Collector pulls mint Magic: The Gathering card worth $27,000

[anon34812172]

Just photocopy your own Black Lotus onto cardstock. The text is in the graphic at the top of this thread!

[NashRambler]

Touche.

[Peaked]

I’ve mixed feelings about the artificial scarcity built into the game.

On one hand, it feels like a bit of an overt money grab which, despite it keeping the game afloat for so many years, leaves a bit of a bad taste in my mouth. Neither buying your way to victory nor playing against someone who does is all that much fun.

On the other hand, having access to less than the full set of existent cards adds a constraint that makes deck building more interesting to me. There’s something interesting about making the best of the options available. That works best, though, when people have relatively similar degrees of the constraing, which is rarely the case. I think this might be why I like the draft format so much. For the most part, it’s the only way I’ve been interested in spending more money on the game in the past decade or so.

[telecinese]

@Glitch

At this point, the value of that damn card is self-perpetuating. It’s a decent card, and reasonably rare, but it serves more as a prestige item than anything else.

Isn’t that how it works with most super-expensive collectibles? I have a feeling the more logical situation (the objective “best” of anything being the most expensive to collectors instead of the thing that got so famous it has its own “mystique”) is the real rarity.

[Glitch]

My point was more that there are rarer cards from a collectibility standpoint, and “stronger” cards from a gaming standpoint. It’s just this is the “well known” rare card that everyone has heard of, that everyone recognizes.

It’s like going to a vintage or classic car show and everyone is flocking around a '77 Firebird when there are way rarer and way more impressive machines tucked away in the wings. It’s the notion that the cliche gets all the attention, while the true rarities get overlooked for being obscure and the more impressive machines get ignored for not having the shiniest coat of paint or the most iconic bodywork.

[telecinese]

We’re in agreement. ‘Prestige’ trumps actual value and even rarity most of the time.

[PhasmaFelis]

@Peaked

On one hand, it feels like a bit of an overt money grab which, despite it keeping the game afloat for so many years, leaves a bit of a bad taste in my mouth. Neither buying your way to victory nor playing against someone who does is all that much fun.

At least it’s an honest money grab. Magic doesn’t really pretend to be anything it isn’t. Compare to most “free-to-play” video games.