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Author
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Topic: Alpha - how much is out there now?
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MagixDK
Member
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posted December 02, 2011 12:43 PM
      
A friend and I were talking about this.the print run of alpha is known, but how many of these cards still exist? like when someone say they have x percentage of some alpha rare. They have x percentage of the print run, but they may have a much larger percentage of the cards still in existence. How many alpha cards were given to players who threw them out right away? How many trashy commons and uncommons where tossed in the early days? How many of the bad rares? So basically if we speculate, how much of the alpha print run remains today?
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airwalk
Member
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posted December 02, 2011 12:56 PM
76.56%.Seriously, any guess is as good as any other. Ironman destroyed a lot of cards though.
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mm1983
Member
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posted December 03, 2011 04:38 AM
 
I'd say about 5-10% of them were lost in natural disasters. Hurricanes or other flood related disasters.
[Edited 1 times, lastly by mm1983 on December 03, 2011]
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MagixDK
Member
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posted December 03, 2011 11:56 AM
well id think alot more than that was just thrown away
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valorale
Member
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posted December 03, 2011 01:06 PM
My opinion..
Very few were thrown out. Magic took off very quickly and a market for these cards existed almost right out the gate. This isnt like baseball cards in the 50s where it was normal for you to throw em in a box, forget about them, throw them away when you moved etc. People starting in the 80s became much more knowledgeable about the idea of something being collectible. A tiny group of people received Alpha starters at Origins 93 when the game debuted. Gencon rolled around a month later and by the end of the con, the Alpha stock was virtually gone. The probability that someone stumbled into a starter deck, even if they didnt play, the nature of humans isnt to throw things out. Plenty of con attendees were looking to buy other people's cards off them. In addition all these con attendees are fans of D+D / fantasy they likely knew people who did play and gave them their cards. Trashy commons / uncommons. Again same reason as above, human nature isnt to throw things out or destroy them. People played with the worst garbage because that is all that was available. Dont believe that? Here is the first Magic World champion tournament recap; Mons Goblin Raiders, Giant Spiders .. oh yea baby: http://www.wizards.com/magic/magazine/Article.aspx?x=mtg/daily/arcana/249
Ironman, this is more myth than reality. Remember, people dont like destroying stuff they perceive to have collectors value. Any match with decks that didnt consist entirely of 4th edition commons was done for shock value and show. Never did I read about one with Alpha or Beta cards.
Alpha had some of the worst rares ever printed and on the other end, the best. How much of Alpha's print run exists today? I would put it around 95%+ Natural disaster would be the most common reason for these cards to be lost for all time. Now I think a more interesting question is, how much of the Alpha print run is in active circulation today and not collecting dust in a box on the top of someone's closet shelf. I would say less than 15%
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airwalk
Member
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posted December 03, 2011 06:25 PM
I disagree with your thoughts on human nature, destroying things is definitly part of the allure. No one thought random bad cards had collector value in the mid 90's and they thought right, they still aren't that valuable today. Random played Alpha commons and Uncommons are about $1-$3 and that's 18 years later. No one would have thought twice about ripping up anything in the 5c box back then. Every now and then the local store cleared out stock they deemed useless via Ironman tournaments. We used to think of the most creative ways to actually get uses out the Lace's, like proping up tables or picking the crud from underneath your nails with them...
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flophaus
Member
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posted December 03, 2011 06:34 PM
How many of these cards were thrown out my mothers cleaning out some things in their kids room when they went away to college or maybe just gone at middle-school for the day? ...only to have that person start crying upon the disastrous news!?How many of these cards were destoyed by clumsy kids perhaps getting their decks washed in the machine? How many of these cards were destroyed in house/store fires? The list goes on and on as for possibilities... - Angry girlfriend/sibling/cousin/friend, etc somehow sabotages them. - Forgot them somewhere (say on a restaurant bench, at school, bus, hotel room, friends house, etc... only to have them tossed out by an unknowing person) - Accidently thrown away by a knowing owner (When I was in elementary school, I took my prized Sgt. Slaughter autograph to school and showed it off and accidently threw it away with my sack-lunch bag!) - Stupid, ultra-sore loser gamers that get all ****ed off and rip cards up. - Who knows, maybe even a lightning bolt struck some Lightning Bolts!? (although, I think it would be funnier if a lightning bolt hit some weenie creatures hehe)
[Edited 1 times, lastly by flophaus on December 03, 2011]
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Havoc Demon
Member
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posted December 03, 2011 10:06 PM
Seeing how people constantly trash cards or leave them behind at events today, I imagine it that was the case in 93' too. __________________
Most References in Massachusetts
80th All-timeSupport my friend's store: http://www.tabletoparena.com
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Vegas10
Member
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posted December 03, 2011 10:42 PM
quote:
Originally posted by Havoc Demon:
Seeing how people constantly trash cards or leave them behind at events today, I imagine it that was the case in 93' too.
There wasn't events back then like there is now, the game was just starting there was no mass tourney organizers, and it was very chaotic back then, most tourneys started out as single or double elimination before wizards actually put in sanctioned formats and elo ratings. Plus finding booster packs was hard, they weren't mass produced like nowadays, WOTC started as a very small company at it took until probably the dark or FE before packs were easily availible everywhere.
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BennyG111
Member
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posted December 06, 2011 12:04 PM
The cards are still around but as previously mentioned WOTC was a small company I remember taking a tour around 95 and getting a free starter deck of both revised since it was current and jihad starter decks. I still have the unopened jihad deck found it just the other day along with a mint beta Sarah Angel so yes you can find the early stuff but since there was less produced it is harder to come by
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valorale
Member
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posted December 07, 2011 03:39 PM
Its really difficult to articulate to people who werent around during the Alpha-Unlimited + Arabian-Legends time period just how difficult it was to get magic cards.The only stores that even had Magic cards prior to Revised/The Dark were small hobby shops. You were lucky to get into the store to buy a pack of Legends before it sold out in the 1 month it was available. People's collections were really really small. The value of black border (alpha/beta) was known virtually overnight. Alpha cards never really reached the 13yo segment of the market, they were largely scooped up by guys in their late teens and 20s at Origins, DragonCon and Gencon. The whole "mom threw out my cards" scenario happened with the kid who started playing during 4th edition.
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majicman
Member
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posted December 07, 2011 05:36 PM
quote:
Originally posted by flophaus:
- Angry girlfriend/sibling/cousin/friend, etc somehow sabotages them.
A friend of mine's girlfriend at the time BBQed a bunch of his cards back in 1997. I felt bad for him. Not sure what cards went up in smoke...Greg 
[Edited 1 times, lastly by majicman on December 07, 2011]
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BennyG111
Member
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posted December 07, 2011 07:52 PM
Keep in mind there is still hope my ex wife took off with all my binders but I found she didnt take my small lock box which did have mint alpha, beta, unlimited, revised, and 4th edition Sarah Angel so the stuff is still around with some of the older guys like me
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HandicapParking
Member
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posted December 07, 2011 11:01 PM
quote:
Originally posted by valorale:
...http://www.wizards.com/magic/magazine/Article.aspx?x=mtg/daily/arcana/249
...
Lol Rick has cop: red and disenchants the unholy strength instead of just passing (with an oriflamme on the table) and then Alex drops juggernaut. Such tight play.
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