Magic 2012
Open one box and you'll get $210.60 of cards, on average. A box costs $301 right now, so that means you're $90.22 short.
Cards inside
$210.60
Everything in the box, at today's prices
Box costs now
$301
TCGplayer market · from $290
Difference
-$90.22
Against you
Packs in the box
36
Each holds at least one rare or mythic
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.
$210.60 is what the cards are worth to a buyer. It is not what you would be paid for them.
Worth to a buyer
$210.60
Every card at market price
What you'd keep
$62.28
About 30% of it, sold card by card
Stuck as bulk
52%
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 52% 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.
-$90.22
per box, against you
You would do better buying the singles
At $301 a box you'd come up about $90.22 short on average. Buying the individual cards you want will usually cost less.
Break-even price
$210.60
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.
Rare or mythic
The one guaranteed rare or mythic in every pack. This is where most of a box’s value sits.
Per pack
$2.29
Whole box
$82.44
$44.28 kept
Share
39%
Commons
The bulk of the pack. Individually worth very little.
Per pack
$1.94
Whole box
$69.84
$4.68 kept
Share
33%
Uncommons
Three per pack. Occasionally one is worth real money.
Per pack
$0.91
Whole box
$32.76
$1.80 kept
Share
16%
Foil (any rarity)
The guaranteed shiny card in every pack. Usually a common, occasionally something expensive.
Per pack
$0.53
Whole box
$19.08
$11.16 kept
Share
9%
Basic land
The basic land. Worth essentially nothing unless it is a full-art foil.
Per pack
$0.18
Whole box
$6.48
$0.00 kept
Share
3%
The ten most valuable cards a Draft Booster can produce, and roughly how often one shows up.
#1 most valuable
Grand Abolisher
$48.52
You'll open one about 1 every 2 boxes
#2 most valuable
Angelic Destiny
$39.52
You'll open one about 1 every 3 boxes
#3 most valuable
Sorin Markov
$39.09
You'll open one about 1 every 3 boxes
Jace's Archivist
$32.08
Primordial Hydra
$28.92
Primeval Titan
$28.54
Jace, Memory Adept
$25.95
Sundial of the Infinite
$24.73
Worldslayer
$23.30
Grave Titan
$20.73
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.
| Grand Abolisher | rare | $18.96 | 0.62 |
| Sundial of the Infinite | rare | $14.33 | 0.62 |
| Birds of Paradise | rare | $12.64 | 0.62 |
| Sorin Markov | mythic | $9.46 | 0.31 |
| Jace's Archivist | rare | $9.31 | 0.62 |
| Primeval Titan | mythic | $7.78 | 0.31 |
| Jace, Memory Adept | mythic | $7.00 | 0.31 |
| Primordial Hydra | mythic | $6.96 | 0.31 |
| Phantasmal Image | rare | $5.51 | 0.62 |
| Manabarbs | rare | $4.99 | 0.62 |
| Goblin Chieftain | rare | $4.85 | 0.62 |
| Visions of Beyond | rare | $4.77 | 0.62 |
| Worldslayer | rare | $4.09 | 0.62 |
| Reverberate | rare | $3.85 | 0.62 |
| Quicksilver Amulet | rare | $3.22 | 0.62 |
| Time Reversal | mythic | $2.41 | 0.31 |
| Drowned Catacomb | rare | $2.29 | 0.62 |
| Garruk, Primal Hunter | mythic | $2.21 | 0.31 |
| Angelic Destiny | mythic | $2.20 | 0.31 |
| Vengeful Pharaoh | rare | $1.95 | 0.62 |
Sets released around the same time, so you can see how this one stacks up.
