The 10 Most Expensive Magic: The Gathering Cards
Magic: The Gathering came out back in 1993. It wasn’t long until the game took off, becoming an international sensation. The more popular the game became, the more demand there was for new cards and Magic: The Gathering soon began putting out not only just regular sets, but also some rare and, now, very valuable cards. In fact, there are some cards that are worth a LOT of money, some worth many thousands of dollars.
The determining factors in card worthiness is age, card rarity, and, of course, quality. After all, no one wants a rare card if it’s torn up or held together with tape. Although some are strictly for the purpose of collecting, here’s the 10 most expensive Magic: The Gathering Cards.
10. Time Walk
The original Magic: The Gathering ban list was basically formed by the Power Nine, which contained several blue cards which had the ability to break the rules, albeit temporarily, in multiple ways. Time Walk is one of these and probably the most notorious of all. You can take an extra turn for the cost of two mana as soon as you’re finished with your current turn. If you had another Time Walk, you could use it and get another extra turn.
The card could be broken for several reasons, but mainly because it could give you an unfair advantage, allowing you to take multiple turns until potentially defeating the enemy. Depending on the quality of this card, you can get upwards of three thousand dollars for the Limited Edition Alpha version.
9. Mox Ruby
The Mox Gems or Mox Jewels were also contained in the Power Nine, allowing you to gain an additional mana point each turn and essentially acting as extra Land which could be played each turn. Nonetheless, you are limited to only being able to play one Land each turn, but potentially could play several different Mox Gems in a single turn. This could lead to boosting how much mana you create, subsequently allowing you to play higher cost cards much quicker.
Mox Ruby is just one of these cards, which generates an extra red mana point each turn. Worth up to twenty-seven thousand dollars, the Limited Edition Alpha version’s worth depends on its quality.
Magic: The Gathering has five colors which are each an archtype. Black cards are about the undead and demons with destroying abilities. Blue cards are about Sorcery and aquatic animals allowing you to break or bend the games’ rules. Green are nature, giving them summoning capabilities. Red cards are war and destruction, tying into powerful monsters and spells. White is about knights and angels, reflecting their healing abilities.
The Wheel of Fortune card seemingly can break traditional archetypes, being a red card by forcing both players to throw away their hands and then drawing seven new cards, which seems more like blue. Depending on the quality, the Limited Edition Alpha version of this card is worth about nineteen thousand dollars.
7. Time Vault
Some powerful cards see watered-down versions of themselves in the game’s later versions and this seems to be one of those cards. Time Vault seems to be a watered-down version of Time Walk, but because it came out with the original full set, this isn’t the case with this card. Time Vault allows you an extra turn, but only if you skip a turn.
Incredibly still broken, this card gives you an extra turn in exchange for two mana and can be played by any color. The Limited Edition Alpha version, depending on quality, can be worth upwards of thirty-five hundred dollars.
Dual Land cards in early printings were questioned as to if these cards were considered the same as either one of the original Land cards, both of them, or neither? The later printings of these cards, however, added text which settled the issue, counting it as both Island and Forest for effect purposes, making them more susceptible to effects targeting Lands.
Depending on the quality of the card, Tropical Island, the Limited Edition Alpha version, is worth up to thirty-seven thousand dollars.
5. Mox Jet
Instantly recognized as being too powerful, the five Mox jewels generate a lot of mana in initial turns. They basically turned the game into one of money over actual skill, since these cards were expensive even back in the early days. Even though attempts were made to make Mox cards better balanced, they were banned quickly in multiple formats.
Mox Jet is one of these legendary cards, allowing you to generate an extra black mana point each turn. Depending on the condition of the card, the Limited Edition Alpha version of this card is worth upwards of thirty-seven thousands dollars.
One of the most useful and common color combinations is blue and black, often specified as the Bruise deck. Although there are a variety of reasons which depend on the set and format in question, the most common one is that black has the ability of removing powerful creatures while also returning cards from the graveyard. This, in turn, protects the player so the s/he may use and reuse the blue spells.
The most expensive of these is Underground Sea, which produces either blue or black mana, and combining it with Bruise decks makes it very powerful. Depending on its condition, the Limited Edition Alpha version is worth up to six thousand dollars.
3. Mox Sapphire
Of the Mox Gems or Jewels, the most valuable is the Mox Sapphire of the Power Nine, granting the user an additional blue mana point each time it’s used. One of the reasons for this is that as part of an original set, the blue powerful cards hadn’t been properly gauged yet, in relationship to competition, making them much more powerful than the other cards.
The reason the Power Nine is made up of blue cards and Artifacts is that utilizing both could essentially reset the game. Mox Sapphire, the Limited Edition Alpha version, is worth upwards of sixty-one hundred dollars, of course dependent upon the card’s condition.
Offering a huge advantage and costing only a single blue mana point is Ancestral Recall, allowing you to draw three cards and therefore giving you a lot more options. Remember, there is no hand size limit in this game, meaning that using specific cards multiple times can allow you to utilize most of your deck whenever needed.
Ancestral Recall, depending on the card’s condition, can be worth up to sixty-five hundred dollars in the Limited Edition Alpha version.
1. Black Lotus
At number one is the Black Lotus and the undisputed king in terms of dollar value of Magic: The Gathering cards. This particular card transcends the game in such a way, that’s it use will be read about on gaming site news. It offers the player a lot of power, as long as the have the cash to pony up for it, that is. This magical card is a single use artifact, giving you three mana of whichever color you choose, and allowing you to pull out a much more powerful card earlier.
The Black Lotus is banned in most formats, however, except for Vintage, though it isn’t very likely to pop up in just any old game; you’d have to be rich to even afford this one. The Black Lotus can go for as much as a quarter million dollars in mint condition Limited Edition Alpha. Depending on variables, you may find one for a hundred and fifty thousand dollars. Wow!
Anyone up for a game?
