Yesterday, Wizards of the Coast gave us a proper taste of the Avatar: The Last Airbender MTG set. While Marvel’s Spider-Man is the next set to be released, it’s safe to say hype for Avatar is at an all-time high. At long last, new spoilers have been revealed alongside the set’s mechanics and products, allowing players to get properly excited.
While a certain degree of excitement is always expected with Universes Beyond sets, what we’re currently seeing is unprecedented. The Avatar: The Last Airbender MTG set may still be three months away, but prices are already beyond obscene. Worryingly, this might just be a new normal for Magic: The Gathering’s crossover sets.
The $1000 Booster Box
Following the First Look at Avatar: The Last Airbender yesterday, pre-orders for the set went live. While this isn’t anything new, the speed at which everything sold out was nonetheless remarkable. Right now, every single ATLA MTG product on Amazon is temporarily out of stock.
Thankfully, restocks should happen in the coming weeks and months, but the sheer speed at which everything sold out is nonetheless shocking. Unless you were totally on the ball yesterday, you likely missed this fleeting window. This is a major problem, since early pre-orders can be one of the few ways to pay close to MSRP.
According to Wizards of the Coast, a single Avatar: The Last Airbender Collector Booster should cost $37.99. This in itself is by no means cheap. While it may be standard pricing for a Universes Beyond set, it’s $13 more than an in-universe Collector Booster. Unsurprisingly, MTG players already aren’t happy about this.
While individual boosters are already expensive enough, an entire Avatar: The Last Airbender Collector Booster box should cost $455. This might seem like an obscene chunk of change, but you’d be lucky to pay this price. Now that the supply has been snapped up near-instantly, scalpers and resellers are controlling the markets and having a field day with prices.
Currently, across sites like eBay and TCGplayer, Avatar: the Last Airbender Collector Booster Boxes are selling for $1000. On TCGplayer, there have even been several sales at $1499.99; however, things have dipped since then. Even with this dip in mind, the current prices are absolutely offensively obscene.
It Only Gets Worse
For comparison, when preorders for the Final Fantasy MTG set went live, Collector Booster Boxes were around $650. Obviously, this isn’t cheap either, but it’s far closer to the intended MSRP than what we’re seeing here. Sadly, it looks like Avatar: The Last Airbender is continuing the trend that Final Fantasy started.
As we got closer toward Final Fantasy’s release, it seemed the usual crowd of Pokémon scalpers started paying attention. Hype for the set was through the roof, and that unprecedented demand meant there was money to be made. Due to this, scalpers started snatching up products, hoarding them, and causing prices to rise quickly.
Right now, a Collector Booster Box for Final Fantasy will set you back $1,377 on average. Even Spider-Man Collector Boosters, which MTG players seem to be rather meh on, are consistently selling for $864 right now. With these prices in mind, it seems that scalpers are very much here to stay for Universes Beyond releases.
As if the price of Collector Booster Boxes weren’t bad enough, prices are obscenely high across the board. Play Booster Boxes are $290 instead of $209, and the standard Bundle is $174 instead of $70. Even the newfangled Commander’s Bundle is currently listed for around $250-$300 instead of the $109.99 MSRP.
Should these prices continue, we’re going to have a real problem on our hands. While MTG is already an expensive game, prices like these will undoubtedly push many players away, especially prospective new players. Others, meanwhile, won’t be able to escape the rising costs, since Universes Beyond sets are now Standard legal.
Too Soon to Tell
As much as the current state of Avatar: The Last Airbender prices is worrying, the set is still three months from release. Hopefully, before the set’s release, prices should fall as products get restocked and Wizards aims to meet demand. Ideally, at the very least, this should keep the price of Play Boosters and other non-collectible products down.
On top of this, it’s worth remembering that we’ve only just scratched the surface of what this set contains. While the collectible card treatments and mechanics have been unveiled, the set’s cards are still a mystery. Should these disappoint, a lack of competitive demand would similarly stop prices from going overboard.
While these details should keep prices in check somewhat, especially for Play Boosters, Collector Boosters are a different story. Thanks to only being printed once, these products are ripe for scalping and hoarding, and it’s difficult for Wizards to combat that. Hopefully, as time goes on, solutions can be found, as otherwise this core part of MTG may end up ruined.
Stick with us here at mtgrocks.com: the best site for Magic: The Gathering coverage!