A man from New York recently purchased a rare, unopened pack of Magic: The Gathering’s Beta set and got the surprise of a lifetime after accidently opening it — a Black Lotus.
Originally posted to the MagicTCG subreddit in a since mod-deleted post, user veritesq shared an image of the booster pack with the hope of getting advice on how to search the contents of the pack without opening it — a technique that involves shifting the contents of the pack and shining a light through the vintage booster’s notoriously thin packaging.
Several users pointed out that the pack showed signs of already being heavily searched, and recommended leaving it sealed, as it would be worth more compared to cracking it and finding lower-value cards. Michael, the packs purchaser, decided to give searching it one more try, but accidently tore the packaging in the process.
I took one last ditch effort to search and accidentally broke the seal at the back of the pack at the seam, which left me no choice but to open it.
The accidental opening paid off however, as the last card in the pack turned out to be a Black Lotus, Magic’s most storied and expensive card.
I literally blank stared at it for a few seconds. My brain was full-on loading screen. The first coherent thought I remember having was, ‘No. This is fake. This HAS to be fake. There is no way…’
While worth significantly less than its Alpha counterpart, a Beta Black Lotus is still one the most expensive cards in the game, fetching as much as $60,000 should it be graded a GEM Mint PSA 10.
Returning to Reddit to share his success, Michael was met with a range of responses, with many users congratulating him on funding his future child’s college fund, while others shared their skepticism of the fantastical story.
While the original Reddit threads have been removed by moderators, you can still read through Michael’s posts below.
Read the original article from PC Gamer.