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MTG - Foreign Black Bordered (FBB) "Beta" Cards

by: chaos33611( 172Feedback score is 100 to 499) Top 10000 Reviewer
21 out of 22 people found this guide helpful.
Guide viewed: 2110 times Tags: FBB | Beta | MTG | Magic | Gathering


     Is there such a thing as a Foreign Black Bordered (FBB) "Beta" Card for Magic: The Gathering (MTG) Collectable Card Game?

 

     The short answer is "NO!"

 

     Here's the long answer.  The original Alpha (1993), Beta (1993), Unlimited (1993), Arabian Nights (1993), and Antiquities (1994) sets were ONLY produced in English.  Unlimited was a white bordered edition all the others were black bordered.

     The first MTG set that was printed in a foreign language was Revised (1994).  Along with English, Revised was also printed in German, French, and Italian.  Unlike the English version of Revised which was printed with a white border the foreign editions were printed with black borders hence the origin of FBB.  The rationale behind the FBB was that according to printing policy no card could be printed with a white border without first being printed in a black border edition in that language.  Since Revised was the first printing in those three languages they were produced with a black border.

     Legends (1994) and The Dark (1994) were also printed in Italian as FBB, but not in German nor French.

     In 1995 when Fourth Edition was released Wizards realized that several of the cards that got rotated into this core set from expansion sets were never printed in a black bordered format for the foreign language editions.  To rectify this issue Renaissance was released as a FBB set of 122 cards in German and French.  The Italian edition of Renaissance is only 60 cards because it doesn't contain any cards from Legends or The Dark that were previously printed in Italian with black borders from the orginal expansions.

    I hope this guide helped.  While you may see a FBB dual land, it is from a foreign edition of Revised and not Beta.  And don't go out a buy a FBB sealed pack in the hopes on getting a Black Lotus or another of the Power 9.  They were not printed in Revised.


Guide ID: 10000000002675176Guide created: 01/06/07 (updated 10/27/09)

 
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