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Alpha
Magic: The Gathering, the most successful and best tcg game ever, is a game born from luck. Richard Garfield submitted the game to Wizards of the Coast, and the game was recognized as a good one, but since another game was going to be published soon, MTG was put aside as a future choice. But then the other game came across various problems, and MTG, ready to be printed, was chosen instead.
As we all know, MTG quickly became a huge hit, but everything actually started with Limited Edition Alpha. This first ever set of MTG is almost the same as the next ones Beta and Unlimited in some ways, but there’s one slight difference: the Alpha cards were printed with an unplayable rounded appearance, which made them difficult to be sleeved due to their smooth corners while easy to be damaged by bending sleeves. Still, as the first run of three equal sets, Alpha has everything about the fame of Magic: Black Lotus, the five Moxes, Ancestral Recall, Timetwister, and everything of the first three sets.
But similar to any other first runs, a short supply of products and many misprints had quickly led to Beta, a second edition of the set. Most of the misprints are related to the casting costs of the cards, incorrect illustration credits, or card text with poor definitions. The early stage of the game - like the next few sets - had some rules regarding ante, but it was quickly removed from the key cards due to the money value of certain cards and some disappointing game value. The Beta set was also short printed and became an instant sell-out everywhere, which led Wizards of the Coast to the option of printing sets continuously in a relatively short period of time. Nowadays chasing Alpha cards is not easy, but it’s a collector’s must.
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