[FastJack]

Where are you getting the idea that Essence Loss ever lowered the Maximum Magic Rating? Granted, in 1st/2nd/3rd the only way to raise Magic was through Initiation, but 4th edition is where they made the change that Magic started at 1 at CharGen and you bought up your rating in CharGen. Then you could spend Karma and raise it up in advancement like any other attribute up to a maximum of 6+Initiate Grade. Essence loss and such only reduced the rating, not the maximum.

[Michael Chandra]

Iirc in 4 and 5 you lost both current and max?_?

[penllawen]

1st Edition Grimoire [FASA07106]

What did initiation cost back then? My memory has totally failed me.

[penllawen]

Where are you getting the idea that Essence Loss ever lowered the Maximum Magic Rating?

SR5 page 278:

Magic has a starting value from 1 to 6 (or 7 with the Exceptional Attribute quality), but you don’t have to settle for that limit forever. You can go through a process called Initiation (p. 324) that can enhance your abilities. The maximum value of your Magic Attribute (if you have one) is 6 + your Initiation level.

Anything that reduces your Essence also reduces your Magic rating. For every point (or fraction thereof) of Essence lost, both your current Magic Attribute and your maximum Magic Rating are reduced by one. If your Magic is reduced to zero, you can no longer use any skill requiring the Magic attribute, even if your maximum Rating is still greater than zero (but you can still raise the attribute with Karma and then get back to the spellslinging). If your maximum rating falls to zero, you’ve burned out, losing all magical abilities, including astral perception and projection. You are mundane forever.

[Michael Chandra]

Iirc in 4 and 5 you lost both current and max?_?

Found the sections:

SR4 p177
Anything that reduces a character’s Essence will also reduce Magic.
For every point (or fraction thereof ) of Essence lost, the character’s
Magic attribute and her Magic maximum rating are reduced by one.
A character with a Magic of 4, for example, whose Essence is reduced
to 5.8 has her Magic immediately reduced to 3 and her maximum to 5.
Further Essence reductions do not reduce the character’s Magic again
until Essence drops below 5.
If a character’s Magic is ever reduced to 0, she can no longer perform
any kind of magic. The magician has “burned out,” losing all
magical ability and becoming a mundane forever

SR5 p278
Anything that reduces your Essence also reduces
your Magic rating. For every point (or fraction thereof)
of Essence lost, both your current Magic Attribute and
your maximum Magic Rating are reduced by one. If your
Magic is reduced to zero, you can no longer use any skill
requiring the Magic attribute, even if your maximum
Rating is still greater than zero (but you can still raise the
attribute with Karma and then get back to the spellslinging).
If your maximum rating falls to zero, you’ve burned
out, losing all magical abilities, including astral perception
and projection. You are mundane forever.

[Xenon]

In SR5, as long as you initiated at least once (which is only 11 karma) your maximum magic rating could not really hit zero anymore. Which made it a rather pointless rule to be honest. Might as well scratch it (and they probably did for SR6).

In SR6, you maximum initiation grade is equal to your current magic rating and your current magic rating might be reduced if your essence is reduced. Which mean that if you get augmentations post chargen you might risk losing initiation grades and with it the metamagic you picked..... but besides power points from initiation.... losing essence will not cause you to lose free or spells, rituals or power points you got during chargen or spells, rituals or power points you manged to secure post chargen.

[Finstersang]

Where are you getting the idea that Essence Loss ever lowered the Maximum Magic Rating?

Long story short: The fact that´s written in the core rule books 

Thanks @Michael Chandra for searching out the corresponding paragraphs. I don´t have my 4th and 5th Edition Rulebooks at hand right now.

So apart from the fact that

• yes, Essence loss decreased the maximum Magic Attribute and
• yes, Burning out down to Zero Magic made you "mundane forever" 

since the last 2 Editions: Does the scenario below sound right to you?

At chargen, you start with an Adept (or Magician or Mysad...) at the lowest Priority and Magic Attribute possible. Apart from that, you go full Streetsam, with 5,9 Esssence in the biggest and baddest Augmentations. Of course, your precious magic drops to Zero. But lo and behold: Just 5 Karma in the game, and your magical spark is alive again with a magic Attribute of 1. 25 Karma, and you are already at 3. Basically, you just level up your magic like any other low-level Magician would. The only difference is that you also walk around like RoboCop, because you were smart enough to Augment yourself before investing in your Magic.

Because that´s what these 2 rules prevented.

[Typhus]

What did initiation cost back then? My memory has totally failed me.

18 Karma + Initiation Grade.  Base 15 if you took an Ordeal.  You picked one metamagic power and got a +1 to your magic attribute, I think?  Or maybe you got them all in 2nd?  There my memory fails me.

I think the Karma costs are lower now, but the Magic increase is also a different cost, technically making it more expensive for the same benefit as in prior editions by an order of magnitude.  Given the complaints around Magicrun, it might be a better balance point in 4/5, and it does give casters more of a sense of power scale relative to each other. 

Spells also caused physical damage only if the Force exceeded your Magic Rating, an effect now completely lost by the time of 6E.  It makes drain results unpredictable.  Not as big a fan of that, but it is what it is.

[FastJack]

Thanks, I was going through the books, but had to stop before I got to the 4th and 5th Editions. I was honestly asking because I couldn't remember seeing it.

1st Edition Grimoire [FASA07106]

What did initiation cost back then? My memory has totally failed me.

If self-initiating it was 3× (Magic Rating + Initiate Grade that you were taking). If with a group, it was 2×, and ordeals reduced them by a .5 multiplier.

[Hobbes]

In SR5, as long as you initiated at least once (which is only 11 karma) your maximum magic rating could not really hit zero anymore. Which made it a rather pointless rule to be honest. Might as well scratch it (and they probably did for SR6).

Accidental or deliberate choice, it's an honest simplification over previous editions.