

 

For more information visit www.magicthegathering.com or www.wizards.com.

 

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Magic: The Gathering is a trademark of Wizards of the Coast, Inc., a subsidiary of Hasbro, Inc. ©2003 Wizards.