Editor’s Introduction: In this week’s Magic Oddica TheMisprintGuy takes a look at Magic cards that got an overly healthy dose of ink. Check out Chapter XXI of Keith Adams‘ Magic Oddica to learn all about these unique collectibles!
This week I knew I just had to cover a subject that can easily be found by anyone in the right place at the right time. Cards that from Alpha to present have been affected. One of the many mistakes that happens, and somewhat often, are cards that have an excess amount of ink. Sure, some cards are a bit darker than their counterparts, but there are moments in which there is so much ink it just bleeds all over the place.
Were you playing Magic in the mid 90’s? If so, you probably ran into cards like these so often that it was frustrating. If you opened your fair share of Chronicles, it was seemingly easier to find a Green or Black common that was misprinted than it was to find one that wasn’t. Ink, ink, and more ink was found all over the cards to the point that you could not read the card. Many of us did not keep these cards even as curiosities, but they were everywhere!
Nowadays, mistakes like these are much more infrequent, but I do see a nice glob of ink all over a few cards every now and again. Mistakes like these are not hard to imagine, as we’ve all used a printer on a bad day. It is, however, hard to find a card that is so blackened that you cannot read it. I have provided some better examples here. Notice, yes, there are some Chronicles ones I mentioned, but some are only a few years old. This is pretty much the worst case scenario of this type of mistake. Once they get too drastic, they are oftentimes deemed unplayable by a judge.
So, here I have provided some scans for you to have a look at. The Alpha card featured here is the back of a Demonic Tutor. A great old-school example, but I do wish it were on the front. It’d be a nice eye-popping card to play, but I now have to worry about it being a marked card so I never use it. The Chronicles cards featured were just downright everywhere at one point, but now are difficult to find because most of them made it into the trash. And, I have included the worst of the worst so you can get a better idea of what could go wrong. These are my personal favorites.
So there you have it. Even Carti Mundi has toner and ink getting everywhere; it’s not just you at your school or office. As time has gone by, they are better with this mistake, but this is an error I am sure we will see for some time now.