Back in July 1993, a company called Wizards of the Coast from Seattle, just three years old, released a Collectable Card Game (CCG) called Magic: The Gathering. Played by 2 or more people using cards bought randomly packaged in small sealed packs, over ten million people regularly play today. Now the New Zealand Mint has been awarded the license to product commemorative coins based on the series and from early reports, itâs already a success.
Magic: the Gathering games represent a battle between mighty wizards, known as âplaneswalkersâ, who employ spells, artifacts, and creatures depicted on individual Magic cards to defeat their opponents. Although the original concept of the game drew heavily from the motifs of traditional fantasy role-playing games such as Dungeons & Dragons, the gameplay of Magic bears little similarity to pencil-and-paper adventure games, while having substantially more cards and more complex rules than many other card games.
An organized tournament system and a community of professional Magic players has developed, as has a secondary market for Magic cards. Magic cards can be valuable due to their rarity and utility in gameplay. Often the prices of a single card can be anywhere from a few cents to thousands of dollars, so under $150 for an ounce of silver shouldnât be too painful. The display case is nice as well. We should have some much better images soon and will update the post with them.
Jace Beleren is a human Planeswalker of incredible intelligence who wields blue magic and is capable of such talents as clairvoyance and illusion. His specialty though, is in the art of inborn telepathy which makes him unique within the multiverse and manifests as spells of mind-reading, illusion, knowledge, and deception. He has a reserved and decadent nature and a troubled conscience for the poor decisions he has made in the past. His mind magic has helped him discover the existence of Planeswalkers and of worlds beyond his own.
The coin reverse features original colour artwork by artist Jason Chan. This art was used on the powerful Jace, the Mind Sculptor Planeswalker card from the Magic: The Gathering Worldwake release in 2010. Jace is depicted against a relief engraved background and border design. The obverse features the standard portrait of Queen Elizabeth II by Ian Rank Broadley, and is issued for Niue.
Each coin is individually packaged, with a numbered certificate of authenticity. The coins are packaged in a protective inner display case, and housed in high quality branded card outer.
SPECIFICATION
Denomination
Metal
Weight, g
Diameter, mm
Quality
Box â COA
Mintage, pcs
2 DOLLARS (NZ)
0.999 silver
31.1
35.0 x 55.0
PROOF COLOURED
Y â Y
5,000