Grading
Overall 9.5 GEM MINT
Centering 9.5
Corners 9.5
Edges 9.5
Surface 9
Rarity & Collectability
This Alpha Demonic Tutor is one of 24 copies graded in BGS 9.5. Although this card didn’t suffer from any major printing flaws, it’s common use likely lended to fewer copies being left in great condition.
Impressions & Artwork
The artwork by Douglas Shuler is memorable, iconic and a source of much controversy in the early years of the game. The usage of a pentagram resulted in conservatives believing that the game was tied to devil worship. Many local stories of parents throwing out their children’s cards because of Demonic Tutor were omnipresent in the 90’s.
Artwork so dark would no longer pass the filters of today’s society which ironically has fallen behind in many metrics relative to the golden era of the 90’s.
Usage & Gameplay
Demonic tutor is still the best tutor spell that allows you to search your library for a specific card that exists. Many cards allow you to search your library but the usually come with some downside or don’t put the card directly into your hand instead placing it on top of the library. The impact of this is that using a tutor would normally put you at a card disadvantage but the original demonic tutor was not only a low cost spell it placed a powerful card like ancestral recall directly into your hand. Because of its card strength it was restricted to one copy per deck and is known as one of the “Black Power” cards as a mainstay in every black deck legal to play it.
Nostalgia
Back in 2011 during my lunch break as a young working professional I would occasionally stop in to peruse the magic cards at a local game store even though I was not actively playing the game.
Inside the store with the row or comic books behind me and the stale smell of old prints in the air to my surprise the glass case showcased mint raw Alpha copies of Demonic Tutor, Serra Angel, Icy Manipulator, and Sol Ring. Each card was for sale at the low price of $35 each. At the time I could not justify spending so much money on all of them so I left behind the Serra Angel and Demonic Tutor.
The regret has stayed with me for the last decade and of course each of those cards are now worth several thousand dollars circa 2022. Very few predicted the price explosion that the first edition of Magic the Gathering would experience.
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