The Lord of the Rings: Tales of Middle-earth
Open one box and you'll get $201.60 of cards, on average. A box costs $439 right now, so that means you're $236.95 short.
Cards inside
$201.60
Everything in the box, at today's prices
Box costs now
$439
TCGplayer market · from $449
Difference
-$236.95
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 2, 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.
$201.60 is what the cards are worth to a buyer. It is not what you would be paid for them.
Worth to a buyer
$201.60
Every card at market price
What you'd keep
$91.80
About 46% of it, sold card by card
Stuck as bulk
33%
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 33% 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.
-$236.95
per box, against you
You would do better buying the singles
At $439 a box you'd come up about $236.95 short on average. Buying the individual cards you want will usually cost less.
Break-even price
$201.60
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 mythic with showcase
A special treatment — alternate frames and art that appear at a lower rate.
Per pack
$3.10
Whole box
$111.60
$69.84 kept
Share
55%
Common with showcase
A special treatment — alternate frames and art that appear at a lower rate.
Per pack
$1.13
Whole box
$40.68
$4.32 kept
Share
20%
Uncommon with showcase
A special treatment — alternate frames and art that appear at a lower rate.
Per pack
$0.84
Whole box
$30.24
$12.60 kept
Share
15%
Foil incl. showcase
A foil version of this slot.
Per pack
$0.29
Whole box
$10.44
$5.04 kept
Share
5%
Basic land
The basic land. Worth essentially nothing unless it is a full-art foil.
Per pack
$0.24
Whole box
$8.64
$0.00 kept
Share
4%
The ten most valuable cards a Play Booster can produce, and roughly how often one shows up.
#1 most valuable
The One Ring
$97.62
You'll open one about 1 every 5 boxes
#2 most valuable
Orcish Bowmasters
$39.23
You'll open one about 1 every 5 boxes
#3 most valuable
Orcish Bowmasters
$30.79
You'll open one about 1 every 2 boxes
Last March of the Ents
$20.56
Mithril Coat
$19.48
Nazgûl
$19.24
Sauron, the Dark Lord
$18.81
Last March of the Ents
$18.08
Palantír of Orthanc
$16.03
Delighted Halfling
$15.51
132 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.
| The One Ring | mythic | $83.73 | 0.21 |
| Orcish Bowmasters | rare | $33.17 | 0.22 |
| Orcish Bowmasters | rare | $29.84 | 0.44 |
| Mithril Coat | rare | $19.48 | 0.44 |
| Last March of the Ents | mythic | $18.08 | 0.21 |
| Last March of the Ents | mythic | $17.42 | 0.11 |
| Delighted Halfling | rare | $15.06 | 0.44 |
| Palantír of Orthanc | mythic | $14.96 | 0.21 |
| Witch-king of Angmar | mythic | $10.84 | 0.05 |
| Gandalf the White | mythic | $10.51 | 0.05 |
| Aragorn, the Uniter | mythic | $10.49 | 0.05 |
| Sauron, the Dark Lord | mythic | $9.21 | 0.21 |
| Witch-king of Angmar | mythic | $7.80 | 0.05 |
| Lotho, Corrupt Shirriff | rare | $7.61 | 0.44 |
| Arwen, Mortal Queen | mythic | $7.55 | 0.21 |
| Aragorn, the Uniter | mythic | $7.16 | 0.05 |
| Sauron, the Dark Lord | mythic | $6.66 | 0.11 |
| Gandalf the White | mythic | $6.17 | 0.05 |
| Mount Doom | mythic | $6.07 | 0.11 |
| Flowering of the White Tree | rare | $6.07 | 0.44 |
Sets released around the same time, so you can see how this one stacks up.
