Magic the Gathering: Foils, Promos, Pre-Release Foils and Release Foils

I have been waiting for a day where it’s NOT hot. Most of the time in England, this is EVERY day but not recently. I have a stack of rare foil cards that I need to sort and list on eBay.

There’s a decent amount of cash in my stash of foil rare cards, but first I need to categorise them. I’m not doing it in my roasting conservatory, but today it’s just about passable.

I haven’t done a Magic the Gathering post for a while, as most readers don’t know what the hell I’m talking about. I’ll try and write this one more in English and not some other language.

Foil cards are essential ‘shiny’ cards. They are much rarer than regular cards. They also have a much reduced market for sellers, and they don’t photograph particularly well.

Foil buyers are either collectors, or players who want a deck that is 100% foil; this is what you called a ‘pimped’ deck. They are more expensive than a regular version of the same card.

I tend to keep away from buying foils for this reason, but have somehow have still ended up with a stack of them.

A booster box of Magic the Gathering will contain 36 packs of cards. In every pack there will be either a rare or mythic rare card.

Approximately 32 cards of the 36 will be rare and 4 will be mythic rare. In addition, every box will contain a random foil rare or mythic rare.

This makes them significantly rarer than an equivalent regular rare or mythic rare. You can do the math if you would like to get the percentage chance of a foil mythic rare but I don’t care too. Suffice to say, they don’t appear too often.

A Set Foil Mythic Rare card. Is it valuable? Unfortunately not in this case!

I first need to sort them into Set Foils, Promos, Pre-Release promos and Release Promos. Confused? Me too..

Here’s this again in English.

Set Foils

If we take a regular Magic the Gathering expansion, for example, Eldritch Moon and filter rare cards, only I can see there are 47 different rare cards in the entire set. For each rare card, there is a corresponding foil rare card. This goes for each common, uncommon and mythic rare card too.

The card above is a Set Foil from the Magic Origins expansion. This can be seen in the bottom left corner highlighted in YELLOW.

ORI = Magic Origins, EN = English Language. 099/272 means it's the 99th card in a set of 272 cards. R = Rare.

Sidisi, Undead Vizier is an example of a Set Foil that has some value.

I have highlighted the estimated value of this card in YELLOW again. The regular one is $6.53, the foil $15.75. I may have a hard time demanding that price though. At least the trajectory is up.

Cards from older sets are harder to distinguish. Wanderwine Hub is an example of this being from a set released in 2007. There are no giveaways in the bottom left corner with cards from Lorwyn, you just have to know your stuff.

Promos

These cards are handed out at LGS’s (Local Games Stores) as prizes for entering tournaments, winning and sometimes just for attending. They are not particularly rare, but look like rare foils. Some of the older ones do have some value and are very desirable.

The card above is a Promo Uncommon card. The can be seen in the bottom left corner highlighted in YELLOW.

FNM = Friday Night Magic, EN = English Language. 010/012 means it's the 10th card in a set of 12 cards. R = Rare.

*Friday Night Magic is a special event held on Friday Nights! It can be any kind of tournament but is usually a constructed deck type. Anyone can attend and it doesn't cost anything. These cards are handed out as prizes.

As you can see, it doesn't contain much in the way of dollar value. They are great to collect though, if that is your thing.

The next one is an example of an older promo card. The giveaway here is 'DCI' in the central right area. I have highlighted it in YELLOW again. A regular 'Boggart Ram-Gang' would have a different symbol set as can be seen below.

Interestingly, the value of the promo and the set foil are roughly the same for this card.

Pre-Release Promos

Pre-Release Promos cards are present in special packs that are used in Pre-Release events at LGS’s. They are not as desirable as a regular foil card as they contain a ‘date stamp’ and sometimes have alternate art. Pre-Release events are held generally a week before the official date of an expansion.

This is a Pre-Release pack; they contain just ONE Pre-Release Promo and several booster packs. You can only get these at Pre-Release tournaments. The cost is around £20. Sealed ones from older sets are starting to rise in value.

The above card is a Pre-Release promo. The date stamp marked in YELLOW gives it away. This card may never gain any real value due to this. It is technically rarer than a Set Foil but many collectors shun them for this reason.

Pre-Release Promos are nothing new. This one is from 2002, and is a Legacy card, but nevertheless is still to gain much in terms of value.

It may not hold much value but how many of these are left in the world? It was probably handed out in a tournament 16 years ago and that was the only way you could get one then.

Release Promos

Much like Pre-Release Promos but given out on the release date by LGS owners as 'Freebies' if you enter their competitions or win them. They also contain a date stamp on the card and are considered less valuable than Pre-Release Promos.

Whereas Pre-Release Promos are only found in the special boxes these are not so exclusive, usually contain different artwork and have a 'Date Stamp' like Pre-Release Promos.

The card above is a Release Promo from the Battle for Zendikar expansion. The 'Launch' highlighted in YELLOW shows this.

I think I must have been a little drunk when I bought all these Release Promo Endbringers. They were cheap enough to buy but the seller must have thought it was his lucky day.

Value of Foils

Foils can be quadruple the price of a regular card, but have a lot less demand. You need to be patient and wait if you want to sell them.

Modern vs Legacy

Foils only started to be printed with the advent of the Urza’s Legacy expansion. Modern cards started to be printed with the advent of the Mirrodin expansion in 2003, making the last ever Legacy expansion, ‘Scourge’ in May 2003.

A Set Foil from the Apocalypse expansion. This is a Legacy card. Legacy cards can be distinguished by the name of the card, 'Unnatural Selection' being in White (Legacy) as opposed to Black (Modern)

The newest Legacy foil cards are 15 years old now. Considering they are harder to keep fresh looking and more susceptible to damage, Legacy foils are becoming scarcer and more appealing to collectors.

The Reserved List

This list of ‘never to be printed ever again cards’ is what makes Magic the Gathering cards collectable. If they ever changed their policy, and overturned this rule I feel the game would sink. Much has been said about The Reserved List, but I will relate here the information regarding foils.

Only TWO sets contain foils that are part of the Reserved List, these being Urza’s Legacy and Urza’s Destiny. Foil rare cards from these sets have literally gone through the roof in the last year. This is due to the desirability, collectors and hoarders.

Ring of Gix is one of the cheapest reserved list cards. It can still be purchased for less than $1, but if you want a foil copy, then you had better have a fatter wallet. It will only increase in value too.

A foil Grim Monolith will set you back just short of $1000. This card is on the Reserved List, its foil and there's probably not many left on Planet Earth. I have THREE regular copies of this card I picked up for £25 each before they went to the moon. I have no intention of selling for a long time.

Do I have any of the other FOIL Reserved List cards? No, but I had my chances to get some before they went completely mad. I wish I had grabbed a few while I could.

Storing Foils

I don’t collect cards, I rarely play and my personal foil collection is zero. I would sell all these in a heartbeat if the price was right. Still storing foils must be done will care.

I add a couple of packs of Silica Gel to each foil box I have to soak up the humidity. Foils are susceptible to warping. The gel packs help avoid this happening.

The above foil card is quite old and suffering from minor warping. It is very difficult to prevent the older cards from any form of warping.

Desirability

There’s no question foils are lovely cards. The shine is what attracts and foil lovers are generally named ‘magpies’.

All in all the foils to have are ‘Set Foils’; the most desirable but maybe not the rarest of all. Players will pay more for these as they are the ‘Elite’ of foils

I set about to list some cards and ended up writing this monster article. I hope it makes more sense to non Magic the Gathering readers than my last effort.

All photographs were taken by myself. Several price images have been sourced from https://www.mtgstocks.com/news. Prices fluctuate on a daily basis.