How many cards (2024)?

The Grand Calculatron

How many Magic cards have been made? I looked at that question and the difficulty it creates in this post from 2020. Today, I simply update the numbers. This post will focus on how many unique cards have been made.

As with last year, Scryfall will be our guide. Any commands shown below were typed into the main Scryfall search bar. And all results are accurate only as of this writing—9 November 2024—as the numbers are always changing.

The first query: how many unique Magic cards have been made? Using Scryfall's syntax, we search as follows, and get the result (presented immediately after and copied from Scryfall's explanation):

• not:reprint  
• 29,609 cards where the cards aren’t reprints

Cool. But this includes funny cards . . . let's drop those:

• not:reprint not:funny  
• 29,008 cards where the cards aren’t reprints and the cards aren’t funny

Now let's remove those digital-only cards:

• not:reprint not:funny not:digital  
• 28,269 cards where the cards aren’t reprints and the cards aren’t funny and the cards aren’t digital prints

Great. Now let's look at how many unique cards have appeared in core sets:

• not:reprint st:core  
• 1,824 cards where the cards aren’t reprints and the set type is core

And now expansions:

• not:reprint st:expansion  
• 21,791 cards where the cards aren’t reprints and the set type is expansion

All that remains are cards that weren't in core sets or expansions:

• not:reprint -st:core -st:expansion  
• 6,232 cards where the cards aren’t reprints and the set type is not core and the set type is not expansion

Oops, that includes funny and digital cards. Adjusting:

• not:reprint -st:core -st:expansion not:funny not:digital  
• 5,073 cards where the cards aren’t reprints and the set type is not core and the set type is not expansion and the cards aren’t funny and the cards aren’t digital prints

Alright, I think that's it for today. So in summary, as of today,

• 28,269 unique Magic cards have been released in core sets, expansions, or other special releases that are not funny and not digital only [+4,035 from last year]. The breakdown:
• 1,824 unique Magic cards in core sets [+139 from last year]
• 21,791 unique Magic cards in expansions [+2,256 from last year]
• 5,073 unique Magic cards in special releases [+1,939 from last year]

The numbers are always changing; here's a screenshot on how the numbers have changed over the past few months. Note that the "-is:" or "-st:" syntax is interchangable with "not:" in some cases:

That's a lot of Magic cards, and quite a jump from last year (4K more unique cards!!). And, since I started this in 2020, the overall number has increased by ~8K. Magic has been around for 31 years . . . in the last five, they have gone from 21K to 29K unique cards. It's getting to be a lot.

State of MTG Arena, 2024

A few days ago, Wizards released two articles on the state of their free online platform, MTG Arena. Here they are:

• State of the Game
• State of the Formats

They are both worth a read; below, I unpack the most important (or intriguing) elements of each.

State of the Game

On Arena this year, they are on pace to release

• 5 Standard set releases
• 2 Nonrotating releases
• 1 Classic release
• 4 Alchemy releases
• 1 Jumpstart release

That is over 3000 new cards. In one year. That is a lot to absorb. The rest of the article talks about various offerings (like preconstructed decks) or what is coming in 2025 (generically; no specific sets are listed).

State of the Formats

The below chart is copied from the article and shows the popularity of each format available on Arena.

• Standard is a rotating format including the most recent sets.
• Historic is "MTG Arena’s largest Constructed format, filled with both old and new Magic cards. Digital-only cards are legal in this format, including rebalanced versions of existing cards."
• Brawl is similar to Commander: 100-card decks, single copies only
• Alchemy adjusts Standard releases; the "cards feature mechanics designed for play only in Alchemy and Historic formats."
• Explorer is "all cards legal in the Pioneer format that appear on Arena."
• Timeless is "MTG Arena’s largest Constructed format where every card is legal. It includes the most powerful cards throughout Magic history."

Interesting how two formats—Historic and Timeless—are billed as Arena's largest Constructed format.

Chart aside, this paragraph bears quoting as showing the goal (and challenge) of each format:

In general, we want every format to be balanced, diverse, and fun. Balance is important so that you always feel like you have a fair shot at winning and that your decisions throughout a match matter. Diversity means both facing a wider range of opponents, which is refreshing, but also that you have a large number of viable decks and archetypes to play yourself. And fun is always vital. After all, any given player is going to lose about half of the games they play, so we want to make sure the play in each match is interesting and enjoyable.

They do a good job with these areas, even if it seems overwhelming.

Card Talk 16

Arni Metalbrow card art

Today is the sixteenth post in my Card Talk series.

Reminder how Card Talk works:

• I go to Scryfall and select 'Random Card'
• I present and blog about the card. I could discuss any aspect: the art, abilities, cost, set, impact on the game, and so on. Stream of consciousness.

Card Talk is a fun, uncurated way to look at Magic's cards, mechanics, history, art, sets, and so on. And of course it exposes some of my own preferences, biases, and memories of the game. 

Today's card is . . .

Farsight Mask

Hmmmm . . . Farsight Mask. An uncommon artifact from Mirrodin.

This card intrigues me; I don't recall seeing it before. It is still inexpensive, leading me to believe it isn't that powerful. Still, it seems good: whenever you take damage, you draw a card. And it is not limited to once per turn, either, so if (say) three creatures and one spell damage you on a given turn, you would draw four cards. That seems pretty tight (if you survive the damage, of course).

I suspect the two things that limit this card's utility are 1) cost (5 is pretty  high) and 2) the 'untapped' caveat. The latter seems strange to me, as nothing on the card itself requires tapping to use it. So it could only be tapped by another spell or ability. Looking across the Mirrodin set, there are a number of cards that tap other permanents, so this is one of those limitations that make more sense when you view the context in which it was printed.

Mirrodin was released in 2003. It was the second set (and first expansion) with the updated card frame. (I explore the history of card frames in this post.) Artifact frames got perhaps the biggest makeover.

The Mirrodin block (Mirrodin, Darksteel, Fifth Dawn) focused on artifacts; an astonishing 142 appeared in this first set; 46% of the overall card count. It also introduced a new subtype: equipment. Equipment is (effectively) creature enchantments that stay on the battlefield if the equipped creature is destroyed. You pay the equip cost (as a sorcery only) to equip it to another creature. Consider Bonesplitter, below, as an example.

I remember Mirrodin for two reasons:

1) I graduated college, started work full-time, and got back into Magic that year.

2) The Myr creature type. There were 13 in Mirrodin and many have followed since. I like the little guys.

Card Talk 15

Arni Metalbrow card art

Today is the fifteenth post in my Card Talk series.

Reminder how Card Talk works:

• I go to Scryfall and select 'Random Card'
• I present and blog about the card. I could discuss any aspect: the art, abilities, cost, set, impact on the game, and so on. Stream of consciousness.

Card Talk is a fun, uncurated way to look at Magic's cards, mechanics, history, art, sets, and so on. And of course it exposes some of my own preferences, biases, and memories of the game. 

Today's card is . . .

Plains

Hmmmm . . . Plains. A common land from Eighth Edition. How boring . . . how plain.

Well. Plains is one of the five basic lands in Magic. The initial symbol for white mana looked a little different, with "flowier" sun's rays:

Apparently, all mana symbols were updated for the Ice Age set, but the other four were minor tweaks compared to white's redesign.

In Magic, color matters. White stands for morality and order in the Magic universe.

Today, all basic lands have only the symbol which they produce when tapping them. But originally, there was more information. The evolution is shown below with Plains from Alpha, 3rd Edition, and Ice Age, respectively:

Finally, the random Plains shown on scryfall happens to be a rather unusual one: a foil and black-bordered version. Core sets used to be white-bordered only, and the 'normal' version of the 8th Edition Plains is. But that set had foil and black-bordered versions of cards, too.

Card Talk 14

Arni Metalbrow card art

Today is the fourteenth post in my Card Talk series.

Reminder how Card Talk works:

• I go to Scryfall and select 'Random Card'
• I present and blog about the card. I could discuss any aspect: the art, abilities, cost, set, impact on the game, and so on. Stream of consciousness.

Card Talk is a fun, uncurated way to look at Magic's cards, mechanics, history, art, sets, and so on. And of course it exposes some of my own preferences, biases, and memories of the game. 

Today's card is . . .

Immersturm Predator

Hmmmm . . . Immersturm Predator. A rare multi-color creature from Kaldheim.

Immersturm Predator has two creature types: Vampire and Dragon. That can make it handy in both kinds of tribal/typal/kindred decks. And both are popular; There have been 403 Vampire creatures and 343 Dragon creatures printed to date, many of them in black and/or red. Options abound for these creature types.

Immersturm Predator's ability is intriguing. It can tap two ways: by attacking or sacrificing another creature. Either way, when that happens, two abilities trigger: exile a card from a graveyard and put a +1/+1 counter on it. Both are nice abilities. And when the sacrifice route is chosen, it gains indestructible to boot. That is a powerful ability—one I found difficult to play against. This guy is hard to take out.

Note the card frame: this is an extended art card. These started in 2018, with Ultimate Masters, and have been a staple in releases ever since. On the one hand, I enjoy that the art it more prominent (and you see more of it; see the standard frame below and note the differences). On the other hand, it makes collecting that much harder/more annoying. So many versions of the same card are now released in the same set. Through in different kinds of foils, and things are getting insane.

Kaldheim was released in February 2021. I had high hopes for the set based on its theme (Nordic mythology). It brought back snow lands. I was mostly pleased, but thought it didn't capitalize on the snow concept enough (46 cards in the set mention it, but 17 of those are lands, and there were almost no 'anti-snow' cards). I share more thoughts on the set here. The one thing I did love was its Angels; they continue to be staples in my decks so themed.

Immersturm means "always stormy" in German. I had to chuckle at that. There are often Easter eggs hidden in Magic cards, but rarely based on language.

Card Talk 13

Arni Metalbrow card art

Happy October! Today is the thirteenth post in my Card Talk series.

Reminder how Card Talk works:

• I go to Scryfall and select 'Random Card'
• I present and blog about the card. I could discuss any aspect: the art, abilities, cost, set, impact on the game, and so on. Stream of consciousness.

Card Talk is a fun, uncurated way to look at Magic's cards, mechanics, history, art, sets, and so on. And of course it exposes some of my own preferences, biases, and memories of the game. 

Today's card is . . .

Deal Gone Bad

Hmmmm . . . Deal Gone Bad. A common black instant from Ravnica: Clue Edition.

Deal Gone Bad has two abilities. 

- The first can destroy a creature (if the -3/-3 can get its toughness to 0); that can be a powerful removal technique that can even take out indestructible creatures (I discuss removal in more detail here).

- The second forces a player (you or an opponent) to mill three cards. This can help you (if you are running a self-mill deck) and/or annoy your opponent (if they are not).

Instants are powerful, being (obviously) playable at instant speed. Having one like this with two abilities (with independent targets) makes it especially powerful. The cost is a little high, but at a common rarity, it seems like a good card overall.

Ravnica: Clue Edition is a mash-up of Magic and the popular board game, Clue. This makes for a one-off variant Magic multiplayer experience; a new format, of sorts, but one that (likely) won't see more releases. I have not played it myself, but heard (based on web articles and dropping prices) that this didn't do very well. I'd love to try, though!

Foundations

It's been a slow few weeks here, with my attention focused elsewhere . . . but I do have an upcoming set on my mind. Foundations is due out in mid-November. It will be the first core set since Magic 2021 (released in 2020), and it will be standard-legal for five years (vs. the normal 2-3). Accompany the typical set releases (booster boxes and bundles), we'll see Jumpstart packs (which have been really fun in the past), and two new concepts:

- a beginner box (with 10 predetermined jumpstart packs designed for beginners)

- a starter collection (with 350 cards, 3 boosters, basic lands, tokens, and more)

The official announcement, with more information, is here. We've seen 37 card previews to date; this will be a great set for new players or people, like me, who prefer simplicity.

I've blogged before about core sets, highlighting my enjoyment of them, trends in them, and doing some analysis on reprints. One thing I enjoy is their comparative simplicity. This hit home recently during a few games with my children. 

Playing with Commander preconstructed decks with my boys, I enjoyed them (the decks) well enough, but was surprised by how complex they were. A number of cards had a lot of abilities on them, which enabled cool combos and 'chain reactions,' but also led to long and confusing turns where I had to explain the (say) three things that triggered by playing one card. Ultimately, I felt it diminished the experience. (I sold 8 precons later that week in response.)

With 20,000+ unique cards, Magic already has plenty of complexity due to the unique interactions of cards that may arise in a given game. And that can be with relatively simple cards! Add complex individual cards to the mix, and things can get crazy.

I'm looking forward to Foundations. Cards like Helpful Hunter, below, promise to be useful but simple. It should be a good time to get new players into the game, or just enjoy Magic at its core. Going back to the basics is generally a good idea, in life or in Magic.