If you are ever in the area...

[fvzappa]

...you need to let me know! I live in southern Ohio, USA. 8)

For those of you who knew I had my paws on something big as of late, I am relieved to finally be able to say-

I am now the proud owner of TWO Pre-Alpha playtest decks. Only three complete decks exist, so I am now the only one who can competatively play these cards anymore. Some singles exist, as a few decks were broken up, but only 3 decks remain in tact. Obviously, these cards are difficult to come by, and provide insight to the games design process, originally for their game called "Mana Flash". Time Walk was red, Ironroot Treefolk was called "Ents", banding was called "stacking", etc.

Here is the story, as told by WOTC, read the article to make sense of these cards- http://www.wizards.com/default.asp?x=mtgcom/arcana/67

Many of these cards I own are more basic than those featured (as mentioned those are the "gamma" versions in the article), they received color "dots", as they decided what color to make a card. I'll provide a few scans soon!

Anyhow, purchasing my first Alpha playtest deck is what led me to this site in the first place, and I had wanted another deck- they are sooo primative, so I wanted another one to play with, and now I have acomplished that! So, if you are in the Cincinnati area, give me a hollar. I also go to shows in Indy, Kentucky, Columbus, etc. when I can. Just ask, I may be there.

Now, as I had promised, I will make the first playtest game in well over a decade be a game in which I teach my girlfriend how to play. [smiley=evil.gif] Hopefully we'll have a new cardboard crack addict soon.

[notsofasteddie]

Always good to have new players especially when they are trained by a master!! Congratulations on your acquisition! It's neat holding some of the early history of the game we love. Maybe I'll see you at GenCon!

[Celebrindor]

In the IRC channel, last Friday:

[19:59:52] <van8888> just tell us!
[19:59:59] <fvzappa> haha
[20:00:10] <fvzappa> I'm killing you aren't I?
[20:00:17] <van8888> yes, i am dying

[20:00:39] <van8888> i think i know what you got

[20:02:42] <van8888> i remember, a few years ago in Inquest, they mentioned this old game, mana something-or-other that was the precursor to magic.  there are something like 3 sets wordwide, because it was never released.  it was a box set of cards, so it wasnt just one card, and it was worth THOUSANDS
[20:02:52] <fvzappa> I've heard theories already
[20:03:17] <fvzappa> heh
[20:03:43] <fvzappa> I won't agree or disagree...
[20:03:50] <van8888> hehe
[20:03:58] <van8888> you won't disagree?

damn, did i call it, or did I call it?

Awesome keith, got any pics?

[pickle.69]

Congratulations!!

I knew it for a long time and am very happy it all worked out fine for you.
CONGRATIULATIONS!!!!!!!

Have fun playing and please remember the golden rule:

NO DRINKS ON THE PLAY TABLE! (well unless you want to raise the value about a couple of digits)
Hope to see some pics soon


Questions:
Which cards do you have in all?
How big are they?
Cardboard or is it a normal paper?
Ralph should we not add these completly on the library?
[Egoism] I could see all cards [/Egoism]

[Jess]

I so totaly vote this set to be put on the Rarities list.

Huh, wait... didn't Ralph just tell me he was working on a big update? What kind of update? &nbsp;;D

Edit: PS: congratz, by the way!!!

[fvzappa]

Well, once I got the first deck, I had asked Ralph about adding these to the library, & he had several legitimate reasons not to, even though I offered.

Mostly, these things are VERY easy to duplicate. If you saw them in person it'd be easy to understand. Basicly, you have construction paper & some copier, making images. The "gamma" stage (look at the 4 cards on my link in last post) cards were simply photocopied, as they had a very good idea what they were going to print. The other cards I just received, some are drawn or written on, as they often had no idea what color a card was going to be...

Needless to say I got them from a great source, with documentation from Richard Garfield himself. Other than that, an 8 year old could make these things!

So, I'll be making scans of a few cards to better elaborate & explain the development process, and I'll also be happy to write up a decklist. But, as the owner of a very healthy chunk of these cards I will probably be afraid to show everything (imagewise) on the 'net. I'll add scans & a decklist soon though.

Hope you all understand! WHO WANTS TO PLAY?!?

*Lastly, I followed the creed I have always followed, & let my opponent win their first ever game of MTG. I was attacked by a 6/4 Wurm to finish me off...

[TerraFrost]

Mostly, these things are VERY easy to duplicate.

Perhapes almost as easy to fake as it looks like these might be, heh.

Anyway, if we ever play, I want the deck with Starburst (isn't that the card that says you win on the next turn?)! ;D

[fvzappa]

Perhaps, yes...

Here is a rundown on the decks. The left part is the playtest name of the card, the right is the printed (alpha/beta) name as needed. SOME are identical to their a/b versions, most are not exactly as we know them. These are in no particular order-

Deck one, all are the "gamma version" (see my first post):

Merfolk/ MOTPTrident
Elemental Blast/ BEBlast
Serpent/ Sea Serpent
Ankh of Mishra
Stream of Life
Camouflage
Fireball
Ancestral Memory/ Ancestral Recall
Starburst (red card)/ Time Walk
Stone Rain
White Knight
Circle of Protection from Black Magick (x2)/ COP: Black
Goblins/ Mons' Goblin Raiders
Mammoths/ War Mammoth
Wall of Brambles
Sinkhole
Lifetap
Rod of Ruin
Unsummon
Shade/ Frozen Shade
Lightning Bolt
Heal (x2)
Red Ward (x2)
Armour/ {never made- R, enchantment, creature has +2 defense}
Illusionary Terrain
Holy Strength
Destroy Artifact/ Shatter
Minor Wizard/ Prodigal Sorcerer
Consecrate Land
Giant Growth
Islands (x6) {they have pics of actual geographical Islands}
Mountain (x3)
Plains (x5) {they have pics of airplanes}
Swamp (x6)
Forest (x7)

Deck 2, which has SEVERAL stages in the development process, including hand drawn pics & colors on them to determine what color a card will be:

Islands (x5)
Forest (x5)
Mountain (x4)
Plains (x3)
Swamp (x3)
Water Elemental
Terror
Destroy Artifact(x2)/ Shatter
Barren/ {identical to Sinkhole, but never made, perhaps became Ice Storm}
Juggernaut
Ents/ Ironroot Treefolk
Sol Ring
Guardian Angel
Sinkhole
Elemental Blast/ REBlast
Fireball
Zombies/ Scathe Zombies
Illusionary Forces
Healing Salve
Wall of Stone
Bears/ Grizzly Bears
Wolves/ Timber Wolves
Wurm/ Crawl Wurm
Angel/ Serra Angel
Disintegrate
Lions/ Savannah Lions
Tunnel
Hero/ Benalish Hero
Giant/ Hill Giant
Ogre/ Gray Ogre
Plague/ Pestilence
Flight
Mind Twist
Glasses of Urza
Raise Dead
Unsummon
Merfolk/ MOTPTrident
Artifact Tap
Wall of Bone
False Orders
Heal
Circle of Protection From Black Magick/ COP: Black
" Green Magic/ COP:Green
" Red Magic/ COP: Red

And that's the rundown on the decks... pics coming tomorrow!

[flatmatt]

Grizzly Bears, eh?

*Plots... [smiley=evil.gif]

[Ralph Herold]

Jess: Sorry to disappoint. I am not working on this but on other unfinished issues still lying in my open email folder.

fvzappa: Congrats on your aquisition! I have decided to do a coverage of these cards some time, but I have to overcome several problems, one of them being the inability to create a full card list (there are so many similar, but not identical copies of these cards in existence and they are all more or less uniqe, that any attempt to list them all is doomed to failure). Furthermore, I will have to find out enough about these cards in order to present a consistent coverage. For example, InQuest once did an article about these cards. What they said there contradicts what I have seen of these cards so far (from the top of my head they said creatures had a third value called initiative and colors were used to represent card types), so they either have another version of the game or their cards are not legitimate. There will be enough ground to explore.

[Celebrindor]

Jess: Sorry to disappoint. I am not working on this but on other unfinished issues still lying in my open email folder.

fvzappa: Congrats on your aquisition! I have decided to do a coverage of these cards some time, but I have to overcome several problems, one of them being the inability to create a full card list (there are so many similar, but not identical copies of these cards in existence and they are all more or less uniqe, that any attempt to list them all is doomed to failure). Furthermore, I will have to find out enough about these cards in order to present a consistent coverage. For example, InQuest once did an article about these cards. What they said there contradicts what I have seen of these cards so far (from the top of my head they said creatures had a third value called initiative and colors were used to represent card types), so they either have another version of the game or their cards are not legitimate. There will be enough ground to explore.

"Mana Clash".  Page 28, Issue 89, September 2002  (second to the bottom on the stack of old Inquests, of course)

[fvzappa]

So far as I can tell, there are at least 3 stages to these cards. The WOTC article (again, see 1st post) shows 4 "gamma" cards, so just on that alone I can assume that there are 3 stages (alpha, beta, gamma). Also, the letter of authenticity I have offers a brief explination, and is signed by Garfield, which I can assume this offers some accurate info.

And, I alone own more than one "version" of a card. So, tonight I will share a few images, and explain what I beleive to be the truth about these cards.

If this site is to carry these playtest cards, it may just be advisable that there are examples of each type of card, as opposed to going for a setlist. If nothing else, I'll try to elaborate enough so that you can refer to this thead in the future, or as always anyone with questions can contact me & I'll help where I can.

On another note, I heard Richard Garfield will be at a major show in the central USA (GenCon perhaps?). If anyone can let me know for sure, thanks in advance...

[dragsamou]

Hi Members.Hi Keith.
When Ralph will decided to do the coverage of this.I will gladly contribute as I have the Original "Rough"Rules from Mana Flash by Richard Garfield as well as a Color Plates,One Sheet Full Color Mock-up showing six Sample Mana Flash cards,as well as more documents from Peter Adkison from April 1993.

[fvzappa]

This scan shows 12 of the playtest cards, kind of in order of production (best I can tell). Notice a few cards are on there more than once.

[furiousavatar]

Muahahahaha, Now after holding, caressing and, pondering the fondelization of the first deck he has obtained. I must play Keith in a rigorious game of Mana Flash. while finding a way to make it a drunk game.
One shot a life loss sounds good. Making Timmy the best damned bar tender EVER!

P.S.
Dirka Dirka Mahamid Jihad!