Grading
Overall 9.5 GEM MINT
Centering 9.5
Corners 9
Edges 9.5
Surface 10
Rarity & Collectability
The Alpha and Beta Chaos Orb is an extremely difficult card to find in great condition. This specific card grades an overall BGS 9.5, due to the slight wear on the corners. Even so, this is a very clean example, with only 21 copies graded BGS 9 and 6 copies graded BGS 9.5 in Alpha and 15 copies in Beta BGS 9.5.
Of the 6 copies in BGS 9.5 Alpha, 1 copy is overgraded with significant back edge wear, so a collector looking to find a BGS 9.5 black bordered Chaos Orb has only 20 copies to find with the Alpha Chaos Orbs locked in permanent collections.
The Chaos Orb suffers from centering issues, in addition to the card's effects which resulted in many copies being thrown and subsequently damaged before protective sleeves were commonplace. Similar to other low pop centering cards, it often comes down to the individual grader's assessment of centering which might determine either a quad BGS 9 or even BGS 9.5.
Impressions & Artwork
The artwork by Mark Tedin is the definition of iconic. A crazy meatball spitting lava that destroys everything in its path is such great imagery. The red and orange lava pairs well with the purple background. Mark Tedin mentioned that the card was originally named as “Orb of Annihilation” and thought about lava as the most destructive thing.
I also must admit, despite logging hundreds of hours in one of my favorite ARPG's Path of Exile, I only recently noticed the connection between the very important currency item "Chaos Orb" shown below. Chris Wilson (the CEO of Grinding Gear Games) is a huge Magic the Gathering fan and many things in his game was influenced by Magic. There was a video of him sharing his rare land collection, and he even once mentioned that he owned a Black Lotus!
Totally off topic, but I had to log in to my Path of Exile account to share this special piece of Path of Exile history with everyone. Any love and appreciation for Legacy Kaom's Heart out there?
Usage & Gameplay
Chaos Orb has been banned in many formats, but in any format that it is still legal in (Alpha 40, old school), it is a commonly played card that is very powerful. In some formats, the effects have been nerfed to only destroy a single card, but it is still so flexible given that it is a universal removal spell that is accessible by any color since it is colorless. Even colors like green and blue which are typically weak on removal options can play Chaos Orb.
I really appreciate the author who wrote a tribute to the card which is worth a read.
As many of my fans & invitees are aware, at my Bel-Air "A/AN" tourneys on 1st of Every Month only Alpha & Arabian nights are the only additions allowed, keeps out the riff-raff. Chaos Orbs are always welcome and a lot of fun. During "A/AN" play Chaos Orb flips damage as many cards as they hit. Our ref Vladimir, former roommate of Michael G. Ryan, has also ruled that the Chaos Orb can be forked as well. Our "A/AN" game is limited to 20 invitees (typically can only get 10-15 due to rarity of Alpha decks) with $25,000 buy-in winner takes all minus second place recovers $25,000 entry and Vlad's ref fee $25k. BTC/ETH Accepted.
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