StarCityGames.com Offers Alt 4th cards for Sale

[squt]

Bravo Ben.  I think taking down the speculated print run was the responsible thing to do.  I think there's a market for these, and I wish you luck in selling them.  

I'm sure it won't be too long before there are other retailers that start to stock them, and eventually the markets will decide their true value.

Squt

[tap4black]

Looks like Cardhaus has joined the Alt 4th party.  Checked their prices and they are quite a bit more reasonable than Star City to boot :D

[BenBleiweiss]

Looks like Cardhaus has joined the Alt 4th party.  Checked their prices and they are quite a bit more reasonable than Star City to boot :D

Our Alternate 4th Edition prices have been lowered in the wake of new competition!  You can check them out at  http://sales.starcitygames.com/category.php?cat=5015 . Competition is good for the community and great for your pocketbook!  Sealed Starter decks are $99.99, and we've added the one complete set we've managed to make to the inventory (this set is in strict NM/M - I've been very, very picky in grading it).

- Ben Bleiweiss
General Manager, StarCityGames.com

PS: Len, aren't you a Cardhaus employee?  If so, why are you referring to yourself and your own company in the third person?

[Celebrindor]

Our Alternate 4th Edition prices have been lowered in the wake of new competition!

*sigh*

this happens to me everytime I buy anything.  I buy an x-box, price drops $20 a month later.  I buy alt 4th, the price drops the next day.  

Guess its time to buy some more!  :D :D :D

[furiousavatar]

As of all the misprints, crimps, and just plain out rarities. This small community has to between myself, fvzappa, starcitygames, Cardhaus, and the rest of the alternate fourth collectors have the most of these cards already scraped together.

There may be a middle ground agreement we can come to deciding how many of these cards there really are. I myself have many of these cards. If we as a community vote to a particular common, uncommon, and rare card. That we all equally share information on we can make a great estimate to what’s out there. With in the next year these cards are going to be rarely just abruptly found. As is summer.

Please inform me on what you all think and we can get things rolling. I will dedicate all the time I need to doing this.

[dry cereal]

I', sure others will say this in a second, but I think you're wrong.

[Celebrindor]

Im really not sure what you are saying/asking furiousavatar.  What are you saying?

[fvzappa]

I think exact numbers are difficult. I've received some inside information too about printing. But, even if they printed X amount of cards, who's to say how many were destroyed & how many were released?

[hammr7]

Eventually we will get some sort of handle on how many Alt 4th survived.  However, I would caution anyone thinking they can do a "real" count over a year and assume they know the total amount.

One reason is that there are so many 4th edition cards out there.   The set was released during the first "renaissance" of magic in the US, so there are a lot of collections from short time players, stored away in shoe and card boxes that won't see the light of day for years.  

Another reason is the understanding needed to uncover the cards.  The set was extremely popular to players at the time, but not to collectors since.  As a result its value has suffered.  The rare and valuable cards always find the light of day in a hurry.  As a set collector, I know it is always the "common" rares that are tough to find.  

A perfect example is trying to find high condition Unlimited rares that aren't valuable and were duplicated in revised.  Any of us could spot them in a second, but trying to track them down on eBay is a nightmare (pun intended).  The low value of a reverse damage or will-o-the-wisp mean that they will often not even be offered.  When they are they may be mislabeled as Revised (or are revised mislabeled as unlimited), and won't be accompanied by photos.  

Alt-4th goes a step further by forcing most collectors to find a black light to determine if they have any.  And that assumes they have heard about them.  If they aren't actively involved in magic any more, and didn't get a bid of $50 on their 3,000 to 4,000 card collection a year ago, they aren't going to have a clue that alt-4th even exists.  Remember, the most expensive cards in the set, BOP and WOG, routinely sell for only $7 or $8 in played condition.  This is not at all like a Black Lotus.

Finally, there seems some doubt about whether starter decks can be used to approximate the rare : uncommon : common ratios, even if all the Alt-4th cards were originally intended for release in such decks.  My personal experience with alt-4th is that I have as many rares as I have commons.  Including alt-4th I have sold or traded away, I seem to be finding about 0.2% of commons, but more than 2% of rares, are alt-4th.  This has come from a "universe" of more than 1100 rares, 2,700 uncommons, and 11,000 commons, purchased from a number of collections, with at least half coming from the three west coast US states (which contained virtually no alt-4th cards).  

I am always cautious about trying to read into numbers, but with populations this large I would lean away from sealed starter decks as the only source of these cards.

[fvzappa]

I can specificly remember throwing away commons back then- more by others than myself, but we all did (and do) it. After all, how many Merfolk of the Pearl Trident do you need? You couldn't give Lightning bolts away then, either. So, ratios are hard to really determine.

All I know is that StarCity's original numbers are low. How low....?

[dry cereal]

I love it when hammer rants on print runs  ;D

[hammr7]

I love it when hammer rants on print runs  ;D

Just trying to "hammer" the point home!   [smiley=evil.gif]

[Celebrindor]

I have run into this [not being able to find "crap" cards] a lot too.  I had so much trouble getting foil Quirion Elves.....