Marquee card

From Magic the Archiving
Jump to navigation Jump to search

A marquee card was a splashy rare card that appeared in early Magic: The Gathering sets, and did something Magic had never done before.[1][2]

Description[edit]

Mark Rosewater got the idea from the popularity of <c>Jester's Cap</c> in the Ice Age. A marquee card could go into any deck (usually an artifact, but it could in theory be a landcolorless spells didn't exist yet).[3]

The tradition of creating marquee cards petered out in Tempest when the Rules Manager kept Mark Rosewater from printing "Helm of Volrath", which would later be <c>Mindslaver</c>.[4] For various reasons it couldn't be done. Rosewater tried it again years later in Mirrodin where he got it through.[5]

Many years later, Rosewater concluded the concept of a marquee card was a "silly pet theory" of his that "wasn't necessary".[6]

List of marquee cards[edit]

Set Card Description
Ice Age <c>Jester's Cap</c>[3] Remove cards from opponent's deck.
Alliances <c>Helm of Obedience</c> Gain control of a creature from opponent's deck.
Mirage <c>Grinning Totem</c>[3][7][8] Cast cards from opponent's deck.
Tempest <c title="Volrath's Helm">Mindslaver</c> (not released)<c></c>[7] Take control of another player and play his or her side for a whole turn.

References[edit]

  1. Mark Rosewater (January 12, 2019). "What is a marquee card?". Blogatog. Tumblr.
  2. Evan Symon (January 26, 2021). "Marquee Cards: Mark Rosewater's noble experiment". Magic Untapped.
  3. 3.0 3.1 3.2 Mark Rosewater (May 5, 2014). "Journey to the Center of the Set, Part 2". magicthegathering.com. Wizards of the Coast.
  4. Mark Rosewater (May 24, 2018). "What was the last large set to have a marquee card?". Blogatog. Tumblr.
  5. Mark Rosewater (October 5, 2012). "What were the marquee cards in previous sets?". Blogatog. Tumblr.
  6. Mark Rosewater (February 7, 2019). "Why does Magic no longer do marquee cards?". Blogatog. Tumblr.
  7. 7.0 7.1 Mark Rosewater (August 16, 2010). "Gimme a Hand". magicthegathering.com. Wizards of the Coast.
  8. Mark Rosewater (April 14, 2003). "Jamuraa, the Merrier". magicthegathering.com. Wizards of the Coast.