Magic 2013
Open one box and you'll get $181.80 of cards, on average. A box costs $325 right now, so that means you're $142.86 short.
Cards inside
$181.80
Everything in the box, at today's prices
Box costs now
$325
TCGplayer market · from $310
Difference
-$142.86
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.
$181.80 is what the cards are worth to a buyer. It is not what you would be paid for them.
Worth to a buyer
$181.80
Every card at market price
What you'd keep
$55.80
About 31% 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.
-$142.86
per box, against you
You would do better buying the singles
At $325 a box you'd come up about $142.86 short on average. Buying the individual cards you want will usually cost less.
Break-even price
$181.80
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
$1.98
Whole box
$71.28
$36.36 kept
Share
39%
Commons
The bulk of the pack. Individually worth very little.
Per pack
$1.33
Whole box
$47.88
$1.44 kept
Share
26%
Uncommons
Three per pack. Occasionally one is worth real money.
Per pack
$1.17
Whole box
$42.12
$10.08 kept
Share
23%
Foil (any rarity)
The guaranteed shiny card in every pack. Usually a common, occasionally something expensive.
Per pack
$0.42
Whole box
$15.12
$7.92 kept
Share
8%
Basic land
The basic land. Worth essentially nothing unless it is a full-art foil.
Per pack
$0.15
Whole box
$5.40
$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
Worldfire
$97.59
You'll open one about 1 every 3 boxes
#2 most valuable
Akroma's Memorial
$69.97
You'll open one about 1 every 3 boxes
#3 most valuable
Liliana of the Dark Realms
$38.81
You'll open one about 1 every 3 boxes
Vampire Nocturnus
$26.50
Clock of Omens
$25.95
Omniscience
$23.61
Nicol Bolas, Planeswalker
$22.99
Garruk, Primal Hunter
$21.60
Primordial Hydra
$19.07
Sublime Archangel
$18.61
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.
| Akroma's Memorial | mythic | $38.08 | 0.31 |
| Worldfire | mythic | $35.61 | 0.31 |
| Liliana of the Dark Realms | mythic | $9.56 | 0.31 |
| Primordial Hydra | mythic | $9.02 | 0.31 |
| Omniscience | mythic | $7.09 | 0.31 |
| Stuffy Doll | rare | $6.06 | 0.62 |
| Vampire Nocturnus | mythic | $5.82 | 0.31 |
| Fervor | rare | $4.25 | 0.62 |
| Diabolic Revelation | rare | $3.88 | 0.62 |
| Rhox Faithmender | rare | $3.45 | 0.62 |
| Nicol Bolas, Planeswalker | mythic | $3.31 | 0.31 |
| Boundless Realms | rare | $3.16 | 0.62 |
| Reverberate | rare | $3.06 | 0.62 |
| Jace, Memory Adept | mythic | $2.95 | 0.31 |
| Elderscale Wurm | mythic | $2.85 | 0.31 |
| Drowned Catacomb | rare | $2.63 | 0.62 |
| Krenko, Mob Boss | rare | $2.60 | 0.62 |
| Sublime Archangel | mythic | $2.28 | 0.31 |
| Gilded Lotus | rare | $2.21 | 0.62 |
| Slumbering Dragon | rare | $2.07 | 0.62 |
Sets released around the same time, so you can see how this one stacks up.
