I think this question goes here, because MTG is a game and games are entertainment…
Anyway, if I’ve guess incorrectly mods, please move this to the correct forum.
I know nothing about the game but my nephew is very much into it. He is about to graduate and I thought I would buy him one of the more obscure collectors cards. I know that a Black Lotus is rare, but I think that he has one. What are some of the other rarer cards? Are there any in the 100 - 150 dollar (US) range?
Thanks!
Well, if you really want to pony up the money for cards, look for the Power 9. Don’t remember which ones those are, but they are old–first few editions and expansion packs. I do believe the Black Lotus is indeed one of them. Go to a good card store and ask if they have the P9, or maybe something that would be legal in T2 that is also ultrarare. Actually, use that exact phrasing.
I might be able to recall some that I remember from when I played (started and quit within a year), but if you really want to help your son, suggest that he drop MTG. By now the game is completely pointless (there used to be some sense to it about 5 years ago), but either way, in the end, there are better ways to have fun. If you still want to go ahead and do it: Legendary Mana, Spirit of the Night, Force of Will, etc. But I strongly urge you not to.
Er, sorry: not son, nephew.
LOL. I knew what you meant.
As far as advising him to drop it, I have gently suggested that he do so, but as he has pointed out, there are plenty worse things that he could be doing. Certainly I have wasted my share of time in my life.
Thanks for the suggestions.
I got my brother M:TG cards for christmas, a full box of a set he’s never played and he ended up with about 95% of the cards in the full set. There’s 3 sets per year, and you can generally get the past 2 or 3 year’s sets without too much of a problem, so ask if there’s any specific version he doesn’t have.
The benefit of a box of cards is that you can do drafts. I personally think draft tournaments are the best, and with a box of cards and a few friends, you can play for HOURS before even opening all of your cards.
So, if he’s got a black lotus already, he’s probably got any single card he needs. Just ask him if there are any sets that he’s interested in that he’s not played yet. A box (of unopened packs) of that set would probably work well.
Just my thoughts, your thoughts may vary.
Why should he drop the hobby if he finds it fun? Magic the Gathering is, in my opinion, a much better pursuit now then it was at nearly any other time. There are plenty of worse things one could do!
Are you specifically looking for cards in the $100-$150 range? Because, there are a few. The ‘Power 9’ as asterion mentioned. They are:
Mox Ruby
Mox Sapphire
Mox Jet
Mox Pearl
Mox Emerald
Black Lotus
Ancestral Recall
Time Walk
Timetwister
And, although Birds of Paradise isn’t in the power 9, its price is still up there (from the ‘Alpha’ and ‘Beta’ editions).
These are the collector cards that are the most sought after.
I second the box of cards idea. The “Power Nine” are all good cards, but the prices are drastically inflated relative to the card’s actual worth. Plus I’d much rather get a box of a lot of cards that I can use in all of my decks than one or two cards that I can only use in one or two decks.
What a perfect example of the “oh, I’m going to wander into your discussion and tell you what a bunch of losers you are” syndrome. Yeesh. If this were the pit, I would express my opinions somewhat more, err, forcefully.
And to answer the OP, pre-order a box of Legions (the upcoming expansion) for him. Should run you in the $70 range. If you feel like spending more, pre-order TWO boxes.
This might be a hijack, if so sorry.
My son was recently given a MtG card pack.
Its called World Championships Seattle August 1998 Twelveth Place. I think its also called Randy Buelher’s Draw, Go Deck.
Does this mean anything to MtG experts? Any info appreciated
Speaking as a resident expert - tourney player for going on nine years, though I’ve never made the Pro Tour - I can tell you all about it.
Every year, Wizards of the Coast (who make M:TG) release collectors editions of four decks that placed highly at the year’s World Championships. Because these decks usually contain many rare cards, WotC publish them with different backs that are not legal for tournament play so as not to hurt the single card sales market. This particular deck was played in 1998 (obviously) by Randy Buehler, former PT player and current WotC R&D staff member.
“Draw-Go” decks are so named because that’s all they seem to do - draw their card for the turn and then tell their opponent to take their go. The deck is packed with countermagic - cards that prevent another card from having any effect on the game - and effects that let the player draw more cards. It will win in the very late game by attacking with a single creature card that is very hard to kill.
If you, or anyone else, needs more information on Magic: the Gathering then the place to ask is the Usenet group rec.games.trading-cards.magic.misc, where pretty much any question you might have can be answered. The sole exception is card values; discussion of sales, trades and auctions is forbidden by charter. A question like “I have a $100 budget for my son’s birthday and he wants Magic, what should I get?” would be OK, but “Should I spend $100 on this <foo>” would not.
HTH, HAND.
Well, one thing to consider is if your nephew wants cards he can play with or cards he can collect, because your “best bet” is different based on that point.
If he wants cards he can make playing decks with, spend the $100-150 on a box of whatever set is current (it’s been a while since I’ve kept up with the game). He can play those cards anywhere, in tournaments or friendly games.
If he’s collecting instead, then looking for the ultrarare “Power 9” type cards is more sensible. The problem with giving him $100+ worth of ultrarare Beta-set card is that they can’t be played in any official tournament setting anymore. And they’re far too expensive and rare to add to any “friendly-game” deck.
Hi Max! Thanks for your card suggestions.
I know you were directing the above at someone else, but I do want you to know that I don’t think that people who play are losers. I have tried the game and honestly don’t understand the facination BUT the amount of mindless things that I do to entertain myself is huge - and many others don’t understand the facination. I’m all for people enjoying themselves. I have gently suggested that my nephew find other hobbies because this is one of the few things that he ever talks about - and I think it wouldn’t hurt him to be a little more well-rounded - especially now that he is graduating college and will be looking for a job. I’m a big ol’ computer geek who recently went through the painful process of having to interview several people for a job. Did we rule out the guy obsessed with D&D? Nope, but when we found someone with the same skill level who was a little more well-rounded, we chose him instead. That being said, I say, if you enjoy it and it ain’t hurting anyone (including you) then knock yourself out!
Khadaji, I also like the idea of buying a box of cards. Go into the card store and ask the dealer for the latest stand alone expansion. He or she will know what you mean.
Do NOT buy a 7th edition box (they’re up to 7th edition now aren’t they? I haven’t played in years). Those are just a rehash of the cards everyone has and everyone’s seen before.
The expansion set is a box of around 10 groupings of cards and inside are enough cards to play a game right from the box. If one of my friends or I found a box for really cheap, we’d buy it and then sell one grouping off to another person, keep one ourself, and play a “blind” game right from the box. Lots of fun and you earned back some of the money you spent on it.
The box will be better than one of the Power Nine cards for sure. But if you want to go with one expensive card, just tell us a price range and we can help you out. Seriously, any price range you go with there’s a card or two to fit it. Just be certain to look at the quality of the card. Any scratch marks? White edges? Having a near mint card greatly increases the value.
If you were looking to spend around 150 bucks, you might consider splitting the difference. You could buy a box of a new expansion (like Onslaught or the upcoming Legions) for anround 70 dollars, then pick up an older “showcase” card for another 50 - 75, like The Abyss, Juzam Djinn, Library of Alexandria, etc. These are powerful, valuable cards.
One thing to keep in mind is that many older cards have high price tags, but aren’t generay useful in actual game play. Mirror Universe, for example, is rarely played any more, but still commands upwards of $40. Talk to the game store owner (or better yet, us here at SDMB!) for advice on what cards your nephew will actually be able to use from time to time.
Oh, and Evil Death? I think I recognize you. Are your initials DC, perhaps?
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Justin
Heh, that would be funny if DC migrated here as well Justin. I wouldn’t put it past him, but the rest of the post just really isn’t him. Still the username fits…
I’d third the idea of a booster box of the current set(or upcoming set depending on what he already has) and a “trophy” card from an older set. I once gave a friend of mine an Arabian Nights Serendib Effreet because of the novelty value. This card was originally printed in a very small print run of a small set and was later reprinted in a larger set with a far larger run so it’s not too hard to get a hold of, but the kicker here is the larger set was messed up. The larger, more mainstream, set had the wrong artwork on the card and most people who are familiar with the card are unfamiliar with its original form. Plus the original artwork was really cool.
If you’re really wanting to go all out and get him something he almost certainly doesn’t have, and something that would really be a trophy, look for “Summer Edition” cards. This is a print run which was started but had too many errors to pass QA. Almost all the cards were recalled and destroyed. About one or two cases(~10 boxes per case IIRC) made it out in an early shipment to Texas and were picked up by players. These cards are EXTREMELY rare. A few online shops have decent collections, but the prices are very high.
Basically it depends on the style of player/collector your nephew is already. If he already has a Black Lotus then he’s either been playing an extremely long time, has a penchant for older cards or is interested in collecting. If he’s interested in collecting then a nice trophy card might be more appreciated than a box of the newer stuff(which will most likely never really be collectible because of the quantities produced).
Another option for “trophy card” is to get him a foil(premium) version of one of his favorite cards. Since the release of Urza’s Legacy in Febuary 1999 there have been two versions of each card printed(and a few other cards have been printed in foil version for premiums/prizes/promotions). One version is the standard version and is fairly easy to get ahold of, I don’t think any card printed since Fallen Empires has broken the $50 mark for more than a couple of weeks, they’re just too common to hold their values. Foil cards are printed in far smaller numbers so they are really the “collectable” part of the game now. Getting a set of the new cards is as easy as shelling out about the same money as you’d spend on a booster box on eBay. Getting a set of foils is as hard as getting a set of older sets used to be.
So, a couple suggestions if you want to go the trophy card route. Toad and Troll http://www.aqvault.com has an excellent selection of singles and I’ve worked with them in the past and been extremely satisfied. They have summer magic cards under the category “Cards -> Magic The Gathering -> Promos & Misprints -> Summer Magic” Like I said, cards from this set are extremely rare and have produced some of the most expensive cards in the game. A misprinted common card(remember the set failed QA, that’s why it was pulled, but it produced a lot of interesting misprints) the infamous “blue hurricane”(of which I’m one of the few human beings on the planet ever to have held(I live in Texas and I once ran across a guy who had managed to get a couple boxes out of that shipment which escaped recall)) sells for approximately eight THOUSAND dollars. You can find a picture of this card at Toad and Troll, but I don’t think they have any in stock ATM.
Enjoy,
Steven
(continuing the hijack)
I think it is him. The admonition about posting want ads in rgt-cmm, the “HTH, HAND” tag, it all fits. He’s really quite helpful and knowledgeble, when you don’t piss him off, that is. He and Collounsbury would have hit it off quite well, I think.
Oh, I just checked some of his other posts. Lots in a Two Towers thread and a bit of Buffy. It’s definitely him.
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Justin
I’m not so sure although the “Two Towers” and “Buffy” threads are up his alley as well I’m still not quite ready to believe the world is THAT small. I really think he would have posted the admonition in stronger language, but who knows, maybe he’s drinking decaf these days. Even if it’s not him I can’t see any of the denizens of rgt-cmm posting this info WITHOUT such an admonition, not because they ARE him, but because OF him.
Oh, and he normally uses .sigs too. Kind of weird to me for him to join the board and not have a sig. You may be right though, the more I look at his other posts the more I think it’s a possibility. There just CAN’T be that many of us who’ve played the game for nearly a decade now. If it is him(snicker) then I’ll go ahead and run up the flag that will let him know who I am as well and we can have a mini-reunion sometime.
Enjoy,
Steven
King of Casual Play
The One and Only Defender of Cards That Blow
Well, it was just a fore-warning, not a retaliation for actually doing it. I’m positive that it’s him now. Check out the email address that he uses to post to usenet with. Also note that his posts come at 2 in the morning, board time. Almost like he’s posting from Scotland, say. I bet when he wakes up, he’ll confirm it, possibly with a one-word post.
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Justin