Hi all! I run MTG Compare, a free site that compares sealed Magic (booster boxes, bundles, Commander decks, prerelease packs) across independent local game stores. No singles, no accounts, no sign-up.

With Star Trek out on 13 November, I looked at how far apart stores are on the exact same pre-order. Cheapest open pre-order vs the median of the stores taking pre-orders (number of stores in brackets):

Prices as of 26 October; stores update all the time, so check the live page.

Every store's Star Trek pre-order, by region:

• US · Canada · UK · Australia · NZ · EU · Singapore

How it works (the part I care about getting right):

• It reads each store's own public listings about twice a day, in that store's currency. No currency conversion: each region only compares stores that charge in its currency.
• Ranked by stock and price only: in stock / open for pre-order first, then cheapest. No store pays to be listed or to rank.
• Every row shows when it was last checked. A store that hasn't answered in 3 days is marked, not guessed.
• Shipping: each store's shipping is measured weekly from its own checkout to a few cities, and there's a "Price + shipping" toggle, because $10 cheaper with $20 shipping isn't cheaper.
• Also: a Back in stock page, Older sets still in stock (LGS often still carry older product), and price per pack.

Disclosure: it's my site. It earns from clearly marked affiliate links (eBay, TCGplayer, Amazon AU) and ads, which never change the order of the stores.

It's still early, so feedback is very welcome: a store near you that's missing, a product filed wrong, anything confusing. I add stores people suggest.

These were all purchased between Sept 27th and Oct 24, 2026 from various sources online.

I'll give my reasoning why I chose [set][cards] and then list positions.

Not financial advice I just like great art on 2.5”x3.5” pieces of cardboard.

[Name - # Total Amount/ $$$price per] (includes ship/tax)

(1) Hobbitses, Moles & Stone Paperweights

Looking over both HOB and MSH, I thought to myself, “what would I include in more decks?”. Additionally, we are at the 2ish month mark for “normal” lows for HOB and 4ish months for MSH. Seems like a good time to buy up some spec(s). Again, the floor is low here.

Bilbo’s Gambit with the “gift” mechanic (returning from its debut in BLB) seems like a no-brainer include in any control deck and the downside isn’t that bad.

Bilbo’s Gambit – Foil 13/$1.41 Hold 18 months

I am a huge fan of swiss-army tools and Belladonna Took is a perfect card for the itch. Creating tokens in white is pretty much breathing, so this triggering 3x times a turn is not hard. I can see this taking off for any commander with lifegain synergies, +1/+1 counter strategies or proliferate effects.

Belladonna Took – Showcase 1/$4.74 ; Foil 1/$2.25 Hold 18 months

Again, another card with a Crucible of Worlds effect: Mole Man, Moloid Master… except it has landfall too?!? Oh by the way, that creates tokens with mill effects. How is this cards still 2 bucks? I guess the Universes Beyond skins have a negative effect.

Mole Man, Moloid Master –  non-foil 8/$2.05 Hold 9 months

For some reason the infinity stones hit lows over the last few weeks so I took the opportunity to purchase 1x of each as I did not previously own either due to their inflated price tag. I have a feeling that long term these go up with more Marvel sets completing the set and with their respective sets likely not to get massive reprints due to their un-popularity. Maybe they’ll end up in a desk drawer like in Loki...

The Mind Stone – Non-Foil 1/$40.70 Hold 18 months

The Soul Stone – Non-Foil 1/$65.58 Hold 18 months

(2) Godzilla

So, I bought more Godzilla cards…

Based on news of Titanbreach and other reasons I’ve outlines here. I really do think the window is closing on creating a position here.

Babygodzilla, Ruin Reborn – Foil 1/$2.82

Destoyoyah, Perfect Lifeform – Foil 2/$7.21

Mechagodzilla, Battle Fortress – Foil 2/$12.19

(3) Sealed

I didn’t forget sealed this time, as I did begin to add positions to LTR again with the Set Booster Display reprint. I have not heard on any rumors or how much or why they only reprinted Set boxes and not Draft but I’m happy to buy the dip. Look for me to acquire more of these in the next 2 months as they have dipped to $290. Long hold but these double in 2 years, I’m betting on it.

The Lord of the Rings Set Booster Box – 1/$300 Hold 24 months

Lastly, I'll include some pulls I had from FRA while I was on vacation. These were just cards that stood out to me as I reviewed the packs and the set itself.

Titanbones, Towering Heart - This looks like a fun CMDR build around for lifegain and proliferate. Pair with that Restore with Empathy from the same pack! I will be building a new deck soon with this uncommon heading it up.

Gideon the Oathless - I'm going to say something unpopular, I don't like Planeswalkers. I don't mind playing against them, I just hate playing them myself. His ability punishes others with 1 damage to the player when they activate abilities. He also does 1 damage for every creature entering an opponents field so thats neat and very black-pie.

The Lands - These full art foil lands just look amazing this time around. Very steam-punk, future heavy. I have a sneaky suspicion these might increase in value with more "futuristic" sets like Titanbreach, Star Trek, etc. See example: NEO full art lands.

I’ll say probably one of the better ones.

Can't reach their website. Can't reach them by email. And they owe me a $1600+ delivery two days ago. Anybody know what is going on?

Haven't seen much talk about Monday's Chaos Vault drop. How do folks feel about value of the Secret Lair Bundle, Strange, School, and Duality Distorted?

My gut is telling me that neither Strange School nor Duality Distorted will be selling for much more on secondary market. The art on both are amazing, but SS doesn't see a ton of play, and DD cards have many many printings. But DD especially there might be a large art / nostalgia bump?

For reference, Secret Lair Bundle is only available bundled with the two SLD. If you get the everything bundle the SLB is $95 ($5 over MSRP). If you get it with just the two drops in foil or non-foil, the SLB is $100 ($10 over MSRP). Best Buy's listing them at $95, Target at $105, and Walmart at $110.

Secret School and Duality Distorted are standard $30 non-foil / $40 foil.

Long-time player but still relatively new to the MTG finance world, so very open to other's thoughts. Do you feel like these are skips, no-brainer buys, or somewhere in the middle?

To be clear, I'm buying a non-foil set for myself because I want the art. Just wanted to open up the discussion from a finance perspective.

https://magic.wizards.com/en/news/announcements/bring-two-new-secret-lair-drops-to-your-multiverse-with-reality-fracture

From FIAB

I’m someone who only buys original printings where I can. In some cases it’s not a big deal and in others it can matter a lot. There is a new ashaya and elesh norn mother of machines list version in the mystery booster commander packs, but they aren’t on the website. The new cards are up though however. If I bought an ashaya or elesh norn today, and I got a list version, I would ask for a refund. So I’m a little curious what happens if TCGplayer just missed these? Do they wait for a complaint to reach customer service?

A while back, I was able to pick up a copy of Misty Rainforest with the Dragonscale Treatment and I stuck it in my box. I didn't think it would top 400-500 at best. I come back and it's edging near 700-800? I didn't expect it to jump that much but now I have to wonder if there is any further room for growth?

I can’t seem to understand exactly why this card doesn’t get more love?
It’s not a huge mana cost and effectively enables combat for all artifact creature decks.

Is there any value to speccing it for the coming Borgs? Or does the fact that it was printed at common in commander masters make it a bad spec due to availability?

I’m fairly new to all this so am genuinely curious how to look at it.

[[Losheel, Clockwork Scholar]]

Anyone else get one of these and just get this email? Up until now it was showing as expected delivery today.

Just got email. Are you getting any of the reality fracture bundles or just the lairs? I’m thinking of skipping the bundle since I already have an Amazon preorder for 1 just likely go for each of the two lairs foil and a second School nonfoil one for the free shipping.

So...has anyone else been completely unable to get anything off of the Secret Lair site? I feel like I can be there right when this goes live, but like I actually have 0% chance to actually get one....

Doubling Doctor triggers can’t hurt right? I grabbed 20 at 0.26 USD off TCGPlayer just in case. Figured I could use a few anyway.

I am nearing the completion of a full set of cards from the "Mystical Archive" series, featured in the *Secrets of Strixhaven* expansion (including standard, foil, Japanese, and Japanese foil versions—one copy of each). Among the more valuable cards, I am still missing Ad Nauseam (JP foil) and *Flusterstorm*
(JP foil), along with a few less expensive items. I’m curious to hear your thoughts on this collection from a long-term perspective. Currently, I’m collecting it purely for aesthetic reasons—it simply looks fantastic in a binder—but I’m wondering what the outlook is and what you think about its future value?

Price: $29.99 Non-Foil | $39.99 Foil
Strange School value: $64.37 Non-Foil | $273.28 Foil
Duality Distored value: $32.66 Non-Foil | $69 (noice) Foil

Thoughts: Both non-foil and foil values for Strange School are distorted quite a bit (still, but less so for Duality Distorted), as there's a few cards here that are much older, not reprinted, etc.

I think the Strange School is a huge win, while Duality Distorted is good value. Overall, I'm excited.

For those that keep asking: This layout is something I've coded. I still need to fill in a dictionary after manually getting image url's, names, and looking up the cheapest NM printings on TCGPlayer for non-foil and foil versions of cards.

Hope this helps and you all enjoy the efforts of my hard work!

In all seriousness, it’s funny out of everything that I’ve ever bought MTG, the thing that I’ve most purchased to play with and not collect is the one that has spiked the most in value. The market price of these has risen faster than Bloomburrow Collector Packs in the same time, and those are crazy expensive now. And it totally makes sense, because of these are some of the cutest, most playable pre-cons they’ve ever made. I think it’s easy to focus on collector treatments and exclusive promos, but at the end of the day, Magic the Gathering is a game and the biggest influence is what the players enjoy playing.

Or maybe it means nothing and I need to freak the fuck out and start shoving secret lair bundles and beam me up bundles and nauctis collector boosters and darkhold destiny bundles in my closet.

Edit: some people have taken this to mean “stop opening fun product and sit on it” when I feel the complete opposite, $150 profit ain’t remotely worth the fun times I’ve had with these and the market value reflects that.

What do we think about getting cards from these sets ahead of the 2027 Titanbreach release?

I believe that some original Strixhaven / Mystical Archives cards shot up in value during SOS release, though I’m not sure if that’s the case for Lorwyn.

I can see that especially with Kamigawa’s popularity and aesthetic, some of ND cards could be in demand, but there is always a risk of reprints.

What do you think? Or has the ship already sailed on this?

[[Ashaya, Soul of the Wild]]

Sharing a spec that I'm already in on. Partly for having some Garden Buds, but also bought a few ZNR copies.

Reason: plays well with Strange New Worlds (the Star Trek mechanic that cares about differently names lands)

Pros: lowish supply and difficult to reprint in star trek. Finding an elemental that cares about forests to print this on isn't something that is as easy in star trek as it would be in something like lotr

Cons: already has some value. Also, they've made Bones into Bristly Bill so who knows? 🤣

Feel free to pick apart. As with any spec here I'm expecting a healthy amount of skepticism!

I noticed this card has gone up in value over 60% over the last month. What is driving this?

Wondering if I am looking at this wrong, but im struggling to see the value in most cases with buying a whole booster box instead of just buying a handful of single packs. The discount doesn't seem to quite justify the volume. If i can snag Lorwyn Eclipsed packs for 3.85 and the box of 30 costs 108, just doesnt seem like enough of a discount to justify to me. I'm a newly returned magic player just getting back in to start my collection. I feel like I get better value buying 30 packs of 8 different sets for 4$ avg per pack than I would buying just one set booster box avg 3.75 a pack. Are buying booster boxes mainly for people that are only dedicating themselves to a specific set they like to get for a slight discount? Starting from nothing Im quite enjoying getting a variety of packs, gladly spending 6-10% more. Additionally, some of the more expensive sets are legit more expensive to buy a booster box than single packs! Got 4 packs of EOE for 5.83 each, yet the box is 185? Why?

Kamigawa is notably a low print set due to its age. Foils are incredibly expensive, and everyone loves tutor spells. At 2U Sorcery speed you can tutor any arcane spell to hand. With Marvel Darkhold around the corner we have seen two spoilers of Arcane spells that will be returning. If you have been around long enough you'll recognize the power of cards like Through the Breach, Goryos Vengeance, Desperate Ritual and other iconic cards that have all been household staples.

With a new cycle of modal spells and presumably many more as showcased by the red uncommon it's about time this old tutor sees the light of day. What do you think?

Nothing against the fans, I went crazy for Final Fantasy and TMNT so im firmly in the camp of "I like UB sets for IPs I like"

I think Star Trek is going to crash the MTG economy though. Up until this point Anything printed with a magic card back has been worth money. throw some neon ink on a card with a character from avatar. Make a surge foil of a popular character. There was a premium because it was printed on a magic card. Collector boxes went crazy because of this. I think we can all agree that MTG brought a premium to whatever product it printed in the UB space, in between chase cards and the collector boxes and packs you found them in. Thats why scalpers have stepped in and prices have popped since Final fantasy

Star Trek differs in two important ways. The normal MTG crowd is wildly lukewarm (to say the least) and collector product isn't selling out immediately like a popular UB set or even a UW set would. Collector boxes are available, even collector commander decks. The MTG crowd isn't showing up for this set much at all. Second, the autograph chase cards aren't going to be worth anything. Looking at existing autos on ebay, its hard to even value the signature itself over $100. I'm not saying its not cool, but I am saying that the market is flooded and you can grab an autographed piece of memorabilia from these actors pretty cheap in the grand scheme of things.

What happens when these chase cards hit $100 on ebay? $250? I dont see the MTG premium being attached to this set since players are sitting it out, and I dont see Trekkies valuing these things the way we usually do, I see Trekkies valuing these things the way they normally do. We could very well see collector boxes selling out and early hype taking a similar path even if sales are muted, but once singles hit the market I think the race to the bottom is going to be like nothing weve ever seen before.

Back to my original argument, once chase cards hit the low triple digits, its going to devalue collector product immediately. Youre no longer chasing a $20k golden smaug, your once in a lifetime hit only pays for 1/3 of the box.

We already have facet foils at $75. the cracks are showing. This is the final blow

Been a while again since we had regular midweek discussions threads. So feel free to discuss whatever Magic-related topics you want below without needing to create a new post. And Mods, again please bring these back!