Magic The Gathering 30th Anniversary Edition: What's In The $1,000 Set?

Wizards of the Coast's Magic: The Gathering has been around for nearly 30 years, debuting back in the summer of 1993. In the decades since, there have been dozens of sets and expansions and thousands of cards, building a rich and dynamic collection of cards. In order to celebrate this grand occasion, Wizards of the Coast is releasing a brand-new collection of cards from the Beta sets. The kicker is that it will cost you $999.

Magic The Gathering 30th Anniversary Edition is an interesting set of cards to say the least. Collectors and fans of MTG are very familiar with limited edition sets, as Secret Lair drops come out throughout the year, offering players a chance to pick up limited edition sets at a higher price point. However, the 30th Anniversary set is very different.

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For $999 you get four, 15-card booster packs--for a total of 60 cards (which comes out to $16.65 per card). Each pack contains 13 modern frame cards--one of which is rare--2 retro frame cards--with 3 out of 10 packs containing a rare retro frame--and 1 unique token. Yes, there are some lands there as well.

This is a limited edition set with limited quantities printed. Just hours after orders went on sale on November 28, the sets were sold out.

Opening up the set, a wave of nostalgia hit me. Many of these cards I used when MTG launched its revised edition back in 1994. So seeing these cards, in my hands, for the first time in decades was pretty cool. The designs are/were great, and frankly, it made me pretty happy for the few moments I was opening the booster packs. I had memories resurface of playing MTG in my friend's backyard where we anteed cards for the game--I had so many Kird Ape cards because of this. While it was nice to have all those memories flood my mind, those moments quickly left as soon as I was finished going through the boosters.

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These are randomized boosters, so of course, there is a chance to get some doubles, which happened a few times. It wasn't to the point where it was exceptionally frustrating, but when you're paying $999 for Magic cards, do you really want to get a bunch of doubles?

As for the packaging, it's nice. It's in a black box with "30th Anniversary Edition" and the MTG logo on the front. The inside contains the four booster packs and there's a prismatic background. There is nothing exceptionally interesting about the packaging, which comes as a little bit of a bummer.

First and foremost, these cards can't be used in tournament play and the card backs are different from standard cards, which feels like a big handicap when even casually playing, making the functionality of these cards relatively non-existent--unless you plan on buying sleeves for all your cards, and if that's the case, have fun. According to a video about the set, this is for you to show off to your friends as a display piece and not intended for gameplay. If that is the case, the presentation could have been better, especially with the packaging.

This set is cool in many ways, but for the $999 pricetag, it's a letdown. Magic The Gathering 30th Anniversary Edition is a cool idea, in theory, but it leaves you wanting a bit more. It's great to see cards from the first sets, but they're not usable. If you're looking for cards from the first few sets of MTG, just pick them up on ebay for a fraction of the price. The 30th Anniversary Set is more of a display piece to talk to other players about.