Magic: The Gathering Cards Worth Money

Magic: The Gathering cards worth money come from every era of the game, from 1993’s Alpha to sets released this year. But the odds of a random card being one of them are low. This guide uses TCG Vault’s price data (TCGplayer market prices for Near Mint copies, as of September 18, 2026) to show which Magic cards are worth money, which are worth more than $100, and why.

Are Magic cards worth money?

Most aren’t. Here’s how the 93,037 Magic cards with a current Near Mint price in our database break down. Each printing is its own card, the way TCGplayer lists them, and each card’s price is its cheapest Near Mint version.

Near Mint market price	Cards	Share
Under $1	68,323	73.4%
$1 to $4.99	15,919	17.1%
$5 to $19.99	4,034	4.3%
$20 to $99.99	3,703	4.0%
$100 to $999.99	992	1.1%
$1,000 or more	66	0.07%

The median card was worth $0.34, so most commons and uncommons are worth cents each. What matters is spotting the handful of cards that are worth more.

Which Magic cards are worth over $100?

Three kinds of cards show up again and again among the 1,058 at $100 or more:

• Premium printings. 646 of the 1,058 are foils, and 111 are serial-numbered cards. Wizards introduced serialized cards in booster packs with The Brothers’ War in November 2022: each of its 63 “schematic” artifacts came in 500 numbered copies, found only in Collector Boosters.
• Reserved List cards. 158 of the 1,058 are printings of cards on the Reserved List, most of them from 1993 and 1994 sets like Unlimited Edition, Arabian Nights and Legends.
• Staples. Cards that many players need for their decks, such as The One Ring from The Lord of the Rings: Tales of Middle-earth ($119.51 for a regular Near Mint copy).

Printing history matters as much as age. Sol Ring isn’t on the Reserved List, and our database lists 55 different printings of it. The typical one costs about $2, yet an Unlimited Edition copy from 1993 was still worth $122.50.

What is the Reserved List?

The Reserved List is Wizards of the Coast’s promise not to reprint certain old cards. It was first published on March 4, 1996, and Wizards’ official reprint policy puts it plainly: “Reserved cards will never be printed again in a functionally identical form.”

The rules that matter for collectors, all from that official policy:

• The list is closed. No cards from Mercadian Masques (1999) or any later set can be added, and no cards will be removed.
• No premium loophole. An earlier version of the policy allowed premium (foil) versions of reserved cards. Since 2011, the policy says reserved cards won’t be printed in either premium or non-premium form.
• All nine “Power Nine” cards are on it: Black Lotus, Ancestral Recall, Time Walk, Timetwister and the five Moxen (Emerald, Jet, Pearl, Ruby and Sapphire), first printed in Alpha on August 5, 1993.
• So are the ten original dual lands, such as Underground Sea and Volcanic Island.

Because supply can’t grow, demand alone sets the price. The list also includes Black Lotus, whose graded copies set the game’s headline sale prices (more on that below).

Reserved List cards worth money today

Here are some of the most valuable Reserved List cards in our database, by the Near Mint price of the listed English printing (September 18, 2026):

Card	Set (year)	Near Mint price
Mishra’s Workshop	Antiquities (1994)	$3,699.99
Mox Pearl	Unlimited Edition (1993)	$3,513.33
The Tabernacle at Pendrell Vale	Legends (1994)	$3,069.50
Candelabra of Tawnos	Antiquities (1994)	$2,850.00
Bazaar of Baghdad	Arabian Nights (1993)	$1,925.24
Juzam Djinn	Arabian Nights (1993)	$1,827.00
Gaea’s Cradle	Urza’s Saga (1998)	$1,642.19
Chains of Mephistopheles	Legends (1994)	$1,260.58
Underground Sea	Unlimited Edition (1993)	$1,237.88
Tundra	Unlimited Edition (1993)	$1,200.49
Mox Diamond	Stronghold (1998)	$1,155.23
Volcanic Island	Revised Edition (1994)	$950.74

Being on the list is no guarantee, though. Scryfall’s card database marks 571 cards as reserved. We could price 548 of them, and half had a cheapest Near Mint copy under $5; 123 were under $1. A reserved card that nobody wants to play or collect stays cheap no matter how old it is.

Alpha and Beta copies of the Power Nine are a different market. Our database has no recent Near Mint market price for them; their headline sales are graded copies sold at auction or privately. The records: an Alpha Black Lotus graded PSA 10 sold for $511,100 in January 2021, another PSA 10 sold for $540,000 in March 2023, and a CGC Pristine 10 copy sold privately for $3 million, announced in April 2024.

Are old Magic cards worth money?

Often, but not automatically. The first sets from 1993 and 1994 look very different once you check prices. Here’s the median Near Mint price and the number of $100+ cards per set in our database (September 18, 2026; release dates from Scryfall):

Set (released)	Cards priced	Median price	$100+ cards
Alpha (Aug 1993)	147	$57.00	29
Beta (Oct 1993)	102	$64.11	35
Unlimited Edition (Dec 1993)	224	$3.61	37
Arabian Nights (Dec 1993)	62	$52.16	23
Antiquities (Mar 1994)	62	$3.43	13
Revised Edition (Apr 1994)	273	$0.45	12
Legends (Jun 1994)	204	$2.71	28
The Dark (Aug 1994)	86	$0.83	0
Fallen Empires (Nov 1994)	186	$0.21	0

Alpha, Beta and Arabian Nights are worth money almost card for card. Revised and Fallen Empires came out within a year of them, yet their typical card sells for less than a dollar. If you find old cards, the set matters more than the year on the copyright line.

Modern Magic cards worth money

New cards can be worth just as much as old ones when they’re scarce by design. A few examples from our database (Near Mint, September 18, 2026):

Card (version)	Set	Near Mint price
Avatar Aang (raised foil)	Avatar: The Last Airbender	$4,855.81
Sheoldred (serial-numbered foil)	March of the Machine	$3,165.46
Mox Jasper (serial-numbered foil)	Tarkir: Dragonstorm	$2,824.99
Mana Vault (rainbow foil)	Secret Lair Drop Series	$2,708.56
Ulamog, the Defiler (borderless serial-numbered foil)	Modern Horizons 3	$2,334.99
Imperial Seal (regular)	Double Masters 2022	$170.45

One modern card went much further. The one-of-one serialized The One Ring from Tales of Middle-earth was pulled from a pack in 2023 and sold for a reported $2 million.

Modern cards carry a risk that Reserved List cards don’t: reprints. A reprint, a ban or a shift in which decks people play can cut a card’s price quickly.

How to find out what your Magic cards are worth

1. Identify the exact printing. The same card can exist in dozens of versions. Check the set, the collector number and any special frame or treatment.
2. Check foil vs non-foil. They’re priced separately, so look up the version you actually have.
3. Look for Reserved List names and old sets. Anything from 1993 or 1994 deserves a price check before it goes back in the box.
4. Be honest about condition. The prices above are for Near Mint copies. Played cards sell for less.
5. Scan it. TCG Vault’s MTG card scanner identifies Magic cards with your iPhone camera, shows the current TCGplayer market price and keeps a running total for your collection.

For a card worth grading, run the numbers with our PSA grading cost calculator before you send it in. And if your shoebox also holds Yu-Gi-Oh! cards, see Yu-Gi-Oh! cards worth money.