As many Magic: the Gathering players know, MTG is not exactly a cheap game to play. While some formats, such as Pauper, Peasant, and Penny Dreadful, are affordable, the majority of other formats aren’t. Thankfully, budget decks do exist when playing casually to keep costs down. Competitive decks, even in formats like Standard, however, can cost upwards of $500. While this is no small amount of money, it is a pittance compared to the cost of some Eternal legal decks. A competitive Legacy deck, for instance, will easily cost you at least $1000 thanks to cards like Mox Diamond. Thanks to the Power Nine, Vintage MTG decks are the most expensive, often costing over $20,000.
Given the card’s power and prestige, unsurprisingly, Black Lotus typically commands the majority of a Vintage deck’s cost. Currently, on TCGplayer, the cheapest playable copy of the card is listed at an outstanding $9,899.99. Even unplayable and purely collectible copies of the card still manage to sell for immense amounts of money. Gold-bordered Collector’s Edition Black Lotus’, for instance, typically sell for $2,500! While these cards are undeniably staggeringly expensive, they’re nothing compared to the best of the best.
PSA 10 GEM Mint cards are held in the highest regard in the world of graded MTG cards. As the title suggests, these cards are in as mint condition as you can possibly get. Unsurprisingly, given this practically pristine quality, PSA 10 GEM Mint cards command eye-watering sums of money. This is being proven right now, as a PSA 10 GEM Mint copy of Black Lotus has gone up for auction.
The Best of the Best
Listed on the PWCC Marketplace, this PSA 10 GEM Mint Black Lotus could very well become the most expensive MTG card of all time. Not only is the card graded in the highest quality PSA can award, but artist Christopher Rush also signed the case. While this signature has not been authenticated by PSA, it nevertheless increases the card’s value. Speaking of value, at the moment, the current bid on the card sits at a monumental $220,000. With six days left on the auction, at the time of writing, this price may soar even higher.
Considering $220,000 is enough money to purchase a supercar, house, or 11 other Black Lotuses, you might think the card is already expensive enough. Given the history of Black Lotus sales, however, this latest auction is actually currently much cheaper than expected. Back in 2021, for instance, a similar signed PSA 10 GEM Mint Black Lotus sold for $511,100 at auction. Due to this past precedent, we’d expect this latest auction to fetch a similar price once all is said and done.
Despite selling for over half a million dollars last year, remarkably, that MTG sale wasn’t even the most expensive Black Lotus. Instead, that honor goes to the one purchased by American Rapper and MTG fanatic Post Malone. Back in June of last year, Posty revealed, when talking to Howard Stern, they had spent $800,000 on a single card. This card was obviously a Black Lotus, however, unlike the current auction, this card wasn’t even tournament legal! Instead, the prized collectible is an artist-proof card signed by Christopher Rush. Despite there being only six PSA 10 GEM Mint Black Lotus in existence, this artist proof is believed to be even rarer.
The Best of the Rest
As if a PSA 10 GEM Mint Black Lotus going up for auction wasn’t exciting enough, PWCC Marketplace is also hosting a number of other high-ticket sales. During their current March Premier Auction event, thirteen total PSA 10 GEM Mint cards areup for grabs. Alongside the Black Lotus, four of these mint condition cards are also iconic Power Nine cards. The most expensive of these MTG cards is Mox Pearl which is currently sitting at a current bid of $19,000. It may not hold this title for long, however, as it may be overtaken by Ancestral Recall as that card is only one of four Gem Mint copies in existence.
Ultimately, with six days to go in the auctions for each of these cards, there’s no telling precisely what prices they will fetch. Considering they’re some of the rarest and most prized cards in existence, certainly none of them are going to be cheap. Even the incredibly weak card Savannah Lions, for instance, has a current bid of $5,000! At the time of writing, this is the cheapest of any MTG card in the PWCC Marketplace auction. To close out this article, here’s a quick rundown of all the PSA 10 GEM Mint cards being sold, and their current prices.
- Black Lotus – $220,000
- Mox Pearl – $19,000
- Mox Emerald – $18,000
- Mox Ruby – $14,000
- Nightmare – $13,000
- Birds of Paradise – $11,000
- Mahamoti Djinn – $7,000
- Braingeyser – $6,000
- Clockwork Beast – $6,000
- Forcefield – $6,000
- Armageddon – $5,000
- Savannah Lions – $5,000
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