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CardSpicy

Simplified Chinese Magic: The Gathering Cards

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Quick answer

CardSpicy takes a game’s language history from the publisher rather than from a shop listing, so this is the Chinese line as Wizards of the Coast announced it. On 22 February 2024 Wizards announced that Simplified Chinese and Portuguese tabletop products would end after Bloomburrow, giving the reason directly: sales of those language products no longer covered the rising cost of printing and operating them. An earlier announcement on 18 July 2022 had already removed Chinese Traditional, Russian and Korean from the printed language set, starting with Dominaria United.

Two announcements, one direction: the set of languages Magic is printed in has been shrinking since 2022, and Simplified Chinese left the list in 2024.

The Chinese line, in order

The useful way to read the Chinese line is as a sequence of decisions rather than as a single event. Each row below is a publisher announcement, not a collector’s estimate.

Date What Wizards announced
18 July 2022 Chinese Traditional, Russian and Korean leave the printed language set, starting with Dominaria United. Simplified Chinese is not affected at this point.
22 February 2024 Chinese Simplified and Portuguese tabletop products end after Bloomburrow. The stated reason is that sales of those language products no longer covered the cost of printing and operating them.
After that No further Simplified Chinese tabletop product is added. The existing Chinese catalogue becomes fixed.

Two things follow. The first is that Simplified Chinese outlasted Chinese Traditional on the tabletop by about two years — Traditional Chinese left in 2022, Simplified Chinese in 2024. The second is that the six languages still being printed are English, Japanese, French, Italian, German and Spanish, so a player in mainland China buying new product is now buying one of those.

What the change actually froze

A discontinued language does not remove the cards that exist. It changes what a collection can be.

  • A Chinese card is still a Magic card. Printing a card in Simplified Chinese does not make it a different game. It is catalogued alongside every other printing, and it is played and graded under the same rules.
  • Nothing Chinese can be reprinted as new. A card that was only ever printed in Chinese has no path back into print in that language, because the language itself is no longer part of the print programme.
  • Supply is what survives, not what was printed. Regional distribution and a collector base that was never large mean the number of copies still in circulation is a separate question from the number originally printed.

That combination is what makes the Chinese line different from the six languages still in print. A card in a current language is always available new. A Chinese card is not.

What identifies a Chinese printing

There are two marks worth knowing, and they cover different eras of the game.

The language code

Starting with the frame update that arrived with Magic 2015, Wizards prints a short code identifying the card’s language as part of the information block below the text box. Simplified Chinese uses CS and Chinese Traditional uses CT, and these codes are Wizards’ own rather than an international standard — they do not follow the ISO 639 codes.

The practical consequence is a dividing line. A card printed in the modern frame can be identified by its code, and a card printed before that frame carries no code at all. For older Chinese cards the language has to be read from the card’s printed text instead.

The Fifth Edition expansion symbol

Fifth Edition is a core set, and core sets of that era were printed without an expansion symbol. The Simplified Chinese Fifth Edition is the exception: it is the version that carries one. Collectors use that symbol to tell the Chinese printing apart at a glance, and it is a genuine difference in the product rather than a difference in condition.

The symbol sits where an expansion symbol normally sits — below the illustration and above the text box.

Organised play is a separate question

Stopping a language and stopping a region are not the same thing, and it is worth keeping the two apart. Wizards’ Chinese-language site continues to publish tournament announcements and a Chinese event calendar, including the regional Dragon Shield series, a college-themed event series tied to Secrets of Strixhaven, and a Magic Spotlight event in Beijing in late 2026.

So mainland China has an active tournament calendar while Simplified Chinese cards are no longer being printed. A collector reading one headline should not conclude the other.

What this page does not claim

  • It does not state a release year for the Simplified Chinese Fifth Edition. The date circulates in collector references rather than in a current Wizards announcement, so it is left out here rather than repeated.
  • It does not give a card count for any Chinese set. Card counts vary by printing and are not published for every language edition.
  • It does not print prices. CardSpicy quotes no prices and makes no valuation or investment recommendation.

Frequently asked questions

When did Magic stop being printed in Simplified Chinese?

Wizards of the Coast announced the change on 22 February 2024, with Simplified Chinese and Portuguese tabletop products ending after the release of Bloomburrow.

Can I still buy new Simplified Chinese Magic cards?

Not from the publisher. The Chinese line is no longer added to, so any Chinese card bought now is an existing copy rather than a new printing.

How can I tell a Simplified Chinese card from a Traditional Chinese one?

The clearest mark is the language code printed on the card. Cards from the Magic 2015 frame onward carry a two-letter code, and Simplified Chinese uses CS while Chinese Traditional uses CT. Cards printed before that frame carry no code.

Was Fifth Edition printed in Simplified Chinese?

It was, and that printing is the only version of Fifth Edition that carries an expansion symbol. The other Fifth Edition printings have none.

Is Simplified Chinese still supported in organised play?

Organised play in mainland China continues, and Wizards’ Chinese site publishes the event calendar for it. The language a card is printed in and the events being held are two separate questions.

Sources

Sources and scope
  1. Wizards of the Coast, Changes to Magic Product Languages in 2024, 22 February 2024 — the end of Simplified Chinese and Portuguese tabletop products after Bloomburrow, and the stated reason that sales of those language products no longer covered rising printing and operating costs.
  2. Wizards of the Coast, Changes to Magic Product Languages, 18 July 2022 — the removal of Chinese Traditional, Russian and Korean from the printed language set, beginning with Dominaria United.
  3. Wizards of the Coast’s own card frame documentation and the language codes printed on cards from the Magic 2015 frame onward — the Simplified Chinese code of CS and the Chinese Traditional code of CT, and the note that these codes are Wizards’ own rather than ISO 639 codes.
  4. The printed cards themselves — the expansion symbol on the Simplified Chinese Fifth Edition, where other Fifth Edition printings carry none.
  5. Wizards of the Coast’s Chinese-language site, magicthegathering.com’s Chinese section — the continuing tournament announcements, the regional event series and the Magic Spotlight Beijing event in 2026.
  6. Scope note: only details published by Wizards of the Coast, or printed on the card, are stated as confirmed. No card count, no release year for the Simplified Chinese Fifth Edition and no prices are given.

Card languages and product contents are set by the publisher and can change. Check Wizards of the Coast’s own announcements before buying on the basis of anything on this page.

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