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The world of Magic: The Gathering is vast, but one thing that ties the game together is the uniform card backs, for non-double-faced cards, at least. But this iconic feature nearly didn't come to be, back when the game was created in the 1990s. 

In his Drive To Work podcast, Magic: The Gathering game designer Mark Rosewater explained that in the early days of Magic, when the team was working on the Arabian Nights expansion, Magic creator Richard Garfield was “convinced that the Arabian Nights cards should be a different color" on their card backs. Rosewater said that according to Garfield's logic, "each release of Magic should be its own sort of game.”

Naturally, Garfield's suggestion that each set have its own different card back color was met with uproar from the rest of the team, citing the challenges that would pose when playing against an opponent, who could tell which sets a player's cards were from all without ever seeing the front of the cards themselves. It wasn't until "literally the night before" that Garfield changed his mind about the card back colors. And the rest is history. 

Rosewater was recounting this story as part of a larger discussion of the new documentary film about the creation of Magic: The Gathering called Igniting the Spark. The film premiered at Gen Con this month. You can now stream the movie on Amazon Prime Video, Apple TV, YouTube, and Google Play. 

Whether you are a Commander player, a regular at your local game shop's FNM event, or simply love collecting Magic: The Gathering cards, you've landed in the right place. From Universes Beyond to the furthest reaches of the Magic Multiverse, we've got you covered here at Popverse. 

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