Magic: The Gathering Black Lotus card sells for record $540k at auction

Black Lotus Card The Gathering is Magic — considered to be the most sought-after card from Magic, and perhaps from any trading card game — has sold at auction for a record $540,000, the highest ever bid for a Magic card. It’s an impressive figure, albeit one that suggests the market for collectible trading card game cards has stabilized after years of explosive growth.

A Black Lotus that was almost identical sold in 2012 for $510,000. Like the card in the present auction, it was given a perfect Gem Mint 10 rating for its condition by the Professional Sports Authenticators, and its case was signed by the card’s illustrator Christopher Rush. There are only six PSA 10 Black Lotus cards.

Photo by PWCC

There’s been a small increase in value, then — but nothing like the threefold increase in the value of the Black Lotus that happened between 2019 and 2021, as the popularity of trading card games boomed during the pandemic. Some market analysts might argue that Bank of America was correct to point out Hasbro as the owner of Magic Wizards of the Coast publisher was overprinting too many cards, and devaluing them. Packs celebrating the game’s 30th anniversary controversially included reprints of rare cards, including the Black Lotus.

The Black Lotus dates back to Magic’s first Alpha printing in 1993, is famed for its rarity (it had a print run of around 1,100) and its power. It costs no mana to play but adds three mana of any color to your pool, so it’s a great shortcut to casting powerful spells early in the game. It’s one of the “Power Nine,” a set of cards that has been banned from most formats of competitive play for their overwhelming power.

“This record sale reinforces the Alpha Black Lotus as an investment-quality asset, fortifies its claim as a true work of art, and shows exactly how important The Gathering is Magic is to the culture of gaming and trading card games,” said Jesse Craig, vice president of sales at PWCC Marketplace, which conducted the auction. “It’s extremely unlikely we see one of these signed copies available for purchase again in the near future. These are the crown jewels of a collection. They will remain under lock and key and treated as the museum-caliber pieces they are,” Craig said, perhaps with only slight overstatement.

These values are Magic Cards can only be matched with those of Pokémon The trading card game has also been a hit with six-figure sales. A 1998 Pikachu Illustrator card sold last year for $900,000. (But it is important to note that this card was a promotional one and cannot be used in the actual game).

These prices are to be viewed in context. In 2022, $12.6million was paid for a 1952 Mickey Mantle card. A Black Lotus worth half a billion seems like an incredible deal.