Magic 2014
Open one box and you'll get $208.08 of cards, on average. A box costs $315 right now, so that means you're $107.16 short.
Cards inside
$208.08
Everything in the box, at today's prices
Box costs now
$315
TCGplayer market · from $297
Difference
-$107.16
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.
$208.08 is what the cards are worth to a buyer. It is not what you would be paid for them.
Worth to a buyer
$208.08
Every card at market price
What you'd keep
$70.20
About 34% of it, sold card by card
Stuck as bulk
48%
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 48% 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.
-$107.16
per box, against you
You would do better buying the singles
At $315 a box you'd come up about $107.16 short on average. Buying the individual cards you want will usually cost less.
Break-even price
$208.08
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
$2.64
Whole box
$95.04
$58.32 kept
Share
46%
Commons
The bulk of the pack. Individually worth very little.
Per pack
$1.79
Whole box
$64.44
$2.52 kept
Share
31%
Uncommons
Three per pack. Occasionally one is worth real money.
Per pack
$0.81
Whole box
$29.16
$1.44 kept
Share
14%
Foil (any rarity)
The guaranteed shiny card in every pack. Usually a common, occasionally something expensive.
Per pack
$0.39
Whole box
$14.04
$7.92 kept
Share
7%
Basic land
The basic land. Worth essentially nothing unless it is a full-art foil.
Per pack
$0.16
Whole box
$5.76
$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
Archangel of Thune
$76.60
You'll open one about 1 every 3 boxes
#2 most valuable
Kalonian Hydra
$64.58
You'll open one about 1 every 3 boxes
#3 most valuable
Darksteel Forge
$52.83
You'll open one about 1 every 3 boxes
Silence
$28.18
Dark Prophecy
$27.04
Liliana of the Dark Realms
$24.57
Ring of Three Wishes
$20.93
Jace, Memory Adept
$20.12
Galerider Sliver
$17.55
Strionic Resonator
$17.41
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.
| Archangel of Thune | mythic | $56.03 | 0.31 |
| Darksteel Forge | mythic | $40.02 | 0.31 |
| Liliana of the Dark Realms | mythic | $9.14 | 0.31 |
| Silence | rare | $8.86 | 0.62 |
| Rise of the Dark Realms | mythic | $8.59 | 0.31 |
| Ring of Three Wishes | mythic | $7.60 | 0.31 |
| Strionic Resonator | rare | $7.36 | 0.62 |
| Door of Destinies | rare | $7.06 | 0.62 |
| Dark Prophecy | rare | $6.75 | 0.62 |
| Bonescythe Sliver | rare | $6.53 | 0.62 |
| Kalonian Hydra | mythic | $6.51 | 0.31 |
| Syphon Sliver | rare | $5.73 | 0.62 |
| Sanguine Bond | rare | $5.70 | 0.62 |
| Mutavault | rare | $5.66 | 0.62 |
| Scourge of Valkas | mythic | $5.63 | 0.31 |
| Galerider Sliver | rare | $5.31 | 0.62 |
| Traumatize | rare | $4.22 | 0.62 |
| Jace, Memory Adept | mythic | $3.30 | 0.31 |
| Indestructibility | rare | $3.15 | 0.62 |
| Garruk, Caller of Beasts | mythic | $2.88 | 0.31 |
Sets released around the same time, so you can see how this one stacks up.
