Eighth Edition reprinted several cards with changed rarities. Some changed from common to uncommon, and others from uncommon to rare. A few cards whose rarities were altered were : Avatar of Hope - from Prophecy, Dwarven Demolition Team - Unlimited, Giant Badger - originally a promotional card for a MTG novel, Merchant Scroll - Homelands, Peach Garden Oath - Portal: Three Kingdoms, Rukh Egg - Arabian Nights, and Vexing Arcanix - Ice Age. The Circle of Protection series, also was modified from common to uncommon status.

Eighth Edition was set to be released to coincide with the 10th Anniversary of the original release, so the creators took a different approach to the base set. Every previous expansion had at least one card reprinted in Eighth that had not been reprinted in the base set before, with a series of votes on the Wizards website deciding what got reprinted. Eighth was also the first base set with a prerelease card (though some claim it was a 10th Anniversary card, not a prerelease). Eighth features many cards from older base sets and expansions. While many of these cards were very powerful during their original print run, some are not quite as powerful in newer tournament settings.

A new card face was introduced starting with Eighth Edition and initially received mixed views, as some players felt the new look interfered with the classical fantasy feel of the game. The colored frames around the edges of the card were redesigned and narrowed, boxes were placed around card names and creatures\' power and toughness, card names were printed in a more modern font (Matrix Bold, rather than Goudy Medieval) and mana symbols appearing in the text box were no longer colored. (This latter change did not last long, and colored mana symbols returned to text boxes a year later in the Kamigawa block Block.)

Several tournament staples which had appeared in 7th Edition - including Opposition, Llanowar Elves, Counterpsell, and Duress were not present in Eighth Edition. Some of these cards were very famous and had been with the game since its inception, and their removal caused controversy among some players. However, the release of the newest M10 Core Set has attempted to re-release several of the cards that were iconic with earlier players, including the aforementioned Duress.