How much is my Magic card worth? 2026 price guide
By Owlex · · 8 min read
A Magic: The Gathering card is worth what the exact printing sells for in its condition, and that can range from about $2 to over $1,000 for the same card name. Sol Ring sells for $2.06 in Commander Masters but $1,875 as a Kaladesh Inventions foil (as of October 2026). Find the printing first, then check recent sales.
The card name alone tells you very little. Magic has been printed since 1993, and popular cards have been reprinted dozens of times in different sets, frames and foil treatments. Each version has its own price.
Most guides list famous cards and stop. This one gives you a method you can follow with any card, shows how much a printing changes the price, and works out what you would actually take home from TCGplayer, eBay or a store buylist after fees.
How do you find out what your Magic card is worth?
Identify the exact printing, judge the condition honestly, then look up recent sales for that printing and condition. Asking prices are not values. A card is worth what buyers have recently paid for it.
- Find the set. Look at the set symbol on the right side of the card, between the art and the text box. Match it to a set on a price site, or use the collector number printed in the bottom left on modern cards. A scanner app can also identify the printing from a photo; see our comparison of the best TCG card scanner apps.
- Note the treatment. Check whether the card is foil, borderless, showcase, extended art, or serialized (stamped with a number such as 12/500). Each treatment is priced separately.
- Grade the condition. TCGplayer defines Near Mint (NM) as cards that "show minimal wear from shuffling, play, or handling". Lightly Played (LP) may have minor edge wear or scuffs. Moderately Played (MP) can have bends with creases. Heavily Played (HP) shows major wear.
- Check TCGplayer Market Price. TCGplayer says this figure is compiled from recent sales completed on TCGplayer.com and updated as transactions complete. It is the closest thing to a standard US price for singles.
- Cross-check sold listings. For cards over about $50, look at eBay sold listings or PriceCharting, which builds its prices from completed eBay and marketplace sales.
TCGplayer also shows a Listed Median, which is the median of current listed prices only. It reflects what sellers hope to get, not what buyers paid, so treat it as a ceiling.
How do you know which printing of a Magic card you have?
The set symbol and collector number identify the printing, and the symbol's color shows the rarity. Common symbols are black, uncommon silver, rare gold, and mythic rare orange-bronze. Mythic rares were introduced with Shards of Alara in 2008, so older cards top out at rare.
Rarity is a starting point, not a price. A gold symbol on a card nobody plays can be worth cents, and some commons sell for real money. The printing matters far more, as Sol Ring shows. These are MTGGoldfish paper prices as of October 2026.
| Sol Ring printing | Treatment | Price (USD, Oct 2026) |
|---|---|---|
| Marvel Super Heroes Commander No. 212 | Regular | $1.51 |
| Reality Fracture Commander No. 21 | Regular | $2.04 |
| Commander Masters No. 410 | Regular | $2.06 |
| Commander Masters No. 703 | Borderless Frame Break foil | $27 |
| Secret Lair No. 1604 | Hatsune Miku: Digital Sensation | $87 |
| Fallout No. 887 | Borderless Surge foil | $330 |
| Kaladesh Inventions No. 24 | Foil | $1,875 |
| Limited Edition Alpha (1993) | Regular | $749.99 to $1,625 in ungraded sales tracked by PriceCharting, Sept 20 to Oct 8, 2026 |
The same card, with the same rules text, spans more than a thousand times in price. That is why a name search on its own gives a misleading answer.
What makes a Magic card valuable?
Four things set most of the price: how many copies exist, how much players want it, the printing's treatment, and condition. A card needs both scarcity and demand to be expensive.
- Scarcity. Older sets had small print runs, and special treatments are rarer than the regular version. Star Trek, for example, has signed cards with fewer than 250 copies of each.
- Play demand. Cards used in popular formats, especially Commander, keep selling. Scrytics notes that Commander drives demand more than any other format.
- Reprints. A card that stays in print stays cheap. Sol Ring has been reprinted in dozens of Commander products, which is why the regular version costs about $2.
- Condition. A Near Mint copy sells for more than a played one. Always compare prices for the same condition.
Are old Magic cards worth anything?
Some are worth a lot, mostly from the 1993 and 1994 sets and cards on the Reserved List. Alpha, Beta and Unlimited were all released in 1993: Alpha in August, Beta in October and Unlimited in December. Alpha cards have noticeably more rounded corners than later printings.
The Reserved List is a set of older cards that Wizards of the Coast has promised never to reprint. Its official policy says reserved cards "will never be printed again in a functionally identical form" and that no cards will be added or removed. The list covers cards from Limited Edition (Alpha) through Urza's Destiny, so a reserved card's supply can only shrink.
Underground Sea, a Reserved List dual land, shows how much the edition matters for old cards. MTGGoldfish paper prices as of October 2026:
| Underground Sea edition | Paper price (USD) |
|---|---|
| Limited Edition Alpha | $8,000 |
| Limited Edition Beta | $5,600 |
| Unlimited Edition | $1,574 |
| Revised Edition | $1,140 |
| Collector's Edition | $899 |
Not every old card is valuable. The price comes from the specific card and edition, so look up each rare individually rather than pricing a binder by its age.
How much will you actually get if you sell a Magic card?
Expect to keep roughly 70% to 90% of the market price after fees, or less from a store buylist. A buylist is the price a store pays you for a card. It is instant and fee-free but sits well below retail.
The table below assumes each card sells for its TCGplayer Mid price with no shipping charged and before sales tax. TCGplayer charges a 10.75% commission capped at $75 per item, plus 2.5% and $0.30 for payment processing. eBay charges 13.25% plus a $0.30 or $0.40 per-order fee for collectible card games, for sellers without a Basic or higher Store. Buylist prices are Card Kingdom's, from MTGGoldfish. All figures as of October 2026.
| Card | TCGplayer Mid (USD) | Net on TCGplayer (USD) | Net on eBay (USD) | Card Kingdom buylist (USD) | Buylist as % of Mid |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Sol Ring, Commander Masters | $2.06 | $1.49 | $1.49 | $0.95 | 46% |
| Sheoldred, the Apocalypse, Dominaria United | $105.99 | $91.65 | $91.55 | $75.00 | 71% |
| Underground Sea, Revised | $1,139.99 | $1,036.19 | $988.54 | $905.00 | 79% |
Here is the Sheoldred math on TCGplayer. The commission is 10.75% of $105.99, which is $11.39. Processing is 2.5% of $105.99 plus $0.30, which is $2.95. That leaves $91.65 before your shipping cost. On eBay, 13.25% is $14.04 plus $0.40, leaving $91.55.
Three patterns stand out:
- Cheap cards are barely worth selling one at a time. Fees take about 28% of a $2.06 sale before you pay for an envelope and postage. Sell low-value cards in bundles or lots.
- TCGplayer's $75 cap favors expensive cards. On the Underground Sea, you would keep about $48 more on TCGplayer than on eBay.
- Buylists pay a bigger share for valuable cards. Card Kingdom offers 79% of Mid for the Underground Sea but 46% for the Sol Ring. Some cards have no buylist offer at all.
For a full breakdown of eBay costs, including Store discounts and promoted listings, see our guide to eBay fees for card sellers.
Is it worth grading a Magic card?
Grading is worth it only when the graded premium clearly beats the grading fee, shipping and insurance, and the card is likely to get a high grade. Grading means a company such as PSA, CGC or Beckett inspects the card, gives it a grade from 1 to 10, and seals it in a plastic case called a slab. A PSA 10 is the top grade, Gem Mint.
PriceCharting's figures for Revised Underground Sea, based on completed sales, show the size of the premium as of October 2026: $861.04 ungraded, $1,181.68 at grade 9 and $1,300.00 at PSA 10. A 9 adds about 37% and a 10 about 51%. For a card worth $20 raw, the same percentage gain would not cover the cost of grading. Our guide to whether grading is worth it walks through the break-even math.
A simple rule: grade only if the card is worth at least several times the grading fee raw, it looks Near Mint under a bright light, and graded copies of that printing actually sell.
What are cards from new sets like Reality Fracture and Star Trek worth?
Cards from a new set are worth what they sell for this week, and those prices move fast in the first months. Reality Fracture released on October 2, 2026, and Star Trek releases on November 13, 2026, with prerelease events from November 6 to 12.
Early prices often reflect hype and short supply rather than lasting demand. If you pull a strong card from a new set, check TCGplayer Market Price and the number of recent sales before you assume a figure will hold.
The chase cards in new sets are usually special treatments, not regular rares. Reality Fracture's Booster Fun treatments include a serialized textless Bloodline Recollector, and Star Trek's Collector Boosters include signed headliner cards, gold-stamped art cards and surge foils. Look at the card's frame, foil and any numbering before you price it, because the regular version of the same card may be worth a fraction as much.
Owlex is a card scanner app for iPhone and Android that identifies Pokémon, Magic: The Gathering, Yu-Gi-Oh!, One Piece and Disney Lorcana cards, several in one photo, and shows each card's market value. If you have a binder of Magic cards to sort, you can photograph a full 9-pocket page at once and see which cards are worth a closer look before you sell.
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Frequently asked
How do I know if my Magic card is rare?
Look at the color of the set symbol on the right side of the card. Black is common, silver is uncommon, gold is rare and orange-bronze is mythic rare. Mythic rare was added with Shards of Alara in 2008, so older cards top out at rare. Rarity alone does not set the price, so always check recent sales for that printing.
Are Magic cards from the 90s worth anything?
Some are worth a lot, especially cards from the 1993 Alpha, Beta and Unlimited sets and cards on the Reserved List, which Wizards of the Coast has promised never to reprint. A Revised Edition Underground Sea had a TCGplayer Mid price of $1,139.99 in October 2026. Most other old cards need checking one by one, because age alone does not make a card valuable.
What is the MTG Reserved List?
It is a list of older cards, from Limited Edition (Alpha) through Urza's Destiny, that Wizards of the Coast says will never be printed again in a functionally identical form. The policy also says no cards will be added to or removed from the list. Because supply can only shrink, Reserved List cards that players want tend to hold high prices.
Where can I check MTG card prices for free?
TCGplayer's Market Price is built from recent completed sales on TCGplayer.com and is the most common US reference for singles. MTGGoldfish shows the TCGplayer Mid price next to Card Kingdom's retail and buylist prices for every printing. PriceCharting tracks completed eBay sales and graded prices.
How much do stores pay for Magic cards?
Store buylists usually pay well below retail. In October 2026 Card Kingdom's buylist offered $75.00 for a Sheoldred, the Apocalypse with a TCGplayer Mid of $105.99, about 71%, and $0.95 for a $2.06 Sol Ring, about 46%. Some cards get no buylist offer at all.