The Magic Librarities

So my global booster collection is currently sitting at around 59% and I have around 800 spares and I decided I should probably sort them out to make trading a bit easier.

I came across this, see if you can spot the difference!



Answers below!










































Other than the size of the boosters' sealed ends and the obvious colour differences I found this...



Which is not incredibly exciting but there are definately two varieties which can be seen in the Registered Trademark symbol. With and without a white ring.

I have noticed this variety also in Tempest. Richer colours and different Registered tradmark symbol. I have not seen it in other sets and I haven't looked in the foreign editions yet. Of the 11 Exodus I have only one has the white ring, the other 10 were all bought from the same place in the USA. The variety was most likely (though not 100%) from the UK.

The colour difference on the back of the boosters is more noticable as is the placement of the web address...



At first I thought the colour differences were the result of inks running out in the printing process but the variety has far richer colours, bright oranges instead of muted greens, the detail in the "Exodus" titles is easy to see, rather than just a plain font.

The R symbol and (R) symbol aren't just a case of a missing colour or black leaching over the white circle.

The final proof though is in the different placing of the web address on the back. Two different wrappers, not an error.

So any ideas?

Wrappers printed at two different facilities? But not from the same files!

Quality Control noticed the wrappers were too dark and went to all the effort of redoing them with new colours and adding the circle around the R.

The varieties are privy marked for some reason. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Privy_mark Maybe the varieties hold the foils!

Maybe this has been covered before.

Anyway, I am going to go back (when I have the time) and look for some others, because I need to make it even harder to get a full set.

Very cool find!

The way the pack has been sealed on the back is also different between the two variations.

Another big difference is the texture of the word "Exodus". The one on the right has very a very clear texture to the words, which the one on the left is so subtle that it almost looks to be all black.

berkumps wrote: The way the pack has been sealed on the back is also different between the two variations.

Drawing back from my days in Manufacturing as a Process Engineer, those differences are caused by two different crimping methods on obviously two different flow through wrapper machines. Which would also explain the overall length differences (cutting dyes and set up differences).

These packs could have come from two different packing locations or possibly two packing lines at the same plant side by side but one used older/different equipment than the other. They would of course have had to both meet similar overall specifications regarding seal quality, vacuum, tear strength, etc.

berkumps wrote:Very cool find!

The way the pack has been sealed on the back is also different between the two variations.

Can't believe I missed that! Especially as it is one of the distinguishing features of the fakes.

I am looking at the design of the "Expert" oval. Is it just the scan or are the left 3 mana symbols actually different? Like they are two tone or some such.

Certainly the two wrappings are different printings. Maybe a second print run.

Gary

Also the TM symbol on top of the EXODUS seems like it is gold and the other booster is white.

The orangish color on the right side- way different on them too.

My first thought would be separate print runs, possibly one for the prerelease product and one for general release.

Archivist wrote:My first thought would be separate print runs, possibly one for the prerelease product and one for general release.

Pre release...

That could explain why I have only come across two examples (Exodus and Tempest) They would probably have been produced in smaller numbers.

I wonder if there is any way of finding out for sure.

I wonder if it was intentional or just one-of-those-things.

I have a tournament pack (Starter and 3 boosters) coming from eBay for Onslaught, maybe that will tell me something.

Archivist may be onto something!

I won this http://www.ebay.com.au/itm/150825474938 ... 1497.l2649



No idea what it is but I needed an onslaught starter and I won two other auctions from the same seller.

I have a feeling it is from a tournament, 1 starter and 3 boosters (and inside: a sealed clear packet with two cards (or a single card with a back on both sides, but that would be stupid).

I checked the boosters, all 3 had a ring around the R and had the same seal along the back. I will compare them against my existing Onslaught boosters and see if there are any other differences.

Needless to say, I am now on the lookout for these!