I wanted to do something different and fun. So in my journey to bring more light to tabletop gaming and TCGs I decided to talk about some of my experiences. With that being said I decided to talk about some of my fun and positive experiences to be exact. So we are going to go over my top Magic The Gathering cards pulled. These are by no means the top 5 most expensive cards I have pulled, but they are my favorite. So let’s talk about them.
Foil Conflux Noble Hierarch
Number 5 on my favorite pull list is a foil Noble Hierarch from the Conflux set. The person who taught me to play Magic The Gathering used to own a Magic shop ages ago. One day he convinced me to come play in an event which was called a Booster Draft. At this point, I had never participated in this type of event but went anyway. Pretty much I had to learn on the fly and it was an interesting time. A Booster Draft is when you have 3 packs of cards and you open one pack pick a card then pass that pack around the table. This process continues for all three packs and you attempt to build the best deck possible with your picks of at least forty cards. I was rather new to the “competitive scene” but I did my best.
I won my first two rounds surprisingly enough. My round three and final opponent asked if I wanted to just take a draw and not play to the final round to guarantee pretty much first and second place. So I agreed and ended up getting first place in my first Booster Draft ever. My round three opponent wasn’t too thrilled, because he wasn’t first place and looked at my deck and bragged that he could of beat me. So when spending our store credit (prize for the event) I grabbed the last two Conflux packs my buddy had at the shop. I opened the first pack and got a Nicol Bolas Planeswalker which was cool. But the 2nd pack I opened had a beautiful foil Noble Hierarch and I freaked out and was super excited. I loved that card and it fetches a market price of $27.98.
Chaos Draft Coldsnap Dark Depths
Number 4 on my list is Dark Depths from Coldsnap. So we were doing a special Chaos Draft event at my local game store for my birthday around 4 or 5 years ago. Chaos Draft is similar to a Booster Draft, but the difference is we could use any fifteen-card booster packs from Magic The Gathering’s history besides the Un-sets. I had one Coldsnap pack from a previous event I was going to play in, but I let someone have my spot because too many people showed up. So I saved those packs I hadn’t used for over two years, and I always said I could feel Dark Depths in this pack. I didn’t actually know if it was there, but I was definitely speaking it into existence.
So we get to the event and I’m sitting next to my buddy Jimmy who taught me how to play Magic The Gathering. These packs also had Snow- Basic lands in them as well which I also liked. So as I opened the pack and was looking through for my first pick I saw a cool Snow-Covered Forest and I almost took it. I decided to look through again and there it was Dark Depths. I had been saying for over two years the Coldsnap pack had Dark Depths and there it was. The funny thing is I almost passed that pack to my buddy, luckily he told me he wouldn’t have let me miss the Dark Depths. The market price currently for Dark Depths is $13.67.
Foil Coldsnap Counterbalance
My third favorite pull on the list is a Foil Counterbalance from Coldsnap. Growing up one of my biggest supporters and people I spent time with was my Uncle Tim. He supported every “positive” bad habit I have ever had. If a new video game came out, I’d ask my uncle to get it. The same went for everything from video games, wrestling PPVs, and of course trading cards. We used to have a flea market when I was a kid and I knew if I went with my uncle I would usually leave with something. I remember I had just started learning and getting into Magic The Gathering and this flea market always carried Yu-Gi-Oh! and Magic cards. So we went there and I remember my uncle saying something like you can get 3 packs of cards.
I was saying, “nooooo only three packs, can’t I get three Magic and 3 Yu-Gi-Oh! packs.” My uncle said no only three total packs. So we went shopping for a bit and it came time to pick my three packs. I managed to somehow convince my uncle to get me a Magic Mirrodin Theme Deck and 1 pack of Coldsnap. I also ended up getting an Insect Queen Yu-Gi-Oh! tin as well. Needless to say, my Uncle Time always spoiled me. I opened the Coldsnap pack and was like WOW this one is shiny. That shiny card happened to be a foil Counterbalance. Counterbalance happens to be one of my favorite cards of all time. A foil Counterbalance fetches a market price of $146.23.
Christmas Masterpiece Cataclysmic Gearhulk
My second favorite pull of all time happens to be one of the Masterpiece Series cards, Cataclysmic Gearhulk. The Masterpiece Series added extra value to packs and was kind of difficult to get with having low pull rates. Before I pulled this I had only pulled one of the Masterpiece Series cards and that was just a Smoldering Marsh. I did trade that Smoldering Marsh to help me get back into Magic The Gathering because I had quit the game for a bit. So needless to say I didn’t personally pull any of the great cards from the series. My last living blood grandparent lives in Washington State and doesn’t visit very often.
I haven’t seen him in quite a few years. One year he just happened to be visiting around Christmas time. If you know me, you know just how much I love Christmas. So to have my Grandpa Mike visiting at Christmas was awesome. He decided to go to our local Walmart to pick up some Christmas gifts and for me, he picked up a couple of Magic The Gathering Kaladesh booster packs. The crazy thing is at this point my Grandpa had never bought me any trading cards. So I opened up a few of my packs and got some okay stuff. But I got to the last pack and wished upon everything to do with Christmas to give me a Masterpiece series card.
I opened the last pack and slowly filtered through the cards with anticipation building then there was Masterpiece Cataclysmic Gearhulk. After so many packs I finally got one of the ones I liked and thought was cool. I’m sure I had spent a decent amount of money on packs, but my Grandpa Mike got lucky and picked a winner. The market price for one of these is $31.35.
Broke Trading Revised Edition (3ED) Tundra
Last, but not least my all-time favorite pull is a Tundra from a 3rd Edition Revised booster pack. During this time frame, I was a high school graduate who was getting ready to work at Wendy’s at the time. But I didn’t have a job yet so I couldn’t go out and just buy packs and packs of cards. My local game shop at that time was my home away from home. I skipped school my Senior year just to hang out here sometimes, but still graduated and did well. When I wanted to get some packs or internet time at the shop to game I had to “hustle and bustle” as they say.
I was non-stop wheeling and dealing to get packs and whatever I needed. So Joey the owner ended up getting a great deal on an opened Revised booster box of packs that was only missing a couple. He was selling them for like 20 bucks a pack and I really wanted a couple, but I was broke as could be. I did however had some cards that Joey really wanted at the time like Mycosynth Golem, Darksteel Forge, and a couple of other artifact cards that he was looking for at the time. I ended up cutting a deal with him for two Revised packs and I was ready to open and see my spoils.
The first pack wasn’t great but, I opened a Sol Ring. When I opened the second pack I dropped the cards on the table as I got the the Tundra. I exclaimed Holy Crap (the other word though) and I pulled a freaking Tundra. Everyone at the shop was happy and cheered. I was pretty hungry that day and sold it on the spot for its worth which was eighty bucks at the time. You can a Revised Tundra market value currently at $469.02.
Wrap-Up
My TCG career for every card game I have played has been a blast. Believe me when I tell you that I have played a bunch of different ones. Magic The Gathering has been my favorite by far. I have met many people, made plenty of great friends, and have a plethora of great stories. I am actually a Level 1 Magic Judge, and I wouldn’t do that for any other game. These are just some of my favorite pulls and moments but there are plenty more to talk about. Let me know what experiences you would like me to talk about too. You can expect more tabletop and TCG coverage in the future, so stay tuned!
