In January 2021, Magic: The Gathering had one of those moments that went mainstream. The sale of a single Black Lotus card, an extreme rarity from the game's first-ever set of cards, reached. Previous examples of the Alpha Black Lotus had gone for as much as $250K, but this more than doubled the record and the general reaction was of astonishment.
"An Alpha Black Lotus, graded by CGC Cards, just fetched a jaw-dropping $3 MILLION, making it the highest-priced Magic: The Gathering card ever sold! Its sky-high price demonstrates the high value collectors place on CGC Cards' Pristine 10 grade." On the other hand there are multiple copies of the Black Lotus out there, albeit in varying conditions, and in theory that should keep valuations within a range of each other and count against gigantic spikes like this."trying to legitimize their second rate grading service with a publicity stunt," reasoning that no one would pay this value when there are"records of similar quality BGS cards capping out at ~500,000.
"Most things super high end and illiquid don't go on public auctions because they won't do well," says Benjamin."The seller needs to find that one buyer that values it correctly. There may not be a second buyer that has the means and the desire for that item. Auctions would require at least two people to bid it up. The market for a high-end piece like this is just very thin.
Nevertheless some have an issue with the grading, and that seems to bubble under all the other community talk about this trade. Benjamin acknowledges"CGC has a reputation problem, but I do like them a lot. I think they are more consistent and fair than the other grading companies." As for CGC using the sale as a publicity tool, they're totally cool with it."I’m sure CGC is ecstatic about this transaction and announcing it helps them,".
Benjamin adds that this deal is part of a wider goal to build a CGC-graded set of the"Power Nine", rare and OP cards from the first three MTG sets that include the Black Lotus. They've already completed their Beckett Grading Services-graded Power Nine set, you see.