MTG fans rejoice! Rudy of Alpha Investments and Vintage Magic’s Daniel Chang both have chosen to invest, collect and trade Magic the Gathering cards instead of cryptocurrencies, stocks, or other commodities. Why? For one, the Alpha Black Lotus you see above at one time fetched $50,000, and back in 1993, they could be found in booster packs or starter decks that cost you under $10 each. The success of the initial edition prompted a reissue later in 1993 (Unlimited Edition), along with expansions to the game. Arabian Nights was released as the first expansion in December 1993. New expansions and revisions of the base game (“Core Sets”) have since been released on a regular basis, amounting to four releases a year.
Did you know that early Magic The Gathering sets were put together by hand by Wizards of the Coast staff and volunteers? This caused mistakes, like missing cards or uneven rarity in Alpha and Beta packs, where some players got packs with several rare cards while others got none, adding to the quirky charm of that time.
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If you were around in 1993 and found starter decks, you might remember that Alpha came with a thin, unclear rulebook that left many game rules vague. Players often made up their own rules to settle disagreements, and the game’s creator, Richard Garfield, supported this flexibility, expecting the game to grow and change, which created a fun, experimental play style in the early days.
The very high-end individuals, the people who trade with $100,000 and up to a million, they tend to only go with the vintage 1993 to 1994 printing of Magic. They want Alpha or Beta [first two print runs], or they want Arabian Nights, Antiquities, or Legends [first three expansions.] These are all on the Reserved List, and are all extremely low printed. Nobody, not anybody, was considering investing into a kid’s card game. It was almost humorous. Nobody gives me a hard time or questions it like they did 10 years ago,” said Rudy.
