I hope are not an Alpha rare % print run collector because..

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Blood
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I hope are not an Alpha rare % print run collector because..

Post by Blood » Mon Aug 06, 2012 5:44 pm

..because you are a jerk if you are.

http://www.starcitygames.com/magic/fina ... Alpha.html

Chas Andres:

"Green Rares
Birds of Paradise - $300/$200
Fastbond - $250/$150
Fungusaur - $200/$100
Elvish Archers - $150/$80
Force of Nature - $100/$60
Gaea's Liege - $100/$60
Cockatrice - $100/$60
Lifelace - $100/$60
Natural Selection - $100/$60
Verduran Enchantress - $100/$60
Web - $100/$50
ALL OTHER GREEN RARES - $80/~$40
Kudzu - $60/$30
Living Artifact - $60/$30
Living Lands - $60/$30
There's more of the same Alpha oddity going on here. Elvish Archers is $150 because of the misprint, but why is Fungusaur a $200 card? Why is Web almost twice as pricy as the equally terrible Living Lands? Probably because some jerk owns most of them."

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mystical_tutor
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Post by mystical_tutor » Mon Aug 06, 2012 6:04 pm

Well, just remember one thing. A junk card is a junk card. Some of these are great playing cards (BOP) and deserve a little consideration. A fact is, though, that all type collectors (and other old fart collectors like me) will one day die off and when they do all those junk cards will be available--at the same time.

What will they be worth then? Not much I bet.

Gary

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effai
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Post by effai » Mon Aug 06, 2012 6:10 pm

well, the Fungusaur collector is a member here. Last time I remember, he had rougly 80 of them (or was it 110 ?)
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pp
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Post by pp » Mon Aug 06, 2012 6:12 pm

Alpha cards became significantly expensiver these days...

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sdematt
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Post by sdematt » Mon Aug 06, 2012 6:42 pm

Well, I mean, he's using SCG numbers, so it doesn't really matter.

I don't think this article changed anyone's opinion in our community, it just now makes people who have beat Alpha cards we may want to "hold on to them," since everyone thinks they'll be going up.

This guy...I do not like him. This wasn't new information for anyone, but I feel like this is a justification for the prices SCG may adopt/cause artificial demand.

-Matt
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sdematt
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Post by sdematt » Mon Aug 06, 2012 6:44 pm

The part that pissed me off the most was where he says if you have anything Alpha and desirable, you can charge whatever you want since no one else in the room will have one. No, this isn't true, but I'm going to have to hate telling someone their beat up Alpha dual is NOT worth full price. I think this is a dangerous precedent.

-Matt
"I'm your Huckleberry"

Collector of Beta/Alpha Dual Lands

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Post by markers » Mon Aug 06, 2012 6:49 pm

What an idiot. Reading his Bio on SCG he is one of those Back to Power-Trolls...Hate those guys.

If he thinks that Alpha is too expensive he should buy Beta....
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Post by hammr7 » Mon Aug 06, 2012 7:20 pm

Also remember that people used to actually play Alpha cards, usually without sleeves. If a card was popular in the A/B/U days then getting it in decent condition is tougher now, regardless of how bad it might be in current play.

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sdematt
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Post by sdematt » Mon Aug 06, 2012 10:02 pm

I remember a guy who owned a store back in 1994 telling me Alpha was a bitch to get rid of due to the corners issue, so there was still a decent amount of alpha cards not being played since they didn't match Beta. On the other hand, Beta was being played extensively without sleeves, so there's probably only a tad more cards in nice condition that are Beat compared to Alpha, even with the differential in print run.

This could be a possibility as well, but I love how that's not addressed.

-Matt
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mystical_tutor
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Post by mystical_tutor » Tue Aug 07, 2012 2:31 am

hindsight is not always 20/20.

For years you could not sell Alpha cards unless you wanted to get about 75% what Beta was going for. Dig out some old Scyre or Inquest mags and look at the prices.

What people DON'T remember now is that within a year after Magic was released nobody played Alpha on a regular basis. You could plainly see across the table what set it was. Besides, DCI had been invented and there were Rules! now and Alpha was carda non grata.. Thus they were tossed back in the box on the shelf--and, in some cases are still there.

I can actually remember taking an unopened Alpha deck to a big convention and having dealers turn it down. "Gosh, if it was only Beta...." I'm glad they did that..... LOL.

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Post by willard507 » Tue Aug 07, 2012 3:24 am

How many do you have to own before it's considered hoarding? I might be guilty of this on a few cards... :-\'
I'm looking for odd/rare Mind Twists.

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Post by tap4black » Tue Aug 07, 2012 4:32 pm

This is why instead of trying to amass a percentage of "AN" Alpha rare, I just decided to amass a percent of "ALL" the Alpha rares. Much easier to do the math that way! :-D

And yes Gary, I was one of those guys back in the mid 90's that would happily buy any Alpha offered, usually having to part with $5 for most rares. I also had many trade offers given for say a Beta Balance for 4x Alpha because they could play with them. Ahhh the good ol days.
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Current Alpha Rare count = 1500+!

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Post by sdematt » Tue Aug 07, 2012 5:49 pm

I also saw Len that you put up a bunch of nice Alpha on Ebay. I guess if there's people who just got excited about Alpha, no reason not to profit :P

-Matt
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Re: I hope are not an Alpha rare % print run collector becau

Post by tap4black » Wed Aug 08, 2012 3:44 am

Pete and the gang are a few years late to the Alpha party and they'll need to pony up better than this if they want to join in. Considering ABU is paying a whole lot more for the same cards almost across the board like:

Ancestral $1600 vs $1000
Animate Wall $100 vs $80
Ankh of Mishra $78 vs $60
Armageddon $126 vs $100
Aspect of Wolf $63 vs $40
Bad Moon $75 vs $60
Badlands $504 vs $350
Balance $95 vs $100 Woot SCG finally wins one!

That's just the first 8 rares of the set and ABU is almost $800 better for cash offered on the same cards.......

*disclaimer, this is NOT a plug for Gabe as I am not a buyer of his cards or a seller to him off his buylist. If I was a seller, you can be certain who I would choose however!
#2 All Time Finest PSA Alpha Set, GPA of 9.64, now retired and re-graded via Beckett. BGS GPA 9.40 after shipping off several pieces to JM!

Current Alpha Rare count = 1500+!

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Post by tap4black » Wed Aug 08, 2012 3:44 am

sdematt wrote:I also saw Len that you put up a bunch of nice Alpha on Ebay. I guess if there's people who just got excited about Alpha, no reason not to profit :P

-Matt
Just thinning the herd a tad!
#2 All Time Finest PSA Alpha Set, GPA of 9.64, now retired and re-graded via Beckett. BGS GPA 9.40 after shipping off several pieces to JM!

Current Alpha Rare count = 1500+!

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