MAGIC: THE GATHERING
1994 Booster Boxes (5)
Factory sealed, Near Mint • MTG-94BOX
Initial share price
$27.50
Initial offering amount
$55,000
+26A vault of Magic's earliest treasures
Including Antiquities expansion set, Revised core set, Legends expansion set, The Dark expansion set, and Fallen Empires expansion set
Initial offering amount
$55,000
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Today, Magic: The Gathering is the biggest collectible game on earth; tens of millions of players duel with each other across every continent, and there are many billions of Magic cards in circulation. But of course, things didn’t get that way overnight!
In 1993/94 one of the world’s greatest fantasy card game was just taking its first wobbly steps. Designed and playtested by grad students, the first Alpha printing of Magic was a very limited run. But it sold out fast. As did the next printing, and the next after that.
By December ‘93, the game’s publishers felt confident enough to release the first expansion set of new cards, inspired by the Arabian Nights. You’ll be shocked to hear that it sold out too!
The first year of Magic was awkward and experimental - there were printing errors, poor distribution, conflict over what the game needed to be. Some early cards proved to be so powerful that they had to be banned, becoming sought after relics in their own right.
In what became Magic’s first halcyon year, 5 new card sets were released to the public - 4 expansion sets of new cards and a fresh, Revised edition of the base game.
In just 12 months, these sets - Antiquities, Legends, The Dark, Fallen Empires - expanded Magic in every direction, adding new card types, multicolored cards, “tribal” deck types, and the first chapters of Magic’s own epic storyline - one that is still going today, with a high-profile Netflix adaptation in the works.
And in the middle of all of that, Revised not only provided the best-known printings of some of the game’s most iconic cards, it solidified the modern Magic ruleset, introducing the fundamental structure of the game which still reigns to this day.
The story of Magic is a 26 year history of growth, and it is a testament to MTG’s unique appeal that some players have stuck with it from the very beginning. These players have seen the entire evolution of the Magic product, and as the first years of the game increasingly become the stuff of myth and legend to a younger audience, the veterans have become guardians of Magic history and nostalgia.
And the best way to get new generations interested in the earliest Magic cards? Why, play with them!
The popularization of Old School Magic tournaments, designed as a way to play and appreciate the game as it was in 1994, has led a revival in interest for Magic’s first boom period. In these games, only vintage cards from the early printings are legal; old-timers play with the first decks they ever owned, clashing with younger opponents who were not even born when their Black Lotuses were first torn from a booster pack!
We spoke to one of those “youngsters” about the appeal of Old School as a subculture. Nick, who describes himself as an “avid fan of Eternal Magic formats”, has been told more than once that he’s “too young to be an Old School player”.
“I think the appeal of Old School Magic is primarily nostalgic. You have a generation of players in their 30’s and 40’s… it’s a natural progression that many of these players looking to recapture a nostalgic feel from their youth also happen to have a comfortable income that allows them to indulge (despite) the high price barrier…”
“For me, someone under 30 who didn’t start playing until the late 90’s but picked up Power (Magic’s rarest cards) before they skyrocketed, the format gives me a window into the roots of the game which I cherish so much.”
That sort of reverence for early Magic sets is almost universal amongst today’s players, regardless of their age. One of the things which sets Magic apart from other games is its age and scope - to own a card which someone first excitedly played over 25 years ago, and still be able to play it today, carries a real emotional weight. In time, even common cards like Lightning Bolt and Counterspell have become iconic concepts which Nick and millions of others worldwide feel a connection to.
“I love that the format breathes life into iconic cards that would be unplayable by any other means (in tournaments with modern cards legal). My favorite card to play is Serendib Efreet, a 3 mana 3/4 flier that pings you for 1 on your upkeep.”
Nick would no doubt be happy to imagine our sealed box of Revised boosters contains one or more of the unique “wrong-color” Serendib Efreet, among Magic’s most famous misprinted cards. Such errors and quirks of the printing process are cherished by Old School fans, along with the hodgepodge art style and presentation of the ‘94 sets.
While the modern cards have clean production values, the old school sets burst off the cardboard with bright primary colors, cartoonish figures and painterly landscapes. Decks like Nick’s are vivid, priceless windows into the shared past of a global community.
And with so little original ‘94 product left in the world, our booster boxes hold a similar wealth of nostalgia. A little time capsule, wherein those brightly enchanting cards rest good as new - as though no time had passed at all since the early 90’s.
When considering this lot it’s important to recognize the significance that any still-sealed product of this era holds. Because the mini-lottery of opening booster packs is so core to the Magic experience, the chance to crack open such boxes is a momentous occasion all its own. Wizards of the Coast, publishers of Magic, used unopened boxes of 1993’s Beta printing as the centrepiece of their 25th Anniversary celebrations for Magic.
The opening and breaking in of these cards in a mini-tournament was watched raptly by players around the world. And like opening a fine wine, each such treasured occasion leaves us with one fewer sealed boxes of Old School Magic to look forward to.
Aside from the historic significance of these boxes, there is potential value within. While every card of a certain age is worth some money, standouts like The Tabernacle at Pendrell Vale and Mishra’s Workshop are still vital to competitive decks in Vintage today and can fetch thousands of dollars each.
Some of Magic’s most unique and powerful effects were only ever printed in Legends - Moat, The Abyss, Chains of Mephistopheles, Eureka, Nether Void. Sought by players in and out of Old School tournaments, the idea of mint-fresh copies of these historical treasures is incredible to entertain. And then there are the original dual lands, printed for the final time in Revised, which remain the essential bedrock of any Eternal format deck.
With all of this history, all of this emotional meaning, and all this potential, it is easy to see why the idea of not one, but FIVE sealed boxes of this vintage - the complete Magic ‘94 omnibus! - is such a convincing and unique lot for the market.
We purchased the boxes from a collector/investor who acquired them over the past five years in private transactions. Although it’s impossible to pin down exactly how many unopened boxes remain from 1994, it’s exceedingly rare to have the entire collection of factory-sealed boxes.
