Release Dates

[EvilBernd]

Hi there

I accumulated (from various sources) a list of all the release dates and it would be great if someone (or some more) could check the list to spot some errors, or fill some gaps (for the correct day)-

Alpha - 5. August 1993
Beta - October 1993
Unlimited - 1. December 1993
Arabian Nights - December 1993
Antiquities - March 1994
Revised - April 1994
Legends - June 1994
The Dark - August 1994
Fallen Empires - November 1994
4th Edition - April 1995
Ice Age - April 1995
Chronicles - August 1995
Homelands - October 1995
Alliances - 10. June 1996
Mirage - 8. October 1996
Visions - 3. February 1997
5th Edition - 24. March 1997
Portal - 1. May 1997
Weatherlight - 6. June 1997
Tempest - 14. October 1997
Stronghold - 23. February 1998
Exodus - 8. June 1998
Portal Second Age - 24. June 1998
Unglued - 7. August 1998
Urza's Saga - 26. September 1998
Urza's Legacy - February 1999
Classic 6th Edition - 2. July 1999
Portal Three Kingdoms - 6. July 1999
Starter - 19. July 1999
Urza's Destiny - 23. June 1999
Mercadian Masques - 25. September 1999
Nemesis - 5. February 2000
Prophecy - 15. June 2000
Invasion - 25. September 2000
Planeshift - 26. January 2001
7th Edition - 2. April 2001
Apocalypse - 25. May 2001
Odyssey - 21. September 2001
Torment - 20. February 2002
Judgment - 17. May 2002
Onslaught - 27. September 2002
Legions - 31. January 2003
Scourge - 17. May 2003
8th Edition - July 2003
Mirrodin - October 2003
Darksteel - February 2004
Fifth Dawn - June 2004
Champions of Kamigawa - 1. October 2004
Unhinged - 19. November 2004
Betrayers of Kamigawa - 4. February 2005
Saviors of Kamigawa - 3. June 2005

Thanks a lot in advance...

EB

[Ralph Herold]

Good work! Your list is a good start of data I was going to add to Magic Card Sets (and have added to some degree already). Yet the matter seems to be more complicated, as quite a few of our date differ.

I suggest it would make sense to validate our sources and compare all the data in hope to filter out incorrect dates. My sources so far have been:

- the printed dates on the prerelease cards
- archived articles of magicthegathering.com
- dates from the Prize Tracking Project which have been provided by motorcitymagic and origin from old internal judge newsgroup reports, if I recall correctly

Sources I have in mind to check, but have not checked are:

- Magic Encyclopedia books
- trading card magazines (I have almost all issues of The Duelist, TopDeck, InQuest, Scrye, and Cryptych at my disposal)
- Magic-related websites with an extensive archive

Note: It is important do differentiate between the date of the first prerelease and the official mass market release date which is usually two weeks later. Unfortunately, the latter date is poorly kept track of by WotC even for newer sets.

As usual, other members are welcome to contribute. Especially dates of releases for other languages will be very valuable to get.