You must have never played before Magic the Gathering Be familiar with his mythical black lotus: a powerful card from the game’s first set that now routinely fetches eye-popping amounts on the collectors’ market. But no Black Lotus, no matter how flawless or rare, has ever sold for $3 million. It’s such a ridiculous amount that some fans can’t help but shake their heads in disbelief.
“An Alpha Black Lotus, graded by CGC Cards, just fetched a staggering $3 MILLION, making it the most expensive Magic the Gathering Card ever sold!” Posted by Certified Guaranty Company (CGC) – the Florida-based appraisal company that first announced the deal –yesterday on Instagram. “Its sky-high price shows the high value collectors place on CGC Cards’ Pristine 10 quality.”
This is an incredible marketing opportunity for CGC, which has also made a name for itself the world of vintage video game collecting, the buyer of the card says that the transaction is completely legitimate. “It’s really hard to price these high-end cards, but I think $3 million is about right.” Instagram user Benjamin.be told My city in a DM. The buyer, whose collection of coveted “Grails” from other card games such as Dragon Ball Z And Pokémon, added: “Maybe I paid a little too much, but I’m not buying to flip it. It should be fine in the long run.”
He said he bought high-end products MTG Cards from the seller Adam Cai for years. One of those was a 9.5-rated Black Lotus for which he reportedly paid $880,000. Some of the rarest cards in the game are the so-called “Power Nine”. The cards from the first three sets, which include Black Lotus, are so powerful that they are often considered the most broken MTG Maps in the game’s history. Benjamin.be said he had previously assembled a Beckett Grading Services (BGS) graded set of these valued at over $5 million, but has now decided to build another Power Nine set graded by CGC.
Many fans on the MagicTCG subreddit are incredulous. There’s some shenanigans in a thread about the sale either speculating that it’s part of one concerted effort to inflate the market, or just a stunt to promote CGC. It used to be considered impressive when a Black Lotus came by $30,000 at auction. However, in recent years, given the Corona-induced boom in collectibles and the growing reputation of certain specialty grading houses, the 1993 cards have been opted for north of $500,000. The rapper Post Malone He famously purchased an artist-signed copy for over $800,000.
Before this $3 million sale, the record price for a MTG Card cost $2 million. It was that much Post Malone paid for the one ringa single print variant included in the popular Lord of the rings Crossover set released last summer. Unlike Black Lotuses, there was literally only one of these cards. It may not have had the aura of decades of collecting stories, but that fact, coupled with the eccentricities of a wealthy celebrity, helped rationalize the absurd price.
That’s harder to do with Benjamin.be’s $3 million Black Lotus, although CGC’s 10 out of 10 is helpful. “In terms of alpha lotuses, these are the two best there are,” he said. “There are only two flawless examples, a BGS 10 and this CGC flawless 10.” As for CGC’s involvement, Benjamin.be said they asked him before disclosing his record-breaking private purchase. “I am sure that CGC is excited about this transaction and that the announcement helps them. They asked me for permission and I agreed. I really like CGC and hope they do well.”
Update May 8, 2024 9:15 a.m. ET: The buyer has now confirmed that the $3 million purchase of Black Lotus was made using cryptocurrency. “The card has been deposited [Bitcoin] with 2 payments”, Benjamin.be told PC gamer“The end of last year and this year.”
