In exchange, you get a repeated source of card draw as long as your opponents dont have too many small creatures
The earlier Gaeas Cradle comes into play, the more mana it yields: on turn 1, itll produce 1 mana, but starting from turn 2, its value scales depending on how quickly you can flood the field, and by turn three, youre looking at an income of maybe four mana or higher
The hypothesis is that some alpha cards were scanned/copied (picking up alpha dots) and reprinted in 2024: Many of the Pokemon playtest cards were likely printed in 2024 - #143 by pfm the alpha with inflated pop reports are more likely to have the double pattern (many trainers): a small handful have noticeably higher quality backs such as the three starters and this gyarados: Many of the Pokemon playtest cards were likely printed in 2024 - #59 by pfm Update: Evidence that alpha dot pattern probably comes from a printer manufactured around 2016: Many of the Pokemon playtest cards were likely printed in 2024 - #1593 by pfm High quality back: dated to 1996 for the three starters Alpha pattern only: speculated printer model code suggests it was manufactured around 2016 (print date unknown, but after 2016) Double dot pattern: all observed copies so far have 2024 dots Beta playtest Beta playtest (HQ)19203230 662 KB Beta playtest (LQ)19203140 676 KB two variants, HQ and LQ: Many of the Pokemon playtest cards were likely printed in 2024 - #299 by pfm HQ has yet to be observed with any dots LQ has always been observed with 2024 dots there only only appears to be 1 HQ beta per Pokemon, implying the vast majority of betas have 2024 dots HQ betas have subtle traces of the alpha pattern on the back, suggesting that the HQ beta back was scanned/copied from a card that has the alpha print pattern - this implies the HQ betas were printed after the alpha playtests and the authenticity is contingent on the authenticity of the alphas: Many of the Pokemon playtest cards were likely printed in 2024 - #745 by pfm UPDATE: alpha playtests likely printed on a printer made in 2016: Many of the Pokemon playtest cards were likely printed in 2024 - #1593 by pfm it is unlikely that the LQ are simply scans/copies of HQ given that not a single print artifact or dirt spec has yet been observed to be transferred from HQ to LQ Update: HQ beta: implicated lower bound of print date is 2016 based on the presence of alpha dots LQ beta: all observed copies so far have 2024 dots Delta playtest, Alpha presentation and Gamma Delta playtest19203184 780 KB Alpha presentation19203184 832 KB Gamma prototype646972 58.1 KB There are few of these graded but they all look similar to LQ beta and all observed and tested copies of all three variants have 2024 dots No copies of Gamma have been graded
it's an expensive removal spell, but it does stuff we want - either kills an Insect or puts itself in the 'yard as it comes in, building up our 'yard for when we cast our Commander
Andrew Braund found his 20-year-old collection of Pokmon cards when he was clearing out his loft and said he was astonished to discover their value
