Distinguishing Magic: The Gathering Cards Older Than Fifth Edition – English vs. Japanese

Magic: The Gathering’s pre-Fifth Edition (pre-5ed) sets hold a unique appeal for collectors, with subtle but crucial distinctions between English and Japanese printings. This guide combines personal collector experiences and practical comparisons to help you accurately identify and understand these vintage cards.

Personal Discovery: When the Details Matter

After purchasing some old cards, I noticed that two copies of the same card weren't actually the same. The copyright year printed in the lower left corner ("1995" vs. "1997") stood out immediately, but Japanese cards with "1996" or "1997" added more confusion. Unexpected black borders on some Japanese cards, as opposed to the expected white, introduced me to the complexities of foreign black border sets and reprint conventions.

A memorable example: I once picked up a "Recall" card, an expensive Legends rare (over 15,000 JPY), only to find it was from Chronicles, worth just 100 JPY, because I missed the subtle identifying differences. This experience taught me, painfully, how important it is to scrutinize every detail.

Essential Identification Features

Look at the set symbol, card border color, and printed year to identify the cards.

• English Legends Cards:
  Black border. Only English cards exist for the original Legends printing. (Japanese cards were not printed for Legends.)

• English Chronicles/Anthologies Cards:
  White-bordered and use the original expansion symbols of reprinted sets such as Legends, Arabian Nights, Antiquities, and The Dark. If the card is English black bordered and uses the set symbol, the card is from that expansion. Only English cards have white border and the set symbol.

• Japanese Chronicles Foreign Black Border Cards:
  Japanese cards with the Legends symbol and a black border are actually Chronicles reprints, not original Legends. Here's another example of the infamous Recall card. Japanese cards with white border for these sets does not exist

• Fourth Edition:
  No set symbol, white border. "1996" printed in bottom left corner for Japanese cards. "1995" printed in bottom left corner for English cards

• Fifth Edition:
  No set symbol, white border, and "1997" printed in bottom left corner. Same for Japanese and English cards

• Foreign Black Border:
  No set symbol, black border. "1996" printed in bottom left corner for Japanese cards. This set does not exist for English cards. For example Japanese version of Llanowar Elves (ラノワールのエルフ)

Here are some examples.

Paper stock, gloss and finishing variations exist and there can be differences depending on where the card was printed.

How to easily distinguish the cards

Look at the charts to identify your card. Which set is it from?

Old Japanese cards

Old English cards

I created two flow charts for English cards because there are too many variants. One chart for white border cards, and another for black border cards

English cards with White Border

English cards with Black Border

Final Words

I hope this guide was useful and acts as a reference to identifying older cards. I use this reference myself when I go back and stock up cards from older sets.

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