Return to Ravnica
Open one box and you'll get $166.68 of cards, on average. A box costs $185 right now, so that means you're $18.15 short.
Cards inside
$166.68
Everything in the box, at today's prices
Box costs now
$185
TCGplayer market · from $185
Difference
-$18.15
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.
$166.68 is what the cards are worth to a buyer. It is not what you would be paid for them.
Worth to a buyer
$166.68
Every card at market price
What you'd keep
$56.88
About 34% of it, sold card by card
Stuck as bulk
50%
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 50% 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.
-$18.15
per box, against you
You would do better buying the singles
At $185 a box you'd come up about $18.15 short on average. Buying the individual cards you want will usually cost less.
Break-even price
$166.68
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
$2.12
Whole box
$76.32
$45.72 kept
Share
46%
Commons
The bulk of the pack. Individually worth very little.
Per pack
$1.29
Whole box
$46.44
$1.44 kept
Share
28%
Uncommons
Three per pack. Occasionally one is worth real money.
Per pack
$0.73
Whole box
$26.28
$2.88 kept
Share
16%
Foil (any rarity)
The guaranteed shiny card in every pack. Usually a common, occasionally something expensive.
Per pack
$0.36
Whole box
$12.96
$6.84 kept
Share
8%
Basic land
The basic land. Worth essentially nothing unless it is a full-art foil.
Per pack
$0.13
Whole box
$4.68
$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
Cyclonic Rift
$44.08
You'll open one about 1 every 2 boxes
#2 most valuable
Deathrite Shaman
$35.51
You'll open one about 1 every 2 boxes
#3 most valuable
Blood Crypt
$27.46
You'll open one about 1 every 2 boxes
Steam Vents
$26.29
Rakdos Charm
$21.64
Overgrown Tomb
$20.72
Jarad, Golgari Lich Lord
$20.69
Trostani, Selesnya's Voice
$20.35
Hallowed Fountain
$20.26
Temple Garden
$17.72
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.
| Cyclonic Rift | rare | $28.45 | 0.62 |
| Steam Vents | rare | $12.80 | 0.62 |
| Utvara Hellkite | mythic | $11.89 | 0.31 |
| Blood Crypt | rare | $9.29 | 0.62 |
| Deathrite Shaman | rare | $8.79 | 0.62 |
| Temple Garden | rare | $8.07 | 0.62 |
| Overgrown Tomb | rare | $8.04 | 0.62 |
| Hallowed Fountain | rare | $6.70 | 0.62 |
| Grave Betrayal | rare | $6.04 | 0.62 |
| Worldspine Wurm | mythic | $3.50 | 0.31 |
| Pack Rat | rare | $3.50 | 0.62 |
| Jarad, Golgari Lich Lord | mythic | $3.21 | 0.31 |
| Angel of Serenity | mythic | $2.80 | 0.31 |
| Trostani, Selesnya's Voice | mythic | $2.09 | 0.31 |
| Jarad's Orders | rare | $1.98 | 0.62 |
| Abrupt Decay | rare | $1.95 | 0.62 |
| Supreme Verdict | rare | $1.89 | 0.62 |
| Niv-Mizzet, Dracogenius | mythic | $1.83 | 0.31 |
| Chromatic Lantern | rare | $1.78 | 0.62 |
| Rakdos, Lord of Riots | mythic | $1.15 | 0.31 |
Sets released around the same time, so you can see how this one stacks up.
