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Alpha is the first release of Limited Edition, the first set of Magic. It includes 295 cards and was released at Origins in July 1993 with a small run of 2.6 million cards. It did not receive much exposure beyond the West Coast. Beta was released shortly after Alpha sold out.
Alpha contained a number of errors that were fixed in the second, or Beta release: Circle of Protection: Black and Volcanic Island were accidentally left out of the set entirely, Cyclopean Tomb was printed without a mana cost, Elvish Archers was printed with power/toughness 1/2 instead of 2/1, Orcish Artillery was printed with a mana cost of 1R instead of 1RR, Orcish Oriflamme was printed with the mana cost 1R instead of 3R, and Demonic Hordes was printed with an upkeep cost of literally "BBB" instead of three black mana symbols. Additionally, only two versions of each basic land with unique artwork were included. Limited Edition was advertised as having "more than 300 cards," so a third version of each basic land was added in the Beta release in order to validate this claim.
Alpha cards can easily be distinguished from Beta and all other cards by their more rounded corners. Early tournament rules required that all cards must appear unmarked without the use of protective sleeves, and the unique corners of Alpha cards originally made them marked cards in a deck not entirely coposed of Alpha cards. This initially made them less desirable and thus less valuable than Beta and even Unlimited cards.
For information on the mechanics and themes, notable cards, storyline, design and development, cycles, creature types, points of interest and outside links in this set, please see the Beta set.
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