Yeah that $2.50 fee...not going to break you when you're getting that gigantic of a deal. As for moxen or duals? BGS 9.5 moxen from beta or alpha are drool worthy. Like, people will pay you buckets for those. More so than dual lands in the same condition. Of course if you had gotten it all it doesn't really matter what they graded as 10 dollars for a beta or alpha dual land is an obscenely good deal.
I've always believed in finding rare stuff like as I have a friend who has done it multiple times in regards to some cards like $35 for a tabernacle, 20 cents apiece for a pair of NM grim tutors, sensei's divining top playset for a dollar...yeah.
I grabbed unlimited moxes instead of alpha because they were not play legal at the time and not worth much and not beta because I liked white boarders, which was my mishap
From my experience, it takes a tremendous amount of effort to find these deals on an active level. For every one deal like this, I've been almost ripped off 10 times and disappointment countless more. Not to mention all the people who actually just lie and have a fiend of a friend of a friend who walked into a store and bought arabian packs for a buck each.
I don't think there are any stores anymore that have this stuff and don't know the value. Sadly I think it's more so people selling a deceased persons stuff, flea markets selling stolen stuff or people buying a storage locker or whatever. It's rarely someone that had the foresight to collect, store, and maintain the cards then not look up the value. Most magic players are smart and would look it up online.
For what its worth, I still check yard sales every weekend. Saw magic cards twice. Once was a pile of junk which I didn't even want to spend the dollar on and one was a pair of opened but unplayed unlimited starters, one containing a mint time vault and sinkhole for 5 bucks total.
Craigslist was good but now it's flooded with people trying to buy cards. Estate sales still seem to be good as well, but the hit rate kinda sucks. If you are just looking for cards not worth it. Only worth it if you are looking anyway.
Long story short, best method I found was actually asking friends and letting people know you are looking to collect. Twice if had people come to me with cards. Nothing spectacular, but got an underground sea from revised once that way free from an abandoned starter deck.
Passive methods are great, since no amount of searching can yield any guaranteed victory. I just keep everyone I know reminded i love magic cards so my network is always looking for me when they go to yard sales, estate sales, talk to their friends, etc. it's been infinitely a better a approach and taken no effort.
So I'm looking for a new set to collect. I've got all the expansions up to fallen empires and the core sets up to m14. Looking for a new set to start chipping way at. Was thinking the portal 3 kingdoms thing, but not really sure. Can't afford summer and the recent expansions are boring to collect.
Any ideas of a interesting set to collect that can't be readily purchased off ebay for 100 bucks?
A guy who used to own a card shop recently took all of his old stock out of storage to a local flea market. As I was arriving I saw a guy loading a bunch of unopened booster boxes from between revised to tempest into his truck. I asked him what he got all that for and he said $300. I found out later he paid $300 total for about 3 cases worth of booster boxes and all of the guys singles which included power 9. Makes me wish I hadn't grabbed breakfast on the way out that morning.
Jesus, what a haul.
Here's another missed opportunity for you....
About 10 years ago I met a guy off craigslist with "lots of old magic cards". When I met him, he had like 25 beta and alpha duals, p 9, etc etc. he wanted 10 bucks a dual, and 50 per mox. He was going off 1995 pricing when he last played.
I only had 100 bucks on me and grabbed 2 moxes. Told him I'd be back for the rest after I hit the bank. In the 30 minutes I was gone, he met up with someone else off craigslist and instead of wiping the guy out, the person told him the actual value of the stuff. When I met back up with him, he was actually looking for his moxes back. The whole thing fell apart. If I had like 500-1000 bucks on me, or was anywhere close to a bank, I would have had an unholy collection. I should have bought those damn dual lands instead of those moxes. The worst part was the condition. Both the moxes graded bgs 9.5. It was all unplayed. Oh well.....
You should have made a video. That would be cool to watch.
I fully regret not making a video. If only to see my sad face as I cracked the final unlimited starter deck and though my sol ring was a black lotus for a split second, the proceeded to pull a copy artifact and personal incarnation. Horrible note to end on but whatever. Seeing a pack fresh underground sea was something I haven't felt in 20 years lol.
Pics are soon to come and like i said before, I'm happy to spread the joy around if anyone wants commons, uncommons, wrappers, boxes, etc
So let me start by saying the point of posting is not to brag, but to confirm the urban legend of some guy finding old packs cheap can come true.
I recently came across a guy who used to own a card store that was cleaning out his house. He was listing things on a site as items for sale. Along with his countless amount of junk, he had the following magic sealed packs:
3 x unlimited starter
5 x unlimited booster
1 x revised starter
5 x revised booster
5 x antiquities booster
5 x legends booster
5 x dark booster
5 x fallen empire booster
5 x 4th booster
5 x chronicals booster
5 x homelands booster
No loose cards, nothing else even remotely close to interesting, just this stuff. He said he was planning to play at some point and put the packs away for when he had time to get into the game. He said he moved on with life and forgot about them until recently.
I offered him 100 for it all and he gladly accepted. I feared offering more and raising his antenna.
I waited for the package to arrive, and just stared at the haul. This literally is an urban legend type story and it's happening to me, I keep thinking.
The first pack I cracked was the dark to i guess check for authenticity and see if this was legit or some type of resealed scam. Got a maze of it hand knew it was legit.
Without going through the tedious story of what was in each pack, I got the following:
Unlimited - underground sea, trop island x 2, bayou, sol ring, balance and some other junk. No power, no sinkholes or berserk.
Revised - all crap
Dark - maze of ith
Legends - invoke predjudice
Antiquities - candelabra of taw now, strip mine x 3, mishra's factory summer
Remaining sets - all crap as well
Long story short, I shouldn't have opened the packs, but damn what a rush.
So the take away from this should be two things, the first is never stop looking or hoping to find that unicorn. You just never know what yard sale, estate sale, online ad, etc will pay off. And the painful second, don't open old sealed stuff.... Just sell it and buy what you want. My excitement soon died out when I did the math on what I got and what I could have traded the sealed stuff for.
And for you guys who think I'm a jerk for taking this lot for 100 bucks. I only did that to ensure I got the deal without a bidding war. I went back to him later on, told him I found out they were worth more, and gave him another 500 bucks. Maybe that's still not enough, but that's the best i could do. Whatever not gonna justify it, I'm hard pressed to think anyone would have passed on that deal and directed him to ebay or a local store, where they would just have screwed him.
Keep on looking and hoping! I can post the pictures if anyone is really interested or wants proof!
Also, if anyone collects this old stuff and needs like unbeliveably minty cards, let me know. I'm happy to spread the wealth to my fellow magic players. I've got all the wrappers, boxes and rule books free if anyone needs/wants em
See you in 20 years when some kid says to you, I can't believe your belly aching because you had access to xxxx so cheap
Dude. I'm not "some kid." I've been playing MTG since 1995, which is MAX 2 years after you got into it. I remember looking at lists in Inquest magazine and having to get cards at actual stores, or trade for them. I didn't have access to power and beta duals for cheap, but I got my duals for $10 and my forces and wastelands for $0.50 in the uncommon bin. I consider myself very lucky to have been able to do so, and wish I'd had bought a lot more duals than I did, but of course like you I didn't forsee the prices going this high.
Regardless, I was always in this for the GAME, not for the money or investment or whatever. If you and your buddies had just kept playing a game you supposedly loved, you'd have had all those memories, and you'd STILL have cardboard you can sell for a grand on ebay. Not a bad deal if you ask me.
I'd like to think the game will still be successful in 20 years and I'll still be playing. It's grown in many ways as a game, although the secondary market is a problem. Much of the problem (in legacy anyway) has to do with the reserve list, and it benefits only a very small number of people who are either running stores or happened to be playing the right game at the right time, and mostly no longer play anyway. I want to see stuff reprinted less because I could afford it then (honestly, if I really want it, I can afford whatever cardboard I want), but because it's hard to find legacy players at current prices. Again, because I'm in this for the GAME.
Sheesh
All I can say is at 14, my cards of value got reprinted and became worthless. It took a long time spending paper route money to buy packs and trade all the little value cards into the few high value ones in my deck. When those suddenly had no value, I had no way to continue to grow with the game unless I started right from the beginning again.
How can you honestly think that's not enough to push people over the edge and ruin a game for them? It's easy to give some ghandi type advice about loving the game for what it is, but in reality, when someone's cards get stolen, lost, lose value or whatever, most of the time they quit. It's not because they are quitters by nature or love the game less than you. It's just too painful to go through all the effort again of building up just to hope it doesn't get knocked down again.
I know you can't understand me because everyone online seems to have been playing since the game came out, but if you really played back then you'd know how hard it was to get any cards from outside your small circle. I literally had to use bbs and aol and mirc chat to trade with people via the mail.
After chronicals, I had no cards of value to trade or money to reinvest at 14. So when new sets came out, I got steamrolled because I didn't have the good cards and had nothing to trade and no money to buy more. Hence, it wasn't fun. Not to mention, it was the publisher of the game that did it to us, so it was scary to think it would happen again.
In the end, I wish I had more years of playing. From unlimited to fallen empires were the best years of magic bar none. Chronicles ended that chapter and what came out the other side was a mass produced, walmart product. It's commercialized and simplified so the masses can play. No longer do you need to drive to the one store two towns away to buy cards and are excited to see what new cards you might get. Now little jimmy goes to walmart and mom buys him a fat pack or two and he blows through a couple hundred bucks every set without even worrying about it.
It's a new game, and a whole new player. The years before chronicles was not just different cards, it was a different game. I didn't even dual once back then. We all though it was multiplayer and games took hours with 12 guys playing with home brewed rules.
The cards from back then should always remain exceptionally expensive and hard to find. It's sacred ground. Little jimmy should have zero access to those cards unless he works for it himself. Mom won't buy that at walmart so he can't have it and take that over too.
Funny how it works out. Getting a 20 dollar mox was just as hard for me back then as it is for little jimmy today. Just as expensive in his eyes as it was in mine. It's completely fair in my opinion.
And if you want those cards, save up and buy them. Just like anything of value, it's not easy to get.
The idea of playing with those cards appeals to me very much. Now in my 30's, I can afford to buy them all again if I so choose and I know the only people that I will be seeing across the table are like minded souls, not some 13 year old kid who's dad is picking him up at 11 and buying him a booster box on the way out. They can play at walmart on Friday night at the last aisle with the magic, yugioh, Pokemon, and other mass market media.
There is literally a handful of cards in the scope of the game on the reserved list that you can't even play unless it's in rare event. Why should that group of players again have to have everything reprinted on them again for people who have so many options in paying. Standard seems just find. The idea of reprinting the remaining cards on the reserved list seems to be a selfish attitude towards people who have something you don't. It would be a quick fad, then burn out and everyone would go right back to standard. But you'd kill it for that small group of old players.
Tell you what. Go buy yourself a power nine set and some beta duals, then tell me about reprinting so little jimmy can have them too. Honestly, you'd be asking yourself why does jimmy need to have access to everything you have worked hard to get? Because it's not fair? Because he wants to play too? Seriously? Life's not fair.
you must be this tall to ride this roller coaster. Sorry kids, try again when your all grown up.
Many of you do not understand how many people left magic because of that reprint fiasco. It was a lot of money, and was a poorly thought out decision and they suffered for years because of it.
You're right I don't... I've been playing magic longer than almost anyone I know, but I started with 4th/ice age. I know chronicles caused some irritation, but frankly I don't think anyone feels sorry for you and others who felt like they "lost money" back then. A lot of those folks are now sitting on many thousands of dollars worth of power, beta duals, and other money cards that are now essentially impossible to acquire without a swiss bank account, despite chronicles (which printed almost entirely crap cards anyway... good stuff like moat, the abyss, juzam djinn, ect wasn't reprinted). The resulting reserved list has burned easily a thousand times as many people as the chronicles fiasco, and although I've always heard of the people who left the game because of it you're literally the first one I've ever heard from (and that includes a handful of people who were around back then).
As for formats, I think you should look into cube. There are many "powered" cubes out there that let you play with power and if you want to tune it to older-style cards it's completely customizable. Also gives the challenge and variety of the draft format and prevents 1-turn kills from being likely. And you can break it out with a newbie or two so they can feel the thrill of cracking a black lotus for the first time (I've been playing 19 years and have never held a lotus in my hand... I would jump at the chance to play a powered cube draft!)
I don't usually post but this is a totally ignorant comment. The reason good cards like moat are considered good is because chronicals missed it. Back then elder dragons and icy manipulator were worth big money. Duals were worthless. So while maybe we have some money cards now, we didn't back then and it ruined the game for us.
Imagine if someone made all your cards except some obscure rares worthless until 20 years later. Your friends have long quit, game is all played by people half your age and you can sell your cards on ebay for a grand or two. Big whoop. I'd rather have continued to make those memories instead of watch everyone throw their cards in the trash and move on with life.
Yep, it's great I have a couple complete sets of duals and whatever else, but I missed out on years of playing because at the time of chronicles, nothing I had was worth trading for and spending 100 bucks at 14 to buy cards was unheard of. There were black lotuses everywhere for 25 bucks that wouldn't sell.
You kids don't get it. We didn't have the information you have now. No one knew what beta duals, power nine, etc would be worth. I could have bought stock in Microsoft too. Shame you weren't around to give me the advice.
See you in 20 years when some kid says to you, I can't believe your belly aching because you had access to xxxx so cheap
Thanks for the response. Think its worth more than 100? If not, I'm probably gonna just give it to some kid at my lgs who will enjoy it more than I have.
I just came across an unlimited living wall Richard Garfield altered to include "flying" about 20 years ago. It's also signed by him and in nm condition. Does this have any value and if so, what's the ballpark guess?
Is there ever a place where people display their vintage cards in a combined setting for people to see what entire sets or power nine stuff looks like in person?
I think it would be nice to see a gem mint arabian nights or legends set all together or power nine stuff. Not just the random card in a stores case.
I grabbed unlimited moxes instead of alpha because they were not play legal at the time and not worth much and not beta because I liked white boarders, which was my mishap
From my experience, it takes a tremendous amount of effort to find these deals on an active level. For every one deal like this, I've been almost ripped off 10 times and disappointment countless more. Not to mention all the people who actually just lie and have a fiend of a friend of a friend who walked into a store and bought arabian packs for a buck each.
I don't think there are any stores anymore that have this stuff and don't know the value. Sadly I think it's more so people selling a deceased persons stuff, flea markets selling stolen stuff or people buying a storage locker or whatever. It's rarely someone that had the foresight to collect, store, and maintain the cards then not look up the value. Most magic players are smart and would look it up online.
For what its worth, I still check yard sales every weekend. Saw magic cards twice. Once was a pile of junk which I didn't even want to spend the dollar on and one was a pair of opened but unplayed unlimited starters, one containing a mint time vault and sinkhole for 5 bucks total.
Craigslist was good but now it's flooded with people trying to buy cards. Estate sales still seem to be good as well, but the hit rate kinda sucks. If you are just looking for cards not worth it. Only worth it if you are looking anyway.
Long story short, best method I found was actually asking friends and letting people know you are looking to collect. Twice if had people come to me with cards. Nothing spectacular, but got an underground sea from revised once that way free from an abandoned starter deck.
Passive methods are great, since no amount of searching can yield any guaranteed victory. I just keep everyone I know reminded i love magic cards so my network is always looking for me when they go to yard sales, estate sales, talk to their friends, etc. it's been infinitely a better a approach and taken no effort.
Any ideas of a interesting set to collect that can't be readily purchased off ebay for 100 bucks?
Jesus, what a haul.
Here's another missed opportunity for you....
About 10 years ago I met a guy off craigslist with "lots of old magic cards". When I met him, he had like 25 beta and alpha duals, p 9, etc etc. he wanted 10 bucks a dual, and 50 per mox. He was going off 1995 pricing when he last played.
I only had 100 bucks on me and grabbed 2 moxes. Told him I'd be back for the rest after I hit the bank. In the 30 minutes I was gone, he met up with someone else off craigslist and instead of wiping the guy out, the person told him the actual value of the stuff. When I met back up with him, he was actually looking for his moxes back. The whole thing fell apart. If I had like 500-1000 bucks on me, or was anywhere close to a bank, I would have had an unholy collection. I should have bought those damn dual lands instead of those moxes. The worst part was the condition. Both the moxes graded bgs 9.5. It was all unplayed. Oh well.....
I fully regret not making a video. If only to see my sad face as I cracked the final unlimited starter deck and though my sol ring was a black lotus for a split second, the proceeded to pull a copy artifact and personal incarnation. Horrible note to end on but whatever. Seeing a pack fresh underground sea was something I haven't felt in 20 years lol.
Pics are soon to come and like i said before, I'm happy to spread the joy around if anyone wants commons, uncommons, wrappers, boxes, etc
I recently came across a guy who used to own a card store that was cleaning out his house. He was listing things on a site as items for sale. Along with his countless amount of junk, he had the following magic sealed packs:
3 x unlimited starter
5 x unlimited booster
1 x revised starter
5 x revised booster
5 x antiquities booster
5 x legends booster
5 x dark booster
5 x fallen empire booster
5 x 4th booster
5 x chronicals booster
5 x homelands booster
No loose cards, nothing else even remotely close to interesting, just this stuff. He said he was planning to play at some point and put the packs away for when he had time to get into the game. He said he moved on with life and forgot about them until recently.
I offered him 100 for it all and he gladly accepted. I feared offering more and raising his antenna.
I waited for the package to arrive, and just stared at the haul. This literally is an urban legend type story and it's happening to me, I keep thinking.
The first pack I cracked was the dark to i guess check for authenticity and see if this was legit or some type of resealed scam. Got a maze of it hand knew it was legit.
Without going through the tedious story of what was in each pack, I got the following:
Unlimited - underground sea, trop island x 2, bayou, sol ring, balance and some other junk. No power, no sinkholes or berserk.
Revised - all crap
Dark - maze of ith
Legends - invoke predjudice
Antiquities - candelabra of taw now, strip mine x 3, mishra's factory summer
Remaining sets - all crap as well
Long story short, I shouldn't have opened the packs, but damn what a rush.
So the take away from this should be two things, the first is never stop looking or hoping to find that unicorn. You just never know what yard sale, estate sale, online ad, etc will pay off. And the painful second, don't open old sealed stuff.... Just sell it and buy what you want. My excitement soon died out when I did the math on what I got and what I could have traded the sealed stuff for.
And for you guys who think I'm a jerk for taking this lot for 100 bucks. I only did that to ensure I got the deal without a bidding war. I went back to him later on, told him I found out they were worth more, and gave him another 500 bucks. Maybe that's still not enough, but that's the best i could do. Whatever not gonna justify it, I'm hard pressed to think anyone would have passed on that deal and directed him to ebay or a local store, where they would just have screwed him.
Keep on looking and hoping! I can post the pictures if anyone is really interested or wants proof!
Also, if anyone collects this old stuff and needs like unbeliveably minty cards, let me know. I'm happy to spread the wealth to my fellow magic players. I've got all the wrappers, boxes and rule books free if anyone needs/wants em
Sheesh
All I can say is at 14, my cards of value got reprinted and became worthless. It took a long time spending paper route money to buy packs and trade all the little value cards into the few high value ones in my deck. When those suddenly had no value, I had no way to continue to grow with the game unless I started right from the beginning again.
How can you honestly think that's not enough to push people over the edge and ruin a game for them? It's easy to give some ghandi type advice about loving the game for what it is, but in reality, when someone's cards get stolen, lost, lose value or whatever, most of the time they quit. It's not because they are quitters by nature or love the game less than you. It's just too painful to go through all the effort again of building up just to hope it doesn't get knocked down again.
I know you can't understand me because everyone online seems to have been playing since the game came out, but if you really played back then you'd know how hard it was to get any cards from outside your small circle. I literally had to use bbs and aol and mirc chat to trade with people via the mail.
After chronicals, I had no cards of value to trade or money to reinvest at 14. So when new sets came out, I got steamrolled because I didn't have the good cards and had nothing to trade and no money to buy more. Hence, it wasn't fun. Not to mention, it was the publisher of the game that did it to us, so it was scary to think it would happen again.
In the end, I wish I had more years of playing. From unlimited to fallen empires were the best years of magic bar none. Chronicles ended that chapter and what came out the other side was a mass produced, walmart product. It's commercialized and simplified so the masses can play. No longer do you need to drive to the one store two towns away to buy cards and are excited to see what new cards you might get. Now little jimmy goes to walmart and mom buys him a fat pack or two and he blows through a couple hundred bucks every set without even worrying about it.
It's a new game, and a whole new player. The years before chronicles was not just different cards, it was a different game. I didn't even dual once back then. We all though it was multiplayer and games took hours with 12 guys playing with home brewed rules.
The cards from back then should always remain exceptionally expensive and hard to find. It's sacred ground. Little jimmy should have zero access to those cards unless he works for it himself. Mom won't buy that at walmart so he can't have it and take that over too.
Funny how it works out. Getting a 20 dollar mox was just as hard for me back then as it is for little jimmy today. Just as expensive in his eyes as it was in mine. It's completely fair in my opinion.
And if you want those cards, save up and buy them. Just like anything of value, it's not easy to get.
The idea of playing with those cards appeals to me very much. Now in my 30's, I can afford to buy them all again if I so choose and I know the only people that I will be seeing across the table are like minded souls, not some 13 year old kid who's dad is picking him up at 11 and buying him a booster box on the way out. They can play at walmart on Friday night at the last aisle with the magic, yugioh, Pokemon, and other mass market media.
There is literally a handful of cards in the scope of the game on the reserved list that you can't even play unless it's in rare event. Why should that group of players again have to have everything reprinted on them again for people who have so many options in paying. Standard seems just find. The idea of reprinting the remaining cards on the reserved list seems to be a selfish attitude towards people who have something you don't. It would be a quick fad, then burn out and everyone would go right back to standard. But you'd kill it for that small group of old players.
Tell you what. Go buy yourself a power nine set and some beta duals, then tell me about reprinting so little jimmy can have them too. Honestly, you'd be asking yourself why does jimmy need to have access to everything you have worked hard to get? Because it's not fair? Because he wants to play too? Seriously? Life's not fair.
you must be this tall to ride this roller coaster. Sorry kids, try again when your all grown up.
/drop the mic
I don't usually post but this is a totally ignorant comment. The reason good cards like moat are considered good is because chronicals missed it. Back then elder dragons and icy manipulator were worth big money. Duals were worthless. So while maybe we have some money cards now, we didn't back then and it ruined the game for us.
Imagine if someone made all your cards except some obscure rares worthless until 20 years later. Your friends have long quit, game is all played by people half your age and you can sell your cards on ebay for a grand or two. Big whoop. I'd rather have continued to make those memories instead of watch everyone throw their cards in the trash and move on with life.
Yep, it's great I have a couple complete sets of duals and whatever else, but I missed out on years of playing because at the time of chronicles, nothing I had was worth trading for and spending 100 bucks at 14 to buy cards was unheard of. There were black lotuses everywhere for 25 bucks that wouldn't sell.
You kids don't get it. We didn't have the information you have now. No one knew what beta duals, power nine, etc would be worth. I could have bought stock in Microsoft too. Shame you weren't around to give me the advice.
See you in 20 years when some kid says to you, I can't believe your belly aching because you had access to xxxx so cheap
Too bad it's not an ornithopter that he could have added "sacrifice for 4 colorless mana"
Worth grading and authenticating?
Thanks!!
Is there ever a place where people display their vintage cards in a combined setting for people to see what entire sets or power nine stuff looks like in person?
I think it would be nice to see a gem mint arabian nights or legends set all together or power nine stuff. Not just the random card in a stores case.
Just curious if this kind of thing exists?