Magic 2011
Open one box and you'll get $263.88 of cards, on average. A box costs $405 right now, so that means you're $141.02 short.
Cards inside
$263.88
Everything in the box, at today's prices
Box costs now
$405
TCGplayer market · from $510
Difference
-$141.02
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.
$263.88 is what the cards are worth to a buyer. It is not what you would be paid for them.
Worth to a buyer
$263.88
Every card at market price
What you'd keep
$108.00
About 41% of it, sold card by card
Stuck as bulk
37%
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 37% 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.
-$141.02
per box, against you
You would do better buying the singles
At $405 a box you'd come up about $141.02 short on average. Buying the individual cards you want will usually cost less.
Break-even price
$263.88
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.
Rare or mythic
The one guaranteed rare or mythic in every pack. This is where most of a box’s value sits.
Per pack
$2.71
Whole box
$97.56
$55.44 kept
Share
37%
Commons
The bulk of the pack. Individually worth very little.
Per pack
$2.05
Whole box
$73.80
$14.04 kept
Share
28%
Uncommons
Three per pack. Occasionally one is worth real money.
Per pack
$1.66
Whole box
$59.76
$21.60 kept
Share
23%
Foil (any rarity)
The guaranteed shiny card in every pack. Usually a common, occasionally something expensive.
Per pack
$0.71
Whole box
$25.56
$16.56 kept
Share
10%
Basic land
The basic land. Worth essentially nothing unless it is a full-art foil.
Per pack
$0.20
Whole box
$7.20
$0.00 kept
Share
3%
The ten most valuable cards a Play Booster can produce, and roughly how often one shows up.
#1 most valuable
Serra Ascendant
$61.30
You'll open one about 1 every 2 boxes
#2 most valuable
Primeval Titan
$54.09
You'll open one about 1 every 3 boxes
#3 most valuable
Goblin Chieftain
$46.80
You'll open one about 1 every 2 boxes
Liliana Vess
$45.55
Voltaic Key
$43.42
Pyretic Ritual
$36.83
Preordain
$36.05
Silence
$35.90
Liliana's Caress
$31.75
Leyline of Anticipation
$30.90
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.
| Serra Ascendant | rare | $28.81 | 0.62 |
| Primeval Titan | mythic | $12.66 | 0.31 |
| Temple Bell | rare | $11.94 | 0.62 |
| Birds of Paradise | rare | $11.91 | 0.62 |
| Platinum Angel | mythic | $10.78 | 0.31 |
| Leyline of Anticipation | rare | $7.88 | 0.62 |
| Silence | rare | $7.41 | 0.62 |
| Liliana Vess | mythic | $6.11 | 0.31 |
| Time Reversal | mythic | $5.97 | 0.31 |
| Ajani Goldmane | mythic | $4.82 | 0.31 |
| Goblin Chieftain | rare | $4.71 | 0.62 |
| Captivating Vampire | rare | $4.66 | 0.62 |
| Protean Hydra | rare | $4.36 | 0.62 |
| Fauna Shaman | rare | $4.26 | 0.62 |
| Traumatize | rare | $4.10 | 0.62 |
| Knight Exemplar | rare | $3.85 | 0.62 |
| Drowned Catacomb | rare | $3.62 | 0.62 |
| Overwhelming Stampede | rare | $3.41 | 0.62 |
| Baneslayer Angel | mythic | $3.37 | 0.31 |
| Garruk Wildspeaker | mythic | $3.32 | 0.31 |
Sets released around the same time, so you can see how this one stacks up.
