Editor’s introduction: We are proud to introduce you to our new Eternal Central Contributor, Keith Adams, aka TheMisprintGuy. Keith will be publishing a weekly video-column named TheMisprintGuy Magic Oddica where he’ll cover the huge specter of the most amazing Magic rarities.
Before we move on to his very first article we would like to introduce you to Keith Adams with a little bio about him:
Keith Adams has been collecting & playing Magic: the Gathering since 1995. In 2001, Keith purchased a few misprinted cards, and never looked back. Today, he has one of the world’s largest collections specializing in misprints, test prints, & other hard to find rarities that are almost unheard of in the Magic: the Gathering community. Keith has now joined our team of writers to expand your knowledge of the world of oddities!
Keith’s collection ranges from cards that pre-date Alpha to the downright strange items that never should have left the factory. A Black Lotus that has a casting cost of 3 mana? A Time Walk that is red? Cards that have more than one set printed on them? They really do exist, and Keith will turn these imperfections into a virtual gallery to share with us, so stay tuned!
Click on Read More to discover his very first article!
TheMisprintGuy Magic Oddica – Chapter I: Miscuts.
One of Magic: the Gathering’s most common mistakes happens during one of the final stages after the printing process. Once a large sheet of cards is printed, it must be cut into individual cards to be placed into packs. The vast majority of times this is done properly. However, on rare occasions sheets are cut improperly. If quality control does not catch this, these cards will be placed into packs & sold.
Mistakes happen, and miscut cards is something that exists in every large print run that Wizards has produced. Not a single set has been spared this mistake. Even the more limited print runs of Alpha, Beta, and Arabian Nights have produced errors such as this.
Nowadays, with sites like eBay, everyone is trying to cash in with cards that are the least bit off-centered. However, when Magic was in its infancy, many players would simply throw away these cards. Viewed as defective, in the days before players had non-transparent sleeves opponents would accuse you of cheating. They served no function, so they were tossed. The best home for them was the garbage many would argue, so some of the best and most valuable miscuts today occupy a landfill. Lately, things have changed. Many players are looking for unique, attention getting cards that add to the attractiveness of their decks. What better way than to use a miscut card? Depending on the circumstances, they also could be tournament legal.
I have scanned some images of a few miscuts from my private collection. No card is immune to this type of mistake, it does not matter what language, set, or rarity it is! Also, if you are lucky enough to pull some miscut cards from a pack or starter, there be plenty more to find, as each sheet has well over 100 cards. So go to the source of the pack you found the miscuts, as more packs from the same box, same case, and you will most likely find many more!
Lastly, I have made a brief video elaborating and showing different miscuts that you may find yourself: