When collecting vintage magic cards, there are few cards more expensive and difficult to find as an Alpha Rare.  With an original print run in 1993 of approximately 1,008 for each card, they are incredibly rare and desirable.

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Not all collectors have the motivation or disposable income to try and acquire an Alpha Rare, but those that do find early on that there are some unique challenges presented when buying ungraded Alpha Rares, most notably the issue of "clipped" Beta cards.  Clipped Beta cards are cards which have had their corners altered to give them a wider diameter, mimicking the corners of Alpha cards (the key identifier of Alpha).  Clipping was done in the 90's before opaque sleeve backs in order to create uniform card backs, and more recently it has been done by counterfeiters who attempt to take advantage of the price different between Alpha and Beta.  If done well it can be almost indistinguishable from the real thing.

Luckily there are resources available to help distinguish authentic Alpha Rares, from clipped Beta Rares including:
- Alpha misprints
- Alpha ink pattern alignment
- Alpha print defects

 

This guide will go through these ways of determining authentic Alpha Rares, and will have specific information for the most expensive and unique Alpha Rares.

PLEASE NOTE:
- This guide does not include every Alpha Rare, only a select few of high interest.
- This guide assumes you are familiar with the key identifiers of Alpha, Beta, Unlimited, CE and ICE cards.  Namely the color of their borders, and the shape of their corners.  As a quick primer Unlimited cards have a white border, CE and ICE cards have black borders with pointed corners, beta cards have black borders with 1 mm (standard) corners, and Alpha cards are black bordered with 2 mm (non-standard) corners.

 - This guide also assumes you have already authenticated your card and at the very least checked the "green dot", the black ink, done the "light test", and looked at the rosettes of the card.  For a comprehensive guide of how to do this, please click the button below: