The Evolution of Magic’s Rules and Flavor 
Wizards of the Coast Announces Major Security Breach
April 20, 2011 – RENTON, WA – Wizards of the Coast, publishers of the popular trading
card game Magic: the Gathering, announced today that, in an apparent security breach
unprecedented in the 21-year history of the company, the entire Homelands spoiler has
been released to the public. Anonymous Internet hackers were able to gain unauthorized access
to the confidential information through a previously-undiscovered security flaw in the company’s
Gatherer database. Rules text and art for all 140 cards in the set were downloaded hundreds of
times over before the hole could be closed.
“This leak was huge,” said Magic Brand Manager Paul Levy. “We thought we had Homelands
locked down tight, but apparently this flaw in Gatherer has been there for years, and no one noticed until this morning.”
As the leak spread, fan websites for the game were bombarded with heavy traffic from players
interested in seeing the spoiled cards. Player reactions ranged from indifference to outrage.
A large contingent of users from the popular website MTGSalvation threatened to boycott the
set entirely, due to cards that “violate the color pie.” Most players were in agreement that
the set’s power level was exceptionally low. Professional Magic player Luis Scott-Vargas
tweeted, “There’s no set like Homelands. At least, I hope there isn’t, because these
cards are all terrible.” Disgruntled players began to use the Twitter hash tag #HomelandsSecurity
to mark their tweets about the leak, comparing the usefulness of the set’s cards to that of the
security screens now commonplace at U.S. airports.
“This was just about the worst leak we could have had,” said Levy. “The Dark,
Fallen Empires, Prophecy, those sets are all bad. But Homelands? It was
like the Virtual Boy of Magic sets. And now it’s out there on display for everyone to see.
I mean, what the hell does Giant Albatross even do? Just forcing myself to read
the card makes me feel like I’m stabbing my eyes out.”
“At least nobody figured out that the booster packs only have eight cards in them,” he added.
“Then we really would’ve been in trouble.”
Shares of Hasbro, parent company of Wizards of the Coast, were down 17% in the morning’s trading.
