I guess it all depends if you are going for "pimped" or your favorite art. I personally like the art on the 7th Edition ones the most, I hate the white border, but oh well. The second best art is the FTV20 fyndhorn elves.
If you are going for "pimped", I think the FNM (about $10) and the Gateway promo foil (about $5) look very classy if you prefer the original art. 7th Edition Foil is also up there at $7+ as well. Beta (about $12) if you want to have the second most expensive playable edition.
Basically a set of revised that was destroyed because it had more problems then the original. Some boxes survived the purge though. That makes it SUPER rare.
Sorry, just a question, why are you guys saying Beta, and not Alpha/Beta? IS there a difference between Alpha and Beta LE?
The alpha cards have a much more rounded edge, so I am not sure if they are tournament legal. They would look different in sleeves. The beta cards are the shap that they are now.
Aside from the obvious levels of awesome you get from playing an alpha/beta card, using the original art for Llanowar Elves is extra win. Allow me to explain...
Once while playing a version of this card that had the original art my friends and I had the following conversation:
Me: "Is it just me or does the llanowar elf look like he's trying really hard to squeeze out a duce?"
Friend: "Oh he totally does! Hu, me must be constipated."
There was more to the conversation than this (us talking about how he looks like he'd be white knuckled, clenching the sides of the toilet while his butt is a couple inches above the bowl), but this covers the basic idea. The conversation led us to refer to the llanowar elf as "Toilet Elf". This was about 8 years ago and the name has stuck. Now it doesn't matter what version is played, anytime someone plays a llanowar elf it's always referred to as "toilet elf".
So, if you can have an original, black bordered toilet elf, that right there is a big fat pile of win!
If you're a purist go for either Alpha or Beta depending on preferences but if you want to go for the sheer pimp factor nothing can ever beat a summer edition card.
alpha/beta will always be the pimpest versions imo with summer revised a very close second. i consider anything from alpha/beta the pimpest of any card with versions outside of alpha and beta.
I'll go off the board and say foil Seventh Edition. It's black border, it's old frame (which is important for some) and the art actually has more than one elf. It has elves! Plural! Just like the name of the card!
If you were pimping out/foiling a deck that had llanowar elves or an equivelant, Which variant do you think would be ideal?
XXXX
Modern
URTwinRU R.I.P.
EDH
WUGRoon of the Hidden RealmWUG
UW UW Gideon Control WU
UWR Loose Control RWU
GR Scapeshift RG
RU Storm UR
GWUBRDraft my Old Border Nostalgia Cube! and/or The Little Pauper Cube That Could!RBUWG
Modern:WDeath & TaxesW | RUGRUG DelverRUG
If you are going for "pimped", I think the FNM (about $10) and the Gateway promo foil (about $5) look very classy if you prefer the original art. 7th Edition Foil is also up there at $7+ as well. Beta (about $12) if you want to have the second most expensive playable edition.
If you are looking for the most expensive, then the Summer Magic ones are about $700+ each. I didn't know what "Summer/Edgar" magic cards were till I read this guide: http://www.ebay.com/gds/Magic-The-Gathering-Summer-Magic-Edgar-/10000000001454825/g.html
Basically a set of revised that was destroyed because it had more problems then the original. Some boxes survived the purge though. That makes it SUPER rare.
The alpha cards have a much more rounded edge, so I am not sure if they are tournament legal. They would look different in sleeves. The beta cards are the shap that they are now.
Once while playing a version of this card that had the original art my friends and I had the following conversation:
Me: "Is it just me or does the llanowar elf look like he's trying really hard to squeeze out a duce?"
Friend: "Oh he totally does! Hu, me must be constipated."
There was more to the conversation than this (us talking about how he looks like he'd be white knuckled, clenching the sides of the toilet while his butt is a couple inches above the bowl), but this covers the basic idea. The conversation led us to refer to the llanowar elf as "Toilet Elf". This was about 8 years ago and the name has stuck. Now it doesn't matter what version is played, anytime someone plays a llanowar elf it's always referred to as "toilet elf".
So, if you can have an original, black bordered toilet elf, that right there is a big fat pile of win!
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http://www.magiclibrarities.net/719-rarities-test-prints-press-checks-and-production-anomalies-english-cards-other.html
The problem with test prints cards is that they aren't tournament playable since they don't have a Magic back.
I don't always post about Rafiq of the Many, but when I do, I cardlink to the original artwork, and not the supplementary product version.
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