March of the Machine: The Aftermath
Open one box and you'll get $163.20 of cards, on average. A box costs $294 right now, so that means you're $130.77 short.
Cards inside
$163.20
Everything in the box, at today's prices
Box costs now
$294
TCGplayer market · from $270
Difference
-$130.77
Against you
Packs in the box
12
Several rares, foils and alt-art cards in each
Box price from TCGplayer, checked October 12, 2026 · Card prices from Scryfall (TCGplayer market data) · last updated October 17, 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.
$163.20 is what the cards are worth to a buyer. It is not what you would be paid for them.
Worth to a buyer
$163.20
Every card at market price
What you'd keep
$106.08
About 65% of it, sold card by card
Stuck as bulk
10%
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 10% 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.
-$130.77
per box, against you
You would do better buying the singles
At $294 a box you'd come up about $130.77 short on average. Buying the individual cards you want will usually cost less.
Break-even price
$163.20
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.
Foil showcase rare mythic
A foil version of this slot.
Per pack
$3.27
Whole box
$39.24
$25.92 kept
Share
24%
Foil rare or mythic
A foil version of this slot.
Per pack
$2.93
Whole box
$35.16
$21.12 kept
Share
22%
Halo showcase rare mythic
A special treatment — alternate frames and art that appear at a lower rate.
Per pack
$2.58
Whole box
$30.96
$23.64 kept
Share
19%
Extended-art rare or mythic
A special treatment — alternate frames and art that appear at a lower rate.
Per pack
$2.50
Whole box
$30.00
$19.20 kept
Share
18%
Foil extended rare mythic
A foil version of this slot.
Per pack
$1.55
Whole box
$18.60
$12.60 kept
Share
11%
Halo showcase uncommon
A special treatment — alternate frames and art that appear at a lower rate.
Per pack
$0.52
Whole box
$6.24
$3.48 kept
Share
4%
Everything else
3 smaller slots — alternate-art pairs, bonus sheets and the like, each under 2% of the box.
Per pack
$0.25
Whole box
$3.00
$0.00 kept
Share
2%
The ten most valuable cards a Collector Booster can produce, and roughly how often one shows up.
#1 most valuable
Ob Nixilis, Captive Kingpin
$132.11
You'll open one about 1 every 25 boxes
#2 most valuable
Kiora, Sovereign of the Deep
$55.96
You'll open one about 1 every 25 boxes
#3 most valuable
Calix, Guided by Fate
$55.42
You'll open one about 1 every 25 boxes
Nahiri, Forged in Fury
$48.69
Nissa, Resurgent Animist
$44.10
Tyvar the Bellicose
$40.38
Sarkhan, Soul Aflame
$39.84
Sigarda, Font of Blessings
$30.14
Narset, Enlightened Exile
$29.35
Rocco, Street Chef
$29.10
134 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.
| Nissa, Resurgent Animist | mythic | $28.95 | 0.20 |
| Nissa, Resurgent Animist | mythic | $27.11 | 0.17 |
| Ob Nixilis, Captive Kingpin | mythic | $22.29 | 0.17 |
| Nissa, Resurgent Animist | mythic | $21.91 | 0.20 |
| Tyvar the Bellicose | mythic | $21.83 | 0.17 |
| Ob Nixilis, Captive Kingpin | mythic | $21.63 | 0.20 |
| Karn, Legacy Reforged | mythic | $20.16 | 0.17 |
| Karn, Legacy Reforged | mythic | $19.77 | 0.20 |
| Calix, Guided by Fate | mythic | $19.38 | 0.17 |
| Karn, Legacy Reforged | mythic | $18.93 | 0.20 |
| Tyvar the Bellicose | mythic | $18.58 | 0.20 |
| Ob Nixilis, Captive Kingpin | mythic | $14.61 | 0.20 |
| Nahiri, Forged in Fury | mythic | $14.26 | 0.17 |
| Calix, Guided by Fate | mythic | $13.56 | 0.20 |
| Calix, Guided by Fate | mythic | $13.17 | 0.20 |
| Tyvar the Bellicose | mythic | $11.40 | 0.20 |
| Narset, Enlightened Exile | mythic | $10.62 | 0.20 |
| Training Grounds | rare | $10.23 | 0.33 |
| Nahiri, Forged in Fury | mythic | $10.10 | 0.20 |
| Training Grounds | rare | $9.73 | 0.40 |
Sets released around the same time, so you can see how this one stacks up.
