Posted in: Card Games, Games, Heritage Sponsored, Magic: The Gathering, Tabletop, Wizards of the Coast | Tagged: , , , ,


Magic: The Gathering's Crown Jewel, A Beta Black Lotus, On Auction

Magic: The Gathering, a game which to many needs no introduction, is the oldest trading card game out there today. Millions of players play this card game, some even professionally both on paper and through digital means such as MTG Arena. Others are in the game's throes, specifically not to play but to collect. This may be for reasons of sentimentality or to amass a financial foothold in the game's fan-formed economy, or other reasons entirely.

Among players and collectors alike, one card stands out among all the rest as the gold standard of the trading card game: Black Lotus. In the Beta edition of the game's first-ever core set, only 3,000 Black Lotuses were ever printed, and none will ever be printed again due to a series of promises Wizards made to collectors, known as the "Reserve List." This, of course, makes the Black Lotus exceedingly rare. To further increase its importance to the Magic community, the card is also absurdly powerful.

If you are looking for a Black Lotus of your very own, you are in luck (unless you're accessing this article a week or so too late): Heritage Auctions, a major collectibles auction house located in Dallas, Texas, has gotten ahold of a grade 9.5 Beta Black Lotus and has it up for auction right now! This auction is able to accept bids up until 2:20 PM Eastern Time, or 1:20 PM Central Time, on January 14th.

The grade-9.5 Beta Black Lotus (as graded by Beckett) from Magic: The Gathering, up for auction at Heritage Auctions right now!
The grade-9.5 Beta Black Lotus (as graded by Beckett) from Magic: The Gathering, up for auction at Heritage Auctions right now!

As graded by Beckett, a verifiably diligent grader of cards and other collectibles, this Black Lotus is described by Heritage Auctions as such:

A whopping Gem Mint (9.5) Beta Black Lotus. This card has a "Basic" grade with 3 of the 4 subgrades at 9.5 and one at 9. Only 3,000 Beta Black Lotus cards were printed with 57 of them graded at 9.5 and only 4 higher according to the BGS population report. This is the highest graded Black Lotus of any edition we have had so this is sure to be a sought after item.

The back face of the Beckett 9.5-graded Beta Black Lotus.
The back face of the Beckett 9.5-graded Beta Black Lotus.

If you are interested in grabbing yourself a piece of Magic: The Gathering history, whether you're a player or collector, you have until January 14th at 1:20 PM Central Time to do so. Opportunities to obtain a Black Lotus only present themselves once in a blue moon, so if you want it and can feasibly bid on it, don't miss out on this one! You can find this auction here.

Heritage Sponsored
Affiliates of Bleeding Cool buy from and/or consign to Heritage Auctions.

Enjoyed this? Please share on social media!

Stay up-to-date and support the site by following Bleeding Cool on Google News today!

Joshua NelsonAbout Joshua Nelson

Josh Nelson is a Magic: The Gathering deckbuilding savant, a self-proclaimed scholar of all things Sweeney Todd, and, of course, a writer for Bleeding Cool. In their downtime, Josh can be found painting models, playing Magic, or possibly preaching about the horrors and merits of anthropophagy. You can find them on Twitter at @Burning_Inquiry for all your burning inquiries.
Comments will load 20 seconds after page. Click here to load them now.