The Collectors' Edition of Magic: The Gathering was released in December 1993. Approximately 9000 sets were printed for the U.S. and Canada ("CE"), and another 5000 were printed for international release ("ICE"). The boxes (WOC6800, ISBN 4281806800) retailed originally for US$49.95.

Each set was sold in a collector's box with 363 cards. This included one of each of the 302 cards from the Limited Edition Beta printing plus an additional 61 basic land cards. The cards were separated into 6 plastic-wrapped groups. The sorting and order of the cards related to the printing sheets and sorting process used, which explains the rare Islands.

The faces are identical to the Beta printing, but have square corners. The reverse side has gold borders around the edges and gold printing saying either "Collector's Edition" or "International Edition".

The bottom of the box has this message:

"This special collectors' edition of Magic: The Gathering contains all 302 cards from the original Deckmaster series of playable trading cards. The complete set is augmented with duplicates of the many land cards, making a total of 363 cards. These cards are produced in a special collectors' format with square-cut corners and gold borders. So pick up the Magic: The Gathering Collectors' Edition and explore the whole world in one box."