The Top 10 most expensive Magic Cards on Cardmarket

These very rare cards were first printed in Alpha and only reprinted in the following sets, Beta and Unlimited.

They are not only rare but also very powerful. Therefore, you are only allowed to play them in the Vintage format. They are restricted too, so also only one copy can be in your deck.

We all know that the market forces, supply and demand, decide over the price of a certain Magic trading card.

On the one hand, there are popular cards, played in many decks and formats, that are highly sought-after. On the other hand, there are cards that have been printed in very small quantities, and that’s the reason players and collectors want to own them.

One of the best known cards that was never printed in a regular set of Magic, is the World Champion 1996.  The card was given to Tom Chanpheng for winning the Magic World Championships. There is only one copy, as the other copies from the print run have been destroyed.

Tom sold it in 2001 to a private collector for $17.500. Sure, a piece of Magic history has its price tag. Richard Garfield, the game’s creator, has frequently issued special cards in small quantities to commemorate personal life events. Stay tuned, some have made our Top 10 of Cardmarket’s most expensive Magic cards.

Misprints can be evenly rare and frequently come with a hefty price tag. For some examples, take a look at the misprints in our high-end online shop.

Some of the most expensive cards come from an Edition called “Summer Magic”. But why is that?

Revised Edition, the successor to Unlimited, had a number of problems.

• The print color looked washed out.
• The picture of the card Serendib Efreet was mixed up with Ifh-Bíff Efreet.
• And Wizards was increasingly unhappy with all kinds of satanic symbolic on cards like Unholy Strength.

Therefore, they decided to release a complete makeover – Unlimited. The new print run was code-named “Edgar”. Nowadays, mostly and well known as Summer Magic. Sadly, this new print run was also full of mistakes. Before noticing them, about 40 booster boxes were shipped to retailers.

These booster packs contained not only green cards whose text was almost unreadable, but also some of the most expensive misprints in Magic‘s history. What makes the set interesting to collectors is the sheer rarity and scarcity of those cards. The consensus among the community is, that Rares from Summer Magic are rarer than Rares from Alpha, Magics first edition.

Now you are maybe asking yourself how to identify those legendary Summer Magic cards? Well, that is actually not that hard.

The card has to be white bordered and in English. The Copyright text has to be in white, in one line and contain the year 1994.

What are you waiting for? Start browsing your Revised cards and maybe you can find a hidden gem!

Compiling a list of the most valuable Magic cards is hard. Where do one start? Some special print run cards are unique and don’t really have a market price.

Therefore, we decided to only list cards that have “real” prices and can actually be bought. And where would be a better place to look up those cards and prices, than Europe’s biggest Magic cards marketplace, Cardmarket? We will always list the cheapest version of the card (and on some occassions the price for a copy in “good” condition).

Data was taken on May 15, 2023

from 10.590,00 Euro (Excellent)

There are currently only two Chaos Orb from Alpha available on Cardmarket. Its scarcity as well as playability in Old School for being a versatile Removal All-Star in every deck is pushing its price almost into our Top 10.

from 10.000,00 Euro (Near Mint)

The equivalent of the blue Mauritius “Post Office” stamp in the Magic universe is this blue version of Hurricane. The price tag of roughly 10k Euro makes this misprint the most expensive misprint ever.

from 10.500,00 Euro (Mint)

Our first Top 10 card of the list is none other than the Shivan Dragon from Summer Magic! There are currently only two in incredible condition for sale. If they are really MINT, then that price might be correct!

from 10.900,00 Euro (Played)

The most expensive Mox Pearl available on Cardmarket currently sits at €38.900,00. That’s mainly because it’s a BGS graded 9.5. Good luck finding a better looking one!

Looking for, perhaps cheaper versions, of the card? You can find them here, in our store.

from 10.999,99 Euro (Poor)

One of those vintage format must haves and one of the original “Three for One” cards that are the origin of our company name. Learn more about the story of our company name here.

If you are looking for a true highlight, then you should check out the Near Mint versions of the mother of all draw spells. The price starts at 25.000,00 Euro.

from 11.990,00 Euro (Mint)

Another Summer Magic card made the list! This time it’s another Old School favorite for any deck that plays Red: Wheel of Fortune. There’s currently only one available, who knows if it will sell at the current price?

from 11.999,00 Euro (Light Played)

The only Power 9 card that is legal to play anywhere outside of Vintage and Old School is Timetwister. Where? In Commander. As we all know, Commander and EDH are hugely popular and therefore is the blue three mana sorcery. Looking for a treat? Keep an eye on the Near Mint 9.5 version that sells for 119k on Cardmarket.

from 15.000,00 Euro (Poor)

It doesn’t really matter from what set a Black Lotus is. This card will always have a market, and it commandeers for a high price. Black bordered flowers are even more expensive than their Unlimited cousins. Let’s see what we have: A Good graded Lotus at 38.000 Euro and a Near Mint graded 9.5 for 150k.

Tip: Check your account balance before moving these to your shopping card

from 17.894,74 Euro (Excellent)

In the past years, there was always a Summer Magic Dual Land in our Top 10. Oftentimes it was Underground Sea, but not this time. This time it is Volcanic Island! Again, there’s only one for sale, better be quick.

from 18.900,00 Euro (Mint)

We can guarantee you, that this is not an out of season April Fools’ joke. The third most expensive card right now on Cardmarket is a Black Lotus from Magic’s 30th Anniversary Edition, and it is more expensive than the cheapest Beta Lotus. Only time will tell if it will really sell for that price.

from 30.000,00 Euro (Poor)

Our second place goes to a real Magic card, the OG, the one and only: Alpha Black Lotus! A BGS 9.5 is currently selling for almost half a million Euros, or maybe you can trade it for roughly 24 third place cards?

from 59.000,00 Euro (Light Played)

This card that was created for a special occasion by Richard Garfield. The print run consisted of only 220 copies. Fraternal Extraction was never released for sale and just handed out to family, friends and fellow Wizards of the Coast co-workers. This was also the case for Splendid Genesis, which didn’t make our Top 10 this year.

Data was taken on May 19, 2021

The Honorable Mentions include two cards that almost made the list of 2021.

The most expensive Magic cards on Cardmarket of 2021 are very much influenced by the overall high Alpha prices. Eight out of ten cards are from Alpha, but the first place did not go to a Lotus!

10th Place: Time Walk – Alpha from 15,000.00 Euro (Poor)

9th Place: Ancestral Recall – Alpha from 16,000.00 Euro (Poor)

8th Place: Mox Pearl – Alpha from 16,000.00 Euro (Good)

7th Place: Timetwister – Alpha from 18,000.00 Euro (Good)

6th Place: Mox Ruby – Alpha from from 20,000.00 Euro (Played)

5th Place: Stasis – Alpha from 20,000.00 Euro (Excellent)

4th Place: Black Lotus – Beta from 21,000.00 Euro (Poor)

The three most expensive cards on Cardmarket in 2021 all deserve a place in the top 3! Not only that, but the Alpha Black Lotus from 2020 has been dethroned by a very close relative!

Data was taken on October 9, 2020

The Honorable Mentions include two cards that almost made the list of 2020.

The most expensive Magic cards on Cardmarket of 2020 have been highly impacted by Summer Magic. A total of 4 Summer Magic cards made it into the Top 10 of 2020, which makes it the overall most expensive set on the list.

10th Place: Mox Sapphire – Alpha from 5,999.00 Euro

9th Place: Hurricane – Summer Magic from 6,900.00 Euro

8th Place: Tropical Island – Summer Magic from from 6,999.00 Euro

7th Place: Splendid Genesis from 7,989.00 Euro

6th Place: Volcanic Island – Summer Magic from 10.000,00 Euro

5th Place: Timetwister – Alpha from 12,999.00 Euro

4th Place: Black Lotus – Beta from 13,000.00 Euro

The three most expensive cards on Cardmarket in 2020 are thankfully not all from Summer Magic! The Alpha Black Lotus takes its rightful place on the throne of the most expensive cards in 2020.

Prices obviously change. Therefore, you can find the up to date list of Cardmarket’s most expensive cards here.

If you are looking for more affordable Magic cards we got you covered. Follow the link to our Cardmarket store and fulfil all your collectors and deck builders needs.