Revised Edition

Revised Edition

The Revised Edition, or Revised as it is commonly called, is the third edition of the Magic core sets. It was released in April 1994.

Wizards of the Coast made multiple attempts to print an improved version of the Core Set before finally getting Revised out the door. Revised consisted of 306 cards. The set was originally designed without a visible marker of rarity as Wizards of the Coast wished for the specific rarity of each card to remain hidden; however, with the eventual inclusion of rarity on the card face, they retroactively determined the rarity of each card in the set (15 Basic lands, 75 Common, 95 Uncommon, 121 Rare). Revised was the first Core Set to "rotate" some cards out, some of which were considered to be "problem cards," and replace them with other cards from previously printed limited expansions. The expansions available at the time were Arabian Nights and Antiquities.

Due to the printing process, it is possible to get basic land cards in an uncommon or common card slot. The chance is approximately 21.5% for uncommons and 38.02% for commons. This is because the printer put lands on all the uncommon and common sheets.

An early advertisement in The Duelist #1 stated that Revised cards would be gray-bordered, but they ultimately became white-bordered like the Unlimited Edition. A production oversight resulted in the "bevel" that framed the cards being cropped off. Also, well-used printing films gave the cards faded colors. Many players complained at the lack of quality of the set; both the card power and the look.

Cards were available from mid April 1994 through mid April 1995. The print run is estimated at 500 million cards. The cards were sold in 60-card starter decks and 15-card boosters. The starter deck rulebook has Shivan Dragon on the cover and a checklist on the back and last pages. Revised was the first set that was supplemented with a special Gift Box. The Revised Gift Box (released on November 15, 1994) included two starter decks, 30 glass counters, a flannel bag for storing the counters, an illustrated rulebook and a card collectors' checklist.

Revised was the first set to be published in other languages than English: French, German and Italian. All had a black-bordered and a white-bordered print run.