What is the expected value of a The Brothers' War Collector Booster Box?

Opening a The Brothers' War Collector Booster Box gets you about $279.72 of cards at market price, against a market price of $841.19 for the box — a ratio of 0.33x. Selling those cards would return about $159.36 after fees, because 19% of that value sits in cards worth more as bulk than as a listing.

Is the The Brothers' War Collector Booster Box worth opening?

No: at $841.19 a box the cards inside are worth about $561.47 less than the box costs, and buying the individual cards you want will be cheaper. The box only breaks even at $279.72 or less, and less again — about $159.36 — if the plan is to resell.

How much would you get back selling a The Brothers' War Collector Booster Box?

About $159.36, against $279.72 of cards at market price. Market price is what a buyer pays, not what a seller receives: TCGplayer takes 10.75% commission plus a 2.5% and $0.30 transaction fee, and posting a single card costs around $1.10. Below roughly $1.66 a card is worth more in a bulk lot, at about $0.04 a rare, than listed and posted — and 19% of this box's value sits under that line.

The Brothers' War

Cards inside $279.72$561 short

The Brothers' War

The Brothers' War Collector Booster Box

Open one box and you'll get $279.72 of cards, on average. A box costs $841 right now, so that means you're $561.47 short.

Cards inside

$279.72

Everything in the box, at today's prices

Box costs now

$841

TCGplayer market · from $830

Difference

-$561.47

Against you

Packs in the box

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.

And if you sold the cards?

$279.72 is what the cards are worth to a buyer. It is not what you would be paid for them.

Worth to a buyer

$279.72

Every card at market price

What you'd keep

$159.36

About 57% of it, sold card by card

Stuck as bulk

19%

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 19% 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.

What does a box cost you?

We start from what a box costs right now. Put in the price you're actually being asked to pay and the answer updates.

Box price

$20$2,125

I'd be selling the cards. Values every card at what you'd be paid for it rather than what it sells for — fees and postage on the ones worth listing, bulk rates on the ones that aren't. Comes to about 57% of $280.

-$561.47

per box, against you

You would do better buying the singles

At $841 a box you'd come up about $561.47 short on average. Buying the individual cards you want will usually cost less.

Break-even price

$279.72

Pay less than this and you're ahead on average.

Where the value comes from

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 alt art

A foil version of this slot.

Per pack

$5.60

Whole box

$67.20

$46.80 kept

24%

Brr schematic rare mythic

One of the card positions in every pack of this product.

Per pack

$2.98

Whole box

$35.76

$24.84 kept

13%

Extended-art rare or mythic

A special treatment — alternate frames and art that appear at a lower rate.

Per pack

$2.60

Whole box

$31.20

$18.12 kept

11%

Brr retro artifact rare mythic

One of the card positions in every pack of this product.

Per pack

$2.44

Whole box

$29.28

$19.68 kept

10%

Foil rare or mythic

A foil version of this slot.

Per pack

$2.41

Whole box

$28.92

$16.08 kept

10%

Extended-art commander jumpstart

A special treatment — alternate frames and art that appear at a lower rate.

Per pack

$2.09

Whole box

$25.08

$13.92 kept

Double rainbow serialized

One of the card positions in every pack of this product.

Per pack

$1.27

Whole box

$15.24

$13.08 kept

Foil uncommons

A foil version of this slot.

Per pack

$1.06

Whole box

$12.72

$2.88 kept

Foil commons

A foil version of this slot.

Per pack

$0.93

Whole box

$11.16

$0.48 kept

Foil brr retro artifact schematic uncommon

A foil version of this slot.

Per pack

$0.79

Whole box

$9.48

$2.04 kept

Foil fullart basic

A foil version of this slot.

Per pack

$0.52

Whole box

$6.24

$0.00 kept

Everything else

6 smaller slots — alternate-art pairs, bonus sheets and the like, each under 2% of the box.

Per pack

$0.61

Whole box

$7.32

$1.44 kept

The cards you're hoping to hit

The ten most valuable cards a Collector Booster can produce, and roughly how often one shows up.

#1 most valuable

Mox Amber

$2781.50

You'll open one Not in this booster

#2 most valuable

Ashnod's Altar

$1199.99

You'll open one Not in this booster

#3 most valuable

Aetherflux Reservoir

$1199.00

You'll open one Not in this booster

Gilded Lotus

rareNot in this booster

$699.99

Altar of Dementia

mythicNot in this booster

$687.50

Mishra's Bauble

uncommonNot in this booster

$650.00

Caged Sun

mythicNot in this booster

$645.00

Helm of the Host

mythicNot in this booster

$637.00

Platinum Angel

mythicNot in this booster

$550.00

Cloud Key

rareNot in this booster

$500.00

Every rare and mythic in the set

333 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.

			Foil price
Mox Amber	mythic	$97.34	$249.51	0.09
Mox Amber	mythic	$87.99	$193.04	0.12
Portal to Phyrexia	mythic	$62.45	$89.93	0.14
Portal to Phyrexia	mythic	$50.63	$54.51	0.08
Aetherflux Reservoir	mythic	$31.91	$60.15	0.09
Altar of Dementia	mythic	$24.59	$43.19	0.09
Unwinding Clock	rare	$21.93	$31.33	0.18
Awaken the Woods	mythic	$21.87	$22.35	0.14
Aetherflux Reservoir	mythic	$21.65	$38.05	0.12
Myrel, Shield of Argive	mythic	$20.34	$37.57	0.14
Unwinding Clock	rare	$19.45	$24.04	0.25
Myrel, Shield of Argive	mythic	$19.28	$19.26	0.08
Altar of Dementia	mythic	$17.92	$23.58	0.12
Mesmeric Orb	mythic	$17.53	$23.17	0.09
Mesmeric Orb	mythic	$17.34	$22.19	0.12
Ashnod's Altar	rare	$17.10	$29.92	0.18
Diabolic Intent	rare	$16.92	$18.40	0.16
Urza's Workshop	rare	$16.70	$27.83	0.52
Staff of Domination	mythic	$16.27	$29.32	0.09
Cityscape Leveler	mythic	$16.16	$21.98	0.14

Compare with other boxes

Sets released around the same time, so you can see how this one stacks up.

30th Anniversary Edition

$6,405 of cards

no box price

The Brothers' War

$251 of cards

+$27 ahead of the box price

Dominaria Remastered

$357 of cards

no box price

Questions people ask

It's the average value of the cards in a box. Imagine opening a thousand boxes of this set and adding up every card at its market price — divide by a thousand and you get $279.72. It is not what your box will be worth. Most boxes come in lower, because a small number of very expensive cards drag the average up.

The Brothers' War

The Brothers' War Collector Booster Box

And if you sold the cards?

What does a box cost you?

Where the value comes from

The cards you're hoping to hit

Every rare and mythic in the set

Compare with other boxes

Questions people ask

What does “expected value” actually mean?

So should I open a box or buy singles?

Could I really get $279.72 back by selling the cards?

Where do the prices come from?

What counts towards the total?

How accurate is this?