@hammr7 , thoughts on the print run of English P3k? From the research I’ve done, I am fairly confident that it had a larger print run than Alpha or Beta, but it’s certainly the rarest English release post-1995 (except for English Salvat). It seems like you know quite a bit, and I’d be curious to hear your thoughts on it. Probably lower print run than Legends, right?
As an aside, personally, I don’t see the appeal of collecting Alt 4th. In a binder, it basically just looks like a normal set of 4ED lol. Summer is cool because of the saturation (much nicer looking than normal revised), but the market for it is heavily manipulated and I wouldn’t touch it with a ten-foot pole. It’s certainly rare, but how rare is unclear due to the fact that the supply is heavily concentrated in the hands of relatively few individuals.
Hammr7 thank you so much for sharing all of that. As I’ve always been attracted to rare/niche things, I just so happen to have a pack fresh set of alternate fourth edition that’s been stored in a binder for the last 7-8 years. It was indeed quite tricky to find all of the cards. I remember birds of paradise being the hardest and the last card I found. I also have a few sealed starters that are (not!) gathering dust in my closet. The cards have a thickness/feel more like traditional playing cards than TCG cards
I honestly don’t have a good feel for English P3K. I have little doubt that the cards in the pre-constructed decks have much larger production runs than Alpha and Beta. I’m not so sure about the other booster rares, although you are probably correct. If P3K was designed specifically for the Asian market I would guess runs would be high, since at that point WOTC had learned the lessons of underproduction. But if P3K was more a regional rollout that was later supposed to go worldwide, and didn’t because of lack of interest, then maybe not.
As far as Alt 4th, I consider it in many ways to be Magic’s version of Shadowless, only much rarer. Of course I came from the perspective of trying to collect Shadowless before the community at large recognized it. Just as I collected alt 4th before the Magic community had a clue. The key difference is that in Pokemon English Base set is venerated, while in the Magic community, until recently, 4th Edition was extremely unappreciated.
Except for “Summer”, P3K and Alpha/Beta (only one near set), I put together multiple high quality sets (while collecting I always kept at least 4) of every English Magic release through about 2004 or 2005. Summer was impossible and I started too late. Alpha/Beta was available but expensive in the condition I wanted, so I only went for 1 set. For P3K, by the time the cards were “legal” I no longer played and was phasing out of active Magic collecting.
What I can say is that Alt 4th was among the toughest sets I ever put together. And yet the price for an entire high quality set (378 cards) remains, at least for the moment, less than a decent, graded Charizard (1st or Shadowless). In collecting, it is often the obscure sets that blossom over time.
I notice you call them “pack fresh”. Any guess on how much of the set would have a chance at a grade of 10? Or even 9? That was the issue as I built my sets, where even pack fresh often had issues, mainly because of the waxy wear coat and the variation in how it was applied.
It was weird for me in that all the “big” rares were relatively easy to find. But I purchased 18 boxes of starter decks (before people knew anything about them) and cracked them all to start my sets. I was never one to keep sealed product for any length of time. I think the hardest card for me was, of all things, Magnetic Mountain.
I was always one for the rare and the niche items. I still have about 900 of the old 6 x 9 Magic cards, including 4 of each art offered (except for a handful). That was another set that took forever to put together. Nearly 100 of the various old metal life counters. Never got a full set of all of the different types, but came close and finished some subsets (like one of each abacus in each style and color). And probably the largest collection of Crazy Clown tokens in the world. I used to have a ton more items than I now do, but I have been winding down for almost a decade. Some things are harder to let go of than others.
Thanks for all the excellent information @zorloth, @jonandek, and @hammr7. I hadn’t considered the Portal sets, but now I am since they have some incredible art, especially the John Avon cards. Do you think Portal 3 Kingdoms had a substantially lower English print run than the other two Portal sets? Also, are there any big color variations among the different languages for these sets? I ask because I vastly prefer the colors of some non-English sets, like Italian Legends over English Legends.
Way lower than either of the other Portal sets. P3K wasn’t produced for most of the Western market. Very little product hit North America for retail. It’s always been much easier to find English cards from the other Portal sets, though they are all much scarcer than the regular ‘expert level’ sets released around that time.
And not that I’m aware of. I only own English Portal/Portal II cards so I can’t comment on those two, but I’ve never heard anything about other languages looking different. But for P3K, all of the different languages are otherwise identical.
I’m a big fan of the portal three kingdoms cards. They have a great theme and great artwork. They actually reminds me a lot of the Arabian Nights set in terms of the strong theme. If only the cards had black borders. Even without they’re still awesome.
I’m not sure - really need to check them out. They’ve been very well protected but it’s been SO long since I’ve looked at them. When I get back in town I’ll definitely be checking them out
I’ll be very honest but it’s just my opinion so take with a grain of salt!
From an artwork standpoint… this is obviously going to be very subjective but I personally think the anime-style artwork is very cool.
From an investment standpoint I’m really not a fan if modern cards, and especially foreign modern cards. There are a LOT of other “gimmicky” things these will compete with like foils, secret lairs, other new things so I would worry they just stay niche and get buried among many similar items.
Like all things buy what you love. From pure investing I always think of buying the oldest, rarest highest grade item possible. But even then there are no guarantees and so many nuances where that still may be a bad idea. For example Chaoslace is an Alpha rare that’s scarce in high grade. So it meets all of those criteria but I would NOT think of it as a good investment because it’s a card people don’t care about very much
Very cool. Have you seen these? They are coming out soon. Special alternative art japanese cards. Some of the best looking cards I’ve ever seen from any TCG, period. Too bad they’re in Japanese but in a way it almost adds to the flavor. Sorry I can’t link the pictures directly:
The regular cards from the Strixhaven Mystical Archive are cool as well. I’m going to get a playset of the Opt for my Modern deck and a playset of StP for my Legacy deck. Apparently, 60 other cards will be included as well.
