1993 Magic The Gathering MTG Alpha Lord Of The Pit R BGS 10 PRISTINE

Part of the allure of Magic: The Gathering (MTG) when it was released in 1993 to an unsuspecting audience was the darker tone of many of the cards, along with the inherently more mature themes depicted in many of the card artworks. Onlookers viewed the black mana cards, which often depicted gruesome, and sometimes even demonic, imagery as sacrilegious. Illustrated by venerated artist Mark Tedin, Lord of the Pit fully embraces this notion, with a bone chilling depiction of the demon being summoned from a portal that seems connected to an unknown and unseen inferno, which embraced the occult side of MTG that made it an international success. Released in August of 1993, the Alpha printing is the first print run of the original Magic the Gathering Trading Card Game designed by Richard Garfield and released by Wizards of the Coast. According to the original Wizards of the Coast CEO Peter Adkinson, the Alpha print run consisted of 295 unique collectible playing cards, including 116 different rare cards, and was limited to a total of 2.61 million cards, with only approximately 1,008 of each rare card released, Lord of the Pit amongst them. Paying the mana cost to summon the Lord of the Pit is insufficient to satiate its desires. This demonic entity requires a sacrifice of one of its user’s creatures during upkeep. Otherwise, it doles out seven damage to its summoner. For perspective, players start the game with 20 life points. For every turn Lord of the Pit is in play that players do not sacrifice a creature, it saps over a third of the player’s life for staying on the board. No other card in the history of the early days of MTG embodies this intrinsic deal with such devil mentality that offers tremendous power, but at a questionable price. As the first collectible card game, few collectors could have imagined MTG cards commanding the premiums they do today. As a result, fans traded and played with the most popular and playable cards. Many of them sustained damage, or did not survive making this BGS 10 example the highest graded example for this issue. Expect it to summon some magic of its own in this month’s Premier Auction given its scarcity and appeal.