=========================================================== MAGIC: THE GATHERING Version 1.25 Readme File 10 June 1997 =========================================================== Note: Changes made in this update have rendered all older save game formats obsolete. Once you update your copy of Magic: The Gathering to version 1.25, you will not be able to load old save games for either Shandalar or for the stand-alone Duel from any previous version of Magic: The Gathering. General Changes for Version 1.25 ================================ * The AI now considers even more possibilities in a shorter time. This allows it to find better card combinations and generally improves its play throughout the game. * The computer now plays faster because it runs through the turn sequence more quickly. * The problem in version 1.1 with the names of some of the artists on the cards has been corrected. Shandalar Changes for Version 1.25 ================================== * The crash in Shandalar caused by Living Lands or Kormus Bell has been fixed. * The infrequent lockup when starting a new game in Shandalar has been fixed. * Your win/loss record in the Status screen now continues past 100 entries. * If you are playing in 16-bit color mode (High Color graphics), the palette is no longer corrupted when a creature reveals the location of a World Magic. * If you are playing in 256-color mode, the palette is no longer corrupted in dungeons and castles. AI Enhancements for Version 1.25 ================================ * The AI no longer takes as much mana burn as before. For example, the AI will no longer try to cast Magical Hack without a target or tap a Mana Vault without using the available mana. * The combat AI has been improved. The AI is now smarter in deciding which creatures should attack, how to use creatures that trample, etc. * The AI no longer plays as many beneficial enchantments on your side as before. In addition, the AI no longer plays as many detrimental enchantments on its own side as before. For example, the AI will not cast Immolation on its own creature unless it can survive the +2/-2 effect. * The AI will not cast redundant enchantments on creatures already possessing that same ability (such as casting Firebreathing on a Shivan Dragon). * The AI will not tap a negatively enchanted land (such as a land enchanted with Psychic Venom) unless it has to. * The AI no longer declines to play a land from its hand. * Blue Elemental Blast: The logic for this card is now implemented. * Circles of Protection: The AI will now use a Circle of Protection to prevent damage to itself from more than one creature. In addition, the AI will not attack you if you have the appropriate Circle of Protection. * Control Magic: The AI has better logic about which creature to target and will no longer discard Control Magic unnecessarily. * Drain Life: The AI has improved logic for how much to cast Drain Life for, instead of just 1 point. * Fireball: The AI will now cast Fireball on multiple targets, such as the player and the player's creature. * Hurr Jackal: The AI will not try to use Hurr Jackal's special ability against non-regenerating creatures or its own creatures. * Instill Energy: The AI now uses a creature enchanted with Instill Energy more consistently. * Magical Hack: The AI has better logic about which land type to pick. * Mishra's Factory: The AI will no longer attack you with 1/1 creatures if you have a Mishra's Factory available that can be turned into an Assembly Worker. * Morale, Piety and Righteousness: The AI will not cast these instants to the player's benefit. * Radjan Spirit: The AI will not try to use Radjan Spirit's special ability against non-flying creatures. * Spirit Link: The AI will not attack with a creature enchanted by Spirit Link. * Steal Artifact: The AI has better logic about which artifact to target with Steal Artifact and will no longer discard Steal Artifact unnecessarily. * Urza's Avenger: The AI will not activate its special ability more than necessary. Card-Specific Fixes for Version 1.25 ==================================== * Aladdin's Lamp: The casting cost is now 10 generic mana instead of the 1 generic mana in version 1.1. * Armaggedon Clock: You can now pay 4 generic mana during any upkeep to remove a counter from the Armaggedon Clock. * Backfire and Naf's Asp: A Naf's Asp enchanted with Backfire no longer crashes the game. * Cave People's power and toughness are now correctly updated when it attacks. * Circles of Protection: You can now select which damage packet you wish to prevent using your Circle of Protection. In earlier versions, the program would stop asking you if you wished to prevent damage once you answered "no" to the first damage packet. * Flood: The text to prompt you (on the Situation Bar) is now correct. * Giant Tortoise: The Giant Tortoise's power and toughness are now correctly updated when it attacks even when a Castle is in play. * Howling Mines: If one side had three or more Howling Mines, the game used to crash. This problem has been fixed. * Mana Vault: In previous versions, if one side had two or more Mana Vaults in play, the game would sometimes crash. * Mishra's Factory no longer turns into an Assembly Worker when tapped for mana. * Mishra's Factory can no longer be used to generate infinite mana. * Spirit Shackle: The effect of Spirit Shackle on a creature is now updated immediately. * Tetravus: You can no longer illegally generate Tetravite tokens. * Time Elemental: You now only take 5 points of damage when your Time Elemental is declared as an attacker or blocker. * Titania's Song: Zero casting cost artifacts (such as the Black Lotus or Moxes) now die and go to the graveyard when Titania's Song is successfully cast (since creatures die if their toughness is equal to zero). * Visions: The crash caused by this card is now fixed. * Volcanic Eruption: The crash caused by this card is now fixed. General Changes for Version 1.1 =============================== * The AI now considers more possibilities in a shorter time. This allows it to find better card combinations and generally improves its play throughout the game. * Several memory-related lockups have been found and fixed. Lockups in general should be far less frequent on machines without compatibility problems. * New coin flip animation files have been added to fix lockups that occurred during the coin flip animations. * The game now handles long filenames correctly. * The font used for card names has been improved so that names fit better. Shandalar Changes for Version 1.1 ================================= Enhancements ------------ * You can now play in Shandalar without a sound card. * The crash problem caused by more than 500 cards in your deck has been fixed. 500 is now a limit, and warnings will appear as you get closer to this total number. * The Help file now works in the Duel while in Shandalar. * Lockups associated with quests to duel a creature have been fixed. * Crashes when entering the Wizard Status screen have been fixed. * In the Deck Builder, attempting to sell more cards than you have of a given type no longer has an adverse effect. * You can now save the game in a town by right-clicking on the town screen. (Note that you cannot save if you are talking to the Wise Man, buying cards or using the Deck Builder.) * The number of wandering creatures has been reduced. * Bronze Tablet no longer causes multiple cards to appear in players' decks after use in a duel. * Your win/loss record in the Status screen now includes creatures quested against, but not creatures you defeated in dungeons or castles. * After you defeat one of the five major Wizards, you must pick three different cards as rewards instead of being allowed to pick multiples of the same card. * If you lose in a duel to free a beseiged city, all ante cards are now taken from you. * There is now a sound effect associated with blocking. * The text for Wise Man hints have been corrected. * You no longer hear a faint sound in the background while in the main map of Shandalar. Dungeon ------- * Draws against creatures in a dungeon will no longer kick you out of the dungeon. * Riddles in dungeons work properly. * Crashes caused by random treasures in dungeons have been fixed. * Free cards in play in dungeons no longer show up as ante. Lairs ----- * Intermittent lockups when collecting a riddle scroll in lairs have been fixed. * Spectral Arena encounters now work correctly. AI Enhancements for Version 1.1 =============================== * The AI will avoid casting second enchantments on the same target when they repeat the same effect (such as Flight, etc.). * The AI will not use Sylvan Library, Greed or other life-spending cards to kill or nearly kill itself. * The AI has better logic for using Mind Twist and Twiddle. * The AI will use Fellwar Stones more intelligently. * The AI will now activate Island Sanctuary even if the player doesn't have a wall in play. * The AI will now use Land Tax correctly. * The AI will not use Oasis to attempt to prevent damage to itself. * The AI will use better judgment when paying costs for Power Leak. * The AI will cast Web on Walls when appropriate. Card-Specific Fixes for Version 1.1 =================================== * Preventing damage now prevents side effects of damage (such as Drain Life, Hypnotic Specter, etc.). * Triggered effects on casting (such as for Ivory Cup, other lucky charms and Verduran Enchantress) now resolve before the resolution of the spell triggering them as they should. * The combination of Mana Vault, Animated Artifact and Giant Strength no longer locks the game. * Smoke or Winter Orb no longer allows illegal cards to be untapped (such as creatures under a Meekstone, etc.). * Swords to Plowshares and Ashes to Ashes no longer trigger graveyard effects (such as for Personal Incarnation). * Brothers of Fire no longer untap when their ability is used. * Candelabra of Tawnos now shows the proper "X" value when activated. * Carrion Ants: The problem caused by the infinite loop of the Carrion Ants pumping and then cancelling is now fixed. * Cave People now correctly reflects Magical Hack in its effect card. * Counterspell now works consistently for Eye for an Eye, Fireball and Armageddon. * Crumble now buries targets correctly. * Fellwar Stone: Lockups associated with Fellwar Stone have been fixed. * Fireball: The AI can no longer target the same target twice with Fireball. * Gaseous Form is now implemented so that creatures neither deal nor receive damage. * Instill Energy can now be used even if the enchanted creature is untapped. * Island Sanctuary can now only be activated once per draw phase. * Island Sanctuary now correctly reflects Sleight of Mind in its effect card. * Lord of the Pit: The crash occuring when the AI had to sacrifice a creature to its Lord of the Pit has been fixed. * Lord of the Pit: The AI will no longer be able to sacrifice a Lord of the Pit to itself. * Manabarbs will no longer do damage while it is being cast. * Manaflare and Manabarbs only trigger for lands now. * Mishra's Factory: Strip Mining a Mishra's Factory no longer leaves an invincible Mishra's Factory in play. * Mishra's Factory: Enchant Creature cards on an Assembly Worker are now buried when the Assembly Worker reverts to a Mishra's Factory at the end of the turn. No effects of the enchantments linger once they are gone. * Mishra's Factory: Disenchanting an Assembly Worker now destroys it properly. * Mishra's Factory: The Assembly Worker effect card now has name text. * The Necropolis of Azaar now has "Husk" counters as the text on the card indicates instead of "Corpse" counters. * Power Sink doesn't draw mana from Mishra's Workshop anymore. * Primal Clay now selects its shape at proper time. * Psychic Venom now has a targeting prompt. * Regeneration: The intermittent problem of not being able to use the Regeneration card has been fixed. * Reverse Damage no longer counts damage from previous turns. * Simulacrum is now available during the damage prevention step and will redirect all damage done to the caster during the current turn. * Soul Net no longer allows life gain for counterspelled summon cards. * Spirit Shackle: The counters for Spirit Shackle now appear at the correct time. * Sunglasses of Urza now handles red mana sources as if they were white, in addition to handling red mana in the pool this way. * Sylvan Library: The prompt for Sylvan Library now correctly says "Pay 4 Life" instead of "Lose 4 Life." * Tetravus: Only one counter is now removed from a Tetravus per activation. * Time Elemental now always damages its controller when assigned as a blocker. * Time Walk: If the AI has a Time Walk in its hand, the game no longer puts "skip turn" hash marks on the Phase Bar. * Uncle Istvan is no longer invulnerable to some types of non-combat damage. * Verduran Enchantress no longer triggers on non-enchantments. Duel Changes for Version 1.1 ============================ * Add Card and Scan Card errors have been largely eliminated. * Conceding a duel will no longer causes page faults. * Lockups in the Pre-Combat phase in which the AI ended up in a thinking loop have been addressed. * You can no longer tap the AI's lands during its upkeep. * Creatures statistics refresh correctly in the Main Pre-Combat phase (such as playing a Castle before the Combat phase). * The "Assign X damage" prompt in the Advanced layout now displays the correct damage. Deck Builder Changes for Version 1.1 ==================================== * You can no longer make decks with token cards in them (such as Wasps). * The Statistics screen now counts Birds of Paradise and the Moxes as correct Mana Types. * The given rarity information for Amulet of Kroog and Abomination has been corrected. * Right shift-clicking to move cards in the Deck Builder is now fixed. * The Deck Builder now considers basic lands as having the same color as the color of mana they produce for the purpose of deck stats. (For example, 5 Islands count as 5 Blue cards.) Gauntlet Changes for Version 1.1 ================================ * The Next Opponent screen displays the correct name for the next opponent. * The typo in the Next Draw screen has been fixed. * The random selection of opponents in the Gauntlet is now fixed. Additional Testing ================== Matt Brittman Rosalie Kofsky