The Magic Librarities

Some discoveries are made by occasion. Initiated by a request of a friend of mine to help him distinguish German Unlimited 3rd Edition cards from 4th Edition, I have taken a very close look at my stock of German cards from these two sets. Alerted by a statement I found in the internet about an oddity of lower-case characters (more of this in a minute), I am happy to announce that I indeed found a difference between both editions which apparently affects ALL cards: the exact placement of the card title name! When holding both variations next to each other, card titles from Unlimited 3rd Edition cards are placed a tiny bit lower than card titles from 4th Edition cards. As a consequence, the old question whether some cards from both editions are truly identical is finally answered and collectors will need to find both copies, if they intend to finish both editions. In summary with other, more apparent distinctions, if you wish to determine which of the both editions a card originates from, you can do the following:

1. Check both set lists. Many cards are only part of one edition.

2. Take a look at the lower-case letters "i", "j" in the card title. If their dot looks like a slash, the card is from 3rd Edition, if their dot is round, the card is from 4th Edition.

3. Take a look at the lower-case letters "ä", "ö", and "ü". If their dots are nicely centered above the letter, the card is from 3rd Edition, if their dots are slightly left-aligned, the card is from 4th Edition.

4. Take a look at the lower-case letter "ß". If the space between this letter and its preceding letter left from it is bigger than the space between other letters, the card is from 3rd Edition. If the space is similar to the space between other letters, the card is from 4th Edition.

5. For the remaining cards, take a look at the amount of space between the letters of the card title and the upper template border above and the upper art box border below. If the card title is aligned nearer to the art box, the card is from 3rd edition, if the card title is aligned nearer to the upper card border, the card is from 4th Edition. If the card title contains the lower-case letters "g", "p", or "q", then the determination is easier:

On 3rd Edition cards, the "g", "p", and "q" touch the upper art box border, while on 4th Edition cards, the "g", "p", and "q" float above the upper art box border.

For card titles without these letters, the exact card title placement is hard to determine, but possible, for example by direct visual comparison with a confirmed card.

There are other differences between cards from both editions, such as text box text, text box layout, and card title name, but they do not reveal which version is from which edition. Furthermore, cards from 3rd Edition have a slightly higher color saturation, are slightly darker (best seen on card template), and have a slightly higher contrast (best seen on card title letters) than cards from 4th Edition, however, due to print run variations, this is not a reliable distinction.

The above method to distinguish both editions might also be true for the Italian and French cards (although the French sets can almost completely be held apart by their copyright date). I can not confirm this yet.

Side note for all global set collectors: I still have some rare cards from both sets. Given the possibility to distinguish these cards now, I can trade or sell them to you. Just contact me.

Ralph, you cannot imagine how happy i am with this information!!!

I traded for some 3rd wb italian just last week. He told difference between them by: 4th had lighter textbox and slightly larger text. Also text centerd on 3rd was align along left side on 4th.

I will ask him to see if he see the same name placeing difference in italian too.

I have slightly corrected and enhanced my initial post. Please read it again.

agzz: I would be happy to see you investigate. I remember that Allen Densen had problems to distinguish the Italian cards as he had with the German cards and created a table of comparison. Unfortunately, it seems not to be online any longer.

I have added a new section 4 to my original post.

oh, i totaly forgot this. i have no definate checklist unfortionally but only a litle bit of info.

Just as German.. " Take a look at the lower-case letters "i", "j" in the card title. If their dot looks like a slash, the card is from 3rd Edition, if their dot is round, the card is from 4th Edition."

On most (not all, but large majority) Revised cards have text centerd while its left align on 4th.

Revised cards have darker colors than 4th.

The white text layer seems to be less distinct on revised than on 4th.

I can not se any vertical shift in the placement of card name. but i have only compared a few cards and dont know how much to expect? it should be visable by naked eye?

agzz: Thanks for the data. The vertical shift can be seen with the naked eye, but it is VERY small. I suggest to use a magnifying glass.

Ralph Herold wrote:
2. Take a look at the lower-case letters "i", "j" in the card title. If their dot looks like a slash, the card is from 3rd Edition, if their dot is round, the card is from 4th Edition.

Sorry to bring this old post up, but I'm trying to make a terror global set and a mahamoti djinn global set (well, probably global without summer...), and I've got some problem with distinguishing German 3rd WB and German 4th (and the same goes for italian).

What I find strange is that the english 4th edition cards have a dot like a slash... So are the german one (and italian) with a dot like a slash really from 3rd unlimited ? 'cause that would mean cards from the 4th edition don't have the same police depending on the language...

thanks for your help !

Italian does NOT show the same difference!
Both Italian sets use slashes on 'i' and 'j'. The way to tell them apart is the copyright line at the bottom. Revised is in bold font, 4th edition is not. Also for red cards, the text is white in Revised and black in 4th.

l0qii wrote:Italian does NOT show the same difference!
Both Italian sets use slashes on 'i' and 'j'. The way to tell them apart is the copyright line at the bottom. Revised is in bold font, 4th edition is not. Also for red cards, the text is white in Revised and black in 4th.

This is incorrect. The dots in Italian WB 3rd differ from those in 4th. Observe these cards (left is WB 3rd, right is 4th)

Tosta Dojen wrote:

l0qii wrote:Italian does NOT show the same difference!
Both Italian sets use slashes on 'i' and 'j'. The way to tell them apart is the copyright line at the bottom. Revised is in bold font, 4th edition is not. Also for red cards, the text is white in Revised and black in 4th.

This is incorrect. The dots in Italian WB 3rd differ from those in 4th. Observe these cards (left is WB 3rd, right is 4th)

This was discussed in a couple other threads as well. There seems to be THREE versions of Italian WB Uncommons and Commons:



Left: slash on i, Revised text
Middle: dot on i, Revised text, bold copyright
Right: dot on i, 4th Edition text, normal copyright

Close-up of the bold vs normal copyright

This was discussed in a couple other threads as well. There seems to be THREE versions of Italian WB Uncommons and Commons:


Left: slash on i, Revised text
Middle: dot on i, Revised text, bold copyright
Right: dot on i, 4th Edition text, normal copyright

Why is this only for Uncommons and Commons ?

Does this mean, that if I have a WB Italian card from 1995 with slashes on the "i", I can be sure it's Unlimitied and not 4th ?

effai wrote:

This was discussed in a couple other threads as well. There seems to be THREE versions of Italian WB Uncommons and Commons:


Left: slash on i, Revised text
Middle: dot on i, Revised text, bold copyright
Right: dot on i, 4th Edition text, normal copyright

Why is this only for Uncommons and Commons ?

Does this mean, that if I have a WB Italian card from 1995 with slashes on the "i", I can be sure it's Unlimitied and not 4th ?

It might be for Rares too, but so far that has not been confirmed.
Yes it means that slashes are always from the Italian Unlimited set.