Editions of Highlander the Card Game
During its nearly 30 year run, Highlander the card game has spawned multiple editions and versions. Learn about them here.
1st Edition
The first version of the game. Cards are all black bordered. No gem mechanics.
2nd Edition
White bordered cards. Introduced the gem mechanics. The current version of the game.
3rd Edition
This was a short print run of what has essentially become 2nd Edition cards and card mechanics, but with BLACK borders. Yeah it's a little confusing.
Highlander the card game 1st Edition
First edition cards were released primarily by Thunder Castle Games in the 1990's. The sets followed along with characters introduced in the Highlander the TV series starring Adrian Paul as well as the first 3 movies in the Highlander film franchise.
In the early 2000's, a company called Saec Games released a very small and limited print run set for first edition of Highlander the card game called the Black Raven set.
First edition cards while out of print are still relatively easy to find on eBay. You can usually find whole boxes of them. Generally, pure first edition is not played at competitive tournaments anymore. Why? Well it's not because it's not a fun game, it's because the later versions are just better and more refined
Gameplay is similar to that of 2nd edition and Type 1. The main difference being the lack of Gems and Gem Mechanics.
NO LONGER IN DEVELOPMENT
By default, all in game first edition cards are black bordered and have a copy right notice in the bottom left hand corner. *A few sets did use white bordered high gloss cards as Pre Game Premium Cards*. Gridded cards in first edition will have matching patches of color to show which grids are active. Look at Duncan MacLeod's Master's Head Shot below. The top of the card is red because it as a red gridded attack that covers only the upper grids.
Highlander the card game 2nd Edition
ACTIVE DEVELOPMENT
The 2nd Edition of Highlander the card is released by Lemontagnard Inc. and is also known as Highlander "2E" for short. This edition of Highlander the Card Game is still actively developed and is one of the play formats at major tournaments. New sets were just released HERE.
In comparison to the 1st edition of Highlander the card game, 2nd edition is the more streamlined, balanced, and refined edition of the game. 2nd edition is generally thought of being a much more competitively balanced version of the game where any given immortal can compete at a fairly high level.
The Gem Attributes (Gems)
The 2nd of edition of Highlander the card game introduces attribute Gems and the Gem mechanic. Gems are attributes that each character/immortal possess based around the character depicted in the show, movie, comics, or novel.
The gems form the acronym MASTER and stand for:
Master
Agility
Strength
Toughness
Empathy
Reason.
You can see how many of each Gem an Immortal can use in their deck by looking at the back of their Persona card. In earlier sets of 2nd edition cards, the Gem counts, besides the Master Gem (white one), get multiplied by three. If you see any Gem counts on the back of a persona over 9, that means you DO NOT multiply the non-Master gems by three.
I know. Needlessly confusing, but I thought it would be best to explain that here. In later releases of 2nd edition, the gem counts are displayed as what they are, saving you from having to multiply by 3.
Most in game cards also have at least one Gem printed on the bottom right hand corner.
So how does the Gem mechanic improve the game?
In 1st edition, when building decks, you can not go over the printed number at the top right corner of the card (never over 6) for any one card. This is referred to as the restriction number on a card.
In 2nd Edition, that rule is still in effect, but you ALSO have to make sure you follow each characters unique Gem counts. You can not go above a given Gem count printed for an immortal (there are some pre game cards that give you extra gems). This makes deck building a little more difficult, but leads to a more balance game. The Gems also create a stronger synergy with character design and how that translates to game play.
By default, all in game 2nd edition cards are WHITE bordered and instead of having a copy right notice in the bottom left hand corner like the first edition cards, 2nd editions cards have a unique card code identifier. The Gem allotment will be shown at the bottom right hand corner of the cards.
Highlander the card game 3E
NO LONGER IN DEVELOPMENT
So like I said above, this a little confusing. You might be asking why 2E is still developed by not 3E? 3E was an attempt to reboot the game or reprint some of 2E with updated images for reasons that remain unclear to me. The cards were published via Paradox Publishing. Ironically, the quality of these prints are much nicer than most of the original 2E prints. The general mechanics and gem mechanics are all the same as 2E. The 3E sets are now just viewed as 2E cards and are legal in all of 2E.
There were only a few 3E sets released. A Duncan MacLeod persona (99% of his cards were identical to 2E version) Cassandra, Roland Kantos, and Otavio Consone and some generic cards, most of which have identical counterparts to 2E. After these few sets were released, the game shifted back to 2E releases.
I have added the 3E immortals with white borders on the immortal page so you can access their card images.