Mystery Booster Foils Revealed! 10 Most Valuable and Price List
The Convention Edition of Mystery Booster has been a hot topic in the Magic world over the past couple of months, in part thanks to the fun draft format and in part thanks to the strange (and strangely valuable) playtest cards. Next week, on March 13, the Retail Edition of Mystery Boosters will finally be released. While the retail version of the set doesn't contain the not-legal-for-constructed-play playtest cards, they have been replaced by a huge curated list of 121 foil reprints. Last night, we finally got the entire list, and the value is almost shockingly high.
Twenty-four-pack booster boxes of the Retail Edition of Mystery Boosters have been selling for about $100. Right now, the average value of the original printings of the set's 121 foils is $17.60 (the median value isn't quite as high but is still impressive, at $11), which means if these prices hold once the set is released next week (which they certainly won't), just the 24 foils you open in a box would add $423 to the box's expected value. Of course, prices are going to drop hard (which is a good thing since you'll be able to pick up some sweet foils at a huge discount), but even if the value of the foils end up at a quarter of their original printings, the value of the foils from the set will be off the chart.
If you'd like to browse over the full list of foils along with their prices, you can do so here. Just keep in mind that the listed prices are for the original printings, not the Mystery Booster printings. While the cards look almost identical, the Mystery Booster version has a different copyright line and a small Magic logo that isn't found on the original printings of the cards. While the differences are small, they will likely have a pretty big impact on card prices when all is said and done. Anyway, here are the most valuable foils being reprinted in Mystery Boosters. If you're cracking a box or two, these are the cards you'll be hoping to open.
#1: Sen Triplets
One of the most popular Esper commanders (currently 5th according to EDHRec) and a card that has only been printed once, at mythic, a decade ago. If you've been wanting a foil copy of Sen Triplets for your Commander deck but have been put off by the the massive $175 price tag, the Mystery Booster reprinting should offer a much cheaper option.
#2: Minamo, School at Water's Edge
Minamo, School at Water's Edge is surprisingly expensive for a card that sees minimal play (although it does show up in a couple of fringe Modern decks like Kethis Combo and Merfolk, often as a one-of). Its current $92 price tag is mostly driven by scarcity—its only printing was in Champions of Kamigawa, a notoriously unpopular and under-opened set.
#3: Scourge of the Throne
Scourge of the Throne is a fairly popular Commander card, being a staple of Dragon decks and red-based decks that care about attacking, like Etali, Primal Storm and Xenagos, God of Revels. Its $80 price tag is mostly attributable to the fact that its only printing was in the original Conspiracy, a supplemental set that wasn't opened as much as a normal Standard-legal set.
#4: Intruder Alarm
Intruder Alarm actually has two printings—one in Eighth Edition and another in Stronghold—although only the Eighth Edition printing comes in foil, which means that Mystery Boosters is offering the first new supply of foil Intruder Alarms in nearly 20 years. While it does have some demand thanks to enabling a bunch of janky combos, it's traditionally more of an Against the Odds cards than a tournament staple.
#5: Reaper King
Reaper King is one of the stranger reprints on the list, mostly because it was just reprinted in foil with new art in a Secret Lair. The original Shadowmoor edition is still quite expensive—checking in at $65—although it seems like the Secret Lair version (currently $9) is probably a more realistic target for the Mystery Booster version.
#6: Teferi's Puzzle Box
Teferi's Puzzle Box has about a million foil printings, showing up in several core sets in a row between Seventh Edition and Ninth Edition, but still maintains a value of over $55, mostly thanks to its ability to hose opponents in Commander (and occasionally fringe decks in other formats) with cards like Narset, Parter of Veils, while also being a key piece of wheel decks like Nekusar, the Mindrazer, Arjun, the Shifting Flame, and The Locust God.
#7: Zur's Weirding
Apart from being one of the weirder cards in Magic, as its name suggests, I really have no idea why Zur's Weirding costs $55 in foil. It doesn't see much play in Commander or any tournament format, and it even has multiple foil printings (showing up in Eighth Edition along with Ninth Edition). This will likely crash extremely hard since its current value seems to mostly be due to low supply rather than high demand.
#8: Helix Pinnacle
Helix Pinnacle is one of the most interesting Against the Odds–style cards in Magic. If you can make a hundred mana and dump it into Helix Pinnacle, you get rewarded by winning the game on your next upkeep. People love weird deck-building challenges, and add in the fact that Eventide was the only time Helix Pinnacle was printed, and you have the recipe for a card that is about as far from tournament playable as possible (if you can make 100 mana, there are much easier and more immediate ways to win the game) to cost $52 in foil.
#9: Amulet of Vigor
Amulet of Vigor is one of the few tournament staples on our list, being the centerpiece of one of the best decks in Modern (and the most played deck in the format, according to the Modern metagame page) by untapping lands that Primeval Titan tutors up and puts into play. While its foil price will certainly drop from its current $51 value, expect Amulet of Vigor to drop less than some of the other cards on our list. It actually has a lot of demand, and unlike Commander staples where you only need one per deck, Modern Amulet players need the full four copies.
#10: Shizo, Death's Storehouse
Basically everything we said about Minamo, School at Water's Edge also applies to Shizo, Death's Storehouse. Its $45 price tag isn't really the result of it seeing much play but rather that there just wasn't a lot of Champions of Kamigawa opened, leaving the foil supply of the legendary land low. The Mystery Booster reprinting should make it significantly less expensive if you need a copy for your Commander deck.
Conclusion
Anyway, that's Mystery Booster foils! Which are you most excited to open (or pick up on the cheap thanks to the reprinting)? Let us know in the comments! As always, leave your thoughts, ideas, opinions and suggestions and you can reach me on Twitter @SaffronOlive or at SaffronOlive@MTGGoldfish.com.
