SWAROVSKI CRYSTAL TEST PRINTS

Wizards of the Coast worked with Swarovski Crystals to create crystal-covered Magic cards as a test for possible inclusion in Wizard's 30th Anniversary Edition product. The test employed Swarovski's Crystal Textures product line that combines elegant crystals from Swarovski with gluing systems optimized for a variety of carrier materials including playing cards. Wizards had Swarovski create test prints of basic lands and of some Power 9 cards.

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Basic Land Test Prints

Basic land crystal applications were created and affixed to test print cards. The land cards used for this test show full art basic land from the Theros: Beyond Death expansion on the front and show an unused test design of the card back for 30th Anniversary Edition on the back. We believe that a total of 9 sets of basic land test prints were created, of which 7 were complete and 2 were incomplete. Approximately 5 or 6 of those sets were provided to Wizards and no images of these cards are available. Of the 3 sets that are now owned by the public, one complete set of 5 basic lands and one incomplete set of 4 lands (missing Mountain) have full crystal fronts and 9 individual crystals placed on the back, one over each mana symbol and one in each corner (see Island above for an example). The other set is identical on the front, but the back is also fully covered with crystals. This latter set was encapsulated in holders and sealed with serialized, tamper-proof labels and was the treatment that Wizards decided to use if they were going to go forward with crystalized cards in the 30th Anniversary Edition product. (Photo below shows this final production test print.)

Power 9 Test Prints

Swarovski produced crystal applications of Black Lotus, the 5 Moxes, Shivan Dragon, Mountain, and the Magic card back. These 9 card face applications were produced together on individual sheets that were not affixed to test print cards. This test was done in 3 or 4 different treatment variations, and we believe that a total of 12 overall were produced. Approximately 5 of these were provided to Wizards and no images of these sheets are available. There are 3 sheets now owned by the public, two with an identical treatment and one with a different treatment. Between 2 and 3 sheets were physically destroyed and the whereabouts and treatment types of the remaining 1 or 2 sheets is unknown. Interestingly, for unknown reasons, the Magic card back in these tests shows 6 colors of mana.

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