During
a recent inventory a forgotten box was brought to light, and inside an old
collection of ‘Magic: The Gathering’ cards was discovered. ‘Magic: The
Gathering’ is a collectible card game created
by Richard Garfield, and first released in 1993 by Wizards of the
Coast. In each game of ‘Magic’ the
players represent a battle between wizards who cast spells, use
artifacts, and summon creatures as depicted on individual cards in order to
defeat their opponents. The success of the initial edition prompted a reissue
later in 1993, along with expansions to the game. Arabian Nights was the first
expansion set released in December 1993, and new expansions and revisions of the
base game have since been released on a semi-regular basis. By the end of 1994,
the game had printed over a billion cards.
There
is an active secondary market in individual cards among players and game shops.
The secondary market started with comic book stores, and hobby shops displaying
and selling cards, with the cards' values determined somewhat arbitrarily by
the employees of the store. Today, uncommon cards and weak rare cards typically
sell from 10¢ up to $1, with more expensive cards typically priced between $1 and
$25. A few of the older cards, however, due to smaller printing runs and
limited distribution, are highly valued and rare. Some, such as the Lion’s Eye
Diamond from the Mirage expansion, which happened to be amongst the cards
uncovered and is featured in the photograph above, can retail in excess of
$100. Today, the secondary market is so large and complex, it has become an
area of study for consumer research.
