A “white whale” story.

[Taliasen]

I first learned to play Magic (the Gathering) in 1995. I still remember playing my first deck backstage with the stage crew at WSCC. There was a few year break post college while starting a family where I got rid of my cards but still liked the game and loved to play with friends. Some good friends got me back into it after a bit. We don't play near as much as I would like to now. We usually kill zombies that live in our computers. My sons still play the game with me though. My youngest is actually quite the ruthless strategist and beats me regularly. He even pilots my decks better than I do. Yes, the student has truly passed the teacher! My game play mechanics and favorite decks have changed over years, but I am a druid at heart and my favorite Magic color has always been green. Part of the draw of the game for me has been the art. I have several different forest arts in many of my decks. From the moment I saw my first "dual land" I loved the idea of two color decks. The original dual lands are part of the reserve list meaning that they will never be printed again. As such they have continually gone up in value over the years. Mint condition 1st edition lands can reach several thousand dollars! I had settled on the fact that I would never own my favorite dual land. I even played with a proxy for a brief time. My New Years resolution was to sell some of my modern baseball cards to focus on collecting older cards of my favorite players. The cards have been selling faster and for more than I expected. I had the opportunity come up and I did not think twice. My favorite dual land card arrived today. This, this right here is a white whale. I do not care that it is a third edition. I do not care that it is in "heavy play" condition. This is a mountain/forest. This is a legit Taiga. And it is mine.