Magic: The Gatheringis a card game that’s been around for a long, long time. As one of the most resilient games around, it has built up a massive catalog of cards across more than 100 sets. With so many sets out, you may bet that the total number of cards has reached a huge number over the years.
Between reprints, Commander sets, Universes Beyond, Secret Lairs, and more, Magic’s total number of cards has ballooned over the years. We scoured the internet for all the cards we could find in the game and got a definitive number for you, at least until the next set drops.
How Can You Add All Them Up?
Okay, so there are a lot of Magic: The Gathering cards to explore, with the vast majority of them admittedly not good or rather unimpactful. For every Jace the Mindsculptor there’s a dozen Grizzly Bears. But that’s not to say those cards aren’t important to the game! to grab all the cards in the game we’re going to break them down by the number of unique cards, so no reprints or variants, and then the total number of all cards ever printed. All of them. From cards printed in minor releases that never saw a release again, to cardsthat are exclusive to digital games, to Secret Lair Drops that have cards that have never seen a Universes Within printing.
That being said, we’re going to look at two different numbers here, which is still a lot considering there are several different ways to track this information. We’re going to take a look at both all the unique cards ever printed, so no reprints, and then we’re going to tally up all the cards ever printed, with reprints, variants, alternate arts, and more included.
A quick note: a Magic: The Gathering card is defined as having a Magic card front and back, typically with the brown almost book-like design on the back, with exceptions for double-sided cards. Tokens are not considered cards, and neither are other nontraditional cards that are larger than 2.5 inches by 3.5 inches.
How Many Unique Magic: The Gathering Cards Are There?
Slightly easier to answer but no less daunting, the number of unique cards, where you only consider the first printing of each card,brings your total up to ahuge 36,108 cards. That includes all the Un sets, Portal and other Starter sets, and stuff like the Global Series, Secret Lairs, and more. We’re working with a single printing of every card, so even though Grizzly Bearshas been printed 26 times across various sets, we only really care about one of them.
This number has gone up massively in recent years, partly because Magic has started to produce more and more products in recent years, but also because of a pretty big uptick in special collaboration sets like Universes Beyond: The Lord of the Rings Tales From Middle-earth andthe Universes Beyond: Doctor Who sets. These sets have tons of cards with unique names, meaning the sets have a much lower number of reprints, even if they have similar abilities and effects. As Magic starts to visit new planes, more specific cards will be named to match mechanics and environments from those worlds as well.
How Many Magic: The Gathering Cards Are There Total?
Alright, while 36,108 cards is a huge amount, there are tons more right? You’re absolutely right and you might not be prepared for the staggering number available. All in all, with all reprints, variants, alternate arts, Arena versions, and promo cards, you’re lookingat agrand total of 90,870 cards. That is a staggering number of cards, especially considering how every new set is adding several hundred to the game thanks to all the premium versions, showcase artworks, and variants that come with each set. This is also taking into consideration cards that are exclusive to Magic: The Gathering Arena, various foiling types, The List, and so many more.
It might be borderline impossible to collect a single copy of every Magic: The Gathering card ever printed, much less a playset of every card, but if you’ve ever wanted to build out a set, like a collection of a specific set, it could be something like a challenge to collectors. A Holy Grail type of collection, especially for cards with lots of variants and showcase versions likeUniverses Beyond: The Lord of the Rings Tales From Middle-earth.
What About Everything Magic Has Ever Printed?
As it turns out, that’s not everything Magic has ever printed. If you wanted to take a look through every card, ever, including tokens, ad cards, Art Series cards, Schemes, Vanguard cards, and who knows what else, that final numbercomes to a titanic99,599 cards from across Magic’s history. As more sets are released over the next few years, that number is just going to continue to rise, so keep an eye on that number as grows more and more!
