Scars of Mirrodin
Open one box and you'll get $367.56 of cards, on average. A box costs $695 right now, so that means you're $326.99 short.
Cards inside
$367.56
Everything in the box, at today's prices
Box costs now
$695
TCGplayer market · from $695
Difference
-$326.99
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.
$367.56 is what the cards are worth to a buyer. It is not what you would be paid for them.
Worth to a buyer
$367.56
Every card at market price
What you'd keep
$168.12
About 46% of it, sold card by card
Stuck as bulk
30%
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 30% 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.
-$326.99
per box, against you
You would do better buying the singles
At $695 a box you'd come up about $326.99 short on average. Buying the individual cards you want will usually cost less.
Break-even price
$367.56
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
$4.98
Whole box
$179.28
$123.12 kept
Share
49%
Commons
The bulk of the pack. Individually worth very little.
Per pack
$2.62
Whole box
$94.32
$10.80 kept
Share
26%
Uncommons
Three per pack. Occasionally one is worth real money.
Per pack
$1.44
Whole box
$51.84
$10.44 kept
Share
14%
Foil (any rarity)
The guaranteed shiny card in every pack. Usually a common, occasionally something expensive.
Per pack
$0.97
Whole box
$34.92
$23.40 kept
Share
10%
Basic land
The basic land. Worth essentially nothing unless it is a full-art foil.
Per pack
$0.20
Whole box
$7.20
$0.00 kept
Share
2%
The ten most valuable cards a Play Booster can produce, and roughly how often one shows up.
#1 most valuable
Mox Opal
$450.00
You'll open one about 1 every 3 boxes
#2 most valuable
Skithiryx, the Blight Dragon
$55.50
You'll open one about 1 every 3 boxes
#3 most valuable
Platinum Emperion
$41.57
You'll open one about 1 every 3 boxes
Contagion Engine
$39.84
Grafted Exoskeleton
$37.56
Asceticism
$35.04
Venser's Journal
$31.52
Sword of Body and Mind
$31.29
Tainted Strike
$25.63
Wurmcoil Engine
$25.21
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.
| Mox Opal | mythic | $246.43 | 0.31 |
| Sword of Body and Mind | mythic | $19.14 | 0.31 |
| Platinum Emperion | mythic | $18.80 | 0.31 |
| Ezuri, Renegade Leader | rare | $17.43 | 0.62 |
| Contagion Engine | rare | $13.14 | 0.62 |
| Skithiryx, the Blight Dragon | mythic | $12.46 | 0.31 |
| Kuldotha Forgemaster | rare | $10.89 | 0.62 |
| Wurmcoil Engine | mythic | $10.87 | 0.31 |
| Venser's Journal | rare | $10.49 | 0.62 |
| Asceticism | rare | $7.78 | 0.62 |
| Semblance Anvil | rare | $7.19 | 0.62 |
| Venser, the Sojourner | mythic | $6.87 | 0.31 |
| Nim Deathmantle | rare | $5.24 | 0.62 |
| Hand of the Praetors | rare | $5.16 | 0.62 |
| Mindslaver | mythic | $4.82 | 0.31 |
| True Conviction | rare | $4.82 | 0.62 |
| Molten Psyche | rare | $4.61 | 0.62 |
| Elspeth Tirel | mythic | $4.23 | 0.31 |
| Dissipation Field | rare | $4.22 | 0.62 |
| Inexorable Tide | rare | $3.70 | 0.62 |
Sets released around the same time, so you can see how this one stacks up.
