Tariff

Tariff was introduced in the Classic Sixth Edition of the Magic: The Gathering card game, released in April 1999. As a core set, Sixth Edition served as a fundamental reintroduction to the game's mechanics, featuring a mixture of reprints from previous expansions and a modernized rule set. The card itself functions as a white sorcery that forces players to sacrifice their most expensive creatures, reflecting the color's thematic focus on balance and restrictive, rule-based magic.

The artwork for Tariff was commissioned from Kev Walker, a prominent illustrator whose gritty, high-contrast style became a defining aesthetic for the game during the late 1990s and early 2000s. Walker’s depiction focuses on the weight of bureaucracy and judgment, utilizing dark, moody tones to translate the abstract concept of a tax or tariff into a visual narrative. Upon its release, the card was received as a situational control tool, notable primarily for its place in the transitional era of the game’s design history.