What are the most expensive MTG cards of all time? Buying singles can be a cheap way to expand your collection, but properly rare Magic: The Gathering cards are a different story, with MTG prices ranging from a few thousand to three million dollars. We don't recommend paying tens of thousands of dollars for a small cardboard rectangle to anyone - but it's fun to dream about owning them and goggle at the prices, so we regularly track the most valuable Magic cards and their sale values here.
Much like the world's most expensive Pokémon cards, most expensive Yugioh cards - and, these days, the most expensive Lorcana cards in the Disney TCG - some Magic: The Gathering cards have become ultra-valuable, prized items, ballooning in price on the second-hand market.
Generally, it's not simply because they're the best MTG cards. Though the Power 9 do rank among the most valuable Magic cards, most pricey entries come from the oldest MTG sets, and are prized just as much for their age and scarcity as their actual effect. Here you'll find a list of the most expensive rare Magic cards ever made, along with the highest prices they have sold for.
The 16 most expensive Magic: The Gathering cards are:
- Pristine Alpha Black Lotus - $3 million
- The 1/1 One Ring - $2 million
- Black Lotus Autographed Alpha - $800,000
- Mox Opal - $108,000
- Lord of the Pit Alpha - $105,000
- Timetwister Alpha - $84,000
- Splendid Genesis - $72,000
- Vesuvan Doppelganger - $63,000
- Ancestral Recall Alpha - $36,000
- Phoenix Heart - $27,500
- Euroakus - $25,200
- Time Walk Gamma - $26,400
- Fraternal Exaltation - $23,750
- Mox Sapphire Alpha - $18,000
- Underground Sea Alpha - $17,500
- Mox Ruby Alpha - $12,187
Pristine Alpha Black Lotus
Price: $3 million
With the printing of the One of One Ring in 2023, there was a brief window when the Black Lotus wasn't the most valuable magic card of all time. That didn't last long, because in April 2024, Adam Cai of Pristine Collectibles sold a CGC Pristine 10 graded copy of the Alpha Black Lotus for $3 million to an undisclosed private buyer.
Black Lotus is the most powerful card from Magic's original set, and arguably still the most powerful card in the game. MTG's original 'Alpha' printing in 1993 was a particularly short run, so very few copies of Black Lotus even exist. It also has a spot on the MTG Reserved List - a selection of cards that Wizards has sworn never to reprint, keeping their price high on the secondary market.
Besides its mythos, the card is prized for its powerful effect. An Artifact that requires no mana to play, Black Lotus adds three mana of any color to your pool, letting you cast powerful spells rapidly in the early game.
Anyone who opened a Lotus in 1993 had no idea that it would be a collectible, so cards weren't treated kindly, which makes this Pristine 10 copy particularly remarkable. While we don't know the origin of this specific card, it's possible that it was recently opened by a daring collector cracking product that had remained sealed for over thirty years.
The 1/1 One Ring
Price: $2 million
Printed for the 2023 Lord of the Rings: Tales of Middle-earth set, the 1/1 The One Ring is both the newest and the most expensive magic card on this list. This very special edition printing of the regular The One Ring card replaces the rules text with the elvish inscription on the jewelry.
It also comes with unique art and a gold serial number - 001 / 001. That's right - only one copy of this card was ever printed.
The hunt for the one-of-one One Ring was a major factor in the success of the already extremely successful Lord of the Rings set, as fans from around the world opened packs and prayed they would be the lucky ones to find the elusive artifact. A bidding war began before the card was even discovered, and had escalated all the way up to $2 million (plus a paella) before it was eventually found.
Rapper and Magic: the Gathering superfan Post Malone purchased the One Ring card. The lucky chap who found the card, one Brook Trafton, confirmed that he paid a total of $2 million for the blingy piece.
Black Lotus Autographed Alpha
Price: $800,000
Magic: The Gathering's most famous flower is also its most prized card. Long coveted as a collector's piece, a mint-condition Black Lotus from the game's 1993 Alpha set (the first print run of MTG's original core set), signed by illustrator Christopher Rush, sold for a whopping $511,100 / £360,427 in an eBay auction in January 2021.
That would make this Black Lotus the second most expensive MTG card ever sold - except that Post Malone recently claimed to have bought a similar Black Lotus for $800,000. That man really has the monopoly on pricey Magic cards.
Mox Opal
Price: $108,000
Plenty of cards from Magic's Alpha set are worth money in pristine condition, and Mox Opal is no different. It's an esteemed member of the 'Power 9', nine cards from MTG's early sets that are still considered some of the most powerful in the game.
Mox Opal is one of five 'Moxes' found among the Power 9. Each of these offers a very simple effect: add one mana of a particular color to your mana pool. It doesn't sound explosive, but it gives you a way to bypass the standard restriction on how many lands you can play per turn. More mana means bringing stronger cards out faster, and that makes victory far more likely.
Unsurprisingly, Mox Opal and its siblings are banned in most formats. Their power and scarcity, however, mean they're gems of great value. The priciest sale we've seen recently is this PSA 10 copy, which sold for a shiny $108,000.
Lord of the Pit Alpha
Price: $105,000
Lord of the Pit is MTG's original giant black daemon, printed in the game's first set, Alpha. His basic stats would be just about playable in a modern draft as a game ender, as he's a seven / seven with flying and trample that costs seven mana. But creatures in Alpha were dreadful, so this beat stick comes with a very big downside: during your upkeep, you need to sacrifice a creature, or the Lord of the Pit will deal seven damage to you.
He was literally the biggest, scariest creature in the game in 1993, and with both Animate Dead and Dark Ritual in the first set, he could hit the battlefield well before turn seven, so he was a very in-demand card. Since no-one knew Magic was going to be a collectible, the (estimated) 1,008 copies of Lord of the Pit from Alpha saw truly brutal play. A copy of the card, graded Pristine 10 by ratings agency Beckett, sold for $105,000 on auction site Fanatics Collect in 2022.
Timetwister Alpha
Price: $84,000
Timetwister is one of the coveted 'Power 9' cards printed in Alpha, Beta, and Unlimited. These early cards remain staples of most banlists thanks to their explosive abilities, and Timetwister is no exception. Its particular party trick was being the ultimate reset card.
When played, you'll combine your hand, library, and graveyard, give the deck a good shuffle, and draw a fresh seven-card hand. Then, your opponent gets to do the same. It was absurdly good with other fast mana spells, letting you empty your whole hand, and then get a brand-new one.
Found on the Reserved List, Timetwister's price has gradually increased over the years, with the most expensive copy we found evidence of selling on Fanatics Collect (formerly PWCC) for an astounding $84,000.
Splendid Genesis
Price: $72,000
In 1997, Magic founder Richard Garfield wanted to commemorate the creation of something even bigger than a trading card game: a brand-new person. Splendid Genesis is a card that marks the birth of Garfield's first child, and only 110 copies were ever printed.
These cards were never made publicly available. However, Garfield did hand some out to close loved ones, such as Wizards of the Coast employees, family, and friends.
Despite their private distribution, some of these prestigious cards eventually reached the secondary market. The highest-selling copy we found was graded a Near Mint 8 by Beckett, which sold in 2022 for $72,000.
Vesuvan Doppelganger
Price: $63,000
A pretty straightforward case of a Reserved List Alpha card that can't be reprinted, blowing up in value. A good condition copy of this card, graded 9.5 by Beckett, apparently went for a whopping $63,000.
It's a pretty cool clone creature spell that lets you keep swapping the target you're cloning
Ancestral Recall Alpha
Price: $36,000
Ancestral Recall was printed in Alpha and is part of a cycle of cards that gave you three of something for a single colored mana. It shows how little the designers understood the game they had created that this card - which lets you draw three cards for one mana - was assumed to be roughly as powerful as Giant Growth, Lightning Bolt, Dark Ritual, or (of all things) Healing Salve.
Restricted in Vintage and banned in Legacy, Ancestrall Recall is on the Reserved List and is considered part of the Power 9. The highest sale price we've seen is for a Gem Mint 9.5 graded copy, which sold via Heritage Auctions in March 2022 for $36,000 - and $20,000 is a very normal price for a copy of the card in a more ordinary state.
Phoenix Heart
Price: $27,500
Splendid Genesis was one of several cards that MTG creator Richard Garfield used to celebrate life events. In 2014, he designed Phoenix Heart to honor his upcoming wedding to Koni Kim. The number of cards printed is unknown, but we do know that Garfield sent out copies along with his wedding invitations - cute.
In April 2023, a copy of this romantic gesture was sold via Heritage Auctions for $27,500. This grade-8 card was apparently the first time that a copy was available as part of a public auction. Wherever the remaining copies are hiding, they're likely worth even more money if they're in a more pristine condition.
Euroakus
Price: $25,200
Every year, MTG publisher Wizards of the Coast shares Heroes of the Realm cards with its high-performing teams. These cards are printed in extremely limited quantities, and they're unique to the person gifted them - to the point of including the individual recipient's name.
Euroakus was a Heroes of the Realm card given to Wizards' European Team in 2020 for its work promoting MTG and D&D across the continent. The most expensive sale we've seen was when Euroakus went for $25,200 in December 2022. The name has been blurred out in the sale images, so it's not clear who the original owner was.
As you'd expect for one-off cards, Heroes of the Realm pieces are illegal in all formats, with the special exception of Commander. A member of the former Commander rules committee dubbed them legal, but only for the person whose name is on the card - meaning that, as soon as they're sold, they go from functional playing pieces to pure collector's items.
Time Walk Gamma
Price: $26,400
Printed in Alpha and another member of the ultra-rare and ultra-powerful Power 9, Time Walk is a straightforward rulebreaker that lets you take an extra turn for two mana - easy to see why it's on just about every MTG banlist, and restricted to a single copy in Legacy. If you can find a way to recast it from your graveyard, say with a Mystic Sanctuary, you can stop your opponent from ever taking a turn.
This Gamma edition copy is even rarer - it predates Alpha, and is one of the prototype cards used to playtest the game. The 2U mana cost is actually the same as the one blue one generic cost on the printed card - this is just how costs were formatted in Gamma. Interesting to see the additional cost of sacrificing an an island - what on earth happened in playtesting that people thought that cost was too high?
The Gamma edition copy sold via Heritage Auctions for $26,400 in July 2021. The biggest sale for a regular copy of the card is a 9.5 Gem Mint copy, which went for $25,000 in mid-2024 via Heritage Auctions.
Fraternal Exaltation
Price: $23,750
When Richard Garfield's second child was born, he created yet another Magic card to commemorate the milestone. Fraternal Exaltation was illustrated by Garfield's sister, Susan, and only around 220 copies were ever made.
As you'd expect, there aren't many Fraternal Exaltations floating around now. A version sold for $23,750 on Heritage Auctions in 2023. This had a CGC grading of only a 6, so if a higher-quality version ever came on the market, we'd expect it to go for a lot more.
Mox Sapphire Alpha
Price: $18,000
Mox Sapphire Alpha is one of several 'Moxes', rare Artifact cards printed in Magic's Alpha and Beta editions (the first and second printings of the original core set). These golden oldies have been cropping up in auction houses for years, and they generally sell for a high, high price.
Each of these snazzy pieces of jewelry functions similarly to Lands, adding one mana of a single color to your pool at no cost. However, while you can only play one Land per turn, you can slap down as many Moxes as you like, letting you build up a surge of mana and unleash powerful spells before your opponent has the option of mounting a defense.
People have been clamoring for these pretties ever since their introduction. A mint Mox Sapphire, which provides blue mana, from the game's Alpha set, lists upwards of $18,000 / £12,700 in 2021. You might think folks would prefer to buy a real gemstone with that money.
Underground Sea Alpha
Price: $17,500
A Dual Land that pairs black and blue mana, Underground Sea lets you tap for either color at no additional cost. Although it's just an improved basic Land card, this Alpha set card is particularly prized for having no downside - why use a Land that offers one color, when you could use a Land that offers two?
The most impressive sale we've found coming via Heritage Auctions on 11 April 2024 for $17,500. That was for a gem mint 9.5 copy - as of November 2025, the typical asking price for an Alpha copy was closer to $10k, and Revised printings go for more like $1k.
Mox Ruby Alpha
Price: $12,187
Another of the coveted Mox stones, the Mox Ruby matches the Mox Sapphire in effect, fame, and prettiness, but not color. This one produces red mana instead. You can pick up an Unlimited printing from around $500, while Alpha printings trade more in the region of $5,000. This Mint 9 condition copy sold via Heritage Auctions for $12,187.50 on April 11, 2024.
That's it for our run-down of big-money Magic cards for now! For everything else Magic: The Gathering, check out our MTG release schedule guide to see what's coming out next. For digital players, stay on top of the competition with the best MTG Arena decks, and use our up to date list of working MTG Arena codes to bag some free cards.