Magic: The Gathering Trivia Quiz

Answer: Richard Garfield

Garfield showcased "Magic" at GenCon 1993 in Seattle. Of course, over 10 years later the MTG juggernaut rolls on.

Answer: Arabian Nights

"Arabian Nights" was to have a Magenta card back, but it was felt that this could encourage cheating. However, it did have some of the most powerful cards in the game, such as Serendib Djinn and Efreet, Juzam Djinn and Erhnam Djinn.

Answer: Strip Mine

Potentially the best landkill ever, Strip Mine was a land that tapped to add 1 colourless mana to your mana pool, or Tap, Sacrifice Strip Mine: Destroy target land. It was also reprinted in 4th Edition.

Answer: The Dark

Maze of Ith was another powerful land that tapped to untap and remove a creature from combat (the 'Gustcloak' ability for the newer folks). Ball Lightning was RRR for a Creature - Ball Lightning. 6/1, Trample, haste, and sacrifice it at end of turn. A very quick and powerful card indeed.

Answer: Ice Age

Actually, "Legends" was planned to be the first, but the designers and developers just kept putting cool cards in there, and abandoned the idea until "Ice Age". IA had some cool cards, such as Necropotence and the Pain lands, a balanced version of the dual lands, but overall was rather bad.

Answer: A Banner/Flag

Earth was the symbol for "Homelands", the Crescent for "The Dark", and the Anvil was the symbol of "Antiquities".

Answer: Tradewind Rider

Tradewind Rider inspired a ridiculously boring deck to play against, as with Survival of the Fittest, you could easily get two creatures out to pay for the ability of bouncing any permanent. Thawing Glaciers was a powerful deck thinner, Shard Phoenix was a recurring Pyroclasm and Cadaverous Bloom made every card in your hand a Dark Ritual. Each made a deck, but the Glaciers were most widely used for their time.

Answer: Tolarian Academy

One of the most powerful cards in the game, the Academy comboed obscenely with the 'Untap up to n lands' cards in the same set. It was banned one tournament after it was printed.

Answer: No

Budde won in 1999 with a mono-red Wildfire deck that used artifact mana. The Champ in 2000 was Jon Finkel, who played a blue Tinker deck, which used that card and many powerful artifacts. Finkel was until mid 2002 considered to be the best player of M:TG ever. He has since been usurped by Budde.

Answer: Olle Rade, Avalanche Riders

Avalanche Riders was not Olle Rade's card. Rade did not take the idea seriously, and so didn't get a card printed until Judgment (Sylvan Safekeeper). The next winner, Darwin Kastle, got his card, Avalanche Riders, printed in "Urza's Legacy". Since then, the winners and their cards have been Mike Long, Rootwater Thief ("Nemesis"), Chris Pikula, Meddling Mage ("Planeshift"), Jon Finkel, Shadowmage Infiltrator ("Odyssey"), Olle Rade's Sylvan Safekeeper, Kai Budde, Voidmage Prodigy ("Onslaught") and Jens Thoren, Solemn Simulacrum ("Mirrodin").

Answer: The number of lands you control

Maro keyed off the cards in your hand, Terravore grew in proportion to the lands going to the graveyard and Multani, Maro Sorcerer looked at the number of cards in all player's hands, making it absolutely massive in multiplayer games.

Answer: Flashback, Threshhold

While Incarnations and Madness were in Odyssey Block, they were specific to a single set. Flashback and Threshhold were in "Odyssey", "Torment" and "Judgment".

Answer: Sydney

The 2002 Worlds were dominated by Psychatog. 6 of the Top 8 decks were based around this creature, which lets you discard a card or remove two cards in your graveyard from the game to give itself +1/+1. The other 2 decks used Opposition. For the record, Carlos Romao won the individual event, and Germany won the teams, with Kai Budde again leading the way.

Answer: Orcish Spy

Orcish Spy lets you look at the top 3 cards of anyone's library and put them back in the same order. Wheee. The others couldn't be reprinted because of their complexity (Upkeep, Remove From Game and Protection).

Answer: Silver

Changed from brown because they looked too much like land. In 8th Edition, Mirrodin and Darksteel, they looked too much like white cards. Wizards recognised this, though, and starting from "Fifth Dawn", the artifacts received darker borders. Well, that's it. I hope you did well.