Sell quickly
PSA. At equal grade the slab sells faster because it is the reference generalist buyers know, including outside the Magic circle.
Power Nine and Reserved List
The Power Nine and the Reserved List hold the most expensive Magic cards on the market. At that value, grading is no longer only about qualifying condition: it is first and foremost about guaranteeing authenticity.
In short
On Power Nine and Reserved List cards, grading serves two distinct purposes. The first is authentication: these are the most counterfeited Magic cards, and a sealed slab from a recognised company is the best guarantee available to a buyer. The second is condition, where the gap between two adjacent grades routinely runs into thousands. BGS historically dominates this segment thanks to its subgrades, which reassure on a five-figure card far more than an overall grade alone.
Four of the Power Nine
Magic's most expensive cards, and the hardest to grade well.
Black Lotus
Alpha · 1993
The game's outright grail
Ancestral Recall
Alpha · 1993
Black border shows every knock
Time Walk
Alpha · 1993
Period cutting, not damage
Mox Sapphire
Alpha · 1993
Flat surface, obvious scratches
At a glance
- Editions concerned
- Alpha, Beta, Unlimited and later
- Year
- 1993 for the first three
- Main stake
- Authentication as much as condition
- Reference company
- BGS (subgrades)
- Edition trap
- Alpha's rounded corners
What decides the grade
Black borders
On Beta, Unlimited and Revised, the black border turns the smallest micro-chip into a clearly visible white dot. It is the criterion that blocks most cards in this segment.
Alpha
Alpha corners
Alpha has markedly more rounded corners than Beta, by design. A company that knows the material does not penalise it — but misidentifying the edition completely distorts your expectations.
Bends invisible when flat
Thirty years of storage leave curvature only raking light reveals. A flat, front-lit photo can miss it entirely — the grader will not.
Counterfeit risk
The Power Nine is heavily counterfeited, with increasingly convincing fakes. At this price, the light test and print-pattern examination are prerequisites, not options.
Three strategies by objective
Maximise a top-tier card
BGS. The four subgrades document precisely what the card is worth, and the Black Label — all four subgrades at 10 — is a collecting goal in itself.
Secure a played but scarce card
Even a grade 4 or 5 retains substantial value on these cards. The slab is then mainly worth it for authentication, which is the real issue on Power Nine.
Frequently asked questions
Get a card analysed before you submit
The analysis flags visible anomalies. On a high-value card, have it physically authenticated too.