What are your collections "crown jewels" and "white whales"?

[CleanBelwas]

Hi all,

As we all know, MTG has a large collectable aspect to it in addition to game play, and many of us take pleasure in the ownership of certain cards within our collections, either because of nostalgia, sentimentality, power or myriad reasons in between.

What card(s) are you most proud of in your collections? And why?

Also, what's a card that you've always wanted but have never quite been able to get your hands on?

Obviously, I'm sure we'd all like to own the Power 9 and be able to buy a house off the back of them, but I'm more interested in hearing about the less obvious cards. Maybe there's a certain promo version of a card you've always loved. A card that was an integral part of deck you always wanted to try. A card you've wanted to trade in to but have never been able to find it in stock.

For me, when it comes to collecting, I like to focus on iconic Black cards.

As such, my favourite card is probably my Torment Cabal Coffers that I traded into aggressively (which then subsequently got reprinted and the price tanked, such is life).

My "white whale" is Lake of the Dead. When I first looked into buying one, you could pick one up for around £10, but I had just gotten back in to Magic and didn't want to spend £10 on card board that I might very well lose interest in in a month or two. Now days, £10 for a card seems absolutely fine, but Lake of the Dead now go for over £100 and I wish I'd just bitten the bullet back then.

Around the same time, I also remember looking at buying a badlands for about £10 and deciding against it because "it's just a land, doesn't seem worth that, and those coloured stripes in the text box are really ugly". What an idiot.

With the prices of old cards sky rocketing, I'm sure many of you have been in similar positions, so let's hear them.

[The Golgari Guy]

My crown jewel is without a doubt my Survival of the Fittest. I was able to justify acquiring it recently by selling a bunch of cards with which I paid more than 2/3 of the price.

My white wale is Gaea's Cradle: I'd like to own one so much, since it would fit many of my decks perfectly (I love green and I love creature-based decks). However, that price tag is just too much to justify.

[Aetherium Slinky]

The crown jewel... I don't own a lot of expensive or fancy cards. My favourite card in my collection is probably Mind Over Matter - it's really powerful, goes into many decks, it's RL (meaning it probably holds its value over time) and I like the art on it! The staff Urza is holding reminds me of the Dragon Priest Staff from Skyrim:



"A" card I'd love to have is a Kaladesh masterpiece. Any one of them, really. I absolutely love the general style of Kaladesh and I think the masterpieces are really well done. Most of them are actually good cards and I'm pretty sure that I'd find a use even if I got one of the less useful cards. I would probably build a deck around it.

Sometimes I treat myself to some special versions of cards. Recently I purchased a "From the Vault: Twenty" Gilded Lotus. It's a lesser known version / art of the card. If WotC doesn't reprint Gilded Lotus with this specific art I can see this card going slightly up in value, too, so it's not like I'm losing money.

[Slyvester12]

I've started selling my collection, but I still have several of the better cards and I'll talk about what I had at its peak.

My crown jewel was definitely Gaea's Cradle (two of them). I had always wanted one, but always thought they were too expensive. Once I moved to Japan and got a decent paying job, I got back into magic and decided to go ahead and pick up a copy. Always felt great to play. Loved that card.

My white whale that I Ahab'd (yes, I know the whale kills him in the end, but you know what I mean) was Jace, the Mind Sculptor. It came out around the time I started playing, but getting a copy was always hard. Over the years, I just loved the concept, the abilities, the artwork, but never felt like paying for it. Again, picked one up in Japan.

My white whale that got away was always The Tabernacle at Pendrell Vale. Always wanted to build a really gross stax deck with a lot of the old powerhouse cards to use against pubstompers. I used to run an Urza stax deck for people who intentionally understated their deck's power level, but I knew this would be even better. Still, by the time I was considering actually paying the ridiculous $1,200 price tag for the Tabernacle, it had gone up to over $4,000. So, short of becoming a billionaire, I'm not sure I'll ever finally pick one up.

[mynameiscalled]

Hmm, crown jewel probably Plateau.

As far as ww's go - I'm still completing my playset of all the fetch lands - not in a hurry, really; but still grinding the grind.

Also, have some oldies I need for my Vintage Worldgorger Dragon combo deck - I kept the overall price as low as you possibly can be, while still having a first turn win chance (It's usually turn 2-3 though)

[CleanBelwas]

"A" card I'd love to have is a Kaladesh masterpiece. Any one of them, really. I absolutely love the general style of Kaladesh and I think the masterpieces are really well done. Most of them are actually good cards and I'm pretty sure that I'd find a use even if I got one of the less useful cards. I would probably build a deck around it.

I absolutely relate to this, but for me it's Amonkhet invocations.

Amonkhet was the plane that drew me back in to Magic after years of on/off, passing interest. As a kid, I loved everything to do with Ancient Egypt and to this day I still find it a fascinating historical era, so when magic made a set around it, I got hooked in for good and haven't left since.

I thought the plane was incredible and, while not the most powerful, thought it did an excellent job in terms of flavour and story.

The invocations blew me away when I saw them. Aesthetically not to everyones taste, sure, but to me they are wonderful.

Especially Daze. The art on the invocation of Daze is incredible.



The Scarab God was my first commander and still one I run today. One of my favourite cards of all time thanks to power, nostalgia, sentimentality and flavour. Maybe one day I'll sell a bunch of stuff I don't care about and get the invocation.

[Morganator 2.0]

I guess my most valuable card is a Gaea's Cradle. I got it a few years back at a tournament. I'm proud that I got it, not proud about how I got it.

I also recently had a friend ask me if I wanted to buy some cards off of her.

"I've been trying to get rid of this card for a while now. It's super damaged and I just want it gone. I'll literally sell it for $50."

"What's the card?"

"Tropical Island."

...

"Are you sure?"

"Yeah, I've been trying to sell it for a while. No one wants it. It is very damaged."

"Alright, sure, I'll buy it."

"Great. I also have a Wheel of Fortune that's also really damaged. You can buy it for $10."

And that's the story of how I got a Tropical Island and Wheel of Fortune for $60. They are very damaged, but I don't plan on selling them.


One card I've always wanted is Survival of the Fittest. When I first started commander I thought it was too much. $60? Come on! For that price I can get a Tropical Island and a Wheel of Fortune.

All joking aside, there are some really cool combo lines you can do with this and Fauna Shaman just isn't the same. Shame that it's gone up significantly.

[robort]

The cards I am most proud of are... Masterpiece Series: Kaladesh Inventions #28 Sword of Feast and Famine, Zendikar Expeditions #8 Blood Crypt, Zendikar Expeditions #11 Godless Shrine and Amonkhet Invocations #23 Entomb. I used to draft and go to pre-releases a lot so hitting one of these cards from a pull was fantastic.

A card or cards that I have always wanted? There is nothing in particular that comes to mind. I probably go with rhystic study and land tax. I know they are both great cards and part of me just doesn't want to do the norm of putting these cards into my decks. However I did finally went out and got a rhystic study and put it into a deck. It still doesn't feel right to me though while understanding the power the card has. Land tax will be next one of these days.

[ApothecaryGeist]

While I have THE Crown Jewels (Moxen), I don't consider those the crown jewels of my collection.  That honor goes to all of the Holiday promos.


For those unaware, Wotc send out special holiday promos to ... well I don't know exactly who they send them to.  But this started in 2006 with Fruitcake Elemental.  It has occurred every year since. 


One oddity about these cards is that they don't appear in the official card database - Gatherer.  All the other silver-bordered cards can be found.  But not the holiday promos.


A couple of my favorites are Yule Ooze and Snow Mercy.


Still trying to get this year's promo - Last-Minute Chopping - at a reasonable price.

[Bonethousand]

I was terrible about taking care of cards when I was younger; however, when I cracked a foil Patriarch's Bidding from a pack of Onslaught, I thought the art was too cool not to sleeve up right away. Still a fun one to bust out in a janky tribal deck. Also, I once found a small box of cards at a Goodwill (the dream) for $5 that had a lot of Kamigawa cards and some constructed decks. There were also a few Legends cards in there and one of them was a In the Eye of Chaos. Still haven't recovered from that day haha.

Don't really have a white whale that I can think of.

[The Golgari Guy]

One card I've always wanted is Survival of the Fittest.

Trade you one for a Wheel of Fortune and a Tropical Island? 

[BoBWiz]

Hi,

I guess my crown juwel in terms of money is an foil borderless ugin from M21. I got some (7?) fetchlands and an Ulamog as well.

My whale are all the other fetch-lands. I got some goodlooking proxis of all of these from china. But this is not satisfiing.

best

Oh I got a playset of mox amber as well. For me it was very cheap back in time, but I have noticed that they are quite expensive today.

[Reya]

Hello,

My crown jewel is a Gaea's Cradle. I bought two copies more than 12 years ago for ~75$ each but I sold them maybe 8 years ago for ~140$ each. I had to buy a new one a few weeks ago. That was a little bit expensive but I lke this card so much! The art is beautiful.

My whites whales are probably Foil Invasion version of Treva, the renewer and Darigaaz, the igniter. I started Magic with Invasion 22 years ago. I was lucky to open both Treva and Darigaaz in foil. But I sold them at some point. One day I consider buy them back ! I love the design of those two cards.

[Morganator 2.0]

My crown jewel is a Gaea's Cradle. I bought two copies more than 12 years ago for ~75$ each but I sold them maybe 8 years ago for ~140$ each. I had to buy a new one a few weeks ago. That was a little bit expensive but I lke this card so much! The art is beautiful.

My reaction to seeing the art in-person for the first time was something on the lines of "Huh. I had no idea there was a butt."

[Potato Chop]

Now, no-one laugh at me please, but my collection’s crown jewel is actually my showcase Vivien, Monsters’ Advocate.

Now, it’s not exactly the kind of crown jewel you’d expect, in amongst these Gaea’s Cradles and Tropical Islands, and I own more expensive cards, but this Vivien… she just hits the spot. The art is simply stunning, the card itself is a hidden gem, Ikoria is my favourite set, and its showcase art is the best I’ve ever seen. Did I mention the art? On top of that, it was one of the earlier cool cards that I pulled from a pack, tying back to my origins in the game. It was the card that made me buy my first pack of sleeves, which cost 3 times the price of the card, but I didn’t care. It makes me happy and warm on the inside whenever I see it, and playing it is even better.

As far as white whales go, it’s not one card but a collection. I don’t have much cash, which means that if I run into some this dream might be achievable - but basically I want to construct a Phyrexian tribal deck with all the praetors.
The phyrexians are the coolest villains out of any game, book, movie, etc. ever, and having a deck where I can showcase my love for the tribe with every blinged-out foil, phyrexian-text praetor would just be the best thing ever. The new Tamiyo can go in there too
Alternatively, having a fully built Commander deck for Elesh Norn, Jin-Gitaxias, Sheoldred, Urabrask, and Vorinclex (the OGs of course) would be a neverending point of pride.