Four MTG Macro Trends Heading Into 2026

2025 was a wild ride for Magic. Aetherdrift raced out the gates then quickly crashed and burned. Universes Beyond gave us its first set of Standard-legal products, all three of which brought with them a historic legacy (some good, some bad). Standard was hit with multiple waves of bans. And, for the first time, Collector Booster Boxes passed $1000 a box. Truly, it was a year full of high highs and low lows. 

So, going into 2026, what are the headwinds looking like?

Collector Boosters: Down

Kicking things off with Magic’s new gold-standard for modern value consolidation, let’s talk about Collector Boosters.

Universes Beyond: Final Fantasy was Magic’s first $1000+ Collector Box, a price that it still maintains. Complete with serialized cards and reprints of competitive and casual all-stars, all styled in lore loved by fans the world over, this set was lightning-in-a-bottle. Unfortunately, with all the allure that Final Fantasy earned came a wave of speculation, which bled into the prices of subsequent Collector Booster Boxes.

Marvel's Spider-Man and Avatar: The Last Airbender both had presale prices which peaked near the $1000 mark as well, only to come tumbling down as players, collectors, and speculators alike realized that Final Fantasy really was something special. The result? A massive influx of capital which Final Fantasy brought with it via new investors quickly faded, resulting in the whole Collector Box market entering a correction. Final Fantasy fell from highs of $1500 back to $1000, while Spider-Man is now below $300 and Avatar is below $400. 

How severely the prices of Collector Boxes were inflated remains to be truly seen, but one thing is for sure: 2026 is a consolidate-and-recover era for the product line, not a continuation of the bull market from before.

Reserved List: Sideways

So, with new money out of the way, onto the old stuff: Magic’s Reserved List.

By and large, 2025 was another lost year for the Reserved List. Prices didn’t move one way or another, with only sparse excitement for some Commander playables punctuating an otherwise quiet year. As always, players and collectors alike picked up the likes of Revised dual lands, Gaea's Cradles, and the occasional piece of Power Nine. Anything outside of these gold tier cards, however, saw essentially no action.

Absent a catalyst of some sort, this trend is almost certainly going to persist through 2026. Collector Boosters, despite being in a slump, are still the main attraction as far as Magic investing goes, and this is sucking money away from the Reserved List.

Play Boosters: Slightly Up

Despite their glitzy counterparts correcting this year, Play Boosters have been doing remarkably well across the board.

Looking at recent sets, both Spider-Man and Avatar (two of the sets with the most severe price corrections) are still maintaining prices in the $100-$120 range. Not the release-day highs near $140, but certainly nowhere near as bad as the Collector crashes. 

More importantly, both Spider-Man and Avatar are actually showing signs of price increases in the near term. Sales volume is increasing, while the price per sale is (gradually) ticking up. 

Looking to non-Universes Beyond sets, like Aetherdrift and Edge of Eternities, the trend holds just as true. Aetherdrift's volume has essentially stabilized over the past three months, while the price is up 20%. Similarly, Edge of Eternities is up 10%.

Now, it is important to note that Magic’s next Standard set, Lorwyn Eclipsed, has all the signs of a slam dunk. Returning to a beloved world, plus previews that so far include exciting and powerful cards, means that Lorwyn will benefit from a huge amount of hype in its opening weeks. As such, take its likely upcoming success with a grain of salt, as far as setting expectations for the performance of Play Boosters more broadly.

Competitive Singles: Slightly Up

Despite a plethora of bans hitting just about every format, 2025 was a stellar year for competitive Magic. Both Modern and Standard saw increased attendance at events and increased support by Wizards of the Coast. Additionally, Commander’s competitive branch - cEDH - finally gained some mainstream attention, thanks to the Bracket system. All in all, more players are playing in more tournaments, and the 2026 events schedule has made it clear that this trend will continue.

What this means for the market, meanwhile, is that single cards seeing even fringe competitive play are also seeing an increased price point to reflect that. 

For a long time, Commander has dictated prices, and while it still has an enormous sway over the market, competitive Magic is making its own market waves. Badgermole Cub, Wan Shi Tong, Librarian, and Vivi Ornitier are multi-format all stars with price tags to prove it, despite seeing comparatively minimal play in Commander (outside of its competitive meta).

Wrap Up

2026 is looking to be an all-around healthy year for Magic. Competitive play is surging in popularity, Magic’s flagship sealed product, Play Boxes, continue to inch upwards in demand, Collector Boxes are recovering, and the Reserved List, well, at least it isn’t crashing.

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