The 20 Most Expensive Magic The Gathering Cards of All-Time

• Sold Date: Feb 17, 2023

• Where sold: PWCC Premier Auction

To kick the list off, we have a very useful piece from the original Alpha set. Copy Artifact was drawn by artist Amy Weber, and you can read more about its significance in competitive play here. This copy sold for nearly three stacks of high society in February of 2023.

• Sold Date: May 17, 2023

• Where sold: PWCC

This Taiga iteration counts as both forest and mountains. This gives it immense value in a deck, and its heavy usage makes a BGS 9.5-graded copy even more improbable. This one sold as high as $30,000 from a PWCC Vault.

• Where sold: PWCC

Here we have our first Power Nine copy and the first Mox gem, the pearl. The pearl is used to add white mana, and this PSA 10 copy is one of six in existence. Its all time high sale came during a PWCC Premier auction in March of 2023.

• Where sold: PWCC

Next, we have a very important piece used in many tournament decks. The Underground Sea/Land dual belongs to the blue and black color combination, allowing players to tap it for either blue or black mana. This gives it unparalleled value and usage for gameplay purposes, but it is also a great collector’s piece in a higher grade like this BGS 9.5.

• Where Sold: PWCC

The Mox Emerald marks the penultimate member of the Power Nine and penultimate Mox Cycle piece on this list. This green mana-producing card is one of five known PSA 10s, and it last sold for $37,200 during a PWCC auction.

• Date Sold: March 17, 2023

• Where Sold: PWCC Premier Auction

According to the MTG Wiki, Ancestral Recall “allows the player to use one card to draw three more at an extremely low mana cost.It originated as part of the "boon" cycle, one of each color, which gave three of something (e.g. mana, life, damage) for the cost of one mana.” Interestingly enough, this is the only card of the original Power Nine to never be reprinted in any fashion, making it one of the rarest TCG cards you’ll ever come across.

• Where Sold: PWCC

Birds of Paradise is another MTG card that has become revered based on gameplay usage and striking visual appeal. Mark Poole illustrated the vibrant birds shown above, and this card is pivotal in many deck strategies. Additionally, it is a grail for many MTG enthusiasts, earning a $37,877 price tag during a 2019 auction.

• Where Sold: PWCC

Here we have another piece of the Mox cycle, the Ruby. This is the only gem on the list that notched a PSA 10 grade, selling in March 2023 for nearly $40,000. Mox Ruby also belongs to the Power Nine, so it will always be one of the more heralded artifact cards in MTG.

Where Sold: PWCC

This is a dark and haunting card, so it remains very popular for those who revel in the darker aesthetic of MTG. Nightmare is a powerful addition to any deck, but it’s unlikely that you’ll find it in as flawless condition as this one. The BGS 9.5 copy shown above recently closed at just shy of $43,000, so you may want to check your childhood binders and try to find this one.

• Where Sold: PWCC

With artwork reminiscent of Goosebumps’ The Blob That Ate Everyone, Chaos Orb is threatening both visually and in battle. By flipping the Chaos Orb into the air and letting it fall onto the playing surface, players can destroy any non-token permanent it touches. The affected cards are removed from the game, providing a powerful and unpredictable tool for strategic maneuvering. This makes it banned in most competitive formats, yet it is still a very valuable and sought-after piece in the MTG lore.

• Date Sold: Nov 18, 2022

• Where Sold: PWCC

When it comes to TCGs, this may not be the first dragon creature that comes to mind. Pokémon’s Charizard and Yu-Gi-Oh!’s Blue Eyes White Dragon are both highly collectible in their respective franchises, but this Shivan Dragon BGS 9.5 Gem Mint is a stunner. It has sold for as high as $44,400 during a November 2022 PWCC auction.

• Date Sold: April 21, 2023

• Where Sold: PWCC

At #9, we have another Power Nine member and a wildly rare component of the original Alpha set. Mox Sapphire performs similarly to the Mox Jet, and both subsequently became highly contentious in competition. Many collectors try to assemble all three of the gems together, but that comes at the wallet’s expense.

• Date Sold: Sep 7, 2022

• Where Sold: eBay

One of the few entries from the Beta printing, Volcanic Island is a highly sought-after piece from the “dual lands”. While the majority of our list is a part of the original Alpha set, we will be on the lookout for more record-breaking sales from MTG’s second printing. Case in point, this BGS 9.5 copy sold in 2022 for just over $50,000.

• Where Sold: PWCC

Illustrated by Quinton Hoover, the Vesuvan Doppelganger card is another rare piece from the 1993 Alpha set. On a card like this (or any TCG for that matter), you have to examine centering, surface, edges, and corners when grading. The fact that this rare shapeshifter obtained a 9.5 grade 30 years after printing is truly astounding, so it’s no wonder why it reached a sale price of over $60,000.

• Where Sold: PWCC

Another Power Nine member, Time Walk grants the player an additional turn during a match. And just like pretty much all of the Power Nine, this high-octane MTG card is banned in most formats. Time Walk features both remarkable artwork and stunning coloration, yet this is one of only ten PSA 10s ever cataloged. 

• Date Sold: July 26, 2018

• Where Sold: PWCC

The MTG Mox gems are instrumental cards in a player’s deck, and it just so happens that three of the original Mox cards belong to the Power Nine. Consequently, they provide immense power in a game and real monetary value to collectors. This Mox Jet is overwhelmingly pivotal in a match because it adds more mana for a player and provides a loophole for the “one land per turn” rule. This card is valuable in a Gem Mint condition like this one, yet it is banned in most competition formats.

• Date Sold: April 21, 2023

• Where Sold: PWCC

The impeccable artwork on this Timetwister Alpha card is second to none. Illustrator Mark Tedin weaved an intricate picture that visually highlights the immense power that the Timetwister possesses. Timetwister belongs to the original limited edition “Power Nine,” and many of the others appear on this list as well. This gem sits as one of three PSA 10s in existence, with one recently selling for $84,000. 

• Where Sold: PWCC

It is estimated that just over 1,000 of these copies exist, making it one of the rarest MTG cards in existence. Furthermore, it achieved a BGS 10 Pristine grade, which is one of the most exclusive grades in all of trading cards. The artwork on this card is some of Mark Tedin’s best, and the black bordering gives this one even more visual appeal. It last sold for $105,000 during a January 2023 PWCC auction.

• Date Sold: March 24, 2023

• Where Sold: Heritage Auction

Moving on to #2, we have one of the most iconic TCG cards in existence. There are several iterations of the Black Lotus, but this white back, artist proof arguably takes the cake as the rarest. This particular Black Lotus doesn’t even stem from the original Alpha set, but rather a later LImited Edition Beta set. However, it contains a crisp autograph of the illustrator’s autograph at the bottom of the copy. This MTG holy grail recently closed at $616,000 during a Heritage auction in March.

• Date Sold: August 2, 2023

• Where Sold: Private Sale to Post Malone

Both MTG collectors and Tolkien fans united in 2023 to chase “The One Ring,” a creative collaboration that paid homage to the iconic Lord of the Rings trilogy. Many variations of the card emerged in both retail and booster sets, and a bounty was quickly placed on the 1/1 parallel. The card ended up in the collection of rapper Post Malone, who paid $2,000,000 for this one-of-a-kind piece in August.