The first trading card game

Magic: The Gathering was created by the mathematician Richard Garfield and published by Wizards of the Coast in 1993, and it invented the trading card game. Players are planeswalkers, powerful wizards who draw on five colors of mana to cast spells and summon creatures from across the multiverse. More than thirty years later, Magic has tens of thousands of different cards, a thriving competitive scene, the hugely popular Commander format and a digital version, Arena, alongside the kitchen-table games that started it all.

For players, Magic is a hobby, a social life and a collection, often all three. A Magic rug belongs in the room where the games happen. Ours are printed into short velvet, so mana symbols, fantasy art and fine card-frame detail come out crisp, and they go in the washing machine. For the table itself, a playmat is the right tool, and you'll find those in our MTG playmats; the rug is for the floor around it.

The five colors of mana

Everything in Magic begins with the color pie, five colors of mana, each with its own symbol, philosophy and style of play:

Color	Symbol	Philosophy
White	A sun	Order, law, community, protection
Blue	A water drop	Knowledge, logic, illusion, control
Black	A skull	Ambition, power, death, sacrifice
Red	A fireball	Freedom, passion, chaos, speed
Green	A tree	Nature, growth, instinct, strength

Many players choose the color of their favorite deck, so a mono-red player may want flames while a green player prefers a forest.

A mana symbol on a round rug is the most iconic Magic design: simple, graphic and instantly recognized by any player. Choose your favorite color, or the five symbols arranged in a circle, the color pie itself, for a player who brews decks in all of them.

The guilds of Ravnica

On the plane of Ravnica, a world-spanning city, ten guilds each represent a pair of colors, with their own emblem and culture: the lawful Azorius, the secretive Dimir, the wild Rakdos, the savage Gruul, the harmonious Selesnya, the wealthy Orzhov, the inventive Izzet, the necromantic Golgari, the military Boros and the experimental Simic. Players often identify with a guild the way sports fans identify with a team. A guild emblem on a round or shield-shaped rug is a striking, heraldic design, and a great conversation starter at any game night.

Planeswalkers

Magic's most famous characters are its planeswalkers, rare beings who can travel between worlds: Jace Beleren, the mind mage; Chandra Nalaar, the pyromancer; Liliana Vess, the necromancer; Gideon Jura, the soldier; Nissa Revane, the elf animist; Ajani Goldmane, the leonin; and many more. A planeswalker design, a favorite character in their signature colors, is a bold, painterly rug for a fan who follows Magic's story.

The planes of the multiverse

Each Magic set visits a plane with its own look and mood: Dominaria, the original home of the game; Ravnica, the city-plane; Innistrad, a gothic horror world of werewolves and vampires; Zendikar, a land of floating rocks and adventure; Kamigawa, a neon-lit plane inspired by Japan; Theros, steeped in Greek myth; and the mechanical horror of Phyrexia. A landscape from a favorite plane makes a beautiful fantasy-art rug that reads as painting to visitors.

Basic lands

Every deck runs on lands, and Magic's five basic lands, Plains, Island, Swamp, Mountain and Forest, have been painted thousands of times by different artists, with full-art versions especially loved by collectors. A basic-land landscape, a misty Island, a towering Mountain, a quiet Forest, is a beautiful, calm rug that looks like a piece of fine fantasy landscape art to anyone at all, and choosing your favorite land says which color you play.

The Black Lotus

No card is more famous than the Black Lotus, a simple artifact from Magic's very first set that grants three mana of any color, and whose early printings have sold for extraordinary sums. A Black Lotus design, the dark flower on its own, is an elegant, almost botanical rug, and a deep-cut joke for collectors who know exactly what it's worth.

Commander nights

Commander, the multiplayer format in which each player builds a hundred-card deck around a legendary commander, has become the most popular way to play Magic. Its long, social games around a shared table are the heart of many friendships. A rug under the Commander table, sized so the chairs stay on it, makes those nights more comfortable, and a design featuring your commander, or the color identity of your favorite deck, makes it personal.

Sizing a rug for the table

Under a card table, choose a rug that extends at least 2 ft (60 cm) beyond the table on every side, so chairs stay fully on it when players push back. For a four-player Commander table, that usually means 5×7 ft or a custom size up to 5′11″ × 10′. Choose Standard, whose non-slip faux leather back stops the rug creeping as chairs scrape in and out, and whose low pile keeps a dropped card easy to pick up.

Game stores and card shops

Local game stores are the heart of the Magic community, hosting Friday Night Magic, prereleases and Commander nights. A rug at the entrance, behind the counter or in the play area gives a store character, and through our custom rugs, any store can print its own logo or a mana-themed design in any size up to 5′11″ × 10′, on Standard velvet that grips the floor and goes in the washing machine after a busy weekend.

Collectors and binders

Many players are collectors too, with binders of foils, boxes of old sets and graded cards displayed like art. A rug in front of a collection shelf frames it the way a gallery floor frames a painting. A calm design, a single mana symbol or a land, keeps the attention firmly on the cards themselves.

The competitive scene

Magic has had a professional circuit since the first Pro Tour in 1996, with world championships, a Hall of Fame and local tournaments every weekend. For grinders who travel to events, a rug in their practice room, under the testing table, is a small luxury after long days of play. On Arena, the digital version, the same players practice from a desk, where Standard under the chair is the practical choice.

Card art and frames

Magic's card art, painted by hundreds of artists over three decades, is one of the richest bodies of fantasy illustration ever made. Many players love a card as much for its art as for its effect. A design laid out like a giant card, frame, name bar, mana cost and type line, is a playful, recognizable rug, and our custom rugs can print a card-frame design built around your own art.

Crossovers

Through its Universes Beyond sets, Magic has crossed over with other worlds, from The Lord of the Rings to Warhammer 40,000 and Final Fantasy, bringing new players to the game. If one of those worlds is your way in, our Lord of the Rings, Warhammer and Final Fantasy pages have their own designs.

Other tabletop games

Magic players often play other card and tabletop games too. If your shelves also hold Dungeons & Dragons books or Yu-Gi-Oh decks, you'll find their pages here, each with ideas for the floor around the table.

Colors and rooms

Magic's palette follows the color pie: white and gold, blue, black, red and green, often in painterly fantasy tones. A single mana color is the easiest to match to a room; a guild emblem combines two; the full color pie brings all five. Dark, rich colors suit a game room with wood and warm lighting, while a white-and-gold or blue design brightens a smaller, lighter room.

Sizes and levels

A mana symbol, a guild emblem or the Black Lotus suits a 3.3 to 4.6 ft (100 to 140 cm) round rug. A planeswalker, a plane landscape or a card-frame design suits a rectangle, 4×6 or 5×7 ft. Under a card table, go large. For a reading corner with your binders, choose Premium, 7 mm plush velvet on a bamboo and cotton back.

Gifts

A Magic rug is a great gift for a Commander group, a store owner or a player who has been casting spells since the 1990s. If you aren't sure which design to choose, their favorite mana color or the full color pie is the safest choice, whatever format they play and however long they've been playing. Every rug is printed to order in 1–3 business days and ships from Turkey; US delivery usually takes 2–5 business days after that.

Care

Machine wash on a gentle, cold cycle and let it air dry flat. Vacuum on a low setting between washes, and blot spilled drinks with cold water straight away. The design is printed into the fibers, so every mana symbol stays bright, game after game and season after season.

A note on the game

Tap, untap

Every Magic turn runs on tapping: turning a land or creature sideways to use it, then untapping at the start of your next turn. A rug with a large tap symbol, the curved arrow, in the center and the five mana colors around it is a simple, clever nod for anyone who plays.

Padrift is an independent studio. Magic: The Gathering and its characters are named to describe what our designs are inspired by; we are not affiliated with, sponsored or endorsed by Wizards of the Coast or Hasbro.