The Museum

The Best Beta Set in the World

Magic the Gathering released on August 5, 1993 with the original Alpha set.  The print run of Alpha was very low, and the demand for more cards necessitated the release of the Beta set shortly thereafter on October 4, 1993.  Due to the low print run of Alpha, Beta is the first set that was widely available and used for play. 

Alpha cards have unique rounded corners.  Starting with the Beta set, the corner shape of Magic cards was uniform and indistinguishable.  For this reason, for the early life of Magic, Alpha cards were not allowed to be used in events because you could tell where they were placed in the deck due to their corner shape.  This made it so that Beta was much more expensive than Alpha for the early period of Magic's life.  It was not uncommon for a player to trade 2-4 copies of an Alpha card for a single Beta edition card.  

Given the Beta set's extensive use in play, it is very difficult to find mint copies of these cards.  This Beta set is the top of the food chain for Magic the Gathering collecting as it has amassed nearly all of the top graded copies of Beta cards available.  There are few possible upgrades for the set, as better cards simply do not exist.

Please enjoy viewing the Power 9, Dual Lands, and a sampling of some of the top cards from each color.

The owner of this set is considering its sale, serious inquiries please Contact us.

Power 9:

Dual Lands:

Black Labels:

Blue / Artifact:

Red / Green:

Black / White: