Wife picked up a ton of these cards at a thrift store, but looking at the dates on them (1993-1999, 1993-2003 etc) I suspect reissues.  Am I wrong?

ShaneG.

Plaag wrote:Wife picked up a ton of these cards at a thrift store, but looking at the dates on them (1993-1999, 1993-2003 etc) I suspect reissues.  Am I wrong?

ShaneG.

Alpha Set - Black border cards. Cards are cut "smaller" than the Beta Set cards

Beta Set - Black border cards. Cards are not cut as small as the Alpha cards around the four edges.

Unlimited Set - First white border cards. I think they added a couple of cards to this set.

Arabian Nights - First expansion for Magic.

Antiquities - Second expansion for Magic.

Revised Set - The first set that took out the "power 9" cards as well as a few other rare cards.

Legends - Third expansion for Magic.

Now add another (at least) 12 - 15 more expansion sets, and at least 4-6 more (revised) standard sets... I think the current standard set is M12.

You have the following types of sets:

• Main: The main set began with the Alpha release and continues to today. Of the main sets, only the Alpha and Beta releases have black borders. All other main sets have white borders.
• Collector's Edition: Not tournament legal, this is the Alpha set, but with square corners and gold stamping on the back.
• Expansion: The expansion sets all have black borders with a set logo just below the lower right corner of the illustration. Cards in an expansion are new cards or cards with new art not seen in the main set. Expansions range in size from roughly 80 to over 360 cards, and the most popular cards from the expansions would be integrated into a main set. There are also stand-alone expansions, which are no different from a regular expansion with the exception that the stand-alone expansions include basic lands in their card lists. Expansions had their own themes, unrelated to each other, until the release of Ice Age, the first stand-alone expansion.
• Unset: Consisting of Unglued and Unhinged, these are expansion sets with silver borders. The cards themselves are intended for fun play and are not tournament legal, especially when you have a card which requires the player to do the "Hokey Pokey" in order for the card's ability to work.

The first main set was the Alpha release, so called because the corners of the cards were more rounded than subsequent sets. This was due to a dull die at Carta Mundi, the card manufacturer. Alpha was missing several cards, including staples such as Circle of Protection: Black. When the Alpha print run was stopped and the card die sharpened at the manufacturer, Wizards took the opportunity to add the missing cards into the set. Printing resumed, and thus Beta appeared.

After the Alpha/Beta print run was completed, a Collector's Edition set was released, consisting of one of each card from the set. This set is easily distinguished from the regular sets by the gold foil hot-stamped to the back of the card as well as the corners, which were not rounded. These cards are not tournament legal.

The Unlimited release is the Beta set, but with white borders. Printed in greater quantities than Alpha/Beta, Unlimited marks the last appearance of the "Power Nine" (Moxes, Ancestral Recall, Time Walk, Timetwister, Black Lotus).

The revised release was the first version to not contain the power nine. Unlike the previous sets, the colors were lightened to the point of being "washed out". The lightening of the colors was to improve the readability of some cards, especially black, as black text on a black textured background is hard to see.

4th edition was the first set to include cards from the first three expansions (Arabian Nights, Antiquities, Legends). Its cards are easily distinguished from both revised and unlimited as the colors of the cards are bolder and more vibrant than the earlier sets.

5th edition was the last version of the main set to not use a set logo on the card. It included cards from The Dark and Fallen Empires. Subsequent versions of the main set continue this theme of including cards from expansions, but are easily distinguished from each other not only by use of the set logo, but also the change in card design that occurred somewhere around the 8th edition.

In general, the comment about cards going for some "silly money" is absolutely true. The "Power Nine" are totally ridiculous in price, but even something as mundane as a dual land (Alpha - Revised) can command upwards of $200 depending on set and whose prices you go by. It's worth your while to go through the cards and see what you may have. A site like Star City Games can give you a good guide to go by.

So the White borders  from 1995 onward are the better ones?  And if there is no dates I assume 93 or 94?
So far looks like of those with dates it goes from 1995-2006, 2008, white and black borders.
Also my Wife found some funny papers placed in sleeves with cards (like someone was making their own game or an addition) and all the illustrations have the artists name under them (Bill Ratio, Pizeterson).

Sorry Historian..I'll try not and push these onto you You know you want them, come on.

ShaneG.

Okay think I got it.  May share this burden with the Wife
Do have a foil card that's $1.99 so far from that site.

ShaneG.

www.magictraders.com

You're welcome.

You can sort by foils, by set, or per card. It gives you actual eBay values of cards, not inflated website values. Don't know what set a card is from? You can search "magic set symbols" on Google and it'll tell you what every picture for each set looks like and you can sort your cards, and then look them up easier.

Good luck!

Zenfinite

While we're on the subject of card games, how does one mail individual cards from sales on EBay or wherever? I had considered sandwiching them between thick board and inserting in a regular envelope, but I suspect there is another 'standard' method for greater protection.

I will never forget seeing a Magic the Gathering tournament a few years back on ESPN 2.... boggle...

Zenfinite wrote:

SimperingToad wrote:While we're on the subject of card games, how does one mail individual cards from sales on EBay or wherever? I had considered sandwiching them between thick board and inserting in a regular envelope, but I suspect there is another 'standard' method for greater protection.

I've sold hundreds of Magic cards. I use stiff plastic sleeves for everything, you can easily fit 2 cards per sleeve into them (I've gone up to 4 at times). For a "playset" (four of the same card) I use two of the hard sleeves, tape them together and mail them in a bubble mailer. For more cards I use small hard shell cases. They hold up to about 15 cards, you can buy all sorts of sizes. For the expensive ones (over $100) I use a slab case for ultimate protection. Never had a card damaged in transit.

Zenfinite

The stiff plastic sleeves he's talking about are usually referred to as "toploaders" at card and comic shops.  They usually come in two thicknesses meaning some can easily hold two cards and some can hold four.  It's about $3.00 for the standard, two-card thickness in packs of 25 and $4.00 for the larger toploader pack of 25.  You can get them cheaper at Walmart, but I prefer the better quality brands.   I recommend placing all cards in a "soft-sleeve" (aka collector sleeve) and then place that inside the toploader.  Soft-sleeves are about $1.00 for 100.