What happened here?

Can anyone help me understand what happened here?

By which I mean, why did this particular card go from a respectable $7-8 just in July, to about $20 now? Seriously.

The card in question is an Alpha Island. I don't actually own this particular Alpha, I have a set of the other ones signed. The B Island has been all over the place too... going from $7-8 to $30, back down, back up, and currently back down. The market place is mad.

Beta Islands are maintaining the spike a bit better. (A, B, C) I guess I just got my Beta land set at the right time... gesh. This is crazy.

I asked a friend what he thought the spike was due to, and his theory was the growing popularity of 93/94 Magic. While very possible, I think he was a bit biased as that's pretty much all he plays now. So, I am not sure if that is an accurate assumption. Possible, not probable.

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Cool, fun, and a bit disturbing photos from the first Magic World championship at GenCon in 1994. I fully recognize the fashion decisions there, I have divorced myself that I attempted to dress anything like anyone in those photos.

Notes- no sleeves, no playmats, Beta Mox played on naked hard worn tables. Very likely, that event likely held the greatest concentration of Power cards since the sets were printed and shipped. Prison and Zoo, that was the name of the game back in the day. Starter decks were the place you put your deck, that's how you kept the deck together. Yup- that was a major thing.

Keep in mind, Magic was about one year old at that point. (released to the public at GenCon, August 1993) So all people had were power and amazing cards, in retrospect.

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No draft for me tonight, and I am utterly fine with that. Wife is out for the evening, I am sick of Ixalan drafts, which mean I am gladly home with the kids for the night! Maybe I can convince one of them to play a duel deck with me. Not likely, but I'll try.

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If I don't injure myself doing home improvement stuff tomorrow, I am going to play Legacy with some friends. I haven't done that in a fairly long time. I've got two new decks to throw in to the fray, my pet project of Reanimator Depths and one I am not sure I want to throw the brain power behind to tackle- Topless Miracles.