Alpha

In the beginning, there was alpha. Well, not really, there were play test cards, and several rounds of that. But thats not why I am here.

Alpha was never a set I cared about, seriously. Up to when I quit Magic the first time, 2000 time frame, Alpha was considered nothing more than a collector's set. Why you ask....

When I played, for the first several years, no one used sleeves. Never heard of them, didn't care. Prices were not silly. You could trade some commons for dual lands. You could actually buy Mox for under $50. And generally, people were not insane about condition; just no marked cards.

The key was- no sleeves. Which meant Alpha could not be played unless ALL your cards were Alpha because of the corners. As pointed out here, even Unlimited versions of the same cards were worth more because of the unplayable-ness of the cards.

Flash forward to a few years later, everyone with a brain had sleeves, and Alpha still was not that usable. Still a collectable thing. Why?
If I recall correctly, you could call the judge, "JUDGE!" Ask the opponent to de-sleeve to make sure no proxies were being used... and there was a wild hair rumor that you could force your opponent to play un-sleeved. Hence not being able to use Alpha still because they were considered marked cards. I know I know... but you all have sleeves, what does it matter?!
Well, that was the problem with "back in the day" stuff. We didn't know any better. Funky was frowned upon.


Example #2 of funky:
When my friends started playing, they would go to the Armory in Pikesville to buy their Magic. The location still exists, but it does not sell directly to the public. This store was a MAJOR distribution center for the mid-Atlantic gaming scene. For the most part it was figures, D&D, and stuff like Warhammer. Anywho- you could buy packs, starters, and such directly from them in the store. When they FIRST went there, the store still had unlimited starters and packs. However, they also started to get revised starters and packs in.
The problem was, back then, no one could tell them if they could still play unlimited cards with revised. No one knew. Seriously. Revised was available, unlimited seemed a little more sketchy, so they bought the revised because they thought they could keep playing with that set. Don't get me started on Legends packs.

Ah, early Magic. Cloaked in mystery and no sleeves!