Black Boder and White Border Cards--Is it Marketing??

Are there any real differences between white and black border cards besides the fact that people "give" them different values?

 

Black Border cards are the first release of a sdet, while white border are a re-release. The black bordered versions only hjave a limited release (either time or number of cards, I can't remember which) while white border are ongoing, and thus less in value.

Hope that clears it up

 

That may be true, but you can get the same exact cards with the same abilities in a white border set for 1/2 the price usually. I don't see why everyone would just save money and get the white border cards.

 

For collectors black borders are worth more. Though this isn't always the case, I remember that white border revolution was twice as expensive as black border revolution until more copies got into circulation. But if you aren't a collector then this won't concern you

but if you want to be a player and only get whit border cards, you won't be current on sets for tourneys

 

I agree with Teknobabel (did I spell that right?) If your a "player", than white border cards may well be the thing for you. If you are after "older" sets, then look at your retailer for "unlimited" boxes. I bought a box of UL Dagobah recently and scored a heap of cards that I weas missing. Thery are white border, but to me that doesn't matter.

You need to see CCGs, qwhether they be Magic, Star Wars or Pokemon, on two levels. One is the player level ansd the other is the collector.

To a collector, there are four versions of cards to collect, the black border, the white border and the foil (if it has been released)and the AI (if that card has one). Many do not consider their collection complete until they have all three/ four.

To a player, it doesn't matter what the border is, or what the picture looks like, it's what's on the card that matters.

When you rweally think about it, a white border Rebel Trooper and a black border Premier Darth Vader are the same weight, same size and made of the same material, yet one is significantly more "valuable" than the other (I'll let you guess which)

Like has been previously mentioned, if you can get white border cards at cheaper prices, then go for it. I do. Keep in mind though that it has been a couple of years or so since a white border revised set has been released.

Also, if you are looking for cheap cards, have a good look through your retailer's commons box (if they have one). Amongst a swag of UNCOMMONS, in the box, I have scored several rares. Never really cool ones, but rares nontheless. When you can pick them up for a few cents (or even free sometimes) ti makes it worth a look.

If you have picked the game up recently, and the retailer has been stcking the SWCCG for a while, you can fill huge gaps in your collection for cheap!

 

BPJ has basically said it all.
I'm still two cards short of full black border set for New Hope, but with white and black i've got it, but for collecting value I really want those two cards,

 

A lot of good comments have already been stated here...

I would like to add a few more tho..

When a publisher (Decipher) says that an edition is "limited" that is something they must legally stick to.

So in order to make the cards available again (To players) without violating the 'limited edition' printing on each pack of BB cards, they had to change the card in some way. The easiest way was to change the bordercolor.

Now they could've done like they did in Young Jedi when they reprinted the MoDM set, The didn't change the border color at all, rather, they printed a small "beta" symbol after the copyright info. This effectively changed or indicated a change in the card, distinguishing it from the original 'limited edition' print run.

Either change gives the collectors something MORE to collect.

So to answer your question: "Is is Marketing??" No, & Yes.

No, they don't change the border just to sell more cards. They changed the border color to be able to print more of that particular card/set.

& Yes, Once an edition is sold out. Decipher get no more money from all the secondary selling of it's product. So, by making more product (white border) they get to sell more to the retailers.

If it were a purely marketing thing to create collector confusion, then they would make a white border edition and release it on the same day as the BB edition. Kind of like they did with Jedi Knights with their limited edition 1st Day of Issue Set. Now that was purely a marketing ploy.

Hopefully this helps.

Jim

 

>>>No, they don't change the border just to sell more cards. They changed the border color to be able to print more of that particular card/set.

>>>& Yes, Once an edition is sold out. Decipher get no more money from all the secondary selling of it's product. So, by making more product (white border) they get to sell more to the retailers.


Although nothing's stopping them from making more black border cards after the initial production sells out, except marketing of course. So in that sense, it is purely marketing.

 

One other nice thing about white bordered A New Hope and Hoth, the cards are glossier than the black bordered ones. To me this makes them much better.

 

its also nice because sometimes they screw up a card (hoth: r-3po and k-3po)and than make a new entirelly diffenrnt card to take the place of the screwed up one, giving us collectors something new to search for