In the Magic: The Gathering

Magic: The Gathering

Magic: The Gathering , also known as Magic, is the first collectible trading card game created by mathematics professor Richard Garfield and introduced in 1993 by Wizards of the Coast. Magic continues to thrive, with approximately twelve million players as of 2011...

trading card game, a Legendary card or Legend is a card that represents a unique individual or thing with a specific name, rather than the generic, unnamed things that most cards represent. For example, while the card could be any goblin, the card is a specific goblin with a personality and a history.

Recently printed legendary cards are indicated by the word "Legendary" before their card type (e.g. "Legendary Artifact"). Older cards used "Creature — Legend" or "Summon Legend" instead of "Legendary Creature".

The associated Magic: The Gathering novels often deal with the characters represented by legendary cards in the game.

Gameplay

Only one copy of a given legendary card may be in play at the same time. If multiple copies of a legend are put into play, all of them are put into the graveyard (discard pile). (This has not always been the case; see History below.)

The cards must have exactly the same name in order to trigger the legend rule. Some characters are represented on multiple cards: for example, the character Kamahl appears as both and , and the character Akroma appears as both and . Because the cards are different, one of each card can be in play without counting as the same legend, even though they represent the same character.

In games with more than two players, there is an optional rule whereby each player has a limited range of influence, meaning they can only attack, target or otherwise influence other players if they are within a certain range. In such games, a legend will remain in play, despite other copies of the same card also being in play, if the other copies are outside of the player's range of influence.

Most legendary cards are creatures; legendary artifacts, lands and enchantments also exist.

History

Legendary creatures and lands were introduced in 1994 with Legends

Legends (Magic: The Gathering)

Legends was the seventh Magic: The Gathering set and the third expansion set, released in June 1994. It was the first expansion set to be sold in packs of 15 . The set was designed by Wizards of the Coast co-founder Steve Conard and friend Robin Herbert in Canada before the game was initially...

, the game's third expansion set. Although some cards printed prior to Legends represent unique individuals and would logically have been legendary, they were and are still treated as non-legendary. The first legendary artifact, , was printed in the Stronghold

Stronghold (Magic: The Gathering)

Stronghold was the 21st Magic: The Gathering set and thirteenth expert level set, and the second set in the Rath Block, released in March 1998. The block includes Tempest and Exodus. Stronghold contains 143 cards...

set in 1998, and the first legendary enchantments were printed in Champions of Kamigawa

Champions of Kamigawa

Champions of Kamigawa is the name of the Magic: The Gathering expansion set released October 1, 2004. The first set of the Kamigawa block, it set the stage for the block's story, which was inspired by Japanese myths and revolves around the battle between spirits and living beings.The set's...

in 2004.

The way the legend rule functioned when it was first introduced differed from its present form: if a legendary card came into play when another copy of the same card was already in play, the recently played legend would be put in the graveyard, but not the one that was already in play. This could be a significant advantage to the player who played the legend first, and was particularly an issue with legends that could be played cheaply and quickly, such as .

Initially, legendary creatures were printed with "Legend" as their creature type. At the time, most creatures other than artifact creatures (which had no creature type at all) could only have one creature type, so "Legend" replaced any other creature type they might have had. Later, some legends were printed with additional text giving them extra creature types: for example, while has "Legend" as his creature type, the card's text reads "Barrin, Master Wizard counts as a Wizard", effectively giving him the Wizard creature type as well. Beginning with the Urza's Destiny

Urza's Destiny

Urza's Destiny is a Magic: The Gathering set, third in the Urza Block. Urza's Destiny was released on June 23, 1999. It was released in digital form on Magic Online on April 13, 2011.- Storyline :...

set in 1999, legendary creatures were simply given multiple creature types: for example, is simply printed as a "Wizard Legend", making the "counts as a Wizard" text unnecessary. The status of "Legend" as a creature type could be exploited using the card : a player could eliminate an opponent's creatures by changing them into Legends, triggering the legend rule.

In 2004, Legend was removed as a creature type, rendering it inaccessible by Unnatural Selection, and the legend rule was changed to its present form. As a result, new, cheap legendary cards have been printed in subsequent sets. Early legendary creatures which had only "Legend" as their creature type have been retroactively given other creature types.

See also

• Magic: The Gathering rules
  Magic: The Gathering rules
  Magic: The Gathering is a playing and collectible card game with extremely detailed and, at times, complex rules. A very good knowledge of the game's rules is absolutely necessary to play the game...
  
  
• Enchant World, a card type similar to but distinct from Legendary Enchantments