Before the first type 1 world championships at GenCon in 2003, there wasn't much creativity in the format. Keeper was the deck to beat. Basically, if you had the power 9, you played Keeper or something similar. Keeper circa 2002 is my favorite deck of all time, likely because it was the culmination of my years of collecting and scrapping together the pieces. Keeper was an adaptation of "The deck," but it used Morphling as the kill card. Damage used the stack back then, so you could attack with Morphling for 5, stack the damage, then pump his toughness up to 6 to survive a block. The untargetable ability made it possible to run concurrently with the Abyss. You could fly over your own Moat. Morphling was the best creature in Magic. I also played one Masticore to beat up on aggro decks. Keeper was so good that my teammate ran a version of the deck called "Blood Moon Keeper." He ran 4 Islands and a Swamp so he could board Blood Moons in for the Keeper mirror. People called him insane. He won a Black Lotus at a local tournament because his opponent in the finals (also playing Keeper) was too proud to run basic lands. He REFUSED to run basic lands. Those were the days. My team of three made several GenCon top 8s playing Keeper.
Keeper was soon outclassed, though. Patrick Chapin, a little known pro at the time, showed up to GenCon. He played a deck called Miracle Gro, which pumped Quirion Dryad with cheap spells and was more efficient than Keeper. We played until 6 am the next morning and I think Patrick won every game. That was the end of Keeper for me.
The next year, I nearly made top 8 at the first type 1 world championships with U/R Phid. I wish I could find the decklist. That was the first time I saw the Worldgorger Dragon deck. Psychatog was the best deck that day. The early Workshop decks (TNT) were also powerful. There were even decks that combined Chapin's Miracle Gro with Psychatog (Gro-A-Tog). Soon, fetch lands were printed, and this changed vintage forever.
Well, the bottom corners were there but my point was also, how can you rely on them at all?
I mean, let's just assume someone buys a lot of Beta and goes through the cards with a corner cutter. At that point, how can you tell the difference between a genuine Alpha and a cut Beta?
And yes, I'm asking because it seems unreal to me that one can increase of a good 50% the card's value just by re-cutting corners.
There should be some other telling signs, correct?
There are subtle and not-so-subtle differences between alpha and beta. Birds of paradise is an example of an obvious difference. Notice the slightly different shades of green your cards have? That’s because one is alpha and the other is beta.
Thank you so much for the response. What a fascinating history of early MTG printing that I didn’t know anything about! Does anyone else know whether Antiquities was printed in a separate print run as theorized above?
I just posted a few more images comparing the dark Transmute Artifact with a few other blue Antiquities cards in my collection.
For what it’s worth, I do see a dark Transmute Artifact selling on eBay. I also contacted the person that traded it to me (whom I find trustworthy and has traded me multiple p9 in the past), and he said he got them a long time ago before Chinese fakes were known to be in circulation. Doesn’t prove anything, but I think this is still useful information.
Looks like Alpha. I find it interesting that you are asking us to help you differentiate alpha from beta and then post a pic with the top corners cropped off.
Received these two Transmute Artifacts recently. They both feel like real Antiquities cards. One is quite a bit darker than the other. Both have identical light test. Is this a normal variant or are one/both of these fakes? Hopefully these pics are detailed enough. Thanks!
EDIT: The light test and black light test are identical to other antiquities cards I own. I think the consensus so far is that the dark blue card is real. Is this just a rare variant?
This is my first attempt at an EDH deck. I really like Sliver Overlord because he functions as a reusable tutor and can steal things when combined with Amoeboid Changeling. I built this deck with multiplayer in mind but would like it to be good in 1v1 as well. I prefer to keep the deck reactive+combo rather than aggro. That said, I need MORE COMBO (and other help)!
I'm open to all suggestions. This is not a budget deck, so please assume I have access to all cards.
Specific needs:
1. More mana acceleration to get Sliver Overlord into play ASAP
2. Protection for overlord - maybe in the form of countermagic?
3. Card draw - stalls out mid-game
4. Better manabase - still acquiring the five other fetchlands
5. MOAR COMBOS!
6. Board sweepers against faster/aggro decks
Green - perhaps a good source of mana ramp? Harrow Wood Elves
...other cards to get Sliver Overlord into play ASAP...these are the first that came to my mind.
Before the first type 1 world championships at GenCon in 2003, there wasn't much creativity in the format. Keeper was the deck to beat. Basically, if you had the power 9, you played Keeper or something similar. Keeper circa 2002 is my favorite deck of all time, likely because it was the culmination of my years of collecting and scrapping together the pieces. Keeper was an adaptation of "The deck," but it used Morphling as the kill card. Damage used the stack back then, so you could attack with Morphling for 5, stack the damage, then pump his toughness up to 6 to survive a block. The untargetable ability made it possible to run concurrently with the Abyss. You could fly over your own Moat. Morphling was the best creature in Magic. I also played one Masticore to beat up on aggro decks. Keeper was so good that my teammate ran a version of the deck called "Blood Moon Keeper." He ran 4 Islands and a Swamp so he could board Blood Moons in for the Keeper mirror. People called him insane. He won a Black Lotus at a local tournament because his opponent in the finals (also playing Keeper) was too proud to run basic lands. He REFUSED to run basic lands. Those were the days. My team of three made several GenCon top 8s playing Keeper.
Keeper was soon outclassed, though. Patrick Chapin, a little known pro at the time, showed up to GenCon. He played a deck called Miracle Gro, which pumped Quirion Dryad with cheap spells and was more efficient than Keeper. We played until 6 am the next morning and I think Patrick won every game. That was the end of Keeper for me.
The next year, I nearly made top 8 at the first type 1 world championships with U/R Phid. I wish I could find the decklist. That was the first time I saw the Worldgorger Dragon deck. Psychatog was the best deck that day. The early Workshop decks (TNT) were also powerful. There were even decks that combined Chapin's Miracle Gro with Psychatog (Gro-A-Tog). Soon, fetch lands were printed, and this changed vintage forever.
There are subtle and not-so-subtle differences between alpha and beta. Birds of paradise is an example of an obvious difference. Notice the slightly different shades of green your cards have? That’s because one is alpha and the other is beta.
I just posted a few more images comparing the dark Transmute Artifact with a few other blue Antiquities cards in my collection.
https://imgur.com/a/PswfqnD
For what it’s worth, I do see a dark Transmute Artifact selling on eBay. I also contacted the person that traded it to me (whom I find trustworthy and has traded me multiple p9 in the past), and he said he got them a long time ago before Chinese fakes were known to be in circulation. Doesn’t prove anything, but I think this is still useful information.
Received these two Transmute Artifacts recently. They both feel like real Antiquities cards. One is quite a bit darker than the other. Both have identical light test. Is this a normal variant or are one/both of these fakes? Hopefully these pics are detailed enough. Thanks!
EDIT: The light test and black light test are identical to other antiquities cards I own. I think the consensus so far is that the dark blue card is real. Is this just a rare variant?
1 Sliver Overlord
Creatures
1 Sliver Legion
1 Sliver Queen
1 Crystalline Sliver
1 Necrotic Sliver
1 Hibernation Sliver
1 Harmonic Sliver
1 Firewake Sliver
1 Basal Sliver
1 Toxin Sliver
1 Amoeboid Changeling
1 Shifting Sliver
1 Ward Sliver
1 Talon Sliver
1 Mirror Entity
1 Heart Sliver
1 Taurean Mauler
1 Magma Sliver
1 Homing Sliver
1 Brood Sliver
1 Quick Sliver
1 Gemhide Sliver
1 Dormant Sliver
1 Solemn Simulacrum
1 Seedborn Muse
1 Elesh Norn, Grand Cenobite
1 Sun Titan
Sorceries
1 Vindicate
1 Terminate
1 Maelstrom Pulse
1 Austere Command
1 Wrath of God
1 Damnation
1 Teferi's Moat
1 Demonic Tutor
1 Vampiric Tutor
1 Imperial Seal
1 Mind Twist
1 Timetwister
1 Wheel of Fortune
1 Regrowth
1 Brainstorm
1 Crib Swap
1 Doom Blade
1 Swords to Plowshares
1 Chaos Warp
1 Oblation
Enchantments
1 Training Grounds
1 Rhystic Study
1 Mystic Remora
1 Oblivion Ring
1 Shared Triumph
1 Steely Resolve
1 Ghostly Prison
1 Propaganda
Artifacts
1 Sensei's Divining Top
1 Mox Diamond
1 Darksteel Ingot
1 Coalition Relic
1 Fellwar Stone
1 Lotus Petal
1 Sol Ring
1 Chrome Mox
1 Gilded Lotus
Lands
1 Tundra
1 Underground Sea
1 Volcanic Island
1 Tropical Island
1 Taiga
1 Scrubland
1 Plateau
1 Bayou
1 Savannah
1 Badlands
1 Polluted Delta
1 Flooded Strand
1 Scalding Tarn
1 Arid Mesa
1 Bloodstained Mire
1 Windswept Heath
1 Wooded Foothills
1 Verdant Catacombs
1 Marsh Flats
1 Watery Grave
1 Temple Garden
1 Stomping Ground
1 Steam Vents
1 Sacred Foundry
1 Overgrown Tomb
1 Hallowed Fountain
1 Godless Shrine
1 Breeding Pool
1 Blood Crypt
1 Reflecting Pool
1 Thran Quarry
1 Command Tower
1 City of Brass
1 Rupture Spire
1 Maze of Ith
Which artifact mana sources am I missing? I'm unsold on Guilded Lotus in this deck but have yet to try it.
This is my first attempt at an EDH deck. I really like Sliver Overlord because he functions as a reusable tutor and can steal things when combined with Amoeboid Changeling. I built this deck with multiplayer in mind but would like it to be good in 1v1 as well. I prefer to keep the deck reactive+combo rather than aggro. That said, I need MORE COMBO (and other help)!
I'm open to all suggestions. This is not a budget deck, so please assume I have access to all cards.
Updated List (thanks for the suggestions):
1 Sliver Overlord
Creatures
1 Sliver Legion
1 Sliver Queen
1 Crystalline Sliver
1 Necrotic Sliver
1 Hibernation Sliver
1 Harmonic Sliver
1 Firewake Sliver
1 Basal Sliver
1 Toxin Sliver
1 Amoeboid Changeling
1 Shifting Sliver
1 Ward Sliver
1 Talon Sliver
1 Mirror Entity
1 Heart Sliver
1 Taurean Mauler
1 Magma Sliver
1 Homing Sliver
1 Brood Sliver
1 Quick Sliver
1 Gemhide Sliver
1 Dormant Sliver
1 Solemn Simulacrum
1 Seedborn Muse
1 Elesh Norn, Grand Cenobite
1 Sun Titan
Sorceries
1 Vindicate
1 Maelstrom Pulse
1 Austere Command
1 Wrath of God
1 Damnation
1 Demonic Tutor
1 Imperial Seal
1 Mind Twist
1 Timetwister
1 Wheel of Fortune
1 Regrowth
1 Vampiric Tutor
1 Brainstorm
1 Crib Swap
1 Terminate
1 Swords to Plowshares
1 Path to Exile
1 Chaos Warp
1 Oblation
Enchantments
1 Training Grounds
1 Rhystic Study
1 Mystic Remora
1 Oblivion Ring
1 Shared Triumph
1 Steely Resolve
1 Ghostly Prison
1 Propaganda
1 Teferi's Moat
Artifacts
1 Sensei's Divining Top
1 Mox Diamond
1 Darksteel Ingot
1 Coalition Relic
1 Fellwar Stone
1 Lotus Petal
1 Sol Ring
1 Chrome Mox
1 Gilded Lotus
Lands
1 Tundra
1 Underground Sea
1 Volcanic Island
1 Tropical Island
1 Taiga
1 Scrubland
1 Plateau
1 Bayou
1 Savannah
1 Badlands
1 Polluted Delta
1 Flooded Strand
1 Scalding Tarn
1 Arid Mesa
1 Bloodstained Mire
1 Windswept Heath
1 Wooded Foothills
1 Verdant Catacombs
1 Marsh Flats
1 Watery Grave
1 Temple Garden
1 Stomping Ground
1 Steam Vents
1 Sacred Foundry
1 Overgrown Tomb
1 Hallowed Fountain
1 Godless Shrine
1 Breeding Pool
1 Blood Crypt
1 Reflecting Pool
1 Thran Quarry
1 Command Tower
1 City of Brass
1 Rupture Spire
1 Maze of Ith
Basically, the goal is to get Sliver Overlord into play ASAP. Protect him with Ward Sliver, find Amoeboid Changeling to start stealing creatures, or another Sliver to combat a more pressing concern. Training Grounds and Heartstone help abuse the Overlord. Sliver Queen combos with Basal Sliver and either of those cards to produce infinite mana/dudes and also combos with Heart Sliver+Gemhide Sliver and Mana Echoes for interesting ways to kill your opponents.
Specific needs:
1. More mana acceleration to get Sliver Overlord into play ASAP
2. Protection for overlord - maybe in the form of countermagic?
3. Card draw - stalls out mid-game
4. Better manabase - still acquiring the five other fetchlands
5. MOAR COMBOS!
6. Board sweepers against faster/aggro decks
Considering the following cards:
Lands
Gemstone Mine
Undiscovered Paradise
Strip Mine
Wasteland
Volrath's Stronghold
Artifacts - needs more mana ramp, any ideas besides the stuff I already have?
Cryptic Gateway - tried it and cut it, too slow IMO
White
Day of Judgment
Black
Go for the Throat
Patriarch's Bidding
Living Death[
Conspiracy
Blue
Opportunity
Jace, the Mind Sculptor
Countermagic - Mana Drain, Desertion, Force of Will, etc
Other card draw
Red
Mana Echoes - combos with Sliver Queen
Green - perhaps a good source of mana ramp?
Harrow
Wood Elves
...other cards to get Sliver Overlord into play ASAP...these are the first that came to my mind.
Recursion
Change log
4/10/2012:
+Remaining fetch lands
+10 Ravnica shock lands
-Basic lands
I'm open to all suggestions. Thanks in advance!
Original list:
1 Sliver Overlord
Slivers:
1 Sliver Legion
1 Sliver Queen
1 Crystalline Sliver
1 Necrotic Sliver
1 Hibernation Sliver
1 Harmonic Sliver
1 Frenetic Sliver
1 Firewake Sliver
1 Basal Sliver
1 Toxin Sliver
1 Amoeboid Changeling
1 Shifting Sliver
1 Ward Sliver
1 Talon Sliver
1 Essence Sliver
1 Mirror Entity
1 Heart Sliver
1 Taurean Mauler
1 Magma Sliver
1 Homing Sliver
1 Brood Sliver
1 Might Sliver
1 Quick Sliver
1 Gemhide Sliver
1 Chameleon Colossus
Gold:
1 Vindicate
1 Terminate
1 Teferi's Moat
Black:
1 Demonic Tutor
1 Vampiric Tutor
1 Imperial Seal
1 Mind Twist
1 Doom Blade
1 Training Grounds
1 Rhystic Study
1 Mystic Remora
1 Brainstorm
1 Timetwister
White:
1 Crib Swap
1 Shared Triumph
1 Austere Command
1 Swords to Plowshares
1 Oblivion Ring
Red:
1 Chaos Warp
1 Lightning Bolt
1 Pyroclasm
1 Wheel of Fortune
Green:
1 Regrowth
1 Steely Resolve
Non-mana-producing artifacts:
1 Coat of Arms
1 Solemn Simulacrum
1 Sensei's Divining Top
1 Heartstone
1 Adaptive Automaton
1 AEther Vial
Mana-producing artifacts
1 Mox Diamond
1 Darksteel Ingot
1 Chromatic Sphere
1 Coalition Relic
1 Fellwar Stone
1 Lotus Petal
1 Sol Ring
Dual lands:
1 Tundra
1 Underground Sea
1 Volcanic Island
1 Tropical Island
1 Taiga
1 Scrubland
1 Plateau
1 Bayou
1 Savannah
1 Badlands
1 Misty Rainforest
1 Polluted Delta
1 Flooded Strand
1 Scalding Tarn
1 Arid Mesa
Basic lands:
3 Forest
2 Swamp
3 Island
1 Mountain
2 Plains
Other lands:
1 Mutavault
1 Terramorphic Expanse
1 Thran Quarry
1 Maze of Ith
1 Meteor Crater
1 Evolving Wilds
1 Thawing Glaciers
1 Command Tower
1 City of Brass
1 Rupture Spire
1 Bojuka Bog