Alpha/ Beta playtest cards, etc.
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- fvzappa
- Legendary Alpha Playtest Decks Owner
- Posts: 653
- Joined: Wed Oct 01, 2003 7:48 am
- Location: Cincinnati, Ohio, USA
Alpha/ Beta playtest cards, etc.
Okay, for those of you that have been bugging me for months, I can finally say that a significant amount of my playtest cards, along with a few other goodies, are now scanned & online. I figured that due to my extensive research I could eventually write an article about these cards, but for now I will just show off a few scans & try to explain them!
For those of you that do not know, before every set, "cards" are made & playtested to see how they work- together and with existing cards. But before MTG was made, everything was starting from scratch... and this is (mostly) what I have to show you today.
Unfortunatly, there isn't great organization to these scans, so bear with me, okay?
^This above scan shows 8 different playtest cards. One thing to note is that all cards' casting cost were done so that if you saw a card that was, say, 2B, it means "two mana, one of which needs to be black".
They had only one number for creatures originally, not two. Banding was called stacking, and other things changed as well...
There are 3 different incarnations of the playtest cards, of which all 3 can be seen in the above scan. First, a circle was at the casting cost, and a colored pen was used to color in the card as they chose what they wanted it to be. Creatures had one number. Second, all creatures were given 2 numbers (like we see today). Third, a final printing was made using actual letters (B,G,R,W,U) to stand for the symbols.
Of note, notice the undercasting of the Angel, and misspelling of "Magic". Also, Ron Spencer's sense of humor on the only Alpha card he ended up drawing. So, here's a few other scans as well-
^ This scan includes a Goblin card that is a photocopy of Richard Garfield's face- I got to play this card AGAINST Richard himself in a game. Also, Shatter changed from a sorcery to an instant, there's a DEFENSIVE red card, a misprint/ mistake crossed out, and the legendary RED TIME WALK!
^In this scan you see major changes to Fireball, a card called "Ents"- LOTR fans!- Plains that was a RED MANA CARD, and Acestral Recall's final version.
^Here we have a few original creatures, Mark Poole's sense of humor, a card with SPOCK on it, and the original "singing tree".
^Yup, this one's a bit anticlimactic!
Anyhow, this is a retrospective of some of my 200+ alpha playtest cards... once all of my homework is done I would like to contribute an absolute guide to this subject matter, but until then, enjoy! Any questions, feel free to ask. And stay tuned, I scanned other (non-alpha) playtest cards and Invitational cards (ever seen a Black Lotus that costs 3?) to share as well.
For those of you that do not know, before every set, "cards" are made & playtested to see how they work- together and with existing cards. But before MTG was made, everything was starting from scratch... and this is (mostly) what I have to show you today.
Unfortunatly, there isn't great organization to these scans, so bear with me, okay?
^This above scan shows 8 different playtest cards. One thing to note is that all cards' casting cost were done so that if you saw a card that was, say, 2B, it means "two mana, one of which needs to be black".
They had only one number for creatures originally, not two. Banding was called stacking, and other things changed as well...
There are 3 different incarnations of the playtest cards, of which all 3 can be seen in the above scan. First, a circle was at the casting cost, and a colored pen was used to color in the card as they chose what they wanted it to be. Creatures had one number. Second, all creatures were given 2 numbers (like we see today). Third, a final printing was made using actual letters (B,G,R,W,U) to stand for the symbols.
Of note, notice the undercasting of the Angel, and misspelling of "Magic". Also, Ron Spencer's sense of humor on the only Alpha card he ended up drawing. So, here's a few other scans as well-
^ This scan includes a Goblin card that is a photocopy of Richard Garfield's face- I got to play this card AGAINST Richard himself in a game. Also, Shatter changed from a sorcery to an instant, there's a DEFENSIVE red card, a misprint/ mistake crossed out, and the legendary RED TIME WALK!
^In this scan you see major changes to Fireball, a card called "Ents"- LOTR fans!- Plains that was a RED MANA CARD, and Acestral Recall's final version.
^Here we have a few original creatures, Mark Poole's sense of humor, a card with SPOCK on it, and the original "singing tree".
^Yup, this one's a bit anticlimactic!
Anyhow, this is a retrospective of some of my 200+ alpha playtest cards... once all of my homework is done I would like to contribute an absolute guide to this subject matter, but until then, enjoy! Any questions, feel free to ask. And stay tuned, I scanned other (non-alpha) playtest cards and Invitational cards (ever seen a Black Lotus that costs 3?) to share as well.
Video collection: http://www.youtube.com/user/themisprintguy
Very nice =D> I especially like the red plains - oh, and the lions, of course
My cat collection and my Scathe Zombies collection
Do you have cards that I'm looking for? Let me know!
Do you have cards that I'm looking for? Let me know!
- fvzappa
- Legendary Alpha Playtest Decks Owner
- Posts: 653
- Joined: Wed Oct 01, 2003 7:48 am
- Location: Cincinnati, Ohio, USA
Yes, someday I will have another Giant Growth... as always, I am looking for more playtest cards. I am honestly surprised that I only have one. Why can't you collect Shatter? I have many duplicates of that one!
One of the other forum members collects Weakness, and in my last huge lot I purchased he was able to snag it before I did. And another purchase I made was without a Stone Rain, as it was given to the "Stone Rain project" collector.
If anyone is wanting a full rundown of the Alpha playtest cards I own, I could post that... but as of this moment, it's past my bedtime.
Thanks for all of the PM's & comments. I'm glad I finally made some scans of these.
One of the other forum members collects Weakness, and in my last huge lot I purchased he was able to snag it before I did. And another purchase I made was without a Stone Rain, as it was given to the "Stone Rain project" collector.
If anyone is wanting a full rundown of the Alpha playtest cards I own, I could post that... but as of this moment, it's past my bedtime.
Thanks for all of the PM's & comments. I'm glad I finally made some scans of these.
Video collection: http://www.youtube.com/user/themisprintguy
- Ihateworking
- Legendary Weakness Collector
- Posts: 86
- Joined: Tue Jul 24, 2007 5:27 pm
Here's mine, probably by far the coolest mtg piece i own...plus i half half a dozen wizards(and a scrye) articles saved with test cards too, I will post links if anyone cares
Last edited by Ihateworking on Tue Jun 29, 2010 9:20 am, edited 1 time in total.
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- fvzappa
- Legendary Alpha Playtest Decks Owner
- Posts: 653
- Joined: Wed Oct 01, 2003 7:48 am
- Location: Cincinnati, Ohio, USA
It very well could be. Many of these pictures came from old books, & having them come from a comic book would not surprise me. I have a funny one from Calvin & Hobbes!
Video collection: http://www.youtube.com/user/themisprintguy
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It's from "The Insult That Made a Man Out of Mac," the one-page comic book ad for the Charles Atlas Isotonic exercise courses.
Bully: Listen here, I'd smash your face, only you're so skinny you might dry up and blow away!
Mac: The big bully! I'll get even someday!
Girl: Oh, don't let it bother you, little boy.
Mac: Darn it!
Bully: Listen here, I'd smash your face, only you're so skinny you might dry up and blow away!
Mac: The big bully! I'll get even someday!
Girl: Oh, don't let it bother you, little boy.
Mac: Darn it!
- fvzappa
- Legendary Alpha Playtest Decks Owner
- Posts: 653
- Joined: Wed Oct 01, 2003 7:48 am
- Location: Cincinnati, Ohio, USA
Ahah! If anyone can find the origins of any of the other playtest cards, I'd be interested in knowing where they came from! Many, I've been told, came from obscure fairtytale storybooks.
Video collection: http://www.youtube.com/user/themisprintguy
- Ihateworking
- Legendary Weakness Collector
- Posts: 86
- Joined: Tue Jul 24, 2007 5:27 pm
- Ihateworking
- Legendary Weakness Collector
- Posts: 86
- Joined: Tue Jul 24, 2007 5:27 pm
here is a picture I scanned out of a Scrye Priceguide Book dating from 01.
Notice the MANA FLASH logo at the top.Very Cool!!!
Notice the MANA FLASH logo at the top.Very Cool!!!
Last edited by Ihateworking on Tue Jun 29, 2010 9:22 am, edited 1 time in total.
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