A watermark is a faint imprint made into the text box area of certain Magic cards. In Contraptions, they are placed in the bottom right-hand corner.
History[ | ]
The first card to bear a watermark was Incoming! from Unglued.
Events[ | ]
Prerelease cards bear their expansion symbol as a watermark since Onslaught's Silent Specter, similarly release cards bear their set symbol or logo. Other event cards not specific to a set bear the logo of that event, such as Friday Night Magic promo cards.
Affiliations[ | ]
Some cards in the Ravnica block were given watermarks showing the guild from which they came.[1] The Ravnican watermarks were used again in the later Ravnica sets.
In the Scars of Mirrodin block every single card that was not a basic land or a planeswalker bore the watermark of one of the two warring factions: Phyrexians and Mirrans.[2]
Khans of Tarkir uses watermarks for the different clans, with Fate Reforged adding watermarks for the different dragons' broods.
Strixhaven: School of Mages uses watermarks for the different colleges within the school.
Watermarks were also used for the factions of Unstable.[3]
Affiliation watermarks are searchable in Gatherer and Scryfall.[4]
Mechanics[ | ]
Foretell from Kaldheim was the first mechanic with an associated watermark (a raven).[5]
Watermark matters[ | ]
Unstable has a small "watermark matters" theme with Hammerfest Boomtacular, Stamp of Approval and Watermarket.[6] In this set, the faction marks found in the bottom right corner of Contraptions also count as watermarks.[7][8][9]
References[ | ]
- ↑ Aaron Forsythe (October 14, 2005). "Framing Ravnica". magicthegathering.com. Wizards of the Coast.
- ↑ Mark Rosewater (January 17, 2011). "Under Besiege, Part 1". magicthegathering.com. Wizards of the Coast.
- ↑ Mark Rosewater (July 23, 2017). "Will the five factions from Unstable have logos/watermarks?". Blogatog. Tumblr.
- ↑ Monty Ashley (October 06, 2010). "Game Day Excitement". magicthegathering.com. Wizards of the Coast.
- ↑ Mark Rosewater (January 8, 2021). "Kind of odd to see watermarks tied to a mechanic (foretell) instead of factions.". Blogatog. Tumblr.
- ↑ Mark Rosewater (November 22, 2017). "Unstable FAQAWASLFAQPAFTIDAWABIAJTBT". magicthegathering.com. Wizards of the Coast.
- ↑ Matt Tabak (November 16, 2017). "Unstable Mechanics". magicthegathering.com. Wizards of the Coast.
- ↑ Mark Rosewater (November 20, 2017). "The Un-Ending Saga, Part 3". magicthegathering.com. Wizards of the Coast.
- ↑ Mark Rosewater (November 22, 2017). "Why was an icon used to represent a watermark instead of just using a watermark?". Blogatog. Tumblr.