Magic: The Gathering Black Lotus card sells for a record $540,000

polygon.com:

A Black Lotus card from Magic: The Gathering— considered to be the most sought-after card from Magic, and perhaps from any trading card game — has sold at auction for a record $540,000, the highest ever bid for a Magic card. It’s an impressive figure, albeit one that suggests the market for collectible trading card game cards has stabilized after years of explosive growth.

An almost identical example of a Black Lotus sold two years ago for $510,000. Like the card in the present auction, it was given a perfect Gem Mint 10 rating for its condition by the Professional Sports Authenticators, and its case was signed by the card’s illustrator Christopher Rush. Only six PSA 10 Black Lotus cards exist.

There’s been a small increase in value, then — but nothing like the threefold increase in the value of the Black Lotus that happened between 2019 and 2021, as the popularity of trading card games boomed during the pandemic. Some market observers might conclude Bank of America was right to complain that Hasbro, owner of Magic publisher Wizards of the Coast, was printing too many cards and devaluing them. Packs celebrating the game’s 30th anniversary controversially included reprints of rare cards, including the Black Lotus.

The Black Lotus, which dates back to Magic’s first Alpha printing in 1993, is famed for its rarity (it had a print run of around 1,100) and its power. It costs no mana to play but adds three mana of any color to your pool, so it’s a great shortcut to casting powerful spells early in the game. It’s one of the “Power Nine,” a set of cards that has been banned from most formats of competitive play for their overwhelming power.

“This record sale reinforces the Alpha Black Lotus as an investment-quality asset,