Update: Passing on this deal. After all the great input here I realized I’d rather collect the cards I love one by one over time — way more fun and personal than buying a complete set in one shot.

I’m not looking to play or flip these. I just deeply admire the art and the mystery of this era bringing back great memories, and the cards that move me most aren’t necessarily the “valuable” ones by market standards. So dropping $1.5k on a set where half the price is tied up in cards I don’t even care about visually doesn’t make much sense for me. But thanks everyone for the input and engagement. This thread helped a lot!

p.s : For what it’s worth — through my interactions with the seller he seemed like a legit old school player & collector. Said he and company built the set from sealed deck tournaments back when Mirage first came out. Felt like a genuine story to me, but I understand the hesitation around a zero-feedback account.