TLDR: Are the 1997-2004 Championship Decks listed on this site, as found in charlequin's signature links, one hundred percent accurate as to each type/art of various basic lands reprinted in the decks?Hi everyone. I'm just a random collector passing through your boards, after stumbling across them during a google search. Just wanted to toss a couple of questions out there for your community. I really apologize if I'm posting in the wrong place here; if that's the case, a mod or admin is free to remove my comment and direct me to the correct board. I tried to hunt around, but I'm pretty exhausted this evening, I haven't used a proper forum in like 15 years, and the information I'm after is directly related to this thread's contents.
Honestly, it seems like my questions are mostly aimed towards user charlequin (now that I've added a TLDR to the top, you probably already know this fact), as it's through the links in your signature I've been working and compiling my current information this evening. However, as my question is simply a "yes", "no", or "maybe" answer in the end, I'll take an answer from anyone that can confirm for me.
Now, as for the story as to why I'm here:
So, I'm in the middle of a pretty daunting task. I'm currently compiling a list and binder of every single printing of a basic land from the last 25 years. And I do mean ALL of them. At least, all purposely released ones. I'm not focusing on misprints and things like test prints... not yet anyway. I know there's people out there that collect all the different arts, but I'm going a step further and collecting every individual card with a difference. All reprints, every set symbol. Duel deck reprintings, anthologies, box sets, gold bordered. Salvat is gonna be a PAIN, as every single land from each of the decks in the set has a different collector number. Even a tiny change to the card like that is enough to consider it unique for this project. About the only thing I'm ignoring is different languages. I prefer English cards when available, but seeing as some releases such as Salvat and the alternate art Portal lands aren't available in English, and my Lorwyn and Shadowmoor lands are already German, I'll take anything at this point.
I've been casually collecting them off and on over the last few years, but lately I've gotten pretty serious about it. Trading up for a few missing stragglers, and hunting down the slightly cheaper promos and rarities, like the Arabian Nights mountain, the non-foil Arenas, APAC, Euro, and the like (can't quite afford the GURU and Judge promos yet, but it'll happen one day). I've finally hit the point where my collection fills up more than two bundle/fat pack boxes, probably around 900 unique lands, so it's time to start getting them in order and put into a binder.
The hitch is this: after a lot of internal debate in my brain about how to binder them (
do I keep sets together, or let every land type have it's own book? Have a book for Core Sets, a couple of books for expansions, and a couple of books for promos?), I've finally reached the conclusion that I'm just going to do the logical thing, and book them all in release order. Well, as close as I can get to it anyway. I'll probably make a few tweaks, so that all of a single year's
Arena lands can be together, despite being released throughout the whole year. I mean, they were probably printed at the same time, so close enough, right?
Maybe you can already see where my potential problem is going to come from by this point. I'm still missing a lot of the more rare and expensive stuff, so I have to leave exact spaces to fill in later. What happens if I goof one up? I'm left redoing 100s of 18-pocket pages just to slip one card in to the right spot. I'm not a fellow that likes to do things twice, so I gotta make sure my list is accurate.
Now, I'm not asking you for help in that - I'll let the hivemind on Reddit scour over it once I'm done, and see what they think. I've been working on this list for two straight weeks, and I'm 99 percent sure it's right. I've been using a multitude of sites to compile the list, and I'm pretty sure I've been able to find everything in existence, right down to info on test prints, 6x9 promo lands, InQuest fantasy cards, and unofficial tokens that I don't care about.
But one thing has eluded me until tonight: those durnblasted World Championship decks. I probably won't be able to acquire them for quite a while, so I need to leave spaces for each year's four decks. But no matter how hard I tried, I simply could not find a visual spoiler or precise list of what was in them. Decklists, sure, all day long. But I don't care that Jon Finkle used ten islands in 2000, I care if he used ten different ARTS of islands. If all ten islands have the same art, set symbol, and collector number, fine, I only need to leave one space. But if I leave one space when I should have left TEN spaces, and I discover it a year from now when I finally get my hands on those decks... I swear I throw the binder out the window. Okay, maybe not, but I'll be REALLY upset.
And that's how I ended up here. Three days I've been ripping Google apart, looking for visual spoilers or scans of the decks. I don't remember the exact combination of search terms I finally used a couple of hours ago that brought me here now, but praise be to
Urza that something finally worked.
Now, charlequin, in asking for confirmation of the accuracy of your work, I hope you don't take it as an insult towards your hard work, for I really don't mean it as such. I've spent the last hour checking out various seller sites and doing Google image searches, trying to poke a hole here or there in your lists, but they seem strong and still hold water. While I've found a lot of different gold bordered arts on YOUR list that I can't find anywhere else, I have not been able to find any images from somewhere else that were missing from your list.
The things that are making me question it, besides my own weird combo of perfectionism and insecurity, are probably completely WotC's fault. There's a few strange occurrences within a couple of the decks I would like to point out, and from there you'll understand why I want to double check.
Next day edit: Sitting here with a cup of coffee this morning, I found myself flipping through the pages of this thread again. It seems last night I was one or two pages shy of finding my first answer on my own. Still, I'll leave the question intact, as follows:First, the 2000 decks. The decklists inserted with each deck state that the basic lands are a mix of three different sets in each deck (in 2000's case, 6th Edition,
Urza's Saga, and Masques), yet only one scan of each type of basic appears with each deck, all of them being from 6th Edition. In the other years that mention mixed sets of lands, there is at least one from each of the mentioned sets. I simple can't find any other scans from other lands on any of the half dozen sites I currently have open, though. So I'm really tempted to believe this is a mistake on WotC's part, either not including the other lands, or not removing the text from the decklist after they decided to only print one version of each land per deck. Can anyone that has the physical 2000 WC decks confirm this for me?
Again, I now know the issue with the 2000 decks has already been brought up, and there is indeed only one land per deck.The other oddity is in the 2001 Tom van de Logt deck. The other decks in 2001 all have MANY arts. Of Jan Tomcani's 11 mainboard basics, there is 11 different arts. Antoine Ruel has 8 islands, with 8 arts. Alex Borteh has 20 forests, and features 12 arts - all four variants from all three sets used. Then you get to van de Logt's deck - 6 swamps with 6 different arts, but 6 mountains with only 3 arts. As before, I can find ZERO evidence online that it's the scans here that are wrong, and I lean towards accusing WotC of making a goof. But I would feel so much better with a confirmation from either the scanner, or someone else with the deck that can check it out for me.
Again, I really hope you don't take this as an attempt to insult you or claim you're missing scans. I've been able to find absolutely no evidence that the mistake is on your end, or on whomever may help you scan or compile your list. But I'm a carpenter, and we have a saying - "Measure twice, cut once; if you measure it once, you'll cut it twice". You always, ALWAYS double check something, even if you're sure it's right. And if you're not sure it's right, you check it again. And again. And again. Considering the hours that I'll have to spend moving cards through pages at a later date if I make a mistake right now, I just wanted to measure twice.
Regardless, know that I really, REALLY appreciate the work you and however many countless others have put in to compiling these scans and lists of cards. Despite 25 years on the internet, and 17 years playing Magic, I never knew this page existed. I'm not sure what I'll ever use this archive for again after I finish my land books, but I'm sure as hell saving it for later. I'll probably need proxies one day, right?
And thank you for time to read and reply to this, and to save me farther work in the future.