Black Bordered Base Sets

[Thiago123]

I am not sure if this is the right section to post this in, but here goes.

The release of 9th edition Base set has really piqued my interest in other black bordered base sets. I have been asking around and had found limited information on what other base sets are black bordered, but thanks to your site I think I got the info I was looking for...I wanted to review this:

Black Bordered Base Sets:

English: Alpha, Beta
Italian: Revised
French: Revised
German: Revised
Japanese: 4th Edition
Portuguese: 4th Edition
Spanish: 4th Edition
Korean: 4th Edition
Traditional Chinese: 4th Edition
Simplified Chinese: ?? (No black bordered base set?)
Russian: 9th Edition

Korean was dropped after 5th Edition and Traditional Chinese after 8th?

The black bordered base sets indicate a 'limited' set, correct? In other words, the Russian 9th is essentially their Beta? Will a white bordered Russian 9th be released, OR will that not be around until 10th? If not until 10th than what separates the Russian 9th from the American 9th (other than the black borders)? Just the print run?

Now a couple more questions about the Russian 9th:

Based on your experience, is it a worthy investment to go for a Russian 9th booster box? I realize that the Black Bordered cards are important and that the print run of this first foray of Magic in Russia make it a limited quantity, but is the demand for it just a fad, and that's what's driving the price up?

If I do end up purchasing one, chances are I would be doing it as an investment, though I could definetly see myself playing some of the cards, e.g. Mana Leak. But...should I open the packs, or leave the box sealed? (i.e., which is the smartest thing to do from an investment point of view)?

Sorry for the many questions, but I would appreciate any help anyone can give me on this. Thanks!!

-T

[l0qii]

You are right that there is no black bordered S-Chinese base set.

It's hard to say whether there will be a white bordered russian 9th. In the past, English, Italian, French, German and Japanese all had their "limited" black bordered base set rereleased in white bordered "unlimited" format, but I don't think that's true for the other languages.

The only difference so far between russian 9th and english, other than the obvious, is the release date (russian was released 2 months after english).

As far as investment, sealed fbb core set stuff has always gone up in value, but you have to wait at minimum about 4 years and it's slow, steady growth. Between now and then the price will most likely drop, so you may want to wait before stocking up. On the other hand, the current market is running on an ASSUMED limited print run based on what we've seen in the past. Wizards doesn't actually release numbers on this. It could be there's much more than people expect and that in a year the market will be flooded, or there could be far less and if you don't buy it now while it's available you could be SOL.