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Rare Magic: The Gathering card breaks records with $3 million sale

Rare Magic: The Gathering card breaks records with $3 million sale

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Yes, of course it was an Alpha Black Lotus.

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Image of the card art from an alternate version of the Black Lotus Magic: The Gathering card art signed by Christopher Rush
Image: Wizards of the Coast

A rare Magic: The Gathering card has sold for $3 million, making it the most expensive Magic card ever sold.

And before you ask, Magic nerds, of course it was a Black Lotus. The sale of the card was announced last week by CGC Cards, a certification and grading company for trading cards, video games, comics, and more.

The Black Lotus is the holy grail of Magic cards. It was first printed as a part of the card game’s Alpha and Beta sets that launched with the game’s debut in 1993. Though highly sought as a collector’s item, the card itself is unplayable, as it is banned in all but one format because it is simply too powerful, allowing players to create three mana of any color for the low, low price of free. The card belongs to a special set of Magic cards called the Power Nine — expensive, rare, but unplayable cards that are incredibly busted.

In addition to Black Lotus, the Power Nine consists of five other similar cards that allow you to create mana for free and three blue mana cards because blue is simply the no-fun-allowed color. Though unplayable in most formats, Black Lotus has been remixed into slightly different cards with similar powers but with better balance.

The record-breaking $3 million Black Lotus was graded by CGC Cards and rated as a 10, or in “pristine” condition, making it the highest quality Black Lotus card ever sold. Lesser-quality Black Lotus cards have sold for mid-six figures.

Before this, the most expensive Magic card ever sold was the one-of-its-kind One Ring card selling for $2 million to avid Magic collector, pokémon trainer, and sometimes rapper Post Malone. Postie would make for a likely candidate for this transaction, but he’s already got one, having paid $800,000 for a Black Lotus signed by the card’s original artist, Christopher Rush. Currently, the $3 million buyer remains unknown.