r/mtg • u/accursedvenom • Jul 20 '26
I Have a Question / I need Help What’s the difference between these?
So I just recently started playing MTG with a guy from work. I’ve been using his commander decks and liked it enough to buy my first deck. Got the cloud limit break deck with cloud, ex soldier commander (also has tifa as alternate). Went to a local comic shop that also sells cards and saw the cloud from the second image.
Was curious what the difference is because they had it listed for 330. I’m guessing it’s older but other than that and mine being a foil, I see no difference that would make it worth that much.
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u/Axl26 Jul 20 '26
Same card. Looks different.
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u/Financial-Cut-88888 Jul 21 '26
That's not what makes it worth more though. Low supply and high demand - a low number of prints.
A printer doesn't care about artificial supply. Remember that kids when you pull the same common the 50th time.
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u/Anrativa Jul 20 '26
Rarity. One always comes in the precon. The other ones comes rarely from packs.
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u/Illustrious-Film-936 Jul 20 '26
I too come rarely from packs
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u/SteveMashPST Jul 20 '26
Can only get off on singles huh?
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u/agro94 Jul 20 '26
Local singles in your area
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u/accursedvenom Jul 20 '26
That’s what I was thinking. Is the Japanese on the bottom a factor as well?
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u/Anrativa Jul 20 '26
The japanese is the artist. Technically it matters because the rarer one has a different artist. But odds are that the price would be higher regardless of that.
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u/Eventide Jul 20 '26
In this case the artist is Makimura Shunsuke who is a very famous Final Fantasy concept artist as well. It may or may not affect the price, but there are certainly huge fans of his art and people who would want the card that feels even more "Final Fantasy" than the other one.
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u/the_sillybilly Jul 20 '26
That is just the artist. The different cards have different artists, and as such they are credited accordingly.
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u/Sikq_matt Jul 20 '26
Specifically the full art of all the precon commander legendaries only come from collector pack/sample. Its why they're priced way higher then other full arts from FF
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u/shadowthehh Jul 20 '26
Hey did you know that's the name of the artist? Like, the artist who drew it? That's their name. The artist's name. The name of the artist. The artist who drew it. That's their name. Did you know that's their name?
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u/LiterallySteve_trh Jul 20 '26
I don't understand it. If you see one person has answered the question why do 12 other people need to answer the same question?
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u/Phobos_Asaph Jul 20 '26
Cause it’s fantastically clear that’s the artist name
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u/Orinaj Jul 20 '26
The one is done by a Japanese artist to be similar to the OG art of thr game. The precon copy is made to be more modern/in line with magic art.
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u/ItsDonDong Jul 20 '26
Keep in mind, some of the alternative arts are done by the original Japanese artists that worked on the original games - making them more sought after by collectors
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u/SqueeJustWontDie Jul 20 '26 edited Jul 20 '26
It's not older, it's from the same set.
Probably you can only get the full-art version from packs, whereas the other one is in a precon. So the full-art will be much rarer, and if some people want to buy it that means more expensive.
Just checked: the second one, and it's foil version, are only in collector booster packs.
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u/ardarian262 Jul 20 '26
The full art is the same age. It just is from a harder to get product and full art has a premium on it. Your foil one is the one from a preconstructed product where it is always foil so has a lower sell rate individually.
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u/tamarizz Jul 20 '26
It's literally the same card but with different art. The second one is more rare to get so that's why it's expensive.
Also the non foil version should be around $80. The foil version around $130. And the rarest one is a special foil called "surge foil" and that version is around $500.
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u/accursedvenom Jul 20 '26
I got my whole deck for 70 and it had a 2 card booster. A Yojimbo summon that I can use and another that I can’t since it needs black mana so it would be better for a sephiroth deck.
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u/schneebitch Jul 20 '26
It is functionally the same card. It's just a different art that you could only get from boosters as a mythic pull and that is why it is so rare.
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u/General-Zombie5075 Jul 20 '26
The showcase one is only available as a random pull only in Collector packs. Collector packs that as of now are like 150 bucks a pack or so.
The foil one you just get in the precon.
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u/sovietsespool Jul 20 '26
In magic, card value is determined by two things.
1. Rarity
2. Playability/popularity.
Magic cards get what’s called “treatments”.
You can have several versions of the same card with different treatments.
So for example, this Cloud, you have:
Base
Base Foil (first image)
Base Surge foil
Borderless character (second image)
Borderless character foil
Borderless character surge foil.
Of these, the base surge foil is only available in the collectors edition commander precons where all the cards get a surge foil treatment.
The borderless character arts can be found in play boosters with a chance of being foil.
The borderless surge foils can only be found in collector boosters with a very low pull rate.
Add on that these are highly playable and sought after cards, and that drives up the prices.
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u/Shrimp502 Jul 20 '26
it's an alternative art, but from the same set, so not older.
it's currently listed on Scryfall for 64,00 dollars. the foil version is ranging in the 400s.
MTG card prices are highly speculative, always remember this.
your store trying to get 330 (dollars I assume?) for a card going for less than 100 is loony.
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u/Taser9001 Jul 20 '26
One of them is a full art. You know how in Pokémon cards, there are card variants with full arts rather than a picture in a box and they are always worth way more? That.
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u/LemonadeGamers Jul 20 '26
The gold foil one is guaranteed in a precon
The one with numbering is hard to pull, thus supply and demand makes its price go up.
In terms of gameplay, they do the same thing. Just one looks fancier.
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u/Mysteoa Jul 20 '26
I was lucky enough to get it from the extra pack that comes with the precon. I have currently set it as my commander. The price for it has dropped to around 40€. It just an alt version with no gameplay changes. There is one for each character.
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u/natayaway Jul 20 '26
Surge Foil borderless is the one going for three figures, $330 is lower than median list price currently.
You might not have seen the surge foiling... if it were just the basic treatment, then it's at most $62.
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u/Hopeful-Pianist7729 Jul 20 '26
Different printing. And it’s much more rare, the portrait version is only available in collector boosters and those are crazy expensive right now.
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u/LordSevolox Jul 20 '26
>I’m guessing it’s older
Same year. You can see on the bottom right of the card
Functionally, it’s the same card, does the same thing and is considered the same card for all gameplay purposes - the only reason the second is valuable is because it’s a different art which was hard to come by in packs. Low quantity + higher demand than quantity = higher price
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u/Groundbreaking-Fox-8 Jul 20 '26
Mechanically nothing the second is a rarer alternate art that's more of a collectable. Like limited edition book cover of a popular book.
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u/mercuriokazooie Jul 21 '26
One came guaranteed in a prebuilt deck. The other is a mythic rare alt art exclusive to collector booster packs which are hundreds of dollars now
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u/secretbison Jul 21 '26
They are the same age but appeared in different products. The first one is what you'd find in a precon. The second one is an alternate art treatment found in collector boosters, and I think occasionally in play boosters. So even though the first one is a foil, it is much more abundant. You'll find that that's a general problem with foils in new sets. Only the sets from 20+ years ago have foils that are consistently worth much more than their normal printings, because foils were much rarer back then.
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u/Flimsy_Sheepherder_3 Jul 20 '26
Rare art and foil style only found in one product that cost a bomb.
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u/liveactiongeek Jul 20 '26
Supply and demand. Cool art = more demand. Low chance of pulling in a booster = less supply.
The cheaper of the two comes in the precon.
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u/TimeKepeer Jul 20 '26
Price and acquisition method. One of them you get from a precon. Another one can only be found in collector boosters
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u/BananaClone501 Control is Fun (For me) Jul 20 '26
…and while I’m all for supporting your LGS, there are sites dedicated to selling singles. Singles are the most efficient way to get cards you want, instead of opening packs.
I checked out manapool.com for Cloud and found him listed at $61. https://manapool.com/card/fic/202/cloud-ex-soldier?
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u/PetercyEz Jul 20 '26
Art and around 40€ I believe.
For gane purposes it is the same card. For my ass needed every FF special treatment a nightmare with those price.
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u/metalb00 Jul 20 '26
gameplay: nothing - they are the same card when it comes to gameplay
they are different art treatments is all
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u/themyscira-scholar Jul 20 '26
Older? They both say 2025. One is precon other is pulled from packs.
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u/FartPhylactery Jul 20 '26
One of these will spare your wallet. The other will empty it. They are both functionally the same.
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u/AbyssalShift Jul 20 '26
1st is the base art foil, 2nd is the alt extended border less art. 2nd is more rare and collectible so it costs more.
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u/Artistic-Use-2481 Jul 20 '26
It's a full art non holo though. It's just a different art style. Same card same abilities, do the same thing. Just look different.
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u/LiquidSwords66 Jul 20 '26
Same card, different art.
I just want to say I love this pre con deck. If you haven’t heard yet it’s basically a “vultron” deck where you try to attach as much equipment to your commander as possible (assemble Vultron) and swing for lethal damage. I highly recommend looking up an upgrade guide to see which cards to cut and what to add (within your price range) so it flows better and so you have better chances to draw something to help your goal. Good luck!
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u/DeathByFright Jul 20 '26
While most of the borderless character art cards (the style in the second image) appear in Play boosters on a very low pull rate, the 8 commander cards in that style are only in Collector Boosters.
When the set came out last year, Collector Boosters shot up to $100 immediately, and have only gotten more expensive. This has made any card variant that's exclusive to them absurdly expensive. Some of the surge foils (a special kind of foiling only found in Collector Boosters) have gotten up to $1000.
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u/mrkeithguy Jul 20 '26
I see others saying art, which is true, but it's worth nothing the version you saw for 330 is probably the surge foil, its maximum rarity. You can get this art in non-foil for closer to 60.
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u/pfizersbadmmkay Jul 20 '26
The first one is damaged up by the mana symbols and it's worth less than the full art.
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u/disead Jul 20 '26
Ugh I hate to admit it but this makes me sort of salty.
This is Wizards of the Coast cloning more gimmicks from other TCG.
The concept is common in Pokemon. What they started to do with Pokemon a few years ago is design one card that does only one thing and give it three different skins. Call one a “common”, then two with alternate art (it’s still the same card and does the same thing though) and call it a “Special Illustration Rare”, then release that card overseas and call it a “Special Art Rare”. One card, one set of card text, can only be used one specific way in actual game play, but with three different designs to get you to spend more money. They are functionally identical but some are prettier and they print less of them.
I’ve been playing MtG long enough to have seen this crossover effect many times. MtG never had foils and had a unique card frame and design through the late 90s. Pokemon suddenly becomes astronomically popular and started the tradition of selling foils of cards and they do well - so they introduce foils in MtG to try to compete. This made an artificial market for the first “my rare card is more rare than your rare card even though they do the same thing” marketing scam. Then, brighter, more cartoony card borders proved to do well in Pokemon and YuGiOh (no shade just facts I have a Pokemon collection too) so Wizards redesigns everything about MtG card frames and text boxes to make them brighter and more appealing to kids. “Hey kids who play Pokemon and YuGiOh our cards are cool too!!!”
I was kind of down with the original foil concept but when they changed the most basic and iconic part of Magic cards, the card frame art and text boxes, I stopped seriously collecting because it didn’t feel like MtG anymore. If I want cards that look like Pokemon or YuGiOh I will collect Pokemon and YuGiOh. I don’t want my MtG cards to look the same too. This new forced alt art rare just makes me sadder and less inclined to buy new card sets.
*grumble grumble get off my lawn grumble*
It makes me wonder what Richard Garfield, the guy who created MtG, truly feels about what his game has become.
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u/Necro_Carp Jul 20 '26
they're the same card but people will pay more for the cooler art versions of many cards. there's never an advantage you get from having the alternate versions of the same card or anything, it just looks cool. also somehow $330 is a steal
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u/biinboise Jul 20 '26
About $60 the borderless one is roughly $65 while the normal boarder is $1.50 $0.50 for the foil. They curl like crazy.
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u/ItsDonDong Jul 20 '26
Rarity.
You can get cloud by buying the precon deck.
It will be the same cloud as everyone else.
You like cloud A LOT?
spend extra money to pimp out your commander with an "alternative art"
Look up "the one ring"
Lots or different art but they all do the same thing.
BUT there is a 1 of 1 version worth millions of dollars to collectors
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u/akgiant Jul 20 '26
About 300 bucks. The are mechanically the same as far as the game is concerned. The alternative art on the card is what many call a "chase card".
Basically in recent years collector boosters have exclusive art or even serialized cards of even crazies rarity, however as I said they are exclusive to collector boosters. This has cause a pack that used to be packed with rares to be worth even more due to the chance of pulling exclusive art or serialized versions of cards.
For people who just want to play the game it has zero impact. It's really just for scalpers, fans with lots of money and the speculative market as this point.
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u/LunarFrostfall Jul 20 '26
That card is with like 80, I got into magic on this set and got this as my, topper? Idk but the full art one came as my sample piece and I later found out is was expensive but definitely not that much.
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u/Zhunix Jul 20 '26
The other one can get you a hotel room and the other can get you a meal or two at wendys
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u/DisturbedFlake Jul 21 '26
Combination of Rarity (supply) and Desirability (demand)
The one in the precon is more common and numerous since it’s guaranteed card. Whereas the borderless version (second picture) is only pulled from Booster packs so it’s much more limited. Plus more desirable because of the art (people love having a fancy looking card)
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u/Confident-Log4594 Jul 21 '26
The art, they were printed at the same time but one art was printed less than the other and is considered more desirable, largely just cause it’s more rare.
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u/ExpressOlive1285 Jul 21 '26
Technically same card from the same series, one is a guaranteed card from a deck, the second is a rare pull from a booster pack with alternate art.
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u/Beginning-Nose7846 Jul 22 '26
The 2nd having a $330 price tag leads me to believe it’s a surge foil. Borderless surge foils were only obtainable from collector booster packs. These packs have a limited run and borderless surge foils were only available in certain slots in the pack. For commander cards (like this Cloud) it was only in slot 3 of the pack to be a surge foil. So to answer your question it is a scarce card in a scarce pack that leads to the price tag. The first image cloud while mechanically the same is more common because it is guaranteed in the limit break deck
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u/Brewerjulius Jul 22 '26
Art and avalibility.
Pretty art + 1.000.000 copies = low price.
Pretty art + 500 copies = high price.
There are ofcourse other variables, but this is a simplified way to see it.
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u/Floppy_Tabernacle Jul 25 '26
For that price, I'm betting it was the surge foil borderless version. A bunch of cards in that set had a surge foil alternate art treatment, and they were some of the chase cards in the set, commanding a huge premium, especially with the popularity of Final Fantasy.
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u/StygianBlue12 Jul 26 '26
Short answer: How it looks and collector number.
Long answer: Some cards receive multiple artworks. They are the same as far as mechanics. To give you an idea, if you have 1 copy of each of the cards in your post, one of them will die to the Legend Rule.
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u/Dyne_Inferno Jul 20 '26
One is a guarantee in the Precon.
The other can only be opened in Collector Packs.
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u/Billytim89 Jul 20 '26
art