Microprose MTG v1.25

===========================================================

         MAGIC: THE GATHERING
             Version 1.25

              Readme File
              3 July 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. MicroProse
will be making every effort, however, to ensure that save
games will be compatible in future updates. We apologize for
this inconvenience.


How to Update If You Downloaded the Update Files
================================================
1.  Copy the update files to your Windows desktop.

2.  Double-click on the first update file labeled "MTGV125A.EXE."

3.  Follow the directions on the pop-up dialog box.

4.  After the files have been extracted, click on the "Close"
    button.

5.  Now double-click on the second update file labeled
    "MTGV125B.EXE."

6.  Follow the directions on the pop-up dialog box.

7.  After the files have been extracted, click on the "Close"
    button.

8.  Now double-click on the third update file labeled
    "MTGV125C.EXE."

9.  Follow the directions on the pop-up dialog box.

10. All the update files have been correctly installed, and your
    copy of Magic: The Gathering is now updated to version 1.25.


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.