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Card with watermark

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[ | ]

Guilds of Ravnica

Ravnican guild watermarks in relation to the colors

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[ | ]

  1. Aaron Forsythe (October 14, 2005). "Framing Ravnica". magicthegathering.com. Wizards of the Coast.
  2. Mark Rosewater (January 17, 2011). "Under Besiege, Part 1". magicthegathering.com. Wizards of the Coast.
  3. Mark Rosewater (July 23, 2017). "Will the five factions from Unstable have logos/watermarks?". Blogatog. Tumblr.
  4. Monty Ashley (October 06, 2010). "Game Day Excitement". magicthegathering.com. Wizards of the Coast.
  5. Mark Rosewater (January 8, 2021). "Kind of odd to see watermarks tied to a mechanic (foretell) instead of factions.". Blogatog. Tumblr.
  6. Mark Rosewater (November 22, 2017). "Unstable FAQAWASLFAQPAFTIDAWABIAJTBT". magicthegathering.com. Wizards of the Coast.
  7. Matt Tabak (November 16, 2017). "Unstable Mechanics". magicthegathering.com. Wizards of the Coast.
  8. Mark Rosewater (November 20, 2017). "The Un-Ending Saga, Part 3". magicthegathering.com. Wizards of the Coast.
  9. Mark Rosewater (November 22, 2017). "Why was an icon used to represent a watermark instead of just using a watermark?". Blogatog. Tumblr.
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