Portal Demo Game

Portal

Portal is a starter-level set released on May 1, 1997. It was Wizards of the Coast's first major attempt at a set catering to prospective and newer players. It was designed to provide them a format with simpler rules than a core set or an expansion set.

Portal contains 215 black-bordered cards (55 rare, 55 uncommon, 85 common, and 20 lands).

In an effort to facilitate learning Magic, Portal was markedly aesthetically and mechanically different from previous non-starter-level sets. To simplify game play, Portal featured no instants, enchantments, or artifacts and, subsequently, had a simpler set of rules. Some sorceries could be played outside the normal timing rules for sorceries, and these cards received errata as appropriate. Creature cards printed in Portal featured no creature types, and their type line read "Summon Creature". These cards also received errata.