How to buy MTG single cards
Share
HOW TO BUY MTG SINGLES — THE SMART WAY TO BUILD YOUR DECK
THE MOST EFFICIENT WAY TO BUILD A MAGIC DECK
There’s a version of getting into Magic that goes like this: buy a few booster packs, open some cards, try to build a deck with what you’ve got, wonder why it doesn’t work, buy more packs.
It’s a fun loop if you enjoy the opening experience. It’s a genuinely expensive and frustrating way to build a specific deck. There has been a lot of discussion about the odds of pulling a particular card and sometimes it can be like finding a needle in a haystack. Some shops will open several booster boxes when a new set comes out to make sure they can meet the demand for the newest cards.
The alternative — buying the exact singles you want — is almost always cheaper, faster, and more satisfying if you have a clear idea of what you’re building. That’s the whole premise of Vault of Cards. We stock over 34,000 different cards so you can find what you need without placing orders across half a dozen different sellers.
WHAT ARE MTG SINGLES?
A single is one individual Magic card, bought on its own rather than as part of a sealed booster pack. Instead of opening ten packs and hoping to pull the one card you need, you find that card, buy it directly, and move on.
For players who know what they want to build, singles are almost always the right approach. The price you pay reflects actual market value — no luck involved, no money spent on 29 cards you don’t need to get the one you do.
Browse over 34,000 singles here: browse our full MTG singles collection
ARE MAGIC: THE GATHERING CARDS WORTH ANYTHING?
The short version: most cards aren’t worth much, and a small percentage are worth a significant amount. I wrote a full post on this which goes into real detail — read it here: our pricing guide
The headline is that roughly 95% of Magic cards are worth less than £1. The game has produced an enormous number of cards over three decades, most of which are commons and uncommons printed in quantities where supply far outstrips demand. They’re useful for playing, but not valuable.
The remaining 5% is where it gets interesting. Cards that see heavy competitive play, cards on the Reserved List, cards with limited print runs or special treatments — these range from a few pounds to hundreds. The very rarest Reserved List cards from the earliest sets can sell for thousands.
WHICH MTG CARDS ARE ACTUALLY WORTH MONEY?
Cards tend to hold or grow in value when they share some combination of these traits. They’re played across multiple competitive formats, which means broader demand. They’re on the Reserved List, meaning Wizards of the Coast has committed to never reprinting them. They have limited print runs — Secret Lair exclusives, serialised collector cards, and early edition printings. Or they feature popular alternate art treatments or are from crossover sets with appeal beyond the existing MTG community.
One pattern worth knowing: new sets can dramatically affect the value of older cards through synergies. When a new set introduces a powerful new Commander or a strong tribal theme, cards that support that strategy from older sets can spike in price quickly. A card that’s been sitting in bulk at 20p for years can jump to £3 or more because it fits perfectly into a new Commander build. This is one of the things that makes the singles market genuinely interesting to follow.
WHERE TO SELL MAGIC: THE GATHERING CARDS
How you sell depends on how much time you’re willing to invest versus how quickly you need the money.
Selling to a local game store is the quickest option. Stores typically buy at 40 to 60 percent of market value so they can resell at a profit. Less money than selling privately, but instant, no postage required, and no hassle.
Selling on Card Market. This is the largest online marketplace for MTG singles in the UK and Europe. You’ll get much closer to market value, but you’ll need to list each card individually, handle packaging and postage, and manage buyer queries. Worth it for valuable cards, time-consuming for bulk.
Selling on eBay works well for bulk lots or particularly valuable individual cards where auction-style bidding might push the price up.
You may also find yourself being asked if you have a trade folder when you go and play magic in person.
A trade folder is a binder containing cards that you have got that you know are worth a bit or are sought after. But these are cards that you have no use for. So you show your folder and look at other peoples folder and do a deal. The idea is that that money doesn’t often change hands or if it does it’s just a few pounds to balance a deal.
Here at Vault of Cards we are happy to deal with queries from people who are selling their cards. We position ourselves at the lower end of the market so if you’ve got lots of cards and you know they are worth a lot of money then we probably won’t be in a position to buy them but who knows.
WHAT ABOUT MTG PROXIES?
A proxy is an unofficial copy of a Magic card — typically a printed substitute — used in place of the real card, usually because the genuine card is too expensive. Proxies are not legal in official Wizards of the Coast sanctioned events, but they’re widely accepted in casual and kitchen-table play, and many playgroups explicitly allow them.
The debate around proxies is long-running in the MTG community. Many players argue they make the game more accessible and allow people to test decks before committing to expensive cards. Others prefer the table to use only genuine cards. Wizards of the Coast’s official position is that proxies are not permitted at organised play events.
As a seller I’m not a huge fan of proxies as in theory it’s affecting my sales but often the kind of cards people are making proxies of are the kind of cards I have only ever had in stock once or twice.
I also have an inherent sense of fairness so if I’m playing with a deck that I have carefully bought for then it leaves a nasty taste in the mouth when someone comes along with a load of proxies.
Yes I could join in but to me that starts a race to the bottom where everyone plays proxies.
There is also a fine line between proxy and a counterfeit. I have this discussion a lot with another of my interests which is vinyl records. Yes a “bootleg” might be the best ever live recording of that band but then before you know it there are multicoloured versions of albums that you can still buy and the sound is dreadful. It’s a grey area.
To me if you have one of a card and you need another three to make your deck work that’s fine.
But don’t turn up with a deck that would be worth thousands of pounds if you had the real cards.
I play magic for fun.
BUYING SINGLES FOR COMMANDER — WHERE TO START
Commander is by far the most popular format among our customers at Vault of Cards, which means most people buying singles from us are building or upgrading Commander decks.
The most efficient approach to building a Commander deck in singles is to start with a pre-built pre-con deck from Wizards of the Coast as your base, then identify the weakest cards and replace them with better singles one at a time. This is cheaper than building entirely from scratch and gives you a playable deck immediately while you improve it over time. Play it, get to know the cards, think about cards you don’t like or that maybe let you down and put some research in. There are lots of content providers that will talk to you about taking your deck, removing ten cards and adding 10 in and making the deck more competitive. I can sometime spot of someone has mentioned a particular card from an old set as I will get lots of orders for these cards. It’s because they have a synergy with a new card and I like the way they come out of obscurity and get a new life!
For Commander staples — the cards that go in almost any Commander deck regardless of theme or strategy — browse here: Commander staples
For the full singles collection across all formats: browse our full MTG singles collection
FINDING MTG SINGLES IN THE UK
We ship mainly within the UK and aim to make finding specific cards as straightforward as possible. With over 140,000 cards in stock, searchable by set, format, colour, rarity, and card name, the aim is that you can source most of what you need in one place rather than piecing together orders from multiple sellers.
Browse the full collection here: browse our full MTG singles collection