A few reasons: 1) It's from the Alpha set, the very first Magic Release. It's much rarer to find, since it wasn't as popular. http://www.mtgprice.com/sets/Alph

A few reasons: 1) It's from the Alpha set, the very first Magic Release. It's much rarer to find, since it wasn't as popular. http://www.mtgprice.com/sets/Alpha/Black_Lotus http://www.mtgprice.com/sets/Alpha/Black_Lotus 2) It's graded a 9.5 out of 10 for it's condition. Practically perfect for an item that wasn't initially sought as a collectors item 3) The card itself is considered to be one of the Power 9, or some of the most powerful cards in the game. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Power_Nine http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Power_Nine Also, the card you linked is from the Unlimited set, which would be the 3rd printing of this card.