Card Pricing

What we charge for a card takes four main things into account:

1. Card condition: What is the quality of the card’s condition? Is it shiny and new, or did someone play it on the asphalt without sleeves back in the day? Further details are in the Card Condition section of this page.
2. Base card prices: See the Base Card Pricing section below for details.
3. Unconverted Star City Games (SCG) price (MTG): Most of our Magic cards are price-matched to SCG’s in-stock near mint price without conversion to Canadian dollars.                                  Converted Trading Card Game Player (TCG Player) price (Lorcana): Most of our Lorcana cards are price-matched to TCG Player’s in-stock market price and then converted to Canadian dollars.
4. Current pricing trends: If a card is out of stock at SCG, or there is something external affecting the price, we aggregate data from several websites (typically TCG player market price, Face2Face Games, and recently-completed Ebay listings) and use that along with our judgement to determine a fair price.

Other things we consider when we price a card are: local demand for staple cards, whether a card is in a demand spike, if a buyout is warping the price, as well as the age and level difficulty to obtain certain cards (eg. Secret Lair prints or Reserved List cards). One final consideration to keep in mind is that for cards priced higher than $1.00 on SCG, we round up to the next nearest dollar (eg. an in-stock card priced at $1.50 on SCG would cost $2.00 at The Den).

Price Discrepancies

It is important to know that even though card prices can change daily, with a collection as large as ours, we are not able to reprice our case and binders every day. If you notice that the price on one of our cards is off, or not where you expect it to be, you can ask us to price-check or condition-check that card! However, please remember that although we start with the unconverted SCG price, there are other factors we need to take into account when determining the price of a card.  

Card Condition

We use five descriptive levels of grading for our cards:

1. Near mint (NM): Shiny and new, NM cards have been handled with extreme care and exhibit minimal surface wear, with few to no flaws. Please note that “fresh from the pack” does not always mean NM, sometimes cards can become worn or damaged in the pack, the same goes for cards that have been stored in sleeves or binders. 
2. Slightly played (SP): Well-cared for but a little dinged up, SP cards have no more than 4 major flaws and no large flaws, light edge or surface wear, and/or very minor dirt buildup. 
3. Moderately played (MP): Loved and somewhat worn, MP cards exhibit a moderate number of smaller flaws, few large flaws, moderate edge or surface wear, and/or minor to moderate dirt buildup.
4. Heavily played (HP): Well loved and flawed, HP cards are the archetypal “back in my day we played Magic on the playground without sleeves” condition. HP cards show heavy to very heavy edge or surface wear, many larger flaws, very light creasing, and/or significant dirt buildup.
5. Damaged (D): Often on the edge of playability, damaged cards may or may not be viable for in-game use. We recommend checking with a judge if you plan to use them in a tournament setting. Damaged cards exhibit many larger flaws, moderate to serious creasing, water damage, tears, deep scratches, sharpie coloured borders, heavily worn corners, and/or sticky dirt buildup. 

For each condition level below NM, we lower the ticket or base price of the card by 15%, to a maximum of 50% off for a damaged card. Please note that foil cards are subject to stricter grading criteria, and older cards may have more relaxed grading criteria.

Base Card Pricing

This is as low as we go, we set the minimum cost for cards of a given rarity at a base rate that allows us to keep our collection well-maintained and sorted. Although these minimums are non-negotiable, they can be affected by card condition and by any sales we may offer. Please note that these base prices do not include GST.

Magic: The Gathering

Non-Foil Base Prices:

• Common, $0.25
• Uncommon, $0.50
• Rare, $1.00
• Tokens, $1.00
• Mythic rare, $2.00

Foil Base Prices:

• Common, $0.50
• Uncommon, $1.00
• Rare, $2.00
• Tokens, $2.00
• Mythic rare, $3.00

Lorcana

Non-Foil Base Prices:

• Common, $0.25
• Uncommon, $0.50
• Rare, $1.00
• Super Rare, $2.00
• Legendary, $3.00.

Foil Base Prices:

• Common, $0.50
• Uncommon, $1.00
• Rare, $2.00
• Super rare, $3.00
• Legendary, $4.00

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