The Many Types of Serialized Magic Cards
As Magic continues to forge ahead with ever more popular premium products – be it Collector’s Edition Commander Decks, Collector Booster Boxes, or even just the increasing base price of Universes Beyond expansions – so too has the execution of serialized cards become ever more refined, successful, and valuable.
So, what kinds of serialized cards exist, and how is the market treating them?
Serialized – Bronze Tier
Starting off with the least successful of Magic’s serialized cards, we must travel back to Magic’s first forays into the world of serialization:
The serialized cards in The Brothers’ War set an early template for Magic. In just about every way, serialized cards were identical to other premium counterparts also available in the set (in this case, the parallel printing was the Retro Schematic treatment), with the only difference being that serialized cards carried with them a numeric stamp indicating which card – out of 500 – they were, as well as a special Double-Rainbow foil effect.
These serialized cards carry with them a high price premium, but their full potential was diluted by the sheer volume that was printed. Every Retro Schematic artifact in The Brothers’ War had a serialized contingent, even bulk uncommons.
Similarly, Magic’s next Standard expansion to carry serialized cards –
This isn’t the end of the story for March of the Machine, however, as the set also brought with it five specialty serialized cards: the new Praetors, each of which carried a serialized-exclusive art in addition to the Double-Rainbow effect and titular numeric stamp. For now, though, we need to put a pin in these cards, as they’re further up the rankings than the rest of March of the Machine’s serialized roster.
All in all, the unifying theme of the Bronze Tier is a lack of attention placed on the cards themselves, beyond the numeric stamp. Some of these cards may have price tags that are leagues above the rest, like
For those that do spike in price, that’s a function of the underlying utility of the card - not the collectibility of their category.
Serialized – Silver Tier
Moving up to the Silver Tier of serialized cards, we come to those which gain attention due to their lower print runs and/or individualized treatments, without being the sole serialized card in a set. Examples of these cards include the Bobblehead series from Magic’s
Starting with the Bobbleheads, these Commander favorites may not be the most powerful of cards or the rarest – they were printed out of 500, after all – but they do highlight the power of cutting down on the absolute number of serialized cards per set.
Adding up all of the Bobbleheads out there, we find that there are 3,500 in all. Seven unique cards, each of which has a print run of 500. Compare this against The Brothers’ War, which had 63 serialized cards, and we find that the Fallout Collector Boxes carried nearly 90% fewer serialized cards overall (The Brothers’ War had a total of 31,500). Fewer serialized cards, fewer options for money to compete between.
Checking in next with Murder at Karlov Manor, and we again see a similar phenomenon. Here, seven different legendary creatures each had a serialized treatment, albeit with print runs now cut again so as to reduce the final total to 1,750 total serialized cards (each legendary creature having a run of 250).
Turning back to March of the Machine’s specialty Praetors and a different kind of uniqueness emerges: exclusivity. Whereas other Silver Tier serialized cards carried demand premiums due to their ever-decreasing print runs, the Praetors began Magic’s experimentation with restricting art to a select roster of cards. As such, these Praetors were able to pull ahead of the rest of the Multiverse Legends, commanding increased premiums and cementing themselves as the next evolution of manufactured scarcity.
Serialized – Gold Tier
Finally, we come to the Gold Tier of serialized cards, which are Magic’s current standard: the Headliner series. These serialized cards are often, if not always, the only serialized card in a set, clearing away all internal competition. Similarly, these cards carry with them exclusive printing treatments not seen on their non-serialized counterparts, doing away almost entirely with the foundation set by The Brothers’ War. Examples of these include
Even on the high end of their print runs, these Headliner cards have further cut the number of serialized cards in Collector Booster Boxes by at more than fifty percent while simultaneously creating a class of hyper-exclusive borders and arts, propelling prices astronomically further than what was previously achievable in all but the rarest of circumstances under the previous regime.
Wrap Up
As serialized cards have become more exclusive and unique under the Headliner structure, so too have they become a better proxy for the Reserved List: a roster of cards which can never be reprinted and as such have become the target for increasingly large sums of money.
However, just like the Reserved List, not all serialized cards are created equal. The first releases lacked uniqueness and were comparatively much more readily available. Later, as Magic tweaked the formula, individual stars started to emerge. Finally, contemporary serialization hit its stride, and now – set after set – the serialized Headliner remains the card to catch.
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Harvey McGuinness
Harvey McGuinness is a student at Johns Hopkins University who has been playing Magic since the release of Return to Ravnica. After spending a few years in the Legacy arena bouncing between Miracles and other blue-white control shells, he now spends his time enjoying Magic through CEDH games and understanding the finance perspective. He also writes for the Commander's Herald.