Black Lotus Magic Card Price: Alpha, Beta and Unlimited

A Black Lotus is worth about $10,700 to $57,500 ungraded depending on the edition, and far more in high grades. PriceCharting values, retrieved 2026-09-25:

• Alpha: raw $57,469 · grade 7 $56,000 · grade 8 $70,000 · grade 9 $76,013.56 · grade 9.5 $83,615 · PSA 10 $2,208,200 (based on a handful of sales a year; PriceCharting marks 9.5 as rare)
• Beta: raw $18,000 · grade 7 $29,500 · grade 8 $35,958.52 · grade 9 $43,789 · grade 9.5 $48,168 · no PSA 10 value
• Unlimited: raw $10,731.19 · grade 7 $16,000 · grade 8 $18,500 · grade 9 $24,450 · grade 9.5 $49,054.85 · no PSA 10 value

The Alpha raw figure is built on about 2 sales a year, so treat it as a rough level. Unlimited trades about once a week raw, which makes its figure the steadiest of the three.

From Wikipedia's list of the most expensive collectible card game cards and its Black Lotus and Power Nine articles:

• $3,000,000: Alpha, CGC Pristine 10, March 2024.
• $800,000: Alpha artist proof signed by Christopher Rush, bought by Post Malone in 2022.
• $615,000: Alpha artist proof, CGC 8.5, signed, March 24, 2023, Heritage Auctions.
• $540,000: Alpha, PSA 10, signed, March 16, 2023, PWCC Marketplace.
• $511,100: Alpha, PSA 10, signed, January 27, 2021, eBay.
• $27,302: a high-quality copy in 2013, the earliest sale price in the Wikipedia articles.

• It is the strongest card in the game's first set. Wikipedia explains that it gives three mana for zero cost when sacrificed, letting a player cast spells faster than the opponent. It is one of the Power Nine.
• It will never be reprinted. It is on the Reserved List, which Wizards of the Coast created in March 1996 and reaffirmed in September 2021 (Wikipedia).
• Few copies exist in the early editions. About 1,100 were printed in Alpha, against over 18,000 in Unlimited (Wikipedia), which is why a raw Alpha copy costs about five times a raw Unlimited one.

None of these editions has a set symbol on the card (Wikipedia), so use the physical card:

• Alpha: black border and steeply rounded corners. Wikipedia notes the corners make Alpha easy to tell from Beta, which is why tournaments require opaque sleeves for Alpha cards.
• Beta: black border with less rounded corners, because the cutting dies were sharpened.
• Unlimited: white border; Wikipedia says it contains exactly the same cards as the earlier Limited Edition.

With a card this valuable, rely on a grading company to confirm it is genuine before you buy or sell.

Lay the card flat on a dark surface in daylight and photograph it straight on with the whole card in frame, then take a close-up of the lower edge where the set symbol or set code, the card number and any edition mark sit. Tilt holo cards for a second shot so the foil pattern shows, and photograph the back. FoilLens reads the card name, set and number from the photo and shows a market reference; the edition, print and condition checks on this page decide which price line applies to your copy.