Every so often in Magic: The Gathering, a special foil or alternative artwork card comes by through by way of a special event or something along those lines.

Every so often in Magic: The Gathering, a special foil or alternative artwork card comes by through by way of a special event or something along those lines.

Sometimes all it took was going to an event. Sometimes winning an event. Other times, it was a bit more complicated, such as having to buy a book or two then sending away for that card in the mail.

It got strange when getting a special card depended on geography. Like when special land cards came out with neat artwork, but you could only get them in Asia or Australia.

So what if there was a weird combination?

Say, it was made for a tournament, but only in Asia. And, as the kicker, it would be exactly the same as the original card save for little more than the foil treatment differentiating it from the original printing.

Yup. That happened.

For this story, we need to go back to 1999.

Magic: The Gathering had never been more popular (up to that point, at least) and the game's popularity was spilling over into Asia at this point. Magic's Sixth Edition had just come out and Wizards of the Coast really wanted to boost its presence in the still-emerging Asian market.

Lucky for them, the World Championship is going to be in Yokohama, Japan, that year. Now, for most big tournaments, giveaways aren't all that unusual. Cards, of course, are normal, but something going to isn't usually done. But they want to draw people in, so a special, free card isn't all that bad an option. Plus, if you can say that it is exclusive, all the better.

Needing a Sixth Edition card to give away, WotC chose Balduvian Horde. Why? It was one of the hottest cards from Alliances, a set that came out three years earlier.

Maybe that's not exactly it. To be fair, the actual reasons are lost to history, but giving away a special rare card did perk many players.

So, what did Magic do to the card to make it really special? New artwork? Make it a foil? Change something around to make it unique? Well, they did this:

That's it. The basic foil treatment (which, admittedly, was a new and novel thing at the time) and a tiny stamp that says "Japan 1999" and, suddenly, it was an exclusive new card.

After this, card giveaways would begin to be a tad more unique by either making the handouts more rare or using new art or some other special element to make it more unique from the card's original version.

Still though, those Japan 1999 cards are still out there and, currently, go for about $3.00 apiece (which is only a little bit more than the 69¢ the original Alliances printing goes for).

Such a value.