Magic: The Gathering has had a busy 2025 so far, with two more sets launching in the coming months after four main ones came out alongside a remastered version of the Innistrad block. Despite a middling reception to Aetherdrift at the start of the year, each set after it was a success, with Tarkir: Dragonstorm and Edge of Eternities both proving there's a lot of room for great stories and inspired settings within MTG's multiverse, and Final Fantasy proving there can be quite some potential to Universes Beyond in Standard. With a lot of costly products, it's only natural that these sets can spawn equally expensive cards, but one may not expect the extent of it with two 2025 cards.
Even though it may seem strange, considering the history of the game dating back to 1993 and there being tons of valuable cards, the two most expensive ones in the current market were printed this year. This can be all the more shocking when considering the average value of iconic cards like a collector's edition of Black Lotus being around $2,800-$3,000 for a single copy, but the game is no stranger to expensive cards. Magic: The Gathering's Vivi spawned an $800 Standard deck, for example, but two other Final Fantasy cards take the crown as the most expensive that one can buy right now.
This is based on cards being sold for their market value, rather than one-of-a-kind exceptions like PSA 9/10 cards from Alpha and other older sets, for example.
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Magic: The Gathering's Most Expensive Cards Are From Final Fantasy
The most expensive cards in Magic: The Gathering's history certainly include the recent single-copy The One Ring, which was printed in the Lord of the Rings set and later sold for an eye-watering $2 million, and it could even increase in value over time. However, these are exceptions. There are some incredibly expensive cards one can potentially find online, but a lot of them are very old cards, maybe playtest versions of existing cards, or mint copies of Black Lotus.
These cards are not truly available to the general public. Instead, 2025 saw the release of two extremely rare and valuable cards tied to MTG's Final Fantasy set, which are still in a league of their own, but more accessible if one truly wants to get them. These are:
- Traveling Chocobo (Black) - Borderless, Japanese exclusive: cheapest listing for $7,500 on TCGPlayer, $12,120 average listing
- Cloud, Midgar Mercenary - Pro Tour Promo: cheapest listing for $800 on TCGPlayer, $3,775 average listing
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Although they are both very rare, these are not "unique" cards, in the sense that multiple copies were printed very recently, and they are in someone's possession. One could argue that the same applies to a PSA 10 version of Time Walk that was sold for $63,000, or a PSA-10 MTG Black Lotus sold for $3 million, but that's not exactly true. Considering how much time has passed, a PSA 10 version of a 32-year-old card is not something one can really happen upon, and it's not comparable.
Instead, the Traveling Chocobo (Black) and Cloud, Midgar Mercenary, are fresh additions to online and physical sales, and since their value is much more easily acknowledged even by non-fans, they are more accessible, even if their price is not. For example, among the cards available on TCGPlayer, the third most expensive is an Unlimited Edition of Mox Sapphire, which has an average price of $3,400 for a lightly played version, whereas it can go upward of $5,000 for near mint, based on availability.
The most comparable card is a Ragavan, Nimble Pilferer from the 2023 Secret Lair Showdown tournament, which is modern, but still goes for an average of $3,269. As such, it's interesting to see Cloud, Midgar Mercenary, at a similar price point, and it makes perfect sense for the Japanese exclusive version of the black Traveling Chocobo to be even more expensive and possibly among the most expensive MTG cards ever.
Magic: The Gathering
- Original Release Date
- August 5, 1993
- Publisher
- Wizards of the Coast
- Designer
- Richard Garfield
- Player Count
- 2+
- Age Recommendation
- 13+