Prerelease card

Prerelease cards are cards given away for paying to play at prerelease tournaments.

History
They were first introduced at the Tempest prerelease in October, 1997. They are stamped or otherwise marked to identify them as the prerelease card. The design has changed over the years. Prerelease cards could have a mix of several of these qualities: foiled, the inclusion of a foiled shooting star symbol, alternate art from that which appears in the set, or a foiled watermark in the text box. Prerelease cards are often creatures that highlight some new aspect of the set. Since the creation of Prerelease Packs, many modern sets have had more than one possible prerelease card per set.

Beginning with Khans of Tarkir, prerelease cards had gone from being an advertised selling point to being mostly hidden information prior to the prerelease tournament. The number of possible prerelease cards per set also increased drastically. This was done for playability reasons, as the prerelease cards are now playable in one's card pool at prerelease tournaments. From Battle for Zendikar on, this was further increased to a stamped version of any rare or mythic rare card from the set. This was done because the earlier prerelease cards were skewing the availability of a single cards, and R&D wants all cards of the same rarity to be very close in number.

List
The following table is a list of prerelease cards:

Khans of Tarkir
Players at the prerelease chose one of the five clans featured in Khans of Tarkir. Within their Prerelease Pack, players randomly received one of eight possible prerelease cards associated with that clan. The forty possible prerelease cards were:

Fate Reforged
Players at the Fate Reforged prerelease chose one of the five featured clans featured. Within their Prerelease Pack, players randomly received one of six possible prerelease cards associated with that clan. The thirty possible prerelease cards were:

Dragons of Tarkir
Players at the prerelease chose one of the five dragon broods featured in Dragons of Tarkir. Within their Prerelease Pack, players randomly received one of eight possible prerelease cards associated with that brood. The forty possible prerelease cards were:

Magic Origins
Players at the Magic Origins prerelease chose one of the five featured planeswalkers. Within their Prerelease Pack, players randomly received one of eight possible prerelease cards associated with the color of that planeswalker. The forty possible prerelease cards were:

Battle for Zendikar onwards
Starting with Battle for Zendikar, players at the prerelease received one stamped version of any rare or mythic rare card from the set as their promo card. Sometimes there are exceptions or additions.
 * Dominaria Players also received a stamped card from a selection of all legendary cards (other than two legendary enchantments).
 * Battlebond Players received a partnered pair of stamped cards.
 * Guilds of Ravnica and Ravnica Allegiance Players received a stamped version card from a selection of all rare / mythic rare cards relevant to that player's choice of guild.
 * War of the Spark Players also received a stamped planeswalker card from the set. For Japanese version's prerelease, the additional planeswalker cards had the alternate artwork.
 * Modern Horizons Players received a specific prerelease participation promo card again:
 * Double Masters  and.
 * Commander Legends

Strixhaven: School of Mages onwards
Starting with Strixhaven: School of Mages the specific golden date stamp on the prerelease cards was replaced with a golden stamp indicating the Players Tour season. In the stamp, located in lower left corner of the art box, the relevant years are separated by the shooting star.