Dragons of Tarkir
Open one box and you'll get $117.72 of cards, on average. A box costs $347 right now, so that means you're $229.03 short.
Cards inside
$117.72
Everything in the box, at today's prices
Box costs now
$347
TCGplayer market · from $390
Difference
-$229.03
Against you
Packs in the box
36
Each holds one rare or mythic
Box price from TCGplayer, checked September 2, 2026 · Card prices from Scryfall (TCGplayer market data) · last updated August 29, 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.
$117.72 is what the cards are worth to a buyer. It is not what you would be paid for them.
Worth to a buyer
$117.72
Every card at market price
What you'd keep
$31.68
About 27% of it, sold card by card
Stuck as bulk
57%
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 57% 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.
-$229.03
per box, against you
You would do better buying the singles
At $347 a box you'd come up about $229.03 short on average. Buying the individual cards you want will usually cost less.
Break-even price
$117.72
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.
Commons
The bulk of the pack. Individually worth very little.
Per pack
$1.15
Whole box
$41.40
$6.48 kept
Share
35%
Rare or mythic
The one guaranteed rare or mythic in every pack. This is where most of a box’s value sits.
Per pack
$1.12
Whole box
$40.32
$19.08 kept
Share
34%
Uncommons
Three per pack. Occasionally one is worth real money.
Per pack
$0.59
Whole box
$21.24
$1.44 kept
Share
18%
Foil (any rarity)
The guaranteed shiny card in every pack. Usually a common, occasionally something expensive.
Per pack
$0.28
Whole box
$10.08
$4.68 kept
Share
9%
Basic land
The basic land. Worth essentially nothing unless it is a full-art foil.
Per pack
$0.14
Whole box
$5.04
$0.00 kept
Share
4%
The ten most valuable cards a Play Booster can produce, and roughly how often one shows up.
#1 most valuable
Shaman of Forgotten Ways
$27.55
You'll open one about 1 every 3 boxes
#2 most valuable
Haven of the Spirit Dragon
$25.81
You'll open one about 1 every 2 boxes
#3 most valuable
Dragonlord Dromoka
$25.23
You'll open one about 1 every 3 boxes
Sarkhan Unbroken
$25.10
Narset Transcendent
$23.17
Savage Ventmaw
$22.90
Dragon Tempest
$19.60
Sidisi, Undead Vizier
$16.79
Dragonlord Kolaghan
$16.20
Dragonlord Silumgar
$15.62
68 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.
| Sarkhan Unbroken | mythic | $20.53 | 0.31 |
| Dragonlord Kolaghan | mythic | $9.22 | 0.31 |
| Shaman of Forgotten Ways | mythic | $8.92 | 0.31 |
| Narset Transcendent | mythic | $8.85 | 0.31 |
| Sidisi, Undead Vizier | rare | $8.58 | 0.62 |
| Dragonlord Silumgar | mythic | $4.68 | 0.31 |
| Secure the Wastes | rare | $3.18 | 0.62 |
| Dragonlord Dromoka | mythic | $3.06 | 0.31 |
| Descent of the Dragons | mythic | $2.99 | 0.31 |
| Dragon Tempest | rare | $2.55 | 0.62 |
| Collected Company | rare | $2.25 | 0.62 |
| Dragonlord Atarka | mythic | $2.23 | 0.31 |
| Risen Executioner | mythic | $2.15 | 0.31 |
| Clone Legion | mythic | $1.51 | 0.31 |
| Haven of the Spirit Dragon | rare | $1.37 | 0.62 |
| Atarka's Command | rare | $1.12 | 0.62 |
| Sunscorch Regent | rare | $0.92 | 0.62 |
| Dragonlord Ojutai | mythic | $0.83 | 0.31 |
| Dragon Whisperer | mythic | $0.79 | 0.31 |
| Kolaghan's Command | rare | $0.72 | 0.62 |
Sets released around the same time, so you can see how this one stacks up.
