In the world of MTG, there are some extremely iconic cards out there, many of which are quite expensive. Known to be one of the most controversial policy implementations within our beloved game, the maintenance of The Reserved List prevents a large number of these pricy cards from ever being reprinted. To many players, owning a piece of the incredible “Power Nine” is nothing more than a pipe dream.
From original Moxen to the amazing Black Lotus, these highly sought-after cards can go for a massive sum of money if in good condition. It’s been roughly 30 years at this point since these cards stopped circulating in print runs. As such, seeing new copies opened is incredibly rare.
Back in April, popular content creator PayMoneyWubby managed to do something that hadn’t been done in eight years: open an Unlimited Mox Emerald on camera! Since this astonishing moment in his Twitch stream, PayMoneyWubby got the Mox Emerald graded by CGC. As it turns out, this card was graded a Pristine 10, the highest grade possible by CGC. Given the rarity of Power Nine cards in this condition, this Mox Emerald could go for a decent chunk of change. This was simply an elite pull, so let’s start by taking a look at how everything unfolded.
The Danger of Repacks
On stream, PayMoneyWubby opened the contents of an Unlimited Starter Deck. Unlimited Starter decks contain 45 commons, 13 uncommons, and two rares from the set. These starter decks are worth roughly $14,000 a piece.
The way PayMoneyWubby has been doing these deck openings is that 60 players each split the cost of the deck evenly between them. There are 60 cards per pack opening, so each player spends roughly $230-300 to get their chance at something juicy. As such, PayMoneyWubby is not the owner of these cards at the end of the day.
In theory, this sounds like a really cool idea. However, there has been a recurring problem in the past associated with repacks. For those unfamiliar, repacks are a basic form of a scam in TCGs. While the scammer will try to advertise the sale of an “unopened” deck or pack, they have privately altered the pack’s contents. Generally, the valuable contents will be replaced by junk, and everything will be repackaged enough to still look authentic to less-experienced buyers.
Roughly eight months ago, PayMoneyWubby bought one of these Unlimited Starter decks only to find out it was indeed a repack. This issue has happened multiple times, so it’s a bit surprising to see PayMoneyWubby go back to the Unlimited deck opening this year.
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The Mox Emerald Pull
Regardless of previous complications, PayMoneyWubby took a crack at another Unlimited starter deck. Each of the 60 players supposedly put in $230-300 again for the cause. This time around, though, the cards didn’t disappoint. PayMoneyWubby ended up pulling a Mox Emerald, so one lucky player out of the group ended up striking it rich.
One benefit PayMoneyWubby provides to the players that pool their money together is that he ensures valuable pulls get graded without the players needing to pay extra. Obviously, the Mox Emerald pull was worthy of being graded. PayMoneyWubby was pretty confident the card would receive a great grade, but a Pristine 10 is still pretty incredible.
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Condition Drastically Effects Price
In some ways, it may seem a bit strange for condition to matter so much when it comes to how much players can sell rare items for. However, in the world of MTG, there are far more copies of Power Nine cards in damaged or heavily played condition than near mint. Considering the fact that cards like the Moxen and Black Lotus are banned in almost every Constructed format besides Vintage, they are often seen more as collector items.
Furthermore, even if a card looks to be in good shape, receiving a Pristine 10 score by CGC or a general 10 label by PSA is incredibly difficult. In fact, most cards pulled directly from packs are still scuffed enough to result in lower grades.
Perhaps no card in MTG history is more indicative of price swings than Black Lotus. While there aren’t too many copies of Black Lotus in the world period, picking up a damaged Unlimited copy for under $10,000 or a damaged Alpha variant for under $30,000 isn’t necessarily out of the question. Once condition starts getting better, though, the price starts to skyrocket.
According to PSA’s population report, there are only six PSA 10 Black Lotuses in existence. Back in 2021, a Gem Mint 10 Alpha Black Lotus signed by artist Christopher Rush sold for over half a million dollars! Then in 2024, a Black Lotus given a Pristine 10 rating by CGC broke the all-time single MTG card sale at three million dollars.
According to the CGC population report, this was the only Pristine 10 Black Lotus in existence. Beating out the price of the one-of-one copy of The One Ring was no easy feat, but Black Lotus defied the odds. This begs the question: how much could the Pristine 10 Mox Emerald sell for?
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Estimating The Mox Emerald’s Worth
While this Mox Emerald is indeed a Pristine 10, it likely won’t sell for anywhere close to the amount of money the Black Lotus described above did. Mox Emerald is generally worth less than Black Lotus across the board. Additionally, this Mox Emerald was from Unlimited, not Alpha. Unlimited had a much larger print run with significantly more rares in circulation.
While there isn’t a ton of data to go off of regarding recent Unlimited Mox Emerald sales, TCGPlayer sales history indicates that four copies of Mox Emerald have been sold this year. A heavily played copy sold for $2,200 in January, while a lightly played copy sold for $3,300 in February. Then, within the last month, a near mint copy sold for $4,695.
Given the rarity of grade 10 Power Nine, seeing the Pristine 10 Mox Emerald sell for double this price wouldn’t be shocking. According to various population reports as described above, there are 12 Mox Emeralds in existence given a grade of 10. This particular one is the only one graded by CGC, with the others coming from PSA in the past (CGC hasn’t graded trading cards for as long).
It’ll be interesting to monitor how much this card sells for, assuming the information is made public. It’s not often you see Power Nine cards from over 30 years ago opened live, so this was definitely exciting.
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