Magic the Gathering (MTG) : 4TH Editions Various :

The "4th Alternate" MTG cards were cards that was printed by "United States playing cards Corporation" in Cincinnati (US of course....). All cards are issued from the 4th Tournament Starter Deck (ISBN 1-880992-25-6), and starter deck (ISBN  1-880992-26-4) no boosters were produced.

You don't need to have a "Infrared lamp" or others "things" to recoignize them even if they are similar to 4th Edition, they owns a slightly Glossy texture (ususally more easy to see that to the back side of cards).

The best method to distinguish them from standard Magic cards is to take a close look at the "Magic" logo on their backsides. While standard cards have some light blue areas, especially at the topright part of the letter "A", these cards feature a completely dark blue logo.

Thoses cards are similar to the "Ice Age Glossy Serie" (First Tournament deck ISBN), printed by Carta Mundi (same period as test print for WOTC, to compare them with "United States playing cards Corporation" printing but the quality is worst for the US ones.

Pics show in the shop are issued from my 4th Regular version data base.

Notes:

*Thoses cards are dated 1995.

*Grading on 4th Alter is SPECIFIC due to the glossy type card.

*The card "Junún Efreet": Reformatted text. Text is on the left of the text Box instead of the middle.
* The card "Shapeshifter": It has a bold white copyright.

Rivals Quick Starter Set (US version, released in July 1996).

=>To not be confound with the european "Introductory Two-Player Set" who's exist in French/Japanese/Italian/Spanish/German and English languages. English european cards are not the same as US Rivals ones...

Pics show in the shop are issued from my 4th Regular version data base.

Notes:

*Thoses cards made in United States (not Carta Mundi...) were printed by Shepard Poorman.
*All Rivals Quick Start Set cards have the card name, casting cost, card type, flavor text and copyright line shifted down slightly compared to standard and Alternate Fourth Edition cards.
*The letter spacing is different as well and they also have a speck on the back of all the cards (on the left of the green symbol).
*The cards "Phantom Monster" and "Island" (5 clouds version) are not present in the Rivals US decks.

*Most of the basis lands are misprinted (miscut, off centered,etc...).

*Back side are more "orange" color.

*The Rivals Quick Start Set contains:
*112 - 4th Edition cards (slightly different printing) divided into 4 decks with a 1995 copyright line (even if 1995, they are not the same as the 4th regular Edition...).
*4 rules cards.
*4 deck list cards.
*2 player guides which cover 2 demo games.
*1 enhanced rule book with 4th Edition rules.
*1 mini-issue of the Duelist magazine which introduces the Magic world.
*1 consumer response card to provide feedback.

Product : WOC6552 / ISBN-12: 7 42818 06552 8 / ISBN-10: 1-57530-115-6.