The Most Expensive Magic: the Gathering Card Every Year | MTG
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- čas přidán 21. 07. 2024
- Magic can be an expensive game. A card recently sold for $2,000,000. Has it always been this way? Let's look at the most expensive card during (and from) each year of Magic: the Gathering and find out!
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0:00 Start
0:12 1993
2:20 1994
3:55 1995
5:32 1996
7:28 1997
8:24 1998
9:311999
11:23 2000
13:28 2001
14:30 2002
15:33 2003
16:63 2004
18:10 2005
19:30 2006
20:53 2007
22:17 2008
24:24 2009
25:48 2010
27:34 2011
28:23 2012
29:26 2013
31:45 2014
32:39 2015
33:57 2016
35:06 2017
36:03 2018
37:50 2019
38:58 2020
40:43 2021
41:55 2022
42:59 2023 - Hry
Mirror universe was very expensive back in 1994 bc the way dying worked. Essentially, it wasn't until the end of the phase in which the game would check that you died, so if you died you could sacrifice mirror universe in response to insteas kill your opponent
Yup. Combine that with a card/effect that you can pump life into, you have a combo that can win the game very suddenly.
Mana burn was still around at the time, so you could even burn yourself out with your lands and then swap life for a pretty decent win condition
Yes, the way dying worked, mana burn and also the fact that control was insanely strong, chiefly because mana drain was not restricted. So you counter something with one of your four mana drains, you use the mana to cast mirror universe and the game is yours.
@@lozkko totally forgot about mana drain with it that’s sweet
@@Jude3333 I play old school magic, and mana drain is still broke! But at least it is now restricted in old school 🤣
Just wanted to say that the amount of effort put into these videos and this channel is incredible. Thank you to the MTGGoldfish cast and the editors for all that you do!
Yes
An alpha black lotus signed by the man himself for $800,000??? If I had Post Malone money I’d call that a solid deal
an artist proof version is even more rare than alpha, only a handful of them were given out and only to the artists themself
Seth i really want to thank you for taking the time to compile these historical info videos.
Magic history is super ephemeral and without videos like this, we will lose that.
Yeah, "herp derp I dunno why this card was popular" is really good historical info.
People also have to remember that when Jace the mindsculptor was in standard, there really weren't many ways to deal with planeswalkers once they were on the field. In fact the best way was to play your own Jace, which back then killed off both Jaces. So whoever got there Jace out first had a huge advantage.
Yeah, that's true. Answers to planeswalkers weren't really a thing back then.
I remember hearing people playing that Slash Panther to try to kill JTMS...
JTMS was so good that people were playing Loryn Jace just to have a 5th card that was mid, but prevented your opponent from playing a Jace (then the rule got changed, and it still worked as a "kill target Jace" spell).
Yeah, for Planeswalker removal, people played things like Hex Parasite, Vampire Hexmage, Oblivion Ring, Beast Within, and Lightning Bolt to deal with Plabeswalkers.
Mirror universe was expensive because you didn't lose the game until the end of a step or phase, so if you could pay all your life to abilities and such, you could trade life points before the end of that step or phase and then your opponent lost
Thx
Time warp makes me think - we've seen the fastest bannings, but what are the slowest bannings? Cards that became surprisingly broken late in their life?
It's pretty normal for a bad do-nothing card to be hit by rules changes or unexpected synergy later on, becoming broken. It doesn't always get banned, sometimes they hit the new half or other parts of the deck etc.
Take Summer Bloom & Eye of Ugin for example. They both were niche 3rd tier cards, around for several years and forgotten about, then got support printed and became ridiculous mana cheat engines. A swarm of powerful low-cost Eldrazi turned Ugin into something way more powerful than it's designed. Meanwhile, Summer Bloom is only explosive when combined with Amulet of Vigor and a bounce-land such as Simic Growth Chamber to generate insane mana on turn 2.
One thing you didn't mention about why Pithing Needle was so expensive: Saviors of Kamigawa was one of the worst sets in the history of Magic, and nobody wanted to open it. At the time, the set only really had two cards anybody wanted out of the set: Twincast and Pithing Needle.
For Mirror Universe, life totals weren't checked immediately, but at the end of each phase. So you had until at least the end of your Upkeep to get your life total above zero after burning yourself with City of Brass et al.
For sets from before, say, Time Spiral block (I'm a bit fuzzy on a good dividing line here, but anything printed before Mirrodin definitely qualifies), it was rare to see cards get above 20 USD ever, and very occasionally it might hit 25-30. The first card I remember seeing hitting 30+ since then was Jace, the Mind Sculptor, who was being presold for $50 on SCG at the time.
As for The One Ring, I would have listed that as an honourable mention, because every other version discussed that made it on the list was the standard version, not a foil or an alternate art or whatever. The regular version of The One Ring according to MTG Goldfish currently goes for between 50-80 USD depending on which version, usually 70-something.
I've only been playing magic for a few years, but I'm loving these historical retrospectives. Keep em coming please!
20:53 Richard pulling out a rated OG Tarmogoyf to use as a TOKEN on a recent episode of Commander Clash really put into perspective how things have changed.
So much work done for this video, great work as always Seth
If the Invocations, Zendikar Expditions etc don't count, then neither does the 1/1 One Ring.
Love your content, Seth. Keep it up, It's a rare thing being a content creator and no matter how much or how little effort you put into content, We still wanna see it!
Thanks :)
I think that this video illustrates the divergence of prices from source to source. I played back in the day, and the prices that I remember from the 98/99 era are nothing like what you are quoting. I normally used Scrye, and so did all of the shops in my area back then.
Great video! Kinda glad to see black lotus take its spot back as #1!
If you’re including the one of one ring shouldn’t you include cards like the Neon Ink Hudetsugu and the Shattered Glass Transformers? I think those are over/close to 1k and beat out sheoldred etc
After reading the comments I regret focusing on the 1 of 1 ring as much as I did. I probably should have just had the normal printing as the most expensive card and then mention the 1 of 1 version for consistency's sake.
Nice video, dude. I just want to say that while the price of The One Ring most likely wont be beat by a Lotus, there could technically still be a BGS all 10's Black Lotus out there sitting in a box/booster somewhere. If there was a ever a "Best condition Lotus EVER to ever see the light of day" it could very well be 2 million if it were sold in some years from now. I am hoping.
This is a crazy look back in time. Except for the first few years, i went through all these phases. :)
What a thorough and well done video!
Thanks!
Great video. Only Portal: Three Kingdoms was designed for the Asian market. Portal and Portal 2 were plentiful in the US.
I don't know if others have commented this (if someone did, I didn't notice), but Reflecting Pool was actually a reprint in Shadowmoor, and was first printed in Tempest. I know, because I own that version.
Also this made me realise that two years in a row I opened the most expensive cards, and just held to them (while they tanked), they're Teferi HOD and Wrenn and 6. I'm not really regretting it, but it's interesting that it happened twice in a row.
Oh and I finally realised why people back in like 2000 or 99 told me I was "swindled" because I bought a mono-green deck from a schoolmate, but he tactically took Multani, Maro-Sorcerer out. OTOH he didn't take out (then not that pricey) Gaea's Cradle, so that "investment" payed off...
Ugh, you are right. Reflecting Pool shouldn't have counted. I totally forgot it was a reprint. Oops.
Back then I traded my Lion's Eye Diamond for a Taniwha because I loved legendary creatures, they were special back then. One of the worst deals in my life, maybe in history.
You do realize he said in this very video that people traded Lotuses for Shivans, right?
During Shadowmore pre-release I traded my foil Painter's Servant for a playset of Boggart Ram-Gang 🙃
@afikolami At the Masques prerelease, someone sold their foil Brainstorm to my buddy (who says he hates foils) for $1.
I bought a foil Priest of Titania out of a store's common bin for 10 cents.
You didn't include special printings of cards for previous years but counted 1/1 One Ring for 2023...
Well, the one of one ring is kinda a special case. It’s not a special printing, it’s THE special printing. Idk tho
Yeah, based on the feedback in the comments if I was making the video today I would have the pack version of The One Ring for 2023 and just talk about the 1 of 1 printing. I was thinking that it counted as a new card printed in a booster, but maybe it shouldn't have.
I remember P3K packs being available at my local shop for 3 dollars a pack instead of the usual 4 because nobody really wanted the set. I probably bought 10 or so packs, still have all the commons and uncommons but have no clue what the rares were or what happened to them lol
I was playing during Prophecy and rhystic study was complete, worthless crap. Then I took a LOOOONG break from the game and started playing Commander around 2019. I'll never forget the first time I saw rhystic study cast. I couldn't process how this utter garbage card from my childhood was now a powerhouse
Funny thing is now, or even 3 months after this video came out, chrome Mox would also be the most expensive card from 2003 today as well as back then
I have four altered art L.E.Ds in my dredge deck. They're my most cherished cards.
@MTGGoldfish, cool video, next time It could be good if you could add prices also updated by inflation. That would give them a bit more direct comparison to todays prices :)
I have been so excited for this video!!! 🎉🎉🎉
Deserted Temple was reprinted in LOTR it now sells for $7.
They are $18 on TCG. Where can you buy them for $7?
@@thechestrockfield its the box topper version "Weathertop"
Was around in 1994 and bought Revised in stores - Balduvian Hordes was = Juzam Djinn (most expensive AN card for ages, till Bazaar took over), but for RED who wants speed.
Back then removal was a lot harder, so bigger creatures was king.
balduvian horde 4 to cast for 5/5 creature is such a badass card in early mtg days. if my memory serves me right, players could summon this beast w/ black lotus in turn 1.
I have a gaia's cradle and I had it in my deck that I played with regularly for years before one of my friends saw it and was like "you know that's a 300 dollar card right?" I have since replaced it in my deck with a proxy. That was like a decade ago
I can't believe I traded my playset of baby Emrakul. 😖 It was about to rotate from standard so I got rid of it.
The only good deals I made from this list was pre-ordering baby Jace for 15$ and Scarab God for 10$. Then buy listing Jace for 75$ and Scarab God for 60$ a few weeks before rotation.
The best trade I ever got was there was a very short time where Verderous Gearhulk and Polluted Delta (KTK) were both $20 at the time.
Huh the talk about time walk gave me the idea of basically the opposite of the top ten quickest bans. The top 10 slowest bans. Which cards have been banned the longest after their printing. Could be interesting to talk about why they suddenly got busted
I bought a Mindbreak Trap for a few bucks a decade ago just so I could make the "gelbooru tags" joke, best meme purchase I've ever made.
Looking forward to Post playing the One Ring on Gameknights and getting it stolen by some artifact-theft ingame.
I was looking through my Dads old collection of cards. Found 3 lions eye diamonds in pretty good condition
I remember being 10 years old and tearing a lions sue diamond in half…just because 😢
Certified old guy here. The major reason Mirror Universe was so expensive was that it is among the first combos to win the game almost immediately. You cast "Mirror Universe" then "Lich", and on next turn activate the Mirror and its game over. If the opponent wasn't playing White or Red (Disenchant or Shatter), you were likely doomed and might still be anyhow if you didnt have either at hand. The "Chef's Kiss" would be to Time Walk right into your next upkeep; something that was not unthinkable in that time period.
Dockside at 55, oh man we had no clue
I was excited in 2013 to be able to buy a few of those Commander decks with True Name Nemesis before they all sold out everywhere 😅
I remember that time, they were almost impossible to find for a while until Wizards finally released more of them.
While Shivan Dragon may not be worth much, I reckon an Alpha Shivan Dragon is probably worth many many dollars
Yeah, the Alpha printing is still pricy for sure.
My favorite MTG content out there next to maybe Rhystic Studies or Spice.
Thanks!
18:08 ok, I am nitpicking here, but Lobotomy was first printed in Tempest, and reprinted in invasion.
In '97, i bought the Arabian Nights set for $175. The guy i had purchased them from had taken them straight from boosters, years earlier, and straight into hard cases. My parents were pissed that I "wasted" my money. Ohhhh those cards were MINT. About a year later, i sold them for $550 so I could have some extra money (mainly to bring my girlfriend at the time to prom).
I thought nothing of it... until I checked prices online in the past year or so. I want a time machine... 😭
What the hell happened?!?
This is exactly how I would imagine a gold fish to sound if it could talk.
Black Lotus will still be the biggest price tag to me in MTG. Really can't count a gimicky one of a kind card. Lotus might be expensive, but still findable. The One Ring more then likely will end up changing hands a few times, but in the history of the game, will later just be a footnote.
Unless Post dies, I don't see it changing hands at all...
First turn voltaic key + time vault + black lotus. Never ever forgive poor game mechanics.
For me, Morphling was an auto-concede when it came out against me in Standard.. it was the best card at the time by far.
You go from not talking about any serialized cards from Brothers War to jump instantly to the serialized One Ring. There are a lot of serialized cards from Bro that I'm sure are still more expensive than $80 for 2022.
When I got back into Magic in 2020 I traded in 5 or 6 Rhystic Studies for a set of ONS Flooded Strands. No regrets.
Its like buying the boxed Monopoly game. Only you need to pull all the dollars out of your pocket to play it.
I was so happy I sold my Shepards when I did I got $780 for a play set and $320 for a foil I was lucky and able to get my hands on a ton of jumpstart having a connect at wotc
My brother was a software developer from 2008-2022 and he could get stuff so easy and cheap he was very high up they would give him stuff all the time every year I’d get at least 2/3 case of boxes for Christmas still do even though he left saved a ton just got a case commander legends and new capena
Very interesting. Thks
I think you missed the Kamigawa: Neon Dynasty Hidetsugu, Devouring Chaos, Red Neon Foil... that was a 2022 print that's still $1200ish.
Painter's Servant was the only good Scarecrow, the rest of his race was worthless, but he was good to combo with that one burn card, Chaotic Backlash. Deal 2 damage for ever blue or white permanent, by making everything blue, they just take two damage for everything on the board, if it was pretty much a one shot kill most of the time if it was allowed to resolve.
I'm sure there are more interesting combos to do with it, but that was just from the same block and I had it in a burn deck, might still have it actually, also with Chandra in it I think, and that elemental that let you throw spare mana on it.
edit: fixed the card name
I played back then, and I remember Cursed Scroll being closer to $20.00, and Time Warp was cheap. Where did you get that information?! 7:30
For 2013, pretty sure voice of resurgence was more expensive than true name a few months after printing. I remember it would sell for 60+ at a lot of stores
Voice was huge because it was in one of the best standard decks, and also saw play in Melira Pod in Modern. I also remember it being more expensive than TNN.
@@int3r4ct yeah i remember because my friends and i would always joke about voice of resurgence being the same prices as a brand new video game lol
3:06 You don't sac creatures to tabernacle despite what the printed text says. It was errated to destroy instead.
Good call. I actually didn't realize that, although I guess outside of fringe situations like regenerate it plays the same for the most part.
To the editor: Lobotomy was first printed in Tempest. :)
For 1996 I would argue the 1996 world champion to be the most expensive because although technically not ever sold it would probably be worth around the same as the one of one ring.
Damn i pulled a foil extraction back in 04... should of sold it lol 😂😂
I have a Japanese copy of Intuition that at the time like 6 years ago bought for 65 bucks.
Sounds like a good deal :)
I had that Tabernacle back in the day, wish I still had it so I could sell it and buy a house and a car or two.
It would be interesting if these prices were adjusted for inflation: compare minimum and average wages in the early to late 90s to what they are today.
I just purchased a big lot of magic cards and one of those cards is a black lotus
The interviewers face when Post Malone said how much he spent on the One Ring is how everyone feels.
I picked up a playset of Rhystic Study for $0.70 each in Nov. of 2010. When exactly did it explode in value? Commander's Arsenal didn't release till 2 years later.
It never really exploded. It just went up over the last 14 years since you bought them
@@leroyj62 If I'm understanding correctly, you are saying that they weren't worth a ton when they were reprinted in Commander's Arsenal 2 years after I bought them? If true, then perhaps their reprint in a higher rarity and then seeing play is what started the trend?
Man the ceiling price for magic cards has exploded since the early 2000s.
TL;DR of this vid - 2 bullet points:
1) The 1st 9 years of _Magic_ were *weird*
2) 85% of the secondary market pricing is in Commander/EDH's FIRM CONRTOL
That does about sum it up.
god if i could time travel lol. the amount of certain cards id gather up in good condition and keep em up to now!!
Get all the foil rhystics you could lol
@@ADudeWhoExperiences1393 i'm thinking more of the power 9 and legend lands lol
sooo watch out for blue, green, artifacts and lands? got it.
Life swap cards back in the day were way more useful when mana burn was still a rule.
Hello ! Could you do a against the odds with fleshtaker from innistrad please ??? I really love that card's art, and I feel like it could have some use, but I still can't quite figure out how to break it
I mean technically the base version of The One Ring is way cheaper, and the one of one version is more like the Kaladesh Invention cards, but even the regular version is still stupid expensive. At my LGS its $100 CAD.
The thing is so good that it's kind of crazy. Colorless so any deck could add it, protection from everything, and so desirable as a play-set of 4 so that you can legend-rule it out to prevent it from killing you... and just a huge card draw engine on demand. Crazy crazy good.
@@51gunner Yeah I've been seeing the turbofog deck using The One Ring and Teferis Tutelage on Historic a lot recently, and in my commander games I've just been killing it literally the moment it hits the battlefield. Really good card.
my black lotus was $0.50 and the back is a cool blue yugi-oh spiral so who’s the real winner
Seth is the Magic historian we all need, but don't deserve.
Hah! Bought 3 doubling seasons back then :D
Actually your wrong about the black lotus. The first ever official price guide came out in early 1994, just after antiquities came out, and a Alpha Mox Ruby and Sapphire tie for the highest at $25.50, whereas the Alpha black lotus came in at $25.00. :)
Pretty sure lion's eye diamond was still a better investment than rhystic study. I bought a playset @ $1 each.
When Gemstone Caverns was a dollar I bought 4 of them for a combo deck. Wish I would have bought much more
Back around Scars block, I played Legacy at a tiny shop in Hudson, OH. Only 4-6 people showed up every Sat. The meta was crazy and usually was new decks each week that tried to counter the previous week's decks.
One week I decided to punish the absurd amount of activated abilities we were seeing. I wanted Suppression Field out on turn one to try to shut off fetches, so instead of pulling my Mox Diamonds out of another deck, I just bought another playset of the foils... FOR $20 EACH!!
That $80 is worth over $3,000 now!
@@thechestrockfield that’s insane. What I would do if I could go back in time
Wtf you mean cavern gets “reprinted constantly” ??? It had one booster set printing, 3 masters set printings, and 2 masterpieces. If you ask me, its no f’ing wonder its still $50
I like how post malone made up an entire rap career to justify his mtg collecting.
Why is Mirror Universe so expensive? The answer is so obvious! Phil Foglio art.
Just want more LoTR themed mtg packs please
I changed my Sliver deck Commander once I found out Sliver Queen was like 150 bucks.
Yeah, the TLDR of this video is basically that legendary Slivers are super expensive.
Whoever makes these thumbnails needs to know the $dollar sign going in FRONT of the number, not after it.
If second chance was in modern you know that would have been played on Against the odds
What we learned from this is if someone prints an expensive magic collectible post malone will buy it.
Honestly, Posty just making an investment. If it's worth 2mil now, think how much that card will be years from now.
It would have been helpful if the old prices were adjusted for inflation. As it stands now, the list is a little misleading.
All the cards ever can be bought on shady Chinese websites. I love them and use them all the time. I win most tournaments at my local games shop because of this.
Lolllll I can't tell if you're joking
@@senoreverything6366 why would I?
Did I miss Mox Diamond, or was it beat out for its year?
Beat by Gaea’s Cradle.
slightly outdated now. someone dropped 3 mil on a psa 10 alpha black lotus a couple weeks ago
1997 should be Cursed Scroll, not Time Warp
The 90's prices are tricky. I used the old Scrye and Duaelist magazines for prices, but only about one issue per year is actually online anywhere so it's possible that Cursed Scroll was pricier than Time Warp at some point in the year, but it wasn't for the issue I had with the prices.
Bring your life during your upkeep to 0 or less, use Mirror Universe to swap life totals, if your opponent can't do anything you've won.
pretty sure Phil did that in one of his videos lol
I think, if you were going to go back through the card reviews and talk about what people thought about cards like Necropotence when it was printed, you also should have mentioned what people thought about Jace, Vryn's Prodigy when it was previewed, because surely everyone got that card right.
What kind of person underrated Jace, Vryn's Prodigy?
@@MTGGoldfish A fool, surely ;)
I feel like Scry suffered a lot from the fact that most people didn't know what constituted a truly good card in a general context (ie kitchen table good), let alone know about all the niche uses for stuff. Even the internet had much worse advice than now, where you can glean quite a bit with a little invested time. Still today though people aren't perfect at this, most people know of cards that are really good for their price, but because they are so unknown they don't move much, and we can all name a bunch of cards that are solid enough cards but cost maybe x10 what they are realistically worth, and aren't even on the Reserved List. People still kind of suck at evaluating cards.
Ha! I do actually have one of these! I have a Deserted Temple I cracked in an old starter deck (it also came with a terrible Vampire, so both rares were complete trash then, and one still is). I have a few of these in different printings, but not many of the OG printings. I think your lists like this shouldn't look at Commander stuff, or weird print stuff like the 1 of 1 The One Ring, maybe I'm too much of a purist for wanting you to stick with standard legal stuff only?