March of the Machine
Open one box and you'll get $150.00 of cards, on average. A box costs $296 right now, so that means you're $145.97 short.
Cards inside
$150.00
Everything in the box, at today's prices
Box costs now
$296
TCGplayer market · from $295
Difference
-$145.97
Against you
Packs in the box
30
Each holds one rare or mythic
Box price from TCGplayer, checked September 2, 2026 · Card prices from Scryfall (TCGplayer market data) · last updated December 2, 2025
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.
$150.00 is what the cards are worth to a buyer. It is not what you would be paid for them.
Worth to a buyer
$150.00
Every card at market price
What you'd keep
$77.10
About 51% of it, sold card by card
Stuck as bulk
25%
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 25% 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.
-$145.97
per box, against you
You would do better buying the singles
At $296 a box you'd come up about $145.97 short on average. Buying the individual cards you want will usually cost less.
Break-even price
$150.00
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.
Multiverse legend
One of the card positions in every pack of this product.
Per pack
$1.89
Whole box
$56.70
$35.10 kept
Share
38%
Rare or mythic
The one guaranteed rare or mythic in every pack. This is where most of a box’s value sits.
Per pack
$0.94
Whole box
$28.20
$14.40 kept
Share
19%
Wildcard
An extra card of any rarity. Most of the time it is a common or uncommon, but it can be a second rare.
Per pack
$0.72
Whole box
$21.60
$10.50 kept
Share
14%
The List
A reprint pulled from a rotating list of older cards. It replaces a common in a small share of packs.
Per pack
$0.57
Whole box
$17.10
$10.20 kept
Share
11%
Mom foil with showcase
A special treatment — alternate frames and art that appear at a lower rate.
Per pack
$0.38
Whole box
$11.40
$4.50 kept
Share
8%
Single-faced uncommons
One of the card positions in every pack of this product.
Per pack
$0.34
Whole box
$10.20
$2.40 kept
Share
7%
Single-faced commons
One of the card positions in every pack of this product.
Per pack
$0.17
Whole box
$5.10
$0.30 kept
Share
3%
Double-faced common or uncommon
One of the card positions in every pack of this product.
Per pack
$0.00
Whole box
$0.00
$0.00 kept
Share
0%
Uncommon battle
One of the card positions in every pack of this product.
Per pack
$0.00
Whole box
$0.00
$0.00 kept
Share
0%
Foil etched
A foil version of this slot.
Per pack
$0.00
Whole box
$0.00
$0.00 kept
Share
0%
The ten most valuable cards a Play Booster can produce, and roughly how often one shows up.
#1 most valuable
Ragavan, Nimble Pilferer
$66.90
You'll open one about 1 every 4 boxes
#2 most valuable
Phyrexian Altar
$52.06
You'll open one about 1 every 33 boxes
#3 most valuable
Urza's Saga
$47.39
You'll open one about 1 every 33 boxes
Sword of Feast and Famine
$39.29
Blightsteel Colossus
$32.52
Sheoldred, Whispering One
$29.49
Atraxa, Praetors' Voice
$28.96
Elesh Norn, Grand Cenobite
$26.14
Bitterthorn, Nissa's Animus
$21.82
Uncivil Unrest
$17.99
345 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.
| Phyrexian Altar | rare | $52.06 | 0.03 |
| Urza's Saga | rare | $47.39 | 0.03 |
| Ragavan, Nimble Pilferer | mythic | $47.26 | 0.25 |
| Sword of Feast and Famine | mythic | $39.29 | 0.03 |
| Blightsteel Colossus | mythic | $32.52 | 0.03 |
| Atraxa, Praetors' Voice | mythic | $25.44 | 0.25 |
| Sheoldred, Whispering One | mythic | $25.27 | 0.25 |
| Bitterthorn, Nissa's Animus | rare | $21.82 | 0.05 |
| Elesh Norn, Grand Cenobite | mythic | $20.30 | 0.25 |
| Uncivil Unrest | rare | $17.99 | 0.05 |
| Ketria Triome | rare | $17.68 | 0.03 |
| Sea of Clouds | rare | $17.07 | 0.03 |
| Nesting Dovehawk | rare | $16.41 | 0.05 |
| Hall of the Bandit Lord | rare | $15.14 | 0.03 |
| Filigree Vector | rare | $15.09 | 0.05 |
| Thousand-Year Elixir | rare | $14.26 | 0.03 |
| Vorinclex, Voice of Hunger | mythic | $13.95 | 0.25 |
| Elvish Champion | rare | $13.56 | 0.03 |
| Skithiryx, the Blight Dragon | mythic | $12.99 | 0.25 |
| Jin-Gitaxias, Core Augur | mythic | $12.45 | 0.25 |
Sets released around the same time, so you can see how this one stacks up.
