DCI^TM STANDARD (TYPE II) TOURNAMENT ENVIRONMENT
MODIFICATION ANNOUNCEMENT

Effective Date: July 1, 1997

DCI recognizes that its current organization of the sanctioned Standard (Type II) tournament environment requires substantial modification to meet the needs of its members and tournament organizers. We received an overwhelming response to our current policy--an enormous number of members and tournament organizers expressed concerns about card sets rotating out of the environment too quickly. We are fortunate that our membership and tournament organizers care enough to provide us with valuable feedback on our tournament rules and structure. As part of our ongoing effort to provide you with the very best in competitive play environments, we have responded to your input and suggestions by modifying the Standard (Type II) environment, including the re-introduction of certain card sets. This announcement is a preview of our June 1 announcement; it is still effective on July 1, 1997.

We focused on the following key goals while modifying the Standard environment:

• Simple definition: Tournament participants and organizers should be able to easily and quickly understand what is meant by the reference "Standard (Type II) tournament."
• Minimal deck reconstruction: Ideally, tournament participants should not be forced to reconstruct their decks as often as they currently do, nor should they have to maintain decks in as many environments.

New card sets released during the first couple weeks of a month will rotate into the Standard environment on the first day of the month following their retail release dates. A card set released during the last couple weeks of a month will rotate into the environment on the first day of the second month following its retail release date. Therefore, card sets will always enter the environment two to five weeks, rather than thirty days, after their retail release dates, and always on the first day of the month. This will standardize the rotation dates for player convenience. Prerelease tournaments will still operate under the current procedure. DCI will announce the exact date that each new card set will enter the environment before the set is released.

Example: The retail release date for Weatherlight^TM is June 4; the expansion will rotate into the tournament environment on July 1, the first day of the month following its retail release (four weeks later). If Weatherlight was released during the last week of June, it would enter the environment on August 1 (five weeks later).

1) New editions of the basic set will rotate into the environment, replacing the previous basic set, on the first of the month after their retail release dates (as described in modification #1, above). Modifications and changes in rules and wordings between editions will transfer completely, and not run concurrently.

Example: The retail release date for Fifth Edition^TM was March 21; if the new system had been in effect then, it would have rotated into the tournament environment on May 1 (five weeks after its release date).

2) Expansion sets will rotate into the environment on the first day of the month following their retail release dates (as described in modification #1, above). However, they will rotate out in "stand-alone blocks." A given stand-alone set and its expansions--essentially a year of Magic expansions, starting with the stand-alone set--will rotate out at the time the new stand-alone set (two years later) enters the Standard environment, thus beginning a new "block."

This allows card sets to remain in the environment for a longer period of time, from a year and three months to two years, and reduces the frequency of players needing to modify their decks in order to stay legal in the Standard environment. Moreover, this change ensures that card sets using certain subthemes exist in the environment together. Players will be able to use their cards for a longer period of time as compared to the current system. All expansions in the year following a stand-alone set will be considered part of that stand-alone block.

Example: Ice Age^TM and Homelands^TM will re-enter the Standard environment. Along with Alliances^TM, they will remain in the Standard environment until the release of Tempest^TM in the fall of 1997.

Example: Mirage^TM, a stand-alone set, rotated into the tournament environment and began a "stand-alone block." Visions^TM and Weatherlight are Mirage expansions, and are therefore part of this block. Mirage, Visions, and Weatherlight will rotate out of the tournament environment together when the 1998 stand-alone expansion enters the environment (two years after Mirage was introduced to the environment).

DCI will sanction only two Standard tournament formats other than the main type (currently, there are several). These types are "stand-alone" formats, defined as follows:

The format begins with a stand-alone set, and adds each of the stand-alone's expansions as they become legal in the Standard format. A "stand-alone" format drops out of the Standard environment when the sets involved drop out of Standard. Two stand-alone sets will exist in the Standard environment at any one time. For instance, the Ice Age-Homelands-Alliances stand-alone format will leave the environment when Tempest is released. Then the Tempest stand-alone environment and the Mirage-Visions-Weatherlight stand-alone environment will both exist in Standard until Mirage-Visions-Weatherlight is replaced by the 1998 stand-alone set.

This change will keep the number of sanctioned formats manageable, and enable players to play more easily against one another.

Example: The Ice Age-Homelands-Alliances stand-alone block will be replaced by the Tempest stand-alone and its associated expansion sets.

Example: Mirage entered the Standard environment and began a new stand-alone block. Visions followed and became part of the Mirage stand-alone block. When Weatherlight enters the environment, it too will become part of the Mirage stand-alone block.

These modifications mean that the following card sets will be permitted in sanctioned Standard tournaments as of July 1, 1997:

• Fifth Edition
• Ice Age
• Homelands
• Alliances
• Mirage
• Visions
• Weatherlight

In addition, DCI will sanction the following stand-alone block formats as Standard tournaments:

• Ice Age-Homelands-Alliances
• Mirage-Visions-Weatherlight

DCI CLASSIC-RESTRICTED (TYPE 1.5) TOURNAMENT ENVIRONMENT MODIFICATION ANNOUNCEMENT

Effective date: July 1, 1997

Due to the overwhelming response Wizards of the Coast has received about players being unable to use their older cards, DCI has decided to change the definition of the sanctioned Classic-Restricted environment. We kept several goals in mind when restructuring the format:

• Card availability: We feel the environment should include the maximum possible playable card sets. Please note that this is very different from the maximum possible legal card sets. As we see in the Classic (Type I) environment, the unlimited use of cards can actually lead to a smaller environment of competitive cards.

• Affordability: We would like to limit the amount of money players have to spend in order to make a competitive Classic-Restricted deck. Many legal cards in Classic-Restricted are expensive and, for many people, this limits access to the format.

• Simple definition: We believe the environment should be easy to identify and have no overly cumbersome list of banned cards.

In order to achieve these goals, the new definition of Classic-Restricted is as follows:

1) Classic-Restricted no longer has a Restricted List, only a Banned List. Players may include up to four of any legal card in their decks, and an unlimited amount of basic land.

2) All cards from limited-edition expansions previous to The Dark® (Arabian Nights®, Antiquities®, and Legends®) are banned unless they are reprinted in a legal set, limited or otherwise.

3) All cards from editions of the basic set previous to Revised Edition^TM (Alpha, Beta, and Unlimited^TM) are banned unless they are reprinted in a legal set, limited or otherwise.

4) All cards that have never been released as part of an expansion set, such as through books or other promotional means, are permitted.

5) The following list of cards are exceptions to the above and are banned from sanctioned Classic-Restricted play:

• Ante cards from any set
• From Revised Edition:

Braingeyser
Demonic Tutor
Fastbond
Juggernaut
Kird Ape
Regrowth
Serendib Efreet
Sol Ring
Wheel of Fortune


• From Fourth Edition^TM:

Balance
Black Vise
Channel
Ivory Tower
Mind Twist
Strip Mine


• From The Dark:

Maze of Ith

• From Ice Age:

Zuran Orb

• Promotional cards:

Mana Crypt

Jason Carl
Policy Director, DCI
Wizards of the Coast