The MTG Black Lotus returns to its rightful place as Magic: The Gathering’s most expensive card, as a copy allegedly sold for $3 million (£2.56 million). Trading card game retailer Dave & Adam’s shared news of the sale via social media on April 29. Apparently, “the transaction took place in a private sale between Adam Cai of Pristine Collectibles and an undisclosed buyer”.
Estimates say that only around 1,100 copies of the Alpha MTG Black Lotus exist. This, combined with enough power to keep the card on the MTG banlist for decades, means it’s always been one of the most expensive Magic cards out there.
No one is discarding Black Lotus to gain mana of any color these days. Modern Magic: The Gathering fans care more about the card’s financial value and the bragging rights of owning one.
After years of astonishing sales for the Black Lotus, one card did manage to best it. This was a one-of-a-kind copy of The One Ring, bought by rapper Post Malone in 2023 for $2 million (£1.6 million).
Before that, the most expensive Black Lotus ever sold was also bought by Post Malone. In 2021, Posty spent $800,000 ($637,000) on a signed artist proof of the famous MTG card.
While three years of inflation will have had some effect on the card’s value, $3 million is a big jump from $800,000. This seems even more dramatic given that Post Malone’s Black Lotus is even more rare than usual, thanks to its artist signature and early proof status. So why is this newly-sold Black Lotus so much more expensive than previous copies?
The card was given a grade of ‘Pristine 10’ by CGC cards, but most high-value copies of the Black Lotus can boast a grade 10 rating. With few other details available about the sale, some MTG fans on social media have questioned the validity of the sale (over on Reddit, fans are speculating about the motives behind the trade).
Wargamer has reached out to Pristine Collectibles and Dave & Adams for more details about the sale. At this time, we have not yet received a response.
We might be able to gain more information from the Instagram posts of Benjamin.be.13 – who might be the buyer of this Black Lotus. The account user shared a photo of their newly-acquired Black Lotus on March 26, and it closely resembles the one Dave & Adam’s posted about on Monday.
According to the Instagram post, “This is the only Alpha Lotus graded Pristine 10 by CGC and one of only two Pristine 10s graded by any major grading companies”. If this is the same Black Lotus, perhaps that’s why it sold for such a high price.
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