The Magic Librarities

I am looking for information about some 6th Edition Two-Player Starter Decks:



The packaging appears to be identical, except for different product codes:

Left:
WOC16542
ISBN 1-57530-600-X

Right:
WOC16537
ISBN 1-57530-665-4

Also the plastic wrap around the boxes is different. The box on the left uses a simple plastic that seals with folds at the top and bottom, and includes a gold tear strip running immediately under 'Magic: the Gathering'. The box on the right uses a shrink wrap that seals with a seam along the left, bottom, and right sides of the box, with no tear strip.

Does anybody know what, if anything, is different between these two boxes? I'd rather not open them to find out.

I would have said one made in belgium and the other one in the USA, but that is not the case...

Puzzling...

For different markets maby?

google for the ISBN ending with X i find this info on many sites:
6th ed; Paperback
Published: December 1998
Wizards of the Coast, UK
ISBN: 157530600X

googling for the other ISBN i dont fina anything at all, wich is odd..

Is the other side the same?

It is possible that the only difference is the language of the rule book inside.

I notice one has a gold ribbon seal at the top while the other one looks shrink wrapped. It's possible the shrink wrapped one was repackaged.

What is the WOC number on the 2nd one? I can't read it.

It is confirmed that there exists an English box with Norwegian/Danish/Finnish/Swedish rules inside, but the numbers do not match. There was also rumor that one with Dutch rules existed, but has never been confirmed. The original packaging would have had a sticker saying it included Dutch rules, but this box is likely repackaged so that sticker would be missing.

l0qii wrote:Is the other side the same?

All sides of both boxes are identical except the bottom, where the product codes are located.

l0qii wrote:I notice one has a gold ribbon seal at the top while the other one looks shrink wrapped. It's possible the shrink wrapped one was repackaged.

I thought of that, and it is possible, but I don't know enough to say that it can't be the original packaging.

l0qii wrote:What is the WOC number on the 2nd one? I can't read it.

The numbers are in the original post.

l0qii wrote:It is confirmed that there exists an English box with Norwegian/Danish/Finnish/Swedish rules inside, but the numbers do not match. There was also rumor that one with Dutch rules existed, but has never been confirmed. The original packaging would have had a sticker saying it included Dutch rules, but this box is likely repackaged so that sticker would be missing.

Now that's interesting. Is there any more info on this rumored Dutch box?

Where are you from yourself ? And where did you get these packs ?

It is also possible the English version just exists in 2 packages. Maybe they revised the rule book half way through production and had to get a new ISBN for it? The first number seems to be more common.

magic-belgium wrote:Where are you from yourself ? And where did you get these packs ?

I'm in the Eastern United States, and I got these packs in a collection. I don't have a good idea where they would have come from.

Is it just for information or do you intend to resell them ?

Both!

I put in a query to Wizards Customer Service, and they came through with this response:

Customer Service wrote:Thanks for your patience while I found the answer. The two decks have identical contents. The reason for the different product codes is the two decks were designed to be sold in different types of stores. One of them has the J-shaped hook for sale in a large retailer like Wal-Mart or Target. The other one is designed to sit in the display, like you would find at a local card store.

The J-hook is not present on either box, likely because of the repackaging evidenced before.

Mystery solved! Scooby snacks are on me.

Interesting. Thanks for the info. I bet this is not the last time we discover a difference like this.

So according to your previous post, you will resell them ? How much are you asking for them ?