This is discussion archived from a time before the current discussion method was installed.
Evil Midnight Lurker: To the best of my knowledge, the origin of the manga as presented here is entirely false. The manga started as, and remains to this day, a licensed product based on Magic: The Gathering. When talk of an anime was brought up, Wot C decided they didn't want a Yu-Gi-Oh type of anime focused on Magic; if there were ever to be a Magic cartoon, they'd want it to be set in the world of the card game rather than about playing the card game. So they invented an entirely new, "Magic-Lite" game for the characters to play instead.
Can anyone else confirm or deny this version?
Ronfar: You could be right. The first volume of the manga was, indeed, published at the end of 1999, while the TCG and anime first appeared in Japan in 2002. Aside from that, though, I don't really know whether or not the card game really was a case of Defictionalization and how involved (or not) Wizards of the Coast was with the original manga. Feel free to remove my rumor-mongering from the article.
Evil Midnight Lurker: I have a volume of Coro Coro Comic from 2000; double-checked, and the Duel Masters manga is very clearly licensed MTG, complete with copyright notices and everything. Making changes now :)
Ronfar: Thanks for clearing that up. I hereby award you one Made Of Win point.
