Welcome to the largest undertaking I have ever attempted on Hive. My name is 
The Great Hive MTG Archive
Credit:TuesdayTastic
For simple explanation purposes the following chart will be used:
White Mana Symbol = W
Blue Mana Symbol = U
Black Mana Symbol = B
Red Mana Symbol = R
Green Mana Symbol = G
Mana of any Color = (number)
Limited Edition Alpha: Products.
On August 5, 1993, Richard Garfield and Wizards of the Coast released the very first printing of Magic: The Gathering to the public in two forms: The starter deck and the booster pack. The first printing had a print run of approximately 2.6 million cards.
This is a Limited Edition Alpha Starter Deck, designed to be played right out of the box. Each of these contain 60 cards ((2 rare, 13 uncommon, and 45 common, plus one rulebook. Since the minimum deck size was 40 cards upon release, this was more than enough to just find an opponent and jump right in.
In 1993, the price of this bad boy was 7.95 USD, in a sealed condition. As of 6/21/2024 the CHEAPEST one available in a factory sealed state on the market is 109,999.97 USD.
This is a Limited Edition Alpha Starter display box, containing 10 starter decks. The only place you could find these in 1993 were comic and hobby stores, and it was doubtful the shop owner would sell you the entire box. Outside of a private sale or a very high end auction, it is doubtful that most people will ever see, let alone price one of these today.
This is a Limited Edition Alpha Booster pack. Since this is a collectible card game wherein you can customize your deck from hundreds (in 1993) of different unique cards, this was the best way to add to your collection, right off the shelf. Each pack contained 1 rare, 3 uncommon, and 11 common cards, at random, to "boost" your play and build your collection. These were 2.45 USD sealed in 1993, and are currently sitting at a whopping 7500.00 USD as of 6/12/2024 for a sealed pack. For one. Talk about outperforming the market!
**A note about pricing and pack condition: Due to the translucent plastic material used in the packaging on the booster pack, they are what can be considered "searchable". One could, in theory, push the cards within the pack apart, without actually opening the pack, to the edge of the pack where the white part is. When a pack had been subjected to this, it is readily obvious due to creasing and outer wear. These "searched" packs do not hold quite the same value as the "unsearched" ones.
This is a Limited Edition Alpha Booster box (dramatization and example only. Alpha Booster boxes were never shrink-wrapped), containing 36 booster packs. None of these are known to exist in the wild in sealed condition. The box itself was foldable in such a way that you could display the contents, while at the same time making a little display.
I was 15 in 1993, and my nerdly pursuits were comic books and video games, cartoons. I had no idea that this game even existed, so I wasn't one of the lucky ones that got in to this game from the onset. I had no job, and my family (i.e. Mother and 2 sisters) was not exactly well off financially, so asking for something like this would have seemed to be squandering money on something frivolous. If only I had known how awesome this game actually was at that age.
Join me in my next post, where I will begin actually posting about the contents of these Alpha packs from ages past in the following order, to be updated as necessary: Land, Artifacts, White, Blue, Black, Red and Green.