CGC Cards Grades Incredible Magic: The Gathering Limited Edition Alpha Collection

Posted on 12/7/2023

The CrossOver submission included hundreds of rare and valuable cards from the early Magic: The Gathering set.

The CGC Cards CrossOver grading service has been used by many collectors and dealers to promote consistency and value in their collections. In fact, a very high-profile Magic: The Gathering collector recently submitted hundreds of cards to cross over to CGC holders, which offer exceptional display, crystal-clear optics and numerous security features. The CGC Cards graders were blown away by the submission — it consisted entirely of Limited Edition Alpha cards!


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“We’ve seen a lot of cards come in for our CrossOver grading service in the last few months,” said Matt Quinn, Vice President of CGC Cards. “This beautiful collection of Alpha Magic: The Gathering cards is one of the highlights of those submissions, and it was definitely a treat for the graders.”

Magic: The Gathering hit store shelves in 1993 with the Limited Edition Alpha set. Alpha had a smaller print run of 2.6 million cards, featuring 295 different cards in all. MTG was immediately popular, leading Alpha to sell out quickly. Because of this, Limited Edition Alpha cards are rare, and well-preserved examples are highly sought after.

The CrossOver submission included high-value cards, including several from the coveted Power Nine, which are some of the most expensive MTG cards ever sold. These included an Ancestral Recall graded CGC Gem Mint 10 and a full set of Mox Gems (Mox Ruby, Mox Sapphire, Mox Emerald, Mox Pearl and Mox Jet), each graded CGC 8.5 or higher.


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Limited Edition Alpha introduced the concept of Dual Lands — a single land card that offers players the choice of two mana types instead of one. The ability to choose their mana type freely with one card gave players a massive advantage in gameplay, so Dual Lands were extremely popular. The CrossOver submission included several Alpha Dual Land cards, including a Volcanic Island graded CGC Gem Mint 10.


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“These are the cards that will be part of my collection forever,” said Steve, the owner of the CGC-certified Magic: The Gathering cards. “They’ll be appreciated for the rest of my lifetime and for generations to come.”

Want to see Steve’s entire collection? Check out a video by clicking here.

About CGC

Since revolutionizing comic book grading in 2000, CGC has grown to include certification services for many other types of pop culture collectibles. These divisions include CGC CardsCGC Video Games and CGC Home Video. CGC Cards provides expert card grading for TCGs, sports cards and non-sports cards. CGC Video Games is dedicated to video game grading for the most popular consoles, including Nintendo, Sega, Atari, PlayStation and more. The newest division of CGC, CGC Home Video, provides expert VHS grading in addition to other types of videocassettes.


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