Card production policy

Magic: the Gathering is produced by Wizards of the Coasts since 1993.
There has been printed around 6,000,000,000 cards in more than dozen languages by the end of 2000.

A new set ("expansion") is issued three times a year. Three sets compose one cycle. Main set (which is released first) gives the name to the new cycle.

So-called Classic Edition is released ones in a three year period. It consists of well known cards, appeared previously in the expansion sets and proved their efficiency.
Cards from Classic Editions are white-bordered. By aesthetic reasons majority of players prefer black-bordered cards from expansion sets.

Usually, main set and Classic Edition consists of 350 cards, second and third sets - 143 cards.