The Duelist
From M:TG Archive, a library of Magic: The Gathering information
The Duelist (or simply Duelist which it was changed to later) was originally a quarterly produced by Wizards of the Coast that accompanied Magic dedicated to its players. Later it was targeted to a much more general audience as simply a gaming magazine with only a focus on Magic and other trading card games such as Pokémon, Star Wars, or Star Trek.
The Duelist began around 1994, and immediately what made it distinctive from other card magazines of its time (such as InQuest or Scrye) was its beautifully detailed pages. Each issue featured a key artist who created a unique cover (often based on an existing Magic card) and whose art was showcased inside the issue (however in later issues, this was cut altogether).
In addition to being rich with art, the magazine also included strategy articles, game design articles, fiction from Magic storylines, product checklists, rules questions, Magic tournament coverage, and Magic puzzles were even introduced. Pricelists were eventually included as well. Phil Foglio did a monthly comic for almost the entire life of the magazine, and Mr. Suitcase had its own column. Creator Richard Garfield often wrote the quizzical back column of the magazine.
The Duelist was known to occasionally give out promotional cards from upcoming Magic: The Gathering releases. In addition to Magic, it also served as a way for Wizards to introduce players to other products it owned, but Magic remained its primary subject for much of the length of the publication.
Originally between its releases, a companion newsletter was sent out to subscribers known as The Duelists' Companion. As The Duelist changed to bi-monthly and then became a monthly magazine, the need for the Companion was no longer there and the dozen-page, black and white newsletter ended.
Magic would continually lose the magazine's focus as it put more emphasis on other games, such as Pokémon, and The Duelist was eventually converted into a dual-format publication, with general separate sections for Magic and Pokémon. (By this time, it had already expanded to covering video games and others.)
The Duelist survived for about 40 issues. It was canceled partially due to Hasbro's buying of Wizards of the Coast, but also likely due to much of its readership looking online more and more for gaming content.
Wizards also published The Sideboard, which was dedicated solely to Magic play that eventually was reborn as an online publication, and in The Duelist's wake, some of the content from the magazine merged with The Sideboard to create magicthegathering.com.
