2024 has been a blockbuster year for Magic: The Gathering. In twelve short months, Wizards released 11 major sets and just as many major Secret Lair products. It’s safe to say that Wizards has been busy. All in all, over 6,600 cards have been released this year when you include all the reprints and variants. Unsurprisingly, some of the MTG cards released throughout 2024 have been rather expensive.
Between ultra-rare Secret Lair bonus cards, new multiformat staples, and stellar reprints, 2024 has given us no shortage of expensive cards. The burning question, however, is which of the many MTG cards released during 2024 is the most expensive? Thankfully, we’ve crunched the numbers to determine exactly that!
When crunching the numbers, it quickly became clear that Secret Lair Bonus Cards and Mystery Booster 2 came out on top. As much as I love talking about Oracle of the Alpha, filling a list with these cards is somewhat dull. Subsequently, we’re implementing a one-card per-set rule to keep things interesting. We’ll also be excluding promo cards and serialized cards for the same reason.
Now, without any more waffling, here are the top five most expensive MTG cards released during 2024.
Honorable Mention | Storm, Force of Nature
Price: $45
To kick things off, we have the most expensive new MTG card from 2024. Given this is quite a lofty title, you might wonder why Storm doesn’t claim the top spot in the list properly. As you’ll see later, that spot is claimed by another Secret Lair card which is selling for over $1000. In comparison, Storm, Force of Nature suddenly seems pretty meh.
Price tags aside for a moment, Storm, Force of Nature is a fantastic card that’s mired by massive controversy. As a card, Storm aptly gives your spells Storm, which is insanely powerful. While they do have to deal damage to enable this, they’re not too expensive or weak, which is incredibly welcome.
Should Storm, Force of Nature have been released as part of a normal set, their price would likely be decent but not earth-shattering. As many MTG players will know, however, Storm was printed in the Marvel Secret Lair Superdrop. Easily the most hyped product of 2024, this limited-run Secret Lair sold out in a matter of hours.
Thanks to this disastrous sale, the supply of Storm, Force of Nature is incredibly low, leading to their remarkable price. Mercifully, Storm’s price shouldn’t stay this high forever, as reprints have been promised. Currently, there’s no telling when these reprints will arrive, but it’s better to have them late than never.
5 | Rev, Tithe Extractor
Price: $34
Moving onto the main core of the list, we have Rev, Tithe Extractor from Foundations Jumpstart. Beating out Aphelia, Viper Whisperer but $5, Rev, Tithe Extractor is an impressive addition to this list thanks to their rarity. Unlike Aphelia, Rev is only a rare, so they appear in two of the 46 possible Jumpstart themes.
While Foundations Jumpstart isn’t the most opened MTG set in history, it’s clear that rarity isn’t the sole determiner of price here. Instead, Rev, Tithe Extractor is just a powerful card that’s a great addition to many Commander decks. Capable of generating treasures and stealing cards, Rev can generate a huge amount of value.
As much as Rev does make for an interesting Commander, you’ll usually find them in the 99 of decks. Here they tend to support Commanders like Gonti, Canny Acquisitor and Prosper, Tome-Bound to steal even more cards. While the card-stealing archetype isn’t the most popular in Commander, it’s nonetheless a fun and beloved one.
Ultimately, while Rev, Tithe Extractor isn’t the rarest Foundations Jumpstart card, they’re still fairly scarce. Thanks to this, Rev may end up being surprisingly expensive for quite some time. This would continue the proud tradition of Jumpstart cards being not that popular, yet weirdly expensive at the same time.
4 | Ocelot Pride
Price: $37
Unlike Rev, Tithe Extractor, Ocelot Pride is a true staple. Primarily appearing in the once-dominant Boros Energy lists, Ocelot Pride was all over Modern. This humble cat was so popular and powerful, in fact, that its position on this list looked certain. Recently, however, Wizards completely reinvented the Modern format with major bans and unbans.
Not only was the strength of Energy decks specifically targeted through the Amped Raptor ban, but major powerhouses were unbanned too. Thanks to this, the position of Ocelot Pride in the Modern metagame is surprisingly uncertain. It remains to be seen whether or not this card will even be relevant in the Modern metagame once the dust settles.
For now, Ocelot Pride is still an expensive card and it does admittedly deserve that price tag. Ocelot Pride can generate a huge number of tokens in the right deck, which makes it a staple in aggro and go-wide lists. Being a cat, there’s also a lot of Typal charm for Ocelot Pride in Commander, although it’s more powerful than just cute.
Despite being insanely strong, there’s a real chance that Ocelot Pride could be knocked off this list before too long. Thanks to the recent bans and unbans, the price of Tamiyo, Inquisitive Student is spiking hard. While Ocelot Pride is still in the lead for now, it may not last that way for long.
Of course, technically Ocelot Pride isn’t the most expensive Modern Horizons 3 card when we include fancy foil variants. Since the set had serialized cards, there’s no competing with those literal titans. Currently, serialized copies of Ulamog, the Defiler are selling for around $2,200.
3 | Cyclonic Rift
Price: $38
Cyclonic Rift is one of the all-time great MTG cards. Offering either cheap bounce removal or an expensive everything-but-you board wipe, Cyclonic Rift is a classic. It’s also rather pricy, despite having been reprinted time and time again. In 2024, this card returned as part of Ravnica Remastered, and it’s easily that set’s most expensive card.
Despite being hugely expensive and remarkably resistant to reprints, Cyclonic Rift is only really popular in one format. Thankfully, this format, Commander, is the most popular MTG format on paper. Since Cyclonic Rift appears in over 672,000 decks according to EDHREC, it’s safe to say there’s a lot of demand.
Technically, while the 2024 printing of Cyclonic Rift does deserve its spot on this list, you can get it for cheaper. Currently, the Commander Masters variants of this card start at just $31. While this is still a pretty penny, it would drop this card off this list entirely. In case you’re curious, this would push Vaultborn Tyrant onto the list in spot five, since they’re priced at $33.
2 | Urza, Lord High Artificer
Price: $354
Jumping up massively in price, the 2024 printing of Urza, Lord High Artificer is in a league of its own. Hailing from Mystery Booster 2, this new variant is around 40 times more expensive than copies from Commander Masters. As you might suspect, this has something to do with the card’s obscene rarity.
Within Mystery Booster 2, Urza, Lord High Artificer can only be found as a foil card in the Future Sight frame. According to Wizards of the Coast, there’s a “less than 1%” chance of finding one of these Future Sight Frame foil cards. This puts them on the same rarity level as most serialized cards.
Beyond the card treatment itself being rare, Mystery Booster 2 wasn’t sold like a regular set. Instead, this unique product was only available at MagicCon: Las Vegas, and the accompanying Festival in a Box. Due to this, the supply for the set is believed to be rather low, although it didn’t sell out instantly, which is a surprise.
As for the card itself, Urza, Lord High Artificer is typically only seen in Commander nowadays. Since this format is where fancy foil variants can thrive, it’s little wonder they’re the most expensive Mystery Booster 2 card. The next most expensive card is the completely unplayable Acorn card Oracle of the Alpha, which sells for $232. If anything, that price tag is the more impressive of the pair.
1 | Mana Vault
Price: $1028
Last, but obviously not least, we have Mana Vault, the most expensive MTG card printed in 2024. Hailing from the 2024 Equinox Secret Lair Superdrop, this Fallout-themed card was an ultra-chase Bonus Card for the Superdrop’s Fallout-themed drops. Drop rates for this card weren’t officially announced by Wizards, but it’s safe to say this card is obscenely rare.
Beyond just being rare, thanks in part to the limited-run printing of Secret Lair drops, and their Bonus Cards, Mana Vault is insanely strong. It may only be legal in Commander, and Vintage where it’s restricted, but it’s a staple in these formats. Providing early ramp and an abusable source of mana, Mana Vault is ridiculously powerful.
Thankfully, not every copy of Mana Vault costs over $1000. Even after the Commander bans in September caused a massive, albeit temporary, price spike, copies only cost $58 now. Unsurprisingly, more expensive variants do exist, such as the $477 Kaladesh Invention. Despite this treatment being a fan-favorite, there’s no beating raw rarity when it comes to card prices.
Due to this rarity, Mana Vault sits on the throne as the most expensive MTG card from 2024. That being said, it is technically outclassed by the serialized Eldrazi Titans and Murktide Regent, too. Given we’re not assessing promos, and only looking at the cheapest prices of new cards, however, these cards don’t entirely count.
