23 years ago...ALLIANCES was created...How many Forces of Wills can we find

[@Logimug]

I still think the highlight of this video was 2:13 where it was announced that we will be witnessing the return of Farmer Rudy one of the rarest reserve list Rudies.

[@averse82]

So this is my box and for the sake of comments trying to decipher the EV of the box...this was never about the money. I sold the bar I was co-owner of and decided to buy a cheaper car than expected so I had some extra income. After talking to Rudy for a bit, I decided on this box for a couple reasons. First I didn't play a lot of Magic until some in college and all those cards have not survived the many moves I've had since then. Second, we are all here because we enjoy Rudy and these videos and I knew he would enjoy opening the box as much as most of us would like watching. I've recently got back in to Magic from a collectors stance and the pure joy of cards so actual value means less to me than adding the cards to my collection. Guess I can add a third reason is because of the art, was a fine arts major and since buying boxes of the newer sets, the shit is not the same.

[@averse82]

also was planning to have the video on my birthday but he notified me that he got it done early so I told him to go ahead and publish...cheers all

[@chanythechamp]

Thanks for allowing us all the opportunity to share in the box opening with Rudy on this one!

[@caiodbs]

I feel you bro. Thanks for sharing the amazing experience. As Rudy said, we are not watching another Aliances unbox so soon

[@Soulcybering]

Thanks for the entertainment man ❤️

[@rjc2337]

Thanks for sharing this with all of us, and happy birthday

[@Animatokid]

26:25 Rhystic Studies did a video on the card frames and how each color had different fantasy flavor to it

[@derekwalter4238]

Rudy knows this. In fact, he commented on that video. The more you know..

[@bluesight_]

Was a really good mini-documentary

[@rjjm88]

I love your box openings. You have such excitement for the history of the cards themselves, not just their dollar value. Seeing that old Rebecca Guay art again made me smile, and the fact I'm not the only one who appreciates her style is a fantastic feeling.

[@roycejames789]

Nice pulls 45 force of wills that’s some value

[@mrbobtehbuildah]

Good thing he got 45 storm crow to pitch to them

[@feritperliare2890]

Mrbobtehbuildah burn the heretic

[@guywitdaface2786]

Yes rudy i loved how they did the old card color art. I so miss how good the old cards were. Ill be in touch sir im going to need a box or 2 opened lol.

[@Dustynbearz]

you're getting closer rudy, but this still isnt ultimate masters

[@Eugenes84]

My childhood friend got a box of Alliances for Christmas when the set came out. He passed away a few days ago. It good to see another box opening from the set to remember him.

[@ashheilborn]

regarding the rant around 26:00, I'd like to appreciate the style choices of the text boxes on the old cards, and I also want to raise your appreciation by appreciating the way that the text box and picture box are different sizes. It gives a tapered effect similar to something the way that Classical Greek Columns are tapered at the top. It draws your eye toward the art.

[@enricoveloira4921]

Hi rudy...i am still a fan of the old magic the gathering card layout design where the text area per color is unique-black is parchment,white is marble,blue is water, red is flame and green is wood. It truly highlights their colors. Thanks for sharing! I had a blast! :)

[@jurgensterckx7007]

Awesome video, I still have all my old cards love seeing these opened up. A lot of the different versions were unknown to me. I only ever saw the male version of royal herbalist... My guess for the force of wills was two :) Greetings from Belgium.

[@kittenclaws5775]

And I'm with you on loving the old school card look, though I appreciate that they keep trying to find new and good ways to present cards

[@mattv2099]

you should pull 2.45 force of will's and .8181 lake of the dead's

[@zickykane5206]

Make more videos, dawg. I need to know if a glock or ak will function if covered in certain foods or substances.

[@Grinningfartking6969]

@@zickykane5206 are you dumb?

[@zickykane5206]

@@Grinningfartking6969 Are you?

[@Zman82]

Lol

[@moyza_]

26:26 Yes, absolutely! Very appreciated and it means a lot for me, too!

[@moyza_]

26:55 I collect Rebecca Guay and I feel you here. It was her first set, if I remember well!

[@lilithcohen4327]

I appreciate the different borders also Rudy, you not alone. Well, not in this case. ;)

[@raingodmusic]

i appreciate the different boarder color/textures too

[@jameswarner5878]

Force of Will is the specific card that made me look up MTG prices. I played from Christmas 1993 - Christmas 1997. After Weatherlight I couldn't keep up with the game and packed up all my cards. For context Scrye listed the most expensive card as a Beta Black Lotus at $400. Force of Will was around $2 at the time. I collected them because of the art by Richard Kane Ferguson. One day a couple years ago i looked up the price of some random cards and was shocked to see how much they increased in value. Luckily the only card I ever sold was a Beta Mox Saphire in 1998 for $90 so I could take a girl on a date.

[@chickenj90]

If you still had that Mox Sapphire you could take me on a date :)

[@jameswarner5878]

@@chickenj90 I'm very lucky I never sold any more than that. I know a kid who sold 6 black lotuses in varying conditions for 5k to buy a camero.

[@chickenj90]

@@jameswarner5878 I couldn't live with myself finding out how much that would be today

[@itzdm0r3]

I remember being amazed by the Inquest price guide as a young teen.

[@professoroaksvintagecards4315]

I hope your married to said girl 20 something years later

[@MS-iv5og]

The first 3 are the UC and Force is one of them - 4th is the rare. And did you know? In Aliances the inc was diffrent the colors can be bleeced with sunlight except of black and blue - so you could hang them in the window for 3-4 Month and get Black/White/Blue remain, the rest vanishes - did this looks nice!

[@Greywolf74]

I definitely love the old card frames Rudy! I wish theyd go back to making cards the way they used to!

[@n0bunga]

"I love that she's on the back" Out of context Rudy is best Rudy.

[@itsthedarknight4409]

I do enjoy the attention to detail that older cards have. Just adds a little more flavor to the colors

[@codybord2294]

I love Rebecca Guay's art style, so this was a niiiiiiice video for me to go back on. Her watercolor work on the cards is amazing, Kaysa is my favorite card art in MTG.

[@Zman82]

I'm so glad to see you slice at the crease and not put a big slash right down the center of the box.

[@crabshack101]

I appreciate the different colors having different card backgrounds! thanks for making entertaining and educational videos.

[@GyaradosFreak]

I completely agree Rudy! The texture look of the different card colors is one of the things i like most over modern solid color cards!

[@daniel_druziki]

yeah old frame is the best, i wanna upload my card collection, Rudy i check your videos every day, my distress moment haha

[@daveraghanti8149]

Love the different card boarders!!! So cool to see an old box opening, and happy birthday

[@matthewpearce4844]

I totally appreciate that the card frames had texture differences in older cards, lots of flavor. I think the black with the " witches brew" bubbles and parchment look is great

[@jwt4810]

I started playing when Alliances came out. So my very 1st MTG pack ever was an Alliances pack. I pulled the $20 chase card Balduvian Horde and there was also a Force of Will there. Pulling the best card in the set at that time hooked me onto the game before I even played a match. Everyone was in awe of the Horde, not so much for the FoW. Good times :)

[@Mercuratura]

Watching Rudy pull several parts of the CounterPost deck brought a smile to my face. As for Browse, Finkel used it along with Soldevi Digger to really make his 97 CounterPost deck work.

[@dcouture79]

Your videos are so great man. Love the nostalgia, takes me back to opening all those great packs! Also, yeah, the older card designs were so much better, in my opinion.

[@ShineDawg]

I appreciate that Rudy The color of the card has its own visual texture....

[@zerokidd21]

This isnt ultimate masters rudy... but I like it. I miss old alliances boxes.

[@michaelglover3039]

that the box was not dropped should highlight how big this is

[@PhillipReed77]

he also didn't rip the knife across the top to cut the plastic with this one..very gentle cut.

[@Chewah84s]

Much Love for the Framing! Highschool all over again

[@secretrarecollctbles1892]

that's one thing I like about the old cards is the border had textures to them, it made the card pop I think especially the black cards almost looks like boiling tar its awesome!

[@wymanbartlett4648]

Thanks for the trip down memory lane. Totally agree with you on the card borders, and art as well.

[@garyhickman1088]

i love the different frames. Theros block had some sweet frames too

[@Blerk350z]

Lake of the dead has gone up nicely since this video. Alliances was my favourite set as a kid. I just got a NM Lake of the Dead from an old player selling his collection.

[@6LordMortus9]

I never noticed the text boxes until this video, and now I appreciate it :)

[@AspyreFGC]

I love these videos Rudy, I remember buying Alliances when I was a kid. The old art style Magic has will always be my favorite.

[@rafiqofthefew]

Hell yeah, I loved the different backgrounds for each color type back in the day as well. The parchment for black cards brings me back.

[@philippereeves9241]

I'm glad you appreciate the variance of frame and background in those cards. For those interested, the KZbin channel "Rhystic Studies" has a detailed video about those features through MTG history. It's very well done and informative, I highly recommend it.

[@joelvaldez5577]

@15:28 Rudy's owl only comes out when there's a major hit. Wooooo!

[@nikfenrir]

yes rudy loved the old artwork and text frames.

[@LotusandLegends]

A ton of fun to watch some old packs get cracked open! The black and white cards had the best borders IMO. Great video!!

[@averse82]

cheers

[@pbailed8007]

I agree! the artwork, the details, they’re beautiful!

[@brandons1411]

The colors and patterns the older cards had looked so cool. One of the things that got me to play certain cards as a teenager.

[@CALIGS]

I definitely appreciate the text box details. That is overlooked in these things

[@bfhowland]

I love Alliances. I still remember the night my best friend and I went to our LGS and we both bought 1 pack. My friend opened his first and he got a Kjeldoran Outpost. I was so upset because I wanted one so badly and figured i wouldn’t get one. I opened my pack and BOOM I got an Outpost also. We still talk about that night to this day. And I still play with Arcane Denial in a vintage type (i play alpha to alliances) i okay with my friends.

[@marciodemeo5115]

Tks for sharing your story! I have fond memories of Alliances too!

[@adamchampion7686]

When I was a kid Kjeldoran Outpost was my favorite card. I had 4 binder pages full of them. I would just collect em. Those and Shivan Dragons. Love the video dude keep it up! This set truly brings my back to a whole different time in my past. I can remember looking for these at the Waldenbooks at my local mall when I was like 12, had them like 65% off one time I remember buying like 10 WHOLE packs!! ( with my chore money ) and feeling like the luckiest kid in the world. I also remember at the time Yavimaya Ants wasn’t all that bad ( at the time people looked at it as sort of a green ball lightning ). I can remember back in the day if you could Llanowar elf/ Birds of paradise and or mox/lotus is you were the lucky kid ..getting a turn 3 ant followed by I can’t remember the best green 5 drop was often times game winning.

[@elrictchernovkov8083]

Force of Nature maybe? Also you would cast Unsummon on the Ants so you could play it again.

[@sam1127x]

I loved the old style frames and text boxes. My favorite was the green text box was a plank of wood! (giggity?)

[@leverposteifantomet]

I was waiting for the glaciers the whole time. One of my favorite artworks in magic

[@kaidrache2395]

And a bloody fantastic card! Just strip your library out of basic lands and draw the good stuff. Feed the excess into an Zuran Orb and things become quite smooth :)

[@VincentVeak]

LOVED the flavored border textures from old cards like black having bubbly ooze and parchment from a witch's spellbook...BUT I prefer the sleekness, legibility, and streamlined look of modern borders

[@TheTARANISh]

Man I'm still in love with the old scool mtg cards, just because of the fram an illustrations. Card frame back in the days was unimaginably better than this modern versions, except for the fullarts, those are also special.

[@PitFighterPlus]

The art is just so beautiful. The only thing I think of recent that speaks to me the same is a single card...from Dominaria. History of Benalia...I find that card so beautiful. Really wish we had more art like the old sets.

[@SladesKing]

Happy Birthday!🎂

[@Just_Pele]

Sustaining Spirit is one of the Reserved List cards I invested into for pennies several years ago (I have >400 of them, most unplayed, and my cost basis is about .20 each), because it was pretty expensive back in the 90s. It may take another decade of two, but one day it will make a comeback and may already be up to $3-4.

[@2Redner]

These boxes looked so cool on the shelf. I remember the glass case of these cards and then the boxes stacked right behind. It was just out of my budget at 8 years old.

[@GC3DC]

I appreciate the borders too Rudy, even though i started during shadows over innistrad...

[@darkdave1998]

There's actually a Rhystic Studies video on the old frames, so yeah Rudy, you're not alone. Also, the old black frames make my taco the extra crispy taco.

[@el_super_laser]

Well. I appreciate your videos. I appreciate your insight, thank you. From humble Mexico to bring this memories from s game we all love. And yes, I miss the texture of each colour

[@offthewalls1203]

Hey Rudy, I appreciate that.

[@rakiest]

Rudy. I don't even know how to do the magic. But your enthusiasm speaks to my inner nerd for other hobbies. If it wasn't for random stuff like this on youtube, I'd be painfully bored. So here's to not being born in the 1800's.

[@wick3dgard3n]

My all time favorite set. So many standard playables. The ants, war beast, tactics, denial, insect, fow, outpost, glaciers, lake, etc. Worked at a shop during this era and the set was a huge hit from day one, by Mirage release they were $140/box from distributors which was unheard of for standard sets, though there are 45 packs. Thanks Rudy, scratched an itch I've had for a while!

[@alphalegion8446]

Loved the old card borders, like them more then the new ones.

[@tienxero]

i miss the wooden slate on green, and the bubbles in the black boarder. the water ripples were decent too. the stone slab on red, though the white i could take or leave. old black borders in foil are one of the best looking ones theyve printed.

[@Lethos992]

Yes, i appreciate that type of cards Rudy, they're just beautiful

[@blakepuhse8411]

I couldn't find a "pack fresh" option on tcg player, but using the near mint option I've got this box at ~320 dollars, give or take a few. Add in about $60 for a few of the big hitters being "pack fresh" and you're looking at close to $400 box. Not bad, not bad at all.

[@KrepsyK]

To answer your question yes I adore all of the old borders I miss all of the old borders

[@LoLCaekie]

varchild riders have gone up because in the commander 2018 sets, there was a sub commander named "varchild betrayer of kjeldor" and the varchild riders are a critical card in that deck as they utilize the survivor mechanics.

[@kevinstephens2105]

Thank you rudy for sharing this!!!!great box

[@StriderDaddy]

I appreciate the details as well Rudy.

[@wwhsthansen2016]

around 26:43-ish: I'm younger than the game itself and a lot of the older card's border aesthetic is more pleasing and flavorful than the more modern incarnations.

[@Tupiaz]

I always buy the old version of cards because the card frame brings back memory from when I began playing/collecting. The old cards also have many different art styles compare with today where they seem very streamlined.

[@Turtle955Gaming]

I really love the look of the old cards and really wish i still had my cards from when i was a kid i really had some good ones, but i had one of those moms that said it was of the devil and threw them all away 😢…

[@AlexK-sk4qb]

I like the old borders better, especially when they're foiled. Old foils look fantastic.

[@udsw2003]

Love the old frames as well Rudy!

[@tayloreisenberger9522]

I don’t even collect magic and I enjoy ur videos keep up the good work

[@hadlkj1]

When Rudy is the second choice on the official Wizards Survey on what MTG related content you actually pay attention to. Cracks me up

[@SamuriX2010]

I buy older versions of cards for the design of the card. my favorite part is the text on the slab of wood for green.

[@fushiryuu_deathlessdragon]

The old artwork was what got me into Magic. Collected Pokemon a bit on the playground when it just came out, then acquired a few Magic cards and thought "Man, these cards are cool," moved on to Yugioh in middle school because it was the nerd fad, and then finally traded all my Yugioh cards for a Gameboy game and settled on Magic to really get into and play as a card game--all because the art really spoke to me. Not an easy-to-draw anime style, done with real paint and texture, and the borders and text box arts felt really unique and detailed. Shortly after that time the "Modern" design started and I didn't really care for it, and since then until now, in general, we're left with only memories of the old times when the old arts were the norm. But, because now when we see the old style cards we actually have the chance to reminisce a bit, maybe that's the silver lining. Change gives us the chance to appreciate the temporal, ephemeral things.

[@Thynqikan]

When Alliances came out everyone wanted Balduvian Horde. I couldn't understand why, sure it is a 5/5 for 4 mana, but it is in a color that lacked mana acceleration like Dark Ritual as an example. No it wasn't "the new Juzam" and I happily traded them away for far better cards like dual lands. I remember getting 3 dual lands for one Balduvian Horde when it was $25-$30

[@aclotheses]

It was the best heavy hitter in competitive standard. Dual lands were already rotated out and everyone wanted to win ptqs. That's why. As soon as horde rotated it dropped to about $2

[@aclotheses]

And no one talked about it as a replacement juz back then, they talked about it replacing Ernie

[@nebulamask81]

16:59 Dude the ants were a good card, you used Stampeding Wildebeests to bounce it back to your hand instead of playing the CU which also satisfied the wildebeests upkeep.

[@zzafrica87]

so much flavour in this set, love it)))

[@emanueleioria7523]

Browse was actually a staple in UW control with the outpost as a win condition, good times. BTW i was able to recognize alliances cards in my decks from the back because the black border was more like a light brown, i don't know if only boxes produced in europe had this problem.

[@NaturePixieArt]

Cool Fact: Elvish Spirit Guide @ 22:50 is modeled after the pipevine swallowtail butterfly

[@Demogorgon7007]

I’ve always imagined Rudy has small pallets of booster boxes from every set of Magic down in that 3rd floor basement. Imagine how amazing that must feel..

[@adambandurak8913]

That elvish ranger art is awesome...reminds me of amazing crappy barbarian movies...hits me right in the nostalgia feels...False Demise and Arcane Denial made it into quite a few of my decks. Awesome opening video.

[@chanythechamp]

Loved the Revised/3rd edition tease, can't believe Hastings book stores discounted the starter deck. Wow!!!

[@thriftdaddy1828]

I pre ordered a box of Alliances when it cam out and got 4 force of wills. took a while to appreciate that card.

[@rockingrooster5136]

I appreciate big dog the art work today does not compare to the old cards

[@malcom91]

Yes, I appreciate that old borders. I also miss them

[@lanesteele240]

Artifacts used to look so much better with the light brown boarders

[@jebejuice]

lanesteele240 yup

[@alfredvonfleisch]

Agreed.

[@vortex594]

wrong

[@DenizenCain]

Nope

[@AlexK-sk4qb]

Old foils look fantastic.

[@markjonovitch1093]

+1 Like for Rudy's Tool...and for Alliances which was an awesome set

[@frasert8779]

LOVE the older color frames... like so much, and I only started playing in RTR lol

[@timigregory]

I too miss the old colors! Also...I think that you inspired me to create a busty babe deck!

[@LoLCaekie]

those rocks you left behind on the mat are driving me nuts

[@MakeThisPlaceIgnite]

Old card frames rocked. Appreciate it as much as the old art in some ways