Shards of Alara
Open one box and you'll get $194.40 of cards, on average. A box costs $708 right now, so that means you're $513.60 short.
Cards inside
$194.40
Everything in the box, at today's prices
Box costs now
$708
TCGplayer market · from $719
Difference
-$513.60
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 December 6, 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.
$194.40 is what the cards are worth to a buyer. It is not what you would be paid for them.
Worth to a buyer
$194.40
Every card at market price
What you'd keep
$54.72
About 28% of it, sold card by card
Stuck as bulk
57%
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 57% 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.
-$513.60
per box, against you
You would do better buying the singles
At $708 a box you'd come up about $513.60 short on average. Buying the individual cards you want will usually cost less.
Break-even price
$194.40
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
$1.93
Whole box
$69.48
$33.12 kept
Share
36%
Commons
The bulk of the pack. Individually worth very little.
Per pack
$1.87
Whole box
$67.32
$10.44 kept
Share
35%
Uncommons
Three per pack. Occasionally one is worth real money.
Per pack
$0.74
Whole box
$26.64
$0.36 kept
Share
14%
Foil (any rarity)
The guaranteed shiny card in every pack. Usually a common, occasionally something expensive.
Per pack
$0.51
Whole box
$18.36
$10.44 kept
Share
9%
Basic land
The basic land. Worth essentially nothing unless it is a full-art foil.
Per pack
$0.36
Whole box
$12.96
$0.00 kept
Share
7%
The ten most valuable cards a Play Booster can produce, and roughly how often one shows up.
#1 most valuable
Ad Nauseam
$83.44
You'll open one about 1 every 2 boxes
#2 most valuable
Elspeth, Knight-Errant
$80.99
You'll open one about 1 every 3 boxes
#3 most valuable
Mayael the Anima
$49.72
You'll open one about 1 every 3 boxes
Tezzeret the Seeker
$36.18
Death Baron
$34.99
Memory Erosion
$25.97
Godsire
$21.49
Ajani Vengeant
$20.28
Kresh the Bloodbraided
$19.63
Rafiq of the Many
$18.87
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.
| Ad Nauseam | rare | $21.40 | 0.62 |
| Tezzeret the Seeker | mythic | $20.96 | 0.31 |
| Elspeth, Knight-Errant | mythic | $8.93 | 0.31 |
| Memory Erosion | rare | $6.89 | 0.62 |
| Cunning Lethemancer | rare | $6.25 | 0.62 |
| Lich's Mirror | mythic | $5.34 | 0.31 |
| Death Baron | rare | $5.27 | 0.62 |
| Ajani Vengeant | mythic | $4.65 | 0.31 |
| Ethersworn Canonist | rare | $4.30 | 0.62 |
| Godsire | mythic | $4.08 | 0.31 |
| Prince of Thralls | mythic | $4.02 | 0.31 |
| Scourglass | rare | $3.90 | 0.62 |
| Mycoloth | rare | $3.30 | 0.62 |
| Sarkhan Vol | mythic | $2.75 | 0.31 |
| Titanic Ultimatum | rare | $2.33 | 0.62 |
| Knight-Captain of Eos | rare | $2.17 | 0.62 |
| Quietus Spike | rare | $2.09 | 0.62 |
| Vicious Shadows | rare | $2.06 | 0.62 |
| Mayael the Anima | mythic | $1.84 | 0.31 |
| Minion Reflector | rare | $1.66 | 0.62 |
Sets released around the same time, so you can see how this one stacks up.
