1993 Magic The Gathering MTG Alpha Lord Of The Pit PSA 10 GEM MINT

Many fans of the earliest editions of Magic: The Gathering found intrigue in the darker tone of many cards and the mature themes depicted in many of the illustrations. Some onlookers viewed the black mana cards—which often depicted gruesome, and sometimes 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 helped make it an international success. Released in August 1993, the Alpha printing was the first production run of the original MTG 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—Lord of the Pit ranking among them. Paying the mana cost to summon the Lord of the Pit is insufficient to satiate its desires. This demonic entity requires the 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 and players do not sacrifice a creature, it saps over a third of the player’s life to stay on the board. No other card in the history of the early days of MTG embodies this intrinsic deal with a devil mentality that offers tremendous power 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 regularly traded and competed with the most popular cards, causing many to sustain damage. PSA has awarded only eight examples of this card a PSA 10 designation, and fortunately for collectors, acquiring this example does not require a sacrifice—only the winning bid.