Counting Cards: MTG and the Average Auctioneer

Magic the Gathering is a complex and exciting game that has enthralled players since 1993. Since its inception, Magic has developed its own thriving economy based on the fluctuating value of any given card. 

A card’s value is influenced by its rarity, demand, and playability—especially if it’s a staple in a popular format. Though the game’s esoteric valuation favors competitively significant cards, card value is often more complicated than that. Cards on the Reserved List, though not playable, prove reliably valuable due to their limited supply and permanent scarcity. Artist signatures or custom alterations can raise or lower the price, depending on the buyer.

To totally understand why these cards are in demand, here’s a quick overview of the game: 

Goal:

Reduce your opponent’s life (health) from 20 to 0 using spells, creatures, and abilities. In order to cast spells or use creatures, players have to have enough “mana” which is generated by using “land” cards. 

This means that “good” cards, or the playability of powerful cards can absolutely impact the value for serious collectors. 

Basic Setup:

Each player starts with 20 life points and a deck of at least 60 cards—-different decks do different things. For example, a vampire deck is very creature dense, but it doesn’t have the same amount of mana generating cards as other decks. You might get a bunch of powerful creatures which can attack your opponent, but playing those creatures requires skill and strategy to establish the correct amount of playable mana. 

You draw a starting hand of 7 cards. Players take turns, with phases in a specific order.

Here’s a quick overview of the cards you might encounter: 

Lands: Generate mana (the resource to cast spells or use creatures).

Creatures: Attack and block.

Instants/Sorceries: One-time spells with effects.

Enchantments/Artifacts: Persistent effects.

Planeswalkers: Powerful allies with special abilities.

For sellers unfamiliar with the basics of the game, the set/expansion symbol, the frame, the color of the border, the rarity, the copyright symbol, the corners, the foiling, and the art all contribute to the “at-a-glance” value of any given card.

Here are the rarity symbols you might find on any card: 

These symbols are typically located next to the name, or on the bottom of the card’s description. 

The card set contributes to a card’s value as well—this could be for any reason (since card behavior in-game doesn’t change depending on the set), but usually relates to the artwork. 

Below, the set information can be found on the lower left corner of the card. 

Card prices aren’t set by any official authority. Instead, they reflect the average selling prices across a wide range of sources—local game stores, individual sellers, and major platforms like ChannelFireball. Among these, TCGPlayer’s market average is the most widely used pricing reference, making it a common tool for estimating the value of a collection.

Magic is a unique game with a thriving resale economy. Though its popularity has been evident in gaming communities since its beginnings, Magic card collectors are coming out in droves to sell their wares at conventions, roadshows, and online auctions. Though the MTG economy is impacted by game play in a way that Pokemon cards are not, Magic’s intricacies make informed selling an absolute must. Though this might seem complicated, we wanted to detail key ways that any estate sale generalist can see the potential for value.

For this article, we relied on TCGPlayer.com and this excellent Kraken Opus article.

Written by:

Juli Dupont

May 21, 2025     Updated 05:05 PM

Juli is the customer success guru at AuctionNinja, specializing in helping sellers achieve maximum success on the platform. With a background in the estates and acquisitions department at AuctionNinja's parent company, BRG, Juli possesses a deep understanding of the challenges and dynamics of the auctioneering and estate selling industry. Her expertise makes her the go-to person for sellers navigating the ever-changing marketplace. Juli holds a Bachelor of Arts degree in English.

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