Twitch Streamer PaymoneyWubby states he paid $14k for an MTG vintage starter deck from the third MTG set, Unlimited, and was opening it live on air when it became apparent the collectible was in fact a “repack” scam. Over 10,000 viewers tuned in to Wubby’s MTG Monday stream, and members of Twitch chat were the first to spot something was amiss.
As a good showman, Wubby begins the pack opening with the common MTG cards, working up to the rares. But any hopes of pulling a fabulously expensive Magic card are dashed early on, as Twitch Commenter ALackOfPants observes: “That mountain had the old tap symbol but the plains had the word tap?”
Immediately afterwards, ForeverMalone writes “REVISED MOUNTAIN”. Wubby verifies what Twitch chat has spotted: the pack contains three cards from the Revised printing of MTG, a mountain, swamp, and Wall of Bones, mixed in with the Unlimited cards. A common Earth Bind card is also mixed into the uncommon card section.
This appears to be a repack scam, in which low value cards are repackaged to resemble valuable sealed product from rare sets. Wubby rips one card in half to check whether it’s also a fake, but is satisfied that the cards are genuine, just not particularly valuable. The two rares in the pack are the (comparatively) worthless Chaos Lace and The Hive.
Unlike modern starter products, classic MTG starter packs were randomised, and contained two rares. Unlimited was the last set ever printed containing the ‘Power Nine’, some of the most powerful, rare, and valuable Magic Cards of all time.
Although it’s unlikely that any given starter deck will contain any of these cards, the possibility that it might means that they command huge premiums. The cheapest currently listed on Card Market is selling for $23,500.
Wubby is actually fairly happy about the outcome. Partly, he tells Twitch chat, that’s because “I have buyer protection on this purchase” and should be able to get his money back from the seller.
He says he’d always planned to lose money on the purchase: “I personally get enjoyment out of opening vintage stuff like this… I purchased this as a total loss, it is something I purchased for content… if I wanted to get a Black Lotus, my best chance is to go out and purchase a Black Lotus”.
Wubby doesn’t point the finger at a specific seller, stating “the person who I bought this from probably did not know themselves”. Wubby may just be the most recent recipient of a fake collectors item that has been doing the rounds for years and years.
If you’d like to read more about the criminal underbelly of MTG collecting, the recent MTG card heist at GenCon makes for strange reading. And if you want a better return on your investment than opening vintage sealed packs, we have a list of MTG Arena Codes for you to unlock some free cards online.