Unlimited vs. Revised cards

Oversoul

The Tentacled One
I mentioned this already in one or more thread, but I moved recently (to Seattle). I currently share an apartment with Al0ysiusHWWW. He had most of my old collection with him before moving and I brought everything else here with me. He had also bought a few smaller collections and put all of the cards in my closet. Our focus is primarily competitive Legacy decks, but we'll build casual decks too. At this time, we have probably three or so decks between the two of us that we'd already built and that weren't taken apart. And no really good decks yet. But we have lots and lots of cards.

Recently, I've been going through thousands of cards. The last time I sorted a collection (which was much smaller, I did it first in tiers (good cards, okay cards, and cards that I would almost never use even in decks that are just for fun) and then by color, then card type. We've decided that the best way to organize these, so that we can find out if we have a card we want to use while deckbuilding, is to first divide the cards up by set. Technically, I've been sorting by block for now because it's more manageable, and I can split the blocks up into their individual sets later. I'll have to familiarize myself with the newer blocks when I get into those cards, but right now, the newest cards I've found have been from Fifth Dawn, and I have the expansion symbols easily memorized to that point.

Sorting between 4th and 5th Edition has been tedious, because the year is hard to see on some of the colors (especially blue) and I don't have a desklamp yet. I also notice that I have a tendency to mix Chronicles and 4th Edition up. But the real problem is between Unlimited and Revised. I used to consider myself pretty good at differentiating between cards of these sets. Apparently I've lost my touch. Or maybe it's just the sheer number of cards I'm sorting. Has anyone else had this problem? Any tips?
 
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DarthFerret

Guest
The main thing I remember off the top of my head is the coloration of the card. They used more ink when printing unlimited, then with revised. Also, I believe unlimited cards will have the word Tap on them while revised went to a symbol. I will try to look through some of mine to see if I can find the other differences.
 

turgy22

Nothing Special
Here's a guide to spotting the differences.

The easiest methods are probably looking at the text justification on the card names (Unlimited is more toward the left) and the inside border on the cards (Unlimited is double-beveled).
 

Ransac

CPA Trash Man
I second turgy22's statements. nce you can tell the difference between the beveled edges, it is very easy to tell them apart.


Ransac, cpa trash man
 

Oversoul

The Tentacled One
So about five minutes after I posted this, thread, I finally started to differentiate between them with ease. I look at one corner, and can spot the double border on Unlimited cards like a pro now. Also, I realized that even though the "1995" on 4th Edition cards is hardest to read in dim light on the blue cards, it's always in black ink, whereas the "1997" on 5th Edition cards is in white. Still mixing up 4th Edition and Chronicles though.

Also, I like that guide Turgy posted. I was using an expansion symbols chart on Crystalkeep, but it's not fully updated and lacked things like the Duel Decks and From the Vault, so I had to hunt those down individually. Nice to have (almost) everything in one place.
 
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DarthFerret

Guest
Chronicles had the set symbol on them but had white boarders.
 

Oversoul

The Tentacled One
Chronicles had the set symbol on them but had white boarders.
Yes, and those expansion set symbols aren't always easy to see in dim light. All of the old expansion symbols were mostly black. They stand out against the white backgrounds, but the black (and even the green) backgrounds can hide the expansion symbols. Also, I tend to go through the cards sliding from the top of a stack in my left hand to my right hand, and the expansion symbol is covered up most of the time if I'm not looking for it (like when I'm looking at the year to see if it's a 4th Edition or 5th Edition card). Someone who goes right to left or is working in brighter lighting or just is better at looking for the symbol than I wouldn't have this problem. As it is, I'm having better luck noticing that I'm holding a card that was printed in Chronicles and not 4th Edition.
 

Mooseman

Isengar Tussle
Maybe turn the cards over so the expansion symbol isn't hidden by your fat thumbs... You can still see the date, although it's upside down.
I usually sort out the ones with symbols and leave the ones without them till later or i pay someone else to do it and my currency is booster packs.....
 
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DarthFerret

Guest
That is exactly what I do Moose. I flip the cards upsidown and sort by exp. symbol first. (after I seperate white borders from black borders of course). I however, still have about 50,000 cards (possibly more) that I have yet to organize, so will not volunteer to do anyone elses....heh.
 
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theorgg

Guest
With regards to 4th/Chronicals, Chronicals was an expansion of 4th edition. Just lump 'em together. That's what I've always done.
 

Spiderman

Administrator
Staff member
Whoa, theorgg posts...

I don't think so though. They were printed using the same rules but Chronicles was simply a reprint of cards from earlier sets, it wasn't an expansion.
 

Oversoul

The Tentacled One
I think back then the term "expansion" was used by WotC to describe non-core sets. 1st, 2nd, 3rd, 4th edition were "core" sets and sets with symbols, like Fallen Empires or Ice Age or whatever, were "expansion sets" and because of this had "expansion symbols."

As for sorting Chronicles and Fourth Edition together, I'm not doing it, but I know that's how Al0ysius used to do that and it made sense for him. Both sets consist solely of white-bordered cards that are available in black-bordered form. He prefers to use black-bordered cards, so these sets (along with Fifth Edition, Anthologies, Beatdown, Sixth Edition, Battle Royale...) consist almost entirely of cards he doesn't even want to use. I'm trying to break every single set up completely, even though it's a bit of a chore and doesn't seem that important (I don't really need to know which set we have the most Hill Giants in), but I guess I'm kind of obsessive or something. That, and it will tell us how many complete sets (or nearly complete sets) we have.
 

Oversoul

The Tentacled One
Maybe turn the cards over so the expansion symbol isn't hidden by your fat thumbs... You can still see the date, although it's upside down.
I tried this and it works pretty well. Thanks. Also, I don't have fat thumbs, even though I wish I did (it was the top card in a stack obscuring the symbol of the card below it, not my thumb). My hands are kind of puny...
 

Spiderman

Administrator
Staff member
Oversoul said:
I think back then the term "expansion" was used by WotC to describe non-core sets. 1st, 2nd, 3rd, 4th edition were "core" sets and sets with symbols, like Fallen Empires or Ice Age or whatever, were "expansion sets" and because of this had "expansion symbols."
Well, I would add "to describe non-core sets with new cards (and black-bordered)". Since Chronicles was simply a repeat of cards from previous sets and white-bordered, it wasn't an expansion.

Nitpicky, I know... just do whatever's good for you :)
 
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