I see they have cards included, some with booster packs.

I used to be a fanatic about MtG. I had a collection over 40,000 cards dating back to Beta. I used to buy whole crates of the boxes at one time.

Stupid me. Didn't know that they would continue to increase in value. I see a black lotus sold recently for 166k, which I had one in absolutely perfect condition which I won at a tournament (face palm).

So, since I've been out of the market for over twenty four years. Do I open the magazines and then the boosters? Is there anything that could come from the cards? I'm not looking for millions but if I could profit from it a bit I wouldn't be complaining.

I don't want to ruin my chances of making some profit here so any suggestions would be appreciated.

Do you think sell them all together as a set? or sell them individually?

quote:

---

Originally posted by HMukh20:
While I can't comment on whether there's a specific market for sealed copies of the Duelist (including packs), I will say that your best bet for now is keeping everything sealed. There are definitely some valuable cards from sets released in 96-97, but the odds are not in your favor. If profit is your only metric, the safe bet will be to sell the packs sealed. To use the Mirage set as an example, a sealed Booster will sell for $70-75. But there's only one card that is worth more than that. The math is similar for other sets released during that era.

If you're looking to sell, I would look up the price of the sealed pack, then maybe throw it on eBay with a slight premium for being a sealed magazine + pack. I'm sure you'll find some takers.

---

Sept 1996 - Gigantic Juzam Djinn Card, Japanese Magic Card, Magic Pro Tour Card

Dec 1996 - German Booster Pack, X Files Card

Feb 1997 - Korean Magic Card

April 1997 - 5th Edition cards, Legend of the 5 Kings Booster Pack

June 1997 - Antiquities card, Dominia Postcards

I have some other magazines but they are packed away and I didn't pull them out yet. I found these on top of a shelf at my parents house, so I grabbed them before they got thrown out.

quote:

---

Originally posted by HMukh20:
Can't hurt to try as a set first. But again, I can't really comment on the market for the Magazines. Assuming you only have a few issues, it might just be easier to list them 1 at a time. Which boosters are included?

---

The prices on these things are beyond my belief. I'm estimating that my collection would have been worth 1.5 or 2 million today.

quote:

---

Originally posted by HMukh20:
Can't hurt to try as a set first. But again, I can't really comment on the market for the Magazines. Assuming you only have a few issues, it might just be easier to list them 1 at a time. Which boosters are included?

---

I wish I would have held my cards, but I got burned out. After collecting them for years, I didn't want to play anymore.

My most notable cards were the black lotus which I won at a competition. The funny thing was that the black lotus was a 3rd place prize back in 1995 and worth only $175. The first place prize was $1000 store credit and booster box of Revised.

I stopped right around the time 4th Edition was released. I sold my entire collection for around $3000+

What shocks the more than anything is that Fallen Empires is expensive now. I recall that Fallen Empires were being sold everywhere. I saw them at gas stations, at Kmart, and at Publix. They were so common they were giving booster packs away with other purchases.

quote:

---

Originally posted by tepesh:
I do not collect anymore either, but I like this topic.
It seems there is only one booster pack of Magic, in the December 1996 Issue. I do not remember well that one particular offering. My bet is on Alliances.
I do remember the loose cards. The Asian cards were black bordered 4th edition commons and the Pro Tour card is a gold-bordered random card from the first Pro Tour set. Someone could want that oversized Djinn, but particularly the Juzam was quite common for the precise reason of being included in a popular magazine. For the Antiquities loose card, I believe both commons and uncommons were included. There is a few valuable uncommons now but I can't remember how the cards were packaged and whether it was possible to peek at them.

Yes, some cards printed before 1995 have crazy values, after that year, it is much less frequent. Not every single card has appreciated since the 90s. See Jester Caps or Balduvian Hordes.

---

quote:

---

Originally posted by MikeWoz:
What shocks the more than anything is that Fallen Empires is expensive now.

---

I tried to look at the card. It is inside the middle of the magazine and it is snug inside.

quote:

---

Originally posted by tepesh:
Old but not really rare sealed Magic got expensive since about the mid-2010s and that includes Fallen Empires. There seem to be several factors in this, but in short the Internet amplified everything to bizzarre proportions, including the behavior of people buying Magic collectibles in the hope that they will rise in value indefinitely.
Check the Antiquities card if it is possible without unsealing, as if there is a valuable uncommon (low chance) you can offer it as "Sealed Duelist with <antiquities uncommon name>".
The cards in the issue came from the "Antiquities refund program" run by WoTC in 1994 which is another story. So it can easily contain a card not considered valuable by then.

---

quote:

---

Originally posted by MikeWoz:
Typical of the Internet, always screwing things up (like bitcoin)

---

Rumor has it, that these two bubbles are related and people bought Magic using their bitcoin gains.

quote:

---

Originally posted by mm1983:
Funny how prices of cards were during 93-97 era of magic

---

I remember Alpha's not being allowed in tournaments. It was never a card I owned though.

quote:

---

Originally posted by tepesh:
Rumor has it, that these two bubbles are related and people bought Magic using their bitcoin gains.

Who knew Magic is going to survive all those gimmicks which destroyed other ccgs, like ultra-rares and holographics cards. No one would believe that in the 90s. Collector confidence was very low mid-90s and there was but a little premium added to prices. In fact, in the case of Alpha (of all things) it didn't work at all: most Alpha cards were not only cheaper than Beta, but also than Unlimited, because you couldn't use Alphas at tournaments.

---

quote:

---

Originally posted by MikeWoz:
I had heard that about bitcoin and baseball cards and comics, but not MtG

I remember Alpha's not being allowed in tournaments. It was never a card I owned though.

---

I never had the card Alpha either but I have many cards from the 1st edition of Magic the Gathering.

I never bought Homelands. or Alliances. I sold my collection about 1998 and by then had stopped playing.

My rough estimate for my collection today, after seeing some of the prices online, would be modestly 1.5 million.

My habit was to take one of every card from the set and preserve it. I recall ordering a case of Ice Ages and opened one box and got the entire set. I took the rest of the case, and held it for a year, then opened one more and sold the rest for a profit.

I think I paid $45 for each box and sold them for $80. Now I see an unopened box is $1000?

quote:

---

Originally posted by paragondave:
I never had the card Alpha either but I have many cards from the 1st edition of Magic the Gathering.

And yeah, boy those prices sure went up...

---

quote:

---

Originally posted by MikeWoz:
I recall ordering a case of Ice Ages and opened one box and got the entire set.

---

When I opened my box, it was at the comic store and I opened the box and then compared it to the check list given to me by the store owner.

I checked off all the cards on the list.

Could the list be wrong? Yes.
Could I get 383 cards out of 540 in one box? Yes.

quote:

---

Originally posted by paragondave:
lol, yeah, no you didn't. Ice Age had over 100 rares in the set. You got 36 of them at best in that one box you opened...but cool story bro.

---

quote:

---

Originally posted by MikeWoz:
From what I recall a box has 540 cards. Ice age had 383 cards, 121 rare. 121 common, 121 common, the rest land.

When I opened my box, it was at the comic store and I opened the box and then compared it to the check list given to me by the store owner.

I checked off all the cards on the list.

Could the list be wrong? Yes.
Could I get 383 cards out of 540 in one box? Yes.

---

quote:

---

Originally posted by paragondave:
You got up to 36 of the over 100 rares from the set in that box. Your story has a glaring hole in it and your set is missing at least 64 rares, more like 85 since as you say, Ice Age had 121 rares...I guess you forgot that each Magic booster back then had 1 rare per pack... but you do you, boo. Again, cool story, not quite as cool as before, but still...

---

quote:

---

Originally posted by MikeWoz:

Could the list be wrong? Yes.
Could I get 298 of the 383 in the set, out of 540 in one box? Yes.

---

I remember I sold all my cards to a friend who started CoolStuffInc. I don't know if he still owns the stores. I haven't seen him in a long time, but I used to joke with him that my collection got his business started.

In fact, that tournament where I won the black lotus for 3rd place, I recall him getting 1st.

quote:

---

Originally posted by paragondave:
fixt.

---

quote:

---

Originally posted by MikeWoz:
tournament

---

BTW - I just read an article about the most complex games in the world. Magic is 2nd behind Go with Chess at 3rd? I was stunned. I didn't realize how complex the game had become, then I saw the number of expansions that have come out since 1998. Then I realized all the different combinations possible.

It seems diluted to me now.

quote:

---

Originally posted by tepesh:
[QUOTE]Originally posted by MikeWoz:
tournament

---

[/QUOTE]

quote:

---

Originally posted by MikeWoz:
I never got that serious with the tournaments. I did only three of them over a short period of time and we never sleeved anything. It was after I sold my collection that I saw what people were doing to protect their cards, which was a good idea.

BTW - I just read an article about the most complex games in the world. Magic is 2nd behind Go with Chess at 3rd? I was stunned. I didn't realize how complex the game had become, then I saw the number of expansions that have come out since 1998. Then I realized all the different combinations possible.

It seems diluted to me now.

---

Magic is as complex as you want it to be. You can build a vanilla creature deck or go all out with combo's and interactions. Whatever floats your boat.

__________________
I'm a geek, you're a geek. Let's trade.