This is the post we would leave out if we were writing to please the sites we link to. Magic has been the worst-paying thing we measure, and it has not been close.
The numbers
| What was opened | Pulls recorded | Paid back |
|---|---|---|
| Dragon Ball | 262 | 110.5% |
| One Piece | 917 | 109.6% |
| Pokemon | 32,471 | 107.2% |
| Riftbound | 1,181 | 91.7% |
| Baseball | 931 | 88.1% |
| Basketball | 1,176 | 78.2% |
| Football | 1,235 | 77.6% |
| Magic | 463 | 69.8% |
Magic sits at the bottom of that table more often than not. Compare it to the sports rows above it and to Pokémon in the middle, and the gap is not a rounding error.
Three honest caveats before you draw conclusions
Magic is recorded on fewer sites than Pokémon. That means one operator's pricing has far more influence on the figure. It may be telling you about that site rather than about Magic.
Magic card values are harder to pin down than Pokémon values. There are far more cards, far more printings of the same card, and much more variation in what a given version is worth. If the valuation feeding our figure runs low, the payback will read low too.
And the window is short. The table is the last 24 hours. Check it across a few visits before treating any single reading as the truth.
Why we publish this at all
We earn money when someone signs up to a site through us. That is the business, we say so on every page, and it is exactly why a post like this has to exist.
A tracker whose numbers only ever say nice things about its partners is an advert with a chart on it. Readers work that out faster than anyone expects. The only version of this site that is worth anything to you is one that publishes the unflattering row as readily as the flattering one, and this is the unflattering row.
What to do with it
If you open Magic on pack sites, open it because you want the cards, not because the maths is good. Right now the maths is the worst on the board.
And if the figure moves, this page moves with it. The table is generated from the last day of data every time it loads, so if Magic climbs, you will see that here rather than reading a stale complaint from months ago.
Related: the full category table, the categories at the other end, and what a Magic box actually holds.
Questions people also ask
How many packs are in an MTG booster box?
A play booster box holds 36 and a collector booster box holds 12, which is worth knowing before comparing box prices across the two.
Are Magic packs worth opening?
On the openings we record they have paid back less than any other category. Open them for the cards you want rather than for the maths.
Why is Magic lower than Pokemon here?
We record it on fewer sites, and Magic card values are harder to pin down than Pokemon values. Both could be flattering the gap, and it is still the bottom of the table.
The short version
Magic has been the lowest-paying category we record, several points below Pokémon and well below sports. The sample is narrower than Pokémon's and the valuations are harder, both of which could be flattering the gap. It is still the bottom of the table, and we would rather tell you than not.