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One of the advantages of being the creator of Magic: the Gathering is that you get to make your own cards. Richard Garfield has created three cards celebrating aspects of his life.
Proposal was created to be given to Lily Wu to propose marriage. The legend goes that it took several games for him to draw the card. He's lucky she wasn't playing blue and countered it! (Deflection? Don't even go there.) Unlike the other two cards, Proposal was never printed like most Magic cards—it is just a color copy stuck to basic land. Given the source and history, it's considered a real Magic card. There are approximately 9 Proposals in existence.
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Quinton Hoover did the artwork for
Proposal. As he said:
Richard was planning to propose to his girlfriend, Lily. He had this idea to use the game to do it. I hadn't met or even talked to Richard at that point. But shortly after The Gathering came out, I get this call from him, right out of nowhere. He said he liked my work, and asked if I would do the artwork for his proposal card. Man, I was really...incredibly flattered. I did up a piece of him proposing to her, you know, in a fantasy setting. He had Dave Howell
made it up in secret, and as I understand it, he played the card in a game around Thanksgiving. I heard it took three Magic games before the card turned up! Well, she accepted. Richard tells me she really liked the card. I wish them a long and happy marriage.
(Source: Duelist #2)
Quinton used to show one
off at conventions, but his was stolen off the table in Tokyo in 1999. If
anyone has any information about the whereabouts of this stolen card,
please let me know and I will see to it that the proper people are
notified. Richard Garfield has indicated that this is a very private card,
and that no pictures of it be published. Says Richard:
I have not circulated the Proposal card. Having these as stories contributing to the lore of Magic is fine, but to print the cards starts to cross the line, in my mind (and my wife's mind), into "publicity stunt". For that reason I have kept these cards on a tight leash. Over time it seems less important and maybe someday we will feel comfortable with it, after all, an event over 6 years ago hardly seems like a publicity stunt.
(Source:
The
Orgg's Treatese on: the Dr. Garfield Interview)
Splendid Genesis and Fraternal Exaltation
were created to commemorate the births of Richard and Lily's children.
These cards were included in the birth announcements sent to their
friends. Additional copies were distributed to WotC employees. It is
estimated that one full sheet of each was printed, indicating 110 of each
in existence. This is the Splendid Genesis announcement (for privacy, the
name of the child and birth date have been obscured):
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