Direct answer: The print-run numbers for each Pokémon Base Set print (Wizards of the Coast Base Set 1st Edition, 1st Edition Shadowless, Unlimited, and later reprints) were never published by Wizards of the Coast, so there is no single authoritative…
Direct answer: Wizards of the Coast (WotC) produced very large and varied print runs for Magic: The Gathering (MTG) for business, supply-and-demand, product-strategy, and community reasons—early underprints created scarcity and secondary‑market problems, so WotC alternated between underprinting, massive reprints, and…
Did Wizards of the Coast ever confirm exactly how many print runs there were for Magic: The Gathering sets? The short answer is no, Wizards rarely gave a precise number of print runs for most sets, sticking instead to total…
Pokémon Base Set cards from the very first days of the trading card game hold a special place in collectors’ hearts, and understanding the differences between the 1st print and the 4th print can make all the difference when you’re…
Magic: The Gathering, the big trading card game from Wizards of the Coast, did not add a visual “shadow” effect to its cards at a single exact moment, but the closest thing players often mean by “the Shadow” is the…
The Pokémon Trading Card Game kicked off with the Base Set, which first hit shelves in Japan on October 20, 1996, as the starting point for what would become a massive collecting craze. This original Japanese release, often called the…
In the world of Pokémon Trading Card Game collecting, the third print run is not the same as the unlimited print run, though they are closely related and often get mixed up by new collectors. The unlimited print run marks…
Pokémon Base Set cards from the original 1999 release are some of the most collected items in the trading card game world, and knowing the different print runs can make a big difference in spotting valuable pieces. The three main…
Some Pokémon Base Set trading cards have “1999” printed on them, while others say “1999-2000”. This difference comes from how Wizards of the Coast, the company that first brought Pokémon cards to the English-speaking world, printed and released the cards…
What Makes the 1st Edition Base Set Different From the Others Back in 1993, when Magic: The Gathering first hit the scene, the 1st Edition Base Set, also called Alpha, stood out like nothing else because it was the absolute…