It almost seems hard to fathom that two popular card games from the 1990s are still printing cards. Zoom forward into the decade of the 2020s, and Magic: The Gathering and Pokemon are still going strong.

Auction 7260 through Heritage Auctions is scheduled to open bidding on July 6, 2021 for some of the earliest Decks and Starter packs of the popular Magic: The Gathering card game that began in 1993. Heritage also has the Pokemon equivalent auction billed less than a month later on July 24-25, 2021.

Pokemon is now approaching 25 years in the United States and is slightly older in Japan. Heritage Auctions also is set to auction unopened an original base set booster box with 36 packs holding 11 cards each.

The Auction features high graded cards from the original 1993 series of Magic: The Gathering. The most significant item up for grabs is the opportunity to bid on a sealed unopened Alpha Deck from 1993, and the provenance goes back to the game’s creation. This deck has been made famous by the high prices captured by the Black Lotus cards.

A 2014 video went viral on YouTube of a collector named Openboosters cracking the a 1993 Magic The Gathering Alpha starter deck and screaming with euphoria at finding a mint condition black lotus card. The sensation is in the price adjustments between a PSA graded 9 and a PSA graded 10. The difference in value from $25,000.00 to $60,000.00 according PSA in 2021.

Also in 2021 are headlines of record sales and new highs not seen for the card in any condition. A signed PSA 10 sold on the Auction giant eBay for $511,100.00 in January 2021. While the artist Christopher Rush passed away in 2016 at the age of 50, a high grade PSA example of the Black Lotus card is likely deemed to be a realistic possibility in the minds of those bidding in the auction.

The July 24-25th 2021 Pokemon offering at Heritage Auctions lists a Pokemon Unlimited Base Booster Box Distributors Case from 1999. The opportunity of that listing, in contrast to Magic The Gathering, would be to pull a PSA grade 10 Charizard card.

Heritage Auctions sold the high known price of unopened box of first edition Pokemon cards for $408,000.00. First edition is understood to be the premium deck to invest in in the realm of Pokemon. However Pokemon and Charizard are two words at the tip of many collectors tongues. A PSA 10 graded card from a sealed original pack is something no collector cannot think about as the gavel falls.

If you collect Magic: The Gathering the July 6 2021 Heritage Auction is something to explore. The Pokemon collectors will be on high alert for the equivalent July 24-25 auction.

While these are not sports cards, it’s a safe bet that most card collectors will be watching both auctions to see what direction the hobby will go and how high of prices these rare items will achieve.