BEST MAGIC THE GATHERING MTG BOOSTER BOX TO BUY FOR 2024

Tired of the same old draws? Your quest for the perfect Magic: the Gathering MTG booster box ends here. Rip into a selection of cards designed to supercharge your collection, decks, and fun, and lead you to victory.

For 2024 there are 3 distinct possibilities to answer the question “What is the best Magic: the Gathering booster box?”

1. If money wasn't a big consideration, what’s the best MTG booster box for a collector?
2. What’s the best new Magic: the Gathering booster box for 2024?
3. What’s the best booster box of Magic under $300 to hold a booster draft?

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The main reasons for buying a booster box of Magic the Gathering cards are to build a collection of cards, to use them in constructed decks, or to use them for a booster draft tournament.

With that in mind the above three questions provide the best possible answer for each reason to buy your next box!

If money wasn't a big consideration, what’s the best MTG booster box for a collector?

Clearly, the answer to this question would be a box of Alpha with the chance to pull a couple of Alpha Power 9 cards. However, with the limited printing and age, a sealed box of Alpha booster packs is an extremely rare find and could go for upwards of $50,000. 

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With Magic being the biggest collectible card game in the world in terms of players, with a storied history of different sets, you can find several others that would be an excellent choice. Legends would be a great option to go pull some of the first legendary creature cards like the Elder Dragons.

Or Arabian Nights would be a perfect set, if you could find those boxes. Single packs run thousands of dollars. 

The absolutely legendary cards that can be found in those sets may prove them the best boosters if you have 30 grand laying around and can find a legit box.

If you’re looking for the best answer to this question, it must be a sealed booster box of the Revised MTG set from 1994. Revised boosters are still easily found on eBay and other marketplaces.

Revised may not pack the Power 9 punch, but it does offer a printing of several cards that are still highly playable. 

In a booster box of Revised look for Lightning Bolts, Swords to Plowshares, and Counterspells as old prints of current staples in certain formats.

If you play commander, a Revised edition Sol Ring will stand out at the table.

You'll also find Copy Artifact, Demonic Tutor, and Mana Vault, all currently running more than $30 each.

Wheel of Fortune stands at over $200 at time of this writing.

Not to mention the final printing of the original Dual Lands. Depending on the land and condition these currently run about $200-$800 each.

I opened 3 boxes of revised between 1994 and 1995. I had all but one of the dual lands and at least one of every major rare. There are definitely days I beat myself up over all of the trading and buying and selling that happened with those cards.

I still have a few of the dual lands, but I was trading them then as $15 cards. Today they can go for $200 to $800 pretty regularly. You can check out the current prices on TCGPlayer here:

• Badlands
• Bayou
• Plateau
• Savannah
• Scrubland
• Taiga
• Tropical Island
• Tundra
• Underground Sea
• Volcanic Island

The outstanding mix of age, rarity, and ability to get the last printing of staple cards like the original Dual Lands makes landing a booster box of Revised a collector’s dream.

This box can be yours for the low low price of about $12,000 – $20,000 based on today’s eBay listings. And really at that price, you may just want to shelve it and keep the wrapper in tact.

What’s the best recent Magic: the Gathering booster box?

There’s not much question about the best recent boxes. The best set, and thus best booster boxes to release in 2023 was The Lord of the Rings: Tales of Middle-earth. This was one of the most anticipated sets in years due to the crossover with J.R.R. Tolkien’s classic masterpiece series The Lord of the Rings.

Magic has had some interesting, even great crossovers throughout the last several years with Dungeons and Dragons, Kaiju, Transformers, The Walking Dead, and other external universe characters making appearances, but this Lord of the Rings set has to be, by far, the most sought after, talked about, and sky-high expectations for release that Wizards of the Coast had seen in a long time.

To explain which booster box from the MTG The Lord of the Rings set might meet your needs and expectations, we’ll give a brief rundown of the different types of booster boxes offered.

Yes, if you’re new or returning to the game after some time away, there are 3 different Magic: the Gathering booster boxes for this set (and many before it,) each with unique qualities tailored to collectors, players, and booster draft tournaments.

All of these boosters will include uncommon cards and common cards that will be playable in the modern and commander formats among others.

Set Booster Boxes

Set Boosters are designed for players who want to open packs for fun, boost their decks, or build their collections. Set booster packs contain a guaranteed rare card or mythic rare card, a guaranteed traditional foil card, and a variety of other cards, including basic lands, tokens, and art cards.

Set boosters also have a chance to contain a card from The List, which is a curated selection of cards from Magic's history. Set boosters may offer the best value of the three types of booster boxes if the player doesn't intend on drafting. With the special cards that may be included, a collector will have a better chance at pulling great cards of high value.

Draft Booster Boxes

Draft Boosters are designed for players who want to participate in the Limited format of Magic, Booster Draft. Limited play is a format where players build decks from packs of cards that they open at the same time. Draft boosters are designed to be only that specific set (no cards from The List or serialized cards), and they contain a variety of cards that are useful for building Limited decks. 

Draft format may be the best way for a new Magic: the Gathering player to learn new cards as new Magic sets release, and is a great way to build up a new player's collection. Magic: the Gathering booster draft play experiences with new releases allows a player to keep up with the new mechanics that appear in the newest sets.

Every Draft pack opened will have a card of rarity “rare” or “mythic rare.” If you're lucky with your draft deck, you may even leave your local game store after a draft with the beginning of a new deck. Or, showing up with a box of draft boosters to your play group can offer a new way to play for newer players, and a good time for all.

Collector Booster Boxes

Collector Boosters are designed for players who want to collect cards or who want to open packs with a high chance of containing valuable cards. Collector booster boxes contain a higher number of rare cards and mythic rare cards than other types of boosters, and they also contain a variety of other premium cards, such as extended art cards, showcase cards, and foil cards.

Collector boosters are the most expensive type of booster, but they also have the highest chance of containing valuable cards. An extended art card can be highly desirable and valuable. Collector boosters can also include serialized cards which are often the most valuable cards in new sets, many times being 1 of only a few hundred made.

Serialized cards are usually reprints from an older set given the foil treatment and a serial number.

Jumpstart Booster Boxes

There is one other type of booster box worth mentioning. Jumpstart boosters, which were first released in 2020, introduced a new way to play Magic. Instead of building a deck from scratch, players combine two Jumpstart packs, each containing a semi-random, themed assortment of cards, to create a new deck ready for play.

Every Jumpstart booster includes 20 cards. All the cards in a single pack follow a theme, and most themes have multiple variations. Some jumpstart boosters even include cards from outside the main set. Jumpstart boosters may be a good option for players wanting ready-to-play decks, who aren't interested in collecting particular cards or constructing decks for different formats.

While all prices are subject to change without notice, The Lord of the Rings booster boxes are currently costing about $480 for a Collector box. About $180 for a Set booster box. And about $150 for a Draft booster box through different retail outlets. The set released June of 2023.

All of your favorite characters from the novels can be found in this set. Gandalf, Aragorn, and the Hobbits are all there, from Frodo and Sam to Rosie Cotton. The supporting cast is there with Gimli and Legolas, Elrond and Galadriel. The villains are there featuring Sauron and Saruman. The Ents are represented, as are the Orcs. The ring plays a very important part in the set. And while left out of the movies, Tom Bombadil even makes an appearance!

While the Lord of the Rings set was fantastic and some cards have quickly become staples in multiple formats, see The One Ring, the last set of 2023 caused a bit of a stir as well, especially the collector booster boxes.

The Lost Caverns of Ixilan collector boosters had several serialized card chances, and also brought back an old Commander staple, Mana Crypt. These special guest Mana Crypts were highly sought after and hitting one could cover the price of the box without taking anything else into consideration.

I learned to draft during the Odyssey block. I have loved, since those days, that Magic offers so many different card games that can be played with the same cards.

A trading card game that can be played constructed, or by opening packs with a random selection of cards, drafting, and throwing a deck together on the spot is brilliant. This is vastly superior to board games with a set way to play and little to no variation. You're instead spending your money on something that can be a new experience every single time you draw it, almost no 2 games go the same, even if several of the same cards come up.

What’s the best Magic: the Gathering booster box of 2024?

2024 brought with it a new kind of booster box, well, maybe a new old kind? Instead of Set Boosters and Draft Boosters we now have a combined version called Play Boosters. Play Boosters have 14 cards, a higher chance of better cards than old Draft Boosters and a chance at a card from The List, but are designed to be limited format playable for booster drafts and sealed deck tournaments.

For Play Booster reference, here's a graphic directly from Wizards of the Coast about the new packs:

With that change out of the way lets take a look at a few of the sets coming out in 2024 and what might be the best.

So far we Remastered Ravnica and there were some Murders at Karlov Manner, but neither of these have been overly impressive.

I'm writing this in March of 2024 and we just recently had the Universes Beyond: Fallout set drop. There was some anticipation for it and many Fallout fans were anxiously awaiting this one.

You may want to check the current Collector Booster price on TCGPlayer here if you're a fan of the video games. Fallout was only released as Collector Boosters or in preconstructed commander decks.

Later this year we have another Universes Beyond: Assassin's Creed. This one does not appear to be as highly anticipated as Fallout, but, Assassin's Creed does have a loyal fanbase. We'll find out how many of them are MTG fans.

Outlaws of Thunder Junction is currently being spoiled, with a release date of 4/19. There was quite an uproar yesterday when it was revealed the set will contain a new version of the planeswalker Jace! We have yet to see how the set will be received. Hopefully better than the lukewarm to cold reaction for Karlov Manner.

Modern Horizons III may make an impact, though it won't be standard legal.

As for best booster box of the year, my money's on Bloomburrow. This will be the first set without humans in a long time, and will focus mostly on anthropomorphic animals in this new plane.

If you've been playing magic for any length of time, you've most likely run into a squirrel deck or 2. Imagine a whole plane of critters of different types. If Wizards nails this one, we could be in for a wild ride!

There will be another set to end the year, based on a haunted mansion. Duskmourn: House of Horror has potential, but we'll have to wait and see.

What’s the best booster box of Magic under $300 to hold a booster draft?

When choosing a booster box for booster draft, it's important to consider the following factors:

• Power level: You want a set with a good mix of powerful and playable cards.
• Variety: You want a set with a variety of different card types and strategies.
• Rarity: You want a set with a mix of good commons, uncommons, rares, and mythic rares.
• Price: You want a set that's affordable. 

We’ll call affordable around $300 or less for our purposes, though most recent sets can still be found under the $200 threshold for a box of Draft or Play boosters.

If you're looking for the best possible booster draft experience right now for that price point, I recommend Lost Caverns of Ixilan or Dominaria Remastered.

The dinos and pirates of Lost Caverns make for a fun draft experience. Some of the mechanics involved such as Descend will test your deck-building skills in new and unique ways.

Dominaria Remastered is a popular set with a lot of iconic cards. It's also a well-designed set that's fun to draft. The set features cards from 27 previous Magic: the Gathering sets: Alpha, Antiquities, Legends, The Dark, Fallen Empires, Ice Age, Alliances, Coldsnap, Mirage, Visions, Urza's Saga, Urza's Legacy, Urza's Destiny, Prophecy, Invasion, Planeshift, Apocalypse, Odyssey, Torment, Judgement, Onslaught, Legions, Scourge, Time Spiral, Planar Chaos, Future Sight and Dominaria. There are also three cards that first appeared in Modern Horizons.

Dominaria Remastered is a fun draft limited format because it offers a wide variety of archetypes and strategies to choose from. It has an exceptional mix of power and versatility to build around. Drafting this set can be easy to find a great mana curve.

Whether you're looking to add to your collection, jump into a booster draft, grab a couple packs and play, or pull extremely rare cards, there's a booster box out there for you! I hope this guide helps you make the most of your booster box purchase this year.

What's the best booster box you've ever purchased? Let us know in the comments!

Looking at a booster box or other MTG items and accessories for a gift? Check out our Christmas holiday MTG gift guide!

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