Magic 2015 Release Date Revealed!
MTG 2015 has finally been revealed along with the tagline, "Hunt Bigger Game". Despite only a handful of preview cards available for the upcoming born of the gods, we can expect to see the new set arriving on July 18, 2014.
With over 269 cards in the M15 Core set we will upload all pre-orders closer to the release date, consisting of Booster Packs, Booster Boxes, Intro Packs, Clash Packs, and Fat Packs.
We also have some additional m15 news directly from Aaron Forsythe. Including 2 upcoming cards and some changes to show you below...
What's Going on with That Card Frame?
As you can see from the expansion symbol, Waste Not will be appearing in this year's core set, Magic 2015. As you can also see, several tweaks have been made to the card frame.
I spent most of 2013 leading the design of M15, an ambitious set that will introduce a few new things to the game, not the least of which is an update to the existing card frame. We have a lot of smart people here in the building who are constantly thinking of ways to improve Magic. Many such ideas involved tweaks to the front of cards, but since we don't want to make sweeping changes to card frames often, we let a few such ideas pile up for a while before picking an opportune time to deploy them in a big batch. M15 was that time.
There are five big changes visible above on Waste Not. Four are game-wide changes that will be implemented in M15 and every set going forward, and the last is a little something special just for this set. Let's go over them.
1) The font
Since its inception, Magic has used off-the-shelf fonts on its cards. As a brand, we feel that we'll be better served by having our own unique proprietary font—something with a little edge and character that is still very readable.
In general, we liked the heaviness and shape of the "Matrix Bold" font we'd been using previously, so there are a lot of similarities between the old font and the new, named "Beleren," which should alleviate any jarring feeling when you mix the two in decks.
2) The holofoil stamp
You'll notice a little silver oval in the bottom center of Waste Not. That's a new unique holofoil stamp that we're applying to all rares and mythic rares going forward. This stamp makes those cards feel more special, as well as guarantees authenticity.
Commons, uncommons, and basic lands will not feature this stamp.
3) The collector info
In the lower left of the card is a series of letters and numbers that indicate the card's collector number (122/269), rarity (R), set (M15), and language (EN). The little dot between the set and the language will be a star on premium cards, so just about everything you'd ever need to know about a card's edition is in one easy-to-read place.
Making the bottom of each card black to accommodate this information was not an easy decision, and maybe the most disconcerting part of this frame update, but it was done with the best of intentions. This information is machine-readable by recognition software at our production plants. It will help eliminate the rare packaging error, like cards sneaking into the wrong expansion's boosters.
4) Decreased border size
To fit all this cool new stuff on the cards, we've reduced the width of the black border by almost a millimeter all the way around. This reclaimed real estate allows us to have slightly bigger art and text boxes as well.
5) The designer's credit
You'll notice that we gave you all credit for making this card in the place normally occupied by flavor text—"Designed by the Magic community." This is the first time we've ever given credit for a specific card design on the card itself, and it's you! You should be very proud! While every card going forward won't feature a designer credit (kind of sad, really), there are a handful of others in Magic 2015, specifically, that will. (You'll have to wait for those details! It's cool, I promise!)
Those are the main components of the card frame update. Here's another M15 card for comparison. This one isn't rare, so it has no stamp; is a creature, so it has a P/T box; and isn't black, so you can see the frame design more clearly. All in all, it is an impressive modernization of the card frame, one I'll be excited to get my hands on this summer with M15.
