Core Set 2021
Open one box and you'll get $297.60 of cards, on average. A box costs $514 right now, so that means you're $216.48 short.
Cards inside
$297.60
Everything in the box, at today's prices
Box costs now
$514
TCGplayer market · from $494
Difference
-$216.48
Against you
Packs in the box
12
Several rares, foils and alt-art cards in each
Box price from TCGplayer, checked October 12, 2026 · Card prices from Scryfall (TCGplayer market data) · last updated October 16, 2026
This is an average. A few very expensive cards pull it upward, so most individual boxes land below it. Opening one box is closer to a lottery ticket than an investment — the number below tells you whether the lottery is priced fairly.
$297.60 is what the cards are worth to a buyer. It is not what you would be paid for them.
Worth to a buyer
$297.60
Every card at market price
What you'd keep
$162.00
About 54% of it, sold card by card
Stuck as bulk
22%
Cards worth more by the thousand than listed
Two things separate the two figures. Fees take 10.75% commission plus 2.5% and $0.30 on every order, and postage on a single card runs about $1.10 — a bite a cheap card cannot absorb. And 22% of the box's value sits in cards below roughly $1.66, the point where a card is worth more thrown into a bulk lot at $0.04 a rare than listed, packed and posted. Selling the whole box to a buylist in one go pays less again.
Assumes one card per order, which is the cautious reading — a buyer taking several cards at once splits the fixed costs between them. Fees are TCGplayer Marketplace rates as of February 2026; bulk rates are current cash buylist.
We start from what a box costs right now. Put in the price you're actually being asked to pay and the answer updates.
-$216.48
per box, against you
You would do better buying the singles
At $514 a box you'd come up about $216.48 short on average. Buying the individual cards you want will usually cost less.
Break-even price
$297.60
Pay less than this and you're ahead on average.
Every pack has a few fixed positions — a guaranteed rare, a wildcard, a foil. Here's what each one is worth across the whole box.
Foil rare or mythic
A foil version of this slot.
Per pack
$7.77
Whole box
$93.24
$60.60 kept
Share
31%
Rare mythic showcase
A special treatment — alternate frames and art that appear at a lower rate.
Per pack
$4.67
Whole box
$56.04
$36.84 kept
Share
19%
Extended-art art
A special treatment — alternate frames and art that appear at a lower rate.
Per pack
$4.66
Whole box
$55.92
$36.24 kept
Share
19%
Foil all showcase
A foil version of this slot.
Per pack
$2.59
Whole box
$31.08
$20.04 kept
Share
10%
Foil uncommons
A foil version of this slot.
Per pack
$1.52
Whole box
$18.24
$4.08 kept
Share
6%
Foil showcase basic
A foil version of this slot.
Per pack
$1.13
Whole box
$13.56
$0.00 kept
Share
5%
Foil common or basic
A foil version of this slot.
Per pack
$1.09
Whole box
$13.08
$0.12 kept
Share
4%
Common uncommon showcase
A special treatment — alternate frames and art that appear at a lower rate.
Per pack
$0.85
Whole box
$10.20
$2.28 kept
Share
3%
Foil common uncommon showcase
A foil version of this slot.
Per pack
$0.52
Whole box
$6.24
$1.68 kept
Share
2%
The ten most valuable cards a Collector Booster can produce, and roughly how often one shows up.
#1 most valuable
Terror of the Peaks
$90.84
You'll open one about 1 every 5 boxes
#2 most valuable
Chromatic Orrery
$53.34
You'll open one about 1 every 5 boxes
#3 most valuable
Chromatic Orrery
$36.57
You'll open one about 1 every 7 boxes
Terror of the Peaks
$35.17
Grim Tutor
$32.86
Rin and Seri, Inseparable
$32.65
Ugin, the Spirit Dragon
$29.70
Grim Tutor
$27.96
Ugin, the Spirit Dragon
$26.87
Fiery Emancipation
$26.26
147 cards. “Copies per box” is how many of that exact card you'd expect from one box on average — under 1 means you usually won't see it at all.
| Terror of the Peaks | mythic | $54.31 | 0.19 |
| Chromatic Orrery | mythic | $40.49 | 0.19 |
| Chromatic Orrery | mythic | $32.73 | 0.14 |
| Rin and Seri, Inseparable | mythic | $32.65 | 0.12 |
| Terror of the Peaks | mythic | $30.64 | 0.14 |
| Grim Tutor | mythic | $24.55 | 0.49 |
| Fiery Emancipation | mythic | $24.30 | 0.19 |
| Grim Tutor | mythic | $23.60 | 0.14 |
| Vito, Thorn of the Dusk Rose | rare | $17.62 | 0.39 |
| Heroic Intervention | rare | $16.76 | 0.39 |
| Ugin, the Spirit Dragon | mythic | $16.40 | 0.49 |
| Heroic Intervention | rare | $16.23 | 0.28 |
| Ugin, the Spirit Dragon | mythic | $16.03 | 0.49 |
| Fiery Emancipation | mythic | $13.38 | 0.14 |
| Azusa, Lost but Seeking | rare | $12.72 | 0.28 |
| Azusa, Lost but Seeking | rare | $12.57 | 0.39 |
| Elder Gargaroth | mythic | $12.00 | 0.19 |
| Ugin, the Spirit Dragon | mythic | $11.94 | 0.14 |
| Teferi, Master of Time | mythic | $11.49 | 0.49 |
| Teferi, Master of Time | mythic | $10.84 | 0.14 |
Sets released around the same time, so you can see how this one stacks up.
