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Deep dives into Magic: The Gathering — card prices, rarity, finishes, the Reserved List, set guides, grading, fakes and everything else we learn from building Scrytics.
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Standard rotation has changed more in the last three years than the previous decade. Here's how it works in 2026, which sets rotate when, and why Wizards switched to 3-year rotation.
June 5, 2026 · Scrytics
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Jun 3, 2026
Penny sleeves, double-sleeving, top loaders, binders, long-term storage — the complete guide to keeping your Magic collection Near Mint for decades.
Jun 1, 2026
Every Secret Lair drop is a gamble — limited window, direct-from-Wizards, no reprints. Here's how to decide which Secret Lair drops are worth buying and which to skip.
May 31, 2026
What the Reserved List is, why it exists, which cards are on it, why it'll never be reprinted, and what that means for Magic's long-term prices.
May 29, 2026
Common, Uncommon, Rare, Mythic Rare, Special — how Magic's rarity system works, what each symbol means, and how rarity actually affects price and playability.
May 27, 2026
Proxies are everywhere in casual Magic play. Here's what's legal where, the different proxy quality tiers, and how the community handles proxies in 2026.
May 25, 2026
A practical guide to tracking MTG card prices — which sources to trust, how to read price history, when to buy, and how Scrytics consolidates it all.
May 23, 2026
Standard, Modern, Pioneer, Legacy, Vintage, Commander, Brawl, Pauper, Alchemy, Historic, Explorer — here's what each Magic format is, what's legal, and who plays it.
May 21, 2026
Every Magic card can come in multiple finishes — regular, foil, etched, gilded, textured, confetti. Here's what each one is, how they're made, and what they're worth.
May 19, 2026
Commander is the most expensive Magic format by default. Here's how to build a competitive 100-card deck for under $100, where to spend, and where to save.
May 17, 2026
Every format you'll encounter when moving your Magic: The Gathering collection between apps — Deckbox, Moxfield, MTGGoldfish, Archidekt, plain CSV — and how Scrytics handles each.
May 15, 2026
Booster Fun has created 15+ distinct card treatments. Here's what each one means — showcase, borderless, extended art, retro, phyrexian, serialized — and how to spot them at a glance.
May 13, 2026
Near Mint, Lightly Played, Moderately Played, Heavily Played, Damaged — how the Magic grading scale works, how it maps to price, and how to grade your own cards accurately.
May 11, 2026
The illustrators whose Magic: The Gathering artwork defines collector demand in 2026 — from Rebecca Guay and Kev Walker to Seb McKinnon and Johannes Voss.
May 9, 2026
The top 20 most expensive Magic cards you can actually buy in 2026 — Black Lotus, the Power Nine, dual lands, Invocations, and the Reserved List cards that keep climbing.
May 7, 2026
The 30 most-played cards in Modern Magic as of April 2026 — fetches, one-mana interaction, planeswalkers, and the Modern Horizons 3 additions that reshaped the format.
May 5, 2026
A guide to Modern Horizons 3's most impactful new cards, format-defining reprints, and Collector Booster chase variants — what to buy, what to hold, what to skip.
May 3, 2026
PSA, BGS, and CGC grade Magic cards on a 1–10 scale. Here's when grading makes financial sense, when it doesn't, and what to expect from the process in 2026.
May 1, 2026
Most Magic cards are worth pennies. A few are worth thousands. Here's how to tell the difference — rarity, format, printing, and the signals that drive a card's price.
Apr 29, 2026
A ranking of the 25 best Commander cards you can buy for under $10 each — mana rocks, ramp, removal, card draw, and utility that belongs in any deck.
Apr 27, 2026
Color identity is the single strictest deckbuilding rule in Commander. Here's what counts, what doesn't, and the edge cases that trip up new players.
Apr 25, 2026
Wizards launched the five-bracket power level system for Commander in late 2024. Here's what each bracket means, how to self-assess your deck, and the Game Changers list.
Apr 23, 2026
Onslaught, Zendikar, Zendikar Rising, Modern Horizons 3 — the complete ranking of every fetch land in Magic, what to pay, and which to buy first.
Apr 21, 2026
Counterfeit Magic cards are everywhere. Here's how dealers tell fakes from real — the light test, the bend test, the rosette pattern, and the set-specific tells.
Apr 19, 2026
A comparison of the best Magic card scanner apps for iOS and Android in 2026 — accuracy, foil handling, offline use, and price tracking. Scrytics, Deckbox, Delver Lens, and more.
Apr 18, 2026
Scrytics is the card scanner, collection tracker and price ledger for Magic: The Gathering. Here's what it does, how it works, and what's coming at launch.