I do agree with the article of the 3 special promo cards – they are extremely RARE and scarce in comparison to the Black Lotus. However, I believe the debate of what is the RAREST comes from eyes of the collector. Since most collectors in MTG recognize the Black Lotus as the most important, powerful and valuable MTG card, I believe it is the most expensive. I graded the BGS 10 Beta Black Lotus, BGS 9.5 Alpha Black Lotus, Several PSA 10 & BGS 9.5 Beta Black Lotus’s and I can tell you the value has only increased throughout the years, amongst the recession time.

Of course, any card’s price tag depends on what a buyer is willing to pay and from market news, the BGS 10 Beta Black Lotus still holds the highest sale ever. The 2nd highest sale is the BGS 9.5 Alpha Black Lotus for $18,750.00.

Unless one of the promo or summer cards are noted as a sale of more, for now the Black Lotus remains the elite icon of MTG.

If you want the two truly most expensive cards in Magic: The Gathering, they unfortunately have no set price. This is because they are unique, and only one copy of each exist. These cards are:

1996 World Champion

and

Shichifukujin Dragon

both illustrated by Christopher Rush.

“The 1996 World Champion was given to Tom Chanpheng of Australia for winning the 1996 World Championship. The card is encased in lucite, apparently floating above a silver globe. In 2001 it was sold to a private collector. One sheet of this card was printed, but all other copies were destroyed. Rumor has it that artist proofs of this card exist.

The Shichifukujin Dragon was created to celebrate the opening of the Japan DCI Tournament Center in Tokyo, Japan. All copies except for one were destroyed. The remaining Shichifukujin Dragon has been encased at the Tournament Center for public view together with the original artwork of the card. The Tournament Center was closed on February, the 28th in 2003, and the card was moved to the Hobby Japan Head Office where it currently resides. Shichifukujin is the name of the Seven Deities of Good Fortune of Japanese mythology.”

The 1996 World Champion Card was sold for approximately $10,000 USD still in the trophy (keep in mind this is not adjusted for inflation, which increases the price even more). Serious Magic collectors nowadays would ostensibly pay far more for either card today, given the thriving popularity of Magic.

Other incredibly rare cards include the cards that Richard Garfield had printed for certain events in his life, namely his proposal to his wife and the birth of his two children. Information for these cards can be found here: http://www.magiclibrarities.net/rarities-garfield.html

The most expensive non-error card is considered to be a signed, mint-condition Alpha Black Lotus, and can possibly be worth over $15,000.

The most expensive error card is indeed the Summer Magic Blue Hurricane, also valued highly.

I first heard about these cards in an issue of either Scrye or Inquest years ago (can’t remember which) and was fascinated by them. Hope this answers your question!
Source(s):
http://www.magiclibrarities.net/rarities-unique.html
http://most-expensive.net/magic-gathering-card

To prove all guys that a Lotus is more expensive than a Blue Hurricane compare this BGS 10 89.000$ Lotus with that 5.000$ Blue Hurricane (but, just NM condition) …
http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=220399381310

http://cgi.ebay.com/Blue-Hurricane-ID-1279-NM-M-MTG-Edgar-Summer-Magic_W0QQitemZ270417788345QQcmdZViewItemQQptZLH_DefaultDomain_0?hash=item3ef627fdb9

Crazy prices…

I would love to know how many (roughly) Alpha Black Lotuses are still in existance. I know that back in the early M:tG days, players played Iron Man style…Or the Moms who threw their kids collection out.. or the flood of a major warehouse that stored a lot of cards…. I think only 1100 Alpha sets were printed..

@ Gryfalia: I’m not sure how you managed to misinterpret my diagram and I thought I made this abundantly clear in my original post, but I’ll try to clarify further. I was referring to the print order from oldest to newest (from 1st generation to 5th generation) which is indeed as follows:
Alpha –> Beta –> Unlimited –> Revised –> Summer Magic

I understand your point that you were making though. You’re saying that this 5th printing had a very low distribution which resulted in high rarity. Yes, this rarity has yielded premium prices for Summer Magic, but nothing from Summer Magic can come close to the crown jewel featured in this article as far as actual market value is concerned. Just like the American Tobacco Company could reprint a Honus Wagner or Topps could reprint Mickey Mantle cards years later. Topps did reprint Mickey Mantle but 1952 was the original, and so the original has always been the most sought after and prized. This is no anomaly though, when it comes to comic books, coins, vintage cars, or virtually any worthwhile collectible, the earliest edition in the best condition will typically command the highest prices.

Yes, Summer Magic was an exceptionally limited print run, but that’s because WotC employees dropped the ball with the quality control of this 2nd print run of Revised edition. Summer Magic is the red headed stepchild that was never meant to be. The set was so inherently flawed with color issues and littered with typos that they deemed the product worthy only of destruction. There was even a colossal fumble with printing Hurricane with a blue border instead of the proper green border. Now if you don’t mind paying premium prices for 5th edition misprints and blunders, then the abomination known as Summer Magic is for you! Before someone jumps me for calling Summer Magic the 5th edition, I’m referring to the chronological revision and print run of Magic and not the “5th Edition” core set that was released in ’97.

@ cyberwiz: Beta magic cards almost NEVER sell for more than an Alpha of a comparable grade, but apparently this misinformation pervades the casual players and entry level collectors of Magic even to this day. The vast majority of today’s serious buyers of high-end Magic cards are no longer ignorant of the significant rarity advantage that Alpha holds over Beta. Alpha boosters consistently sell for more than Beta boosters. Alpha starter decks consistently sell for more than Beta starter decks. You can frequently find a PSA 10 Beta Power 9 on eBay, but many, many months will pass before you see an Alpha edition Power 9 in PSA 10 surface.

You are correct about Beta having round corners, for Beta possesses the same curve/cut as current day editions. However, Alpha had the roundest corners of them all with the most prominent slope. You must be confusing the square corners with the Collector’s Edition sets which had a Domestic and International version.

MTG IS AWESOME!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

@ Adam, there are +/- 100 copies made of both Splendid Genesis and Fraternal Exaltation, and there are 3 cards of the Proposal , so they are extremely rare, but not as rare as Shichifukujin Dragon and 1996 World Champion, as they are unique ( as in one of a kind ).

But, if we talk about public available cards, then yes, the Black Lotus is the most expensive and rare card.
Beta goes often for more, because they have rounded corners as opposed to alpha which are squared.

Alpha –> Beta –> Unlimited –> Revised –> Summer Magic

For cards that exist in all of the sets (for example, a Bird of Paradise), the value of a Summer Bird is several orders of magnitude higher than Alpha or Beta. This is entirely due to their extreme rarity. Even horrible commons, like, Pestilence, go for over $100 in their Summer version. In fact almost every Summer Magic rare is worth more than almost every Alpha/Beta rare. Simple rarity.

but the Summer Efreet is the most expensive single playable card. (some of the Rare Garfield cards could sell for more) Summer Hurricane being an uncommon and more available then the Summer Rares have dropped in price. Summer Underground Sea tend to sell for more then the Hurricane these days.

Have 3 Of That Card

So Your tellin that
it costs A Lot of money?

not to mention the Black Lotus is the key card that people think about when they think of magic the gathering

THE STAPLE CARD
that should be in 99% of decks

the holy grail of Magic the Gathering
the Black Lotus

Concerning blue Hurricane from Summer Magic:
The intrinsic value of a Hurricane is nil and the vast majority of collectors & players will naturally favor black bordered cards over white bordered, for a white border explicitly denotes a “reprint”. Furthermore, the highest grade of a blue Hurricane is only PSA 9. Now seriously, who in their right mind would rather have a less than pristine condition misprint of “uncommon” print rarity that was a 5th generation white bordered reprint derived from Revised Edition? (Revised being a faded reprint of Unlimited, minus the Power 9)

Alpha –> Beta –> Unlimited –> Revised –> Summer Magic

The Black Lotus is not only the most powerful & intrinsically valuable magic card (highest utility in any deck), this particular specimen comes from Magic’s earliest set (Alpha), is blessed by the artist’s DNA certified signature which was tastefully placed to perfection and received the highest possible grade of PSA 10. Now that’s truly a one of a kind treasure that will only increase in value over time, ergo, the most expensive magic card.

There’s my 2 cents…

It was in the Summer Magic print run of Revised edition. The run was recalled and only a few boosterboxes survived, so there are only 5 or 6 of those cards.

It sells for thousands of dollars. I know of one for sell on the internet and it goes for 6999,00 euros.