Color Hues of Old Cards

[xfxf]

I'm sure we all know Wizards used to have a worse Q&A back in the day and used varying inks which resulted in different print runs with slightly different color schemes. I always get stuck on the Urza's block cards with this. Especially the lands and blue cards are quite noticable and the darker print runs are quite unpleasent to my eye.

I also notice this a lot with Revised dual lands. I'm sure most people don't ever notice the difference in duals but since most Magic players have their own quirks I'll dwell on it :). To me it's one of the things that once you see you can't unsee. I have a number of Revised Tundras this way and it's driving me crazy. I'm trying to shop for lighter ones and ship out the darker ones but you really can't tell the color hue of cards from scans or camera pictures.

Does this bother anyone else or am I just OCD :laugh: How do you guys shop for the cards which you have such small obsessions about? I thought maybe I could pay premium to see the card up front and get it from a singles vendor but here in Paris the vendors match the American prices in Euros so it's definitely a no-go.

[Octopusman]

I think your problem is somewhat unique since you can't see the difference unless you have the card with you in person.
This is different from my preference which is Arabian Nights with the darker/colored colorless mana symbols.


Look at them in person, first? :tongue:


Good luck!

[Koby]

I happen to like the dark-print Saga cards better, and you're absolutely right - it's much more noticeable on the blue cards. I know there are some dark-print Visions cards like Natural Order which some collectors/pimpers like to get.

[xfxf]

For the Revised duals, average scans always show a lightish color. If there are two or more cards in the same scan I can tell which one is dark and which one is light but in isolated scans it's very hard to tell where the card stands. However in person it's very easy to see the differences immediately. I have 5 Tundras and 3 of them have somewhat darker brown even grayish frames, 1 has the light brown sand color frames (which is what should be imo) and another one has again lighter but somewhat pinkish hue in the frames. I can even tell the differences from the videos haha. A couple weeks ago Joe Lossett was playing against a Rector-Omniscience deck in SCG open. I could tell that Joe had the lighter Tundras while his opponent had an ugly dark Tundra :)

[Koby]

Maybe all the time under the camera has bleached his duals? :laugh:
I never really paid attention to Revised dual land colorations

[Sloshthedark]

yes I prefer darker cards, and let go the brighter ones... green are also noticable

I haven't seen revised dual significantly darker (~ at least WB italian revised), but I know what you mean - I'm looking for dark brainstorms ;)

[xfxf]

I'm surprised that people tend to like the darker prints. I have a quite dark Tolarian Academy that I want to get rid of, maybe one of you would be interested :)

[nedleeds]

The worst color differences ever were when Mirage first came out. You could pick the Mirage cards out of a pile of Unlimited or Beta by the hue of the backs easily (this was also true of Alliances but the first Mirage print run stood out like a sore thumb).

I ranted and raved about it on Usenet at the time mostly because alphas were banned, and I had piles of alpha power and duals.

Actually I believe I invent black backed sleeves in this usenet post:

https://groups.google.com/group/rec.games.trading-cards.magic.misc/browse_thread/thread/33d4a97f5ff27e39/ae781e7d35e768d0#ae781e7d35e768d0

[RJM]

Actually I believe I invent black backed sleeves in this usenet post:

https://groups.google.com/group/rec.games.trading-cards.magic.misc/browse_thread/thread/33d4a97f5ff27e39/ae781e7d35e768d0#ae781e7d35e768d0

Ha, you also simultaneously invented an actual use for Spellfire cards.

[ESG]

Bilb_o, you might be able to subtly lighten your duals by putting them in sunlight, although I don't know if you want to go to those lengths.