Lotus ScanHow to Check if Your Magic Cards Are Worth Money
A step-by-step guide to help you check if your magic cards are worth money quickly and accurately.
Not every Magic card is worth money, but the ones that are can be surprisingly valuable. A single card from a $4 pack can be worth $50, $100, or even thousands of dollars depending on the card, set, and condition. The challenge is that most people cannot tell a $0.10 card from a $100 card just by looking at it unless they know what to look for. This guide teaches you the quick visual checks to identify potentially valuable cards and how to confirm their worth.
Step-by-Step Guide
Check the rarity symbol
Look at the set symbol on the right side of the card's type line. A black or dark-colored symbol means common, silver means uncommon, gold means rare, and red-orange means mythic rare. Rares and mythics are far more likely to be valuable, though some uncommons and even commons from older sets carry surprising price tags.
Tip: Cards printed before Exodus (1998) used different rarity indicators. If there's no set symbol at all, the card might be from Alpha, Beta, or Unlimited - check it carefully.
Look for cards from valuable sets
Certain sets are known for containing expensive cards. Anything from Alpha, Beta, Unlimited, Revised, Arabian Nights, Legends, or Antiquities could be valuable. For newer sets, Masters reprint sets, Secret Lair drops, and Collector Boosters contain premium printings. The set symbol and a quick search can tell you which set a card is from.
Identify foils, extended art, and special treatments
Cards with special visual treatments - foil, extended art, borderless, showcase frames, or retro borders - are almost always worth more than the regular version. Hold the card at an angle under a light to check for foiling. Look for art that extends to the card edges or unusual frame designs.
Scan suspicious cards with a price checker
For any card that passes the above visual checks, scan it with Lotus Scan or search it on TCGPlayer. This gives you the exact current market price in seconds. Don't trust your memory of what a card "used to be worth" - prices change constantly, and a card that was $5 last year might be $30 today.
Check the Reserved List
The Reserved List is a set of cards that Wizards of the Coast has promised never to reprint. These cards can only become scarcer over time, which means their prices tend to rise steadily. Notable Reserved List cards include dual lands, Lion's Eye Diamond, Gaea's Cradle, and Wheel of Fortune. If you own any of these, they are almost certainly valuable.
Tip: A full Reserved List is available on the MTG wiki. Cross-reference it against any older cards you find.
Make It Easier with Lotus Scan
Lotus Scan for iPhone simplifies this entire process with AI-powered card recognition, real-time price tracking, and intuitive collection management. Just point your camera and scan.
Pro Tips
- Don't discard cards just because they're common or uncommon. Cards like Rhystic Study and Smothering Tithe are uncommon and rare respectively but worth $30 or more.
- Cards that see play in Commander, Modern, Legacy, and Vintage tend to hold value better than Standard-only cards.
- Old basic lands from early sets (Beta, Arabian Nights, Guru lands) can be worth $10 to over $1,000. Don't skip the land pile.
- If you find cards in a language you don't recognize, scan them anyway. Foreign printings of popular cards can be worth even more than English versions.
- Price check before throwing anything away. Even bulk rares from 20 years ago occasionally spike when they become relevant in a new deck.