Which Version of Lightning Bolt Should You Buy?

Welcome back to another edition of Variant Vault, where I organize Magic: the Gathering card variants by price from most to least expensive to determine which variant is best for you. Today I’ll be covering the iconic instant, Lightning Bolt, after being inspired by those whose Magic: the Gathering collecting niche is amassing all the existing variants of the card.

$18.99

The Lists

Lightning Bolt has 52 total variants across all of its tournament-legal printings available in English-language products (sorry, not sorry Magic 30). All prices used were gathered from the MTGStocks price database as of 1/9/2024. The full list of all these variants by price can be found below, from most to least expensive. 

Lightning Bolt Variant Prices:

 

Most Collectible Variants

The most collectible variant of Lightning Bolt based solely on price is the Summer Magic printing at $968.37*. Why did I put an asterisk next to that price? Without getting into the weeds of it, Summer Magic is the fan-given name to a print wave of what was originally meant to be Fourth Edition that was plagued with printing errors. When these blunders were discovered, the Summer Magic print run was destroyed by Wizards of the Coast, but not before a few dozen boxes made it into the hands of game stores. As a result, this printing of Lightning Bolt is the scarcest in existence and as such incredibly collectible and hard to come across on the open market. MTGStocks doesn’t even have any recorded sales for this variant outside of a European average on the site that I converted from Euros to US dollars to attempt an estimate, hence why I put an asterisk next to the price. 

If you’re in search of the most collectible variant of Lightning Bolt based solely on price that you can reasonably get your hands on, it’s the Judge Promos at $812.50 for a near-mint copy. As to why the Judge Foil costs as much as it does, I guess that it’s the only way to get an old-border foil version of the card with the late Christopher Rush’s historic piece. It’s the only way to get an old-border foil variant of Lightning Bolt in general, and with the resurgence of old border variants that started in 2020’s Time Spiral: Remastered, there is a greater player awareness of these nostalgic versions of cards with the old border and its signature shooting star foil.   

Most Affordable Variants

The cheapest variant of Lightning Bolt is the Commander Legends: Battle for Baldur's Gate Showcase non-foil at $0.27, or $1.08 for a playset before any applicable taxes or shipping fees. If you’re looking to get some Bolts on a budget, you’re already getting a unique version of the card to spice up your stack.

$2.10$2.29

$3.96$3.49

Outside of that, due to Lighning Bolt’s plethora of printings over Magic’s 30 years, there’s a plentiful amount of options when it comes to affordable bling. You can snag a playset of the Double Masters 2022 Borderless (foil or non-foil), the MagicFest Cards textless promo (non-foil), or the aforementioned Battle for Baldur’s Gate Showcase for around or under $10. If you just need one copy for Commander and you still have that same $10 budget then you can snag any one of the four unique treatments from the Mountain, Go! Secret Lair, the Hadoken reskin from the Street Fighter Secret Lair, some of the Strixhaven: Mystical Archives foil, etched, non-foil versions, or the 2010 Core Set foil. If none of those are your thing and you just want a standard Lightning Bolt, you can choose from nine printings that cost $1 or less for a copy and $4 or less for a playset. This is the case for a lot of Eternal staples like Counterspell, Swords to Plowshares, Dark Ritual, and more. 

If you know where to look, you can find a crop of exciting variants without breaking the bank.

Bolting the Bird

Thank you so much for reading! If you haven’t already, make sure to give MTGStocks Premium a look for more cool Magic finance stuff. I hope you have a wonderful rest of your day and I’ll see you next time. 

Further Reading:

Hidden Gems for The Ur-Dragon

No AI Art Here - Artist-Themed Decks in Premodern

The Value of Tokens in Magic