Collectors’ Edition & International Edition

We all know by now, that the cards from Limited Edition Alpha and Limited Edition Beta were, well, pretty limited! So it was fantastic news to hear that Wizards of the Coast decided to reprint all the cards from Beta as a Collectors’ Edition on December 10, 1993. Here is the story of high demand and old cardboard printers from the 90s.

So what actually is the Collectors’ Edition and the International Edition?

The bottom of the sealed box reads as follows:

"This special collectors' edition of Magic: The Gathering contains all 302 cards from the original Deckmaster series of playable trading cards. The complete set is augmented with duplicates of the many land cards, making a total of 363 cards. These cards are produced in a special collectors' format with square-cut corners and gold borders. So pick up the Magic: The Gathering Collectors' Edition and explore the whole world in one box." (Source)

Reading between the lines, this means: “Get yourself a full set of Power Nine and a full set of Dual Lands and all of this for only $49.95” Yes, exactly! The Collectors’ Edition only cost 50 Dollars on release, who wouldn’t pick that up?

Actually, a lot of people wouldn't pick that up! Back in the days, the Collectors' Edition wasn't very popular with players. Maybe not as much as the 30th Anniversary Edition, but similar things were said:

"This is just for collectors."

"Why would people buy unplayable cards?

"Why should I buy cards that are illegal in every format?"

"Very nice proxies!"

This reputation stick around for a while, and you could still get a box of CE/IE for around $100 in the early 2000s. 

Since then, a lot has changed in regard to the Collectors' Edition acceptance into different Magic: The Gathering playgroups. Who knows, maybe the same will happen to 30th Anniversary? 

Let’s take a look at Collectors’ Edition and International Edition!

The Collectors’ Edition and International Edition introduced no new cards! They were all reprints from Limited Edition Alpha and Beta. That means each set contained a total of 363 cards, 61 of which were additional Basic Lands. This makes the CE and IE sets a bit bigger than Limited Edition Beta and, of course, also bigger than Alpha.

We want to give new and experienced players an overview for collecting Magic’s first Collectors’ Edition.

We'll aim to answer a few very important questions:

• Why are CE/IE cards so valuable?
• What are the most expensive cards?
• Where to buy CE/IE cards?
• Is it worth it to collect CE/IE cards?

Set Information: Collectors’ Edition and International Edition

The Collectors’ Edition was released on December 10th, 1993, so only roughly 3 months after the release of Beta. Even funnier: Unlimited got released 9 days before the CE, on December 1st, 1994. Anyhow, people who didn’t like the white borders could get a substitute with the CE and IE.

The Collectors’ Edition comes in its very own little box and the cards got divided into six different plastic packages. Each package contained 55 or 66 cards. The order of the cards depended on the printing sheets and the sorting process used during the time.

We opened one of these boxes on camera, you can watch it right HERE!

On top of that, cards from the Collectors’ Edition and International Edition have pointy, square corners! We are sure you have seen these around before, but here’s a picture of how un-round these corners can actually be:

Another easy to distinguish feature of these cards are their back. Similar to the 30th Anniversary, the Collectors’ and International Edition have their own back. They have a golden border, like the World Championship cards but on the back. And they have a gold print saying “Collectors’ Edition” and “International Edition”. The back of these cards is in all other regards the same as other Magic cards! That means they pass the Green Dot Test! 

The Rarity Distribution of the Collectors’ Edition

The rarity distribution of the Collectors’ Edition pretty straightforward because it’s almost exactly the same as Limited Edition Beta:

75 Commons, 95 Uncommons, 117 Rares, 61 Basics

What's the Print Run of the Collectors’ Edition?

Now, here’s where things got a little bit wonky. Initially, 10’000 sets should be printed for the U.S. and Canada (the Collectors’ Edition). Another 5’000 should be released for the international release (the International Edition).

Unfortunately, the print run for the Collectors’ Edition was shortened. WotC then decided to sell some of the IE sets in the U.S., effectively robbing the international market of 1’500 sets.

So what’s the total amount of CE and IE sets in existence? The magic number is 13’500!

Most Expensive Cards: Collectors’ Edition and International Edition

It’s not a secret that the Collectors’ and International Editions are famous for their cheap Power Nine cards. Funny enough, those cards are of course also the most expensive cards of these sets! Power is still Power, will always be Power.

That said, since the CE/IE sets are reprints of the Beta, all cards that are expensive in Beta are also expensive here. Maybe we’ll encounter one or two surprises, though!

Here are the most expensive cards of the Collectors’ Edition!

Power Nine

The Power Nine cards are the most valuable cards of the Collectors’ Edition. It comes to no surprise that the Black Lotus is the number one here once again. Fun fact: The Collectors’ Edition comes divided in six different plastic wrappers.

The Timetwister is the only P9 card that’s right in front of one of these packages. That means, it’s the only Power Nine card that’s not getting any front protection. If you want a Near Mint CE/IE Timetwister, be sure to check it thoroughly for damage!

The Collectors’ Edition Timetwister will cost you between 800 and 1200 Euros, depending on its condition!

Chaos Orb

There are currently only 8 Collectors’ Edition Chaos Orbs available for sale on Cardmarket, which already describes its popularity quite well! You’ll still have to pay half as much for a CE/IE Chaos Orb than you would for an Unlimited Orb, and that’s mainly due to its popularity in the Old School format. Everybody needs a Chaos Orb!

The Chaos Orb will cost you between 450 and 750 Euros, depending on its condition!

Volcanic Island

If you want an English Volcanic Island with black borders, you only got two options:

Either Limited Edition Beta, which go for around eight-thousand Euros and more, or you get yourself a CE/IE Volcanic Island. There is no Alpha Volcanic Island, which makes the Beta price even higher than any other Beta Dual Land. And that’s also the reason that this Dual is one of the most expensive cards from Collectors’ Edition. That and it’s simply a popular Dual Land to have! 

The Volcanic Island will cost you between 400 and 650 Euros, depending on its condition!

Time Vault

Time Vault is a popular combo piece, especially for decks that like to play Stasis. And there are a lot of people with questionable ethics that like to play Stasis decks! That’s maybe also the reason Time Vault is banned almost everywhere except for Old School and Vintage, where people make sure it gets to see some play!

The Time Vault will cost you between 230 and 300 Euros, depending on its condition!

Wheel of Fortune

The Wheel of Fortune is even cheaper than a CE Time Vault, who knew! Of course, the Wheel is mostly played in Commander and Old School, but that’s enough for a high demand. And even though the demand is high, the price seems kinda low for these Collectors’ Edition versions! That’s probably mainly due to the fact that it also exists in Revised!

The Wheel of Fortune will cost you between 140 and 200 Euros, depending on its condition!

Other Expensive Collectors’ Edition Cards

We talked about the Power Nine and all the other really expensive cards from CE/IE, but only mentioned one Dual Land. Are the other Duals not expensive? Oh, of course they are! Every Near Mint Dual from the Collectors’ and International Edition is basically a little bit cheaper than their Revised counterpart. And that even though you get black borders for it!

Other more expensive cards include Berserk, Forcefield, Icy Manipulator, Demonic Tutor and other OS classics. As a rule of thumb, every card that sees play in Old School has a higher price than you might think, because people like their cheap black borders!

(Source: Cardmarket 27.06.2025)

As an example: A CE Counterspell is worth around €45 whereas the first non-legal Counterspell for OS (Ice Age) would be only €1. (Source: Cardmarket 23.06.2025)

Where to Buy Collectors’ Edition and International Edition?

You want to collect all the 363 cards from Collectors’ Edition or International Edition? Or do you want to collect all 726 cards from both Editions?! Start by going through our very own webshop and see if there are any cards you want. Here you can find all our rarest Collector and International cards, like Black Lotus or Timetwister!

The next best thing you need to do when looking for CE/IE cards is: Check out or singles on Cardmarket! We got most of the cards from International or Collectors’ Edition for sale there, so no need to look somewhere else.

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