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Last week a printed card Alpha Lotus Black for Magic: The Gathering sold on eBay for $ 87,672, according to Kotaku.
Four factors led to the high selling price of the card: print, rarity, condition, and the power of the card when it is used in the game.
When Magic: The Gathering Wizards of the Coast launched in 1993, the first, or Alpha, print of all 295 game cards had black borders, reports Kotaku. After the Alpha cards, a limited beta print added more cards and corrected errors on some of the originals. Unlimited print edition of the same cards but with white borders followed the beta print. Unlimited printing continues today.
Only 1,100 Alpha Black Lotus cards were printed. If 1,100 cards sound a lot, consider these numbers: according to Wikipedia, 2 billion cards Magic were sold in April 1997. Between 2008 and 2016, Wizards printed more than 20 billion cards. Even Lotus Unlimited Black cards are worth four digits, according to Kotaku, but the Lotus Alpha Black is the most valuable of them all.
The $ 87K eBay auction card was also in very good condition, a 9.5g coin by Beckett. a service. Kotaku said: "Taking into account the rarity of the map and the almost irreproachable quality of the map, it is certainly one of the best preserved copies in the world."
According to Kotaku, the power of the Black Lotus card allows players to "destabilize" the game. Magic: The Gathering structure the gameplay so that players grow gradually with each turn. The Black Lotus card gives players the equivalent of a four-fold advantage.
Due to the damage the card could cause during a game, Wizards of the Coast stopped printing the Unlimited Black Lotus card in 1999. Currently, the Black Lotus card is banned from competitions and tournaments, the exception of the least restrictive tournaments, according to a previous article by Digital Trends
As powerful as the Black Lotus is, it seems unlikely that the card auctioned on eBay is used in a game. Any manipulation would guarantee almost a reduction in the state of the map state, although it is possible that the value does not decrease. Today, an Alpha Black Lotus, rated 9.0 or "Mint" by the Beckett Grading Service, is on eBay for $ 100,000.
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