Magic Origins
Open one box and you'll get $127.80 of cards, on average. A box costs $174 right now, so that means you're $46.14 short.
Cards inside
$127.80
Everything in the box, at today's prices
Box costs now
$174
TCGplayer market · from $165
Difference
-$46.14
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.
$127.80 is what the cards are worth to a buyer. It is not what you would be paid for them.
Worth to a buyer
$127.80
Every card at market price
What you'd keep
$30.24
About 24% of it, sold card by card
Stuck as bulk
62%
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 62% 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.
-$46.14
per box, against you
You would do better buying the singles
At $174 a box you'd come up about $46.14 short on average. Buying the individual cards you want will usually cost less.
Break-even price
$127.80
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
$1.26
Whole box
$45.36
$20.16 kept
Share
35%
Commons
The bulk of the pack. Individually worth very little.
Per pack
$1.18
Whole box
$42.48
$1.44 kept
Share
33%
Uncommons
Three per pack. Occasionally one is worth real money.
Per pack
$0.68
Whole box
$24.48
$3.60 kept
Share
19%
Foil (any rarity)
The guaranteed shiny card in every pack. Usually a common, occasionally something expensive.
Per pack
$0.27
Whole box
$9.72
$4.68 kept
Share
8%
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
5%
The ten most valuable cards a Play Booster can produce, and roughly how often one shows up.
#1 most valuable
Starfield of Nyx
$73.24
You'll open one about 1 every 3 boxes
#2 most valuable
Alhammarret's Archive
$47.63
You'll open one about 1 every 3 boxes
#3 most valuable
Woodland Bellower
$32.80
You'll open one about 1 every 3 boxes
Elemental Bond
$17.44
Archangel of Tithes
$14.81
Herald of the Pantheon
$14.32
Sword of the Animist
$14.18
Knight of the White Orchid
$12.12
Tainted Remedy
$12.07
Chandra's Ignition
$11.66
66 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.
| Starfield of Nyx | mythic | $14.36 | 0.30 |
| Alhammarret's Archive | mythic | $9.93 | 0.30 |
| Chandra's Ignition | rare | $8.24 | 0.59 |
| Tainted Remedy | rare | $7.80 | 0.59 |
| Sword of the Animist | rare | $6.73 | 0.59 |
| Archangel of Tithes | mythic | $5.59 | 0.30 |
| Woodland Bellower | mythic | $4.85 | 0.30 |
| Dark Petition | rare | $3.03 | 0.59 |
| Goblin Piledriver | rare | $2.65 | 0.59 |
| Helm of the Gods | rare | $2.57 | 0.59 |
| Flameshadow Conjuring | rare | $2.54 | 0.59 |
| Avaricious Dragon | mythic | $2.46 | 0.30 |
| Herald of the Pantheon | rare | $2.30 | 0.59 |
| Day's Undoing | mythic | $2.06 | 0.30 |
| Evolutionary Leap | rare | $1.88 | 0.59 |
| Knight of the White Orchid | rare | $1.83 | 0.59 |
| Willbreaker | rare | $1.80 | 0.59 |
| Animist's Awakening | rare | $1.29 | 0.59 |
| Pyromancer's Goggles | mythic | $1.26 | 0.30 |
| Managorger Hydra | rare | $1.03 | 0.59 |
Sets released around the same time, so you can see how this one stacks up.
