Last updated on April 8, 2026
Obscura Storefront | Illustration by Muhammad Firdaus
Greetings planeswalkers! When you buy your Magic singles, booster boxes, Commander decks, and other products online, where do you like to shop? Is it always the same store, or do you like to shop around a bit?
There are quite a few options available to you for buying MTG cards, but what are the best ones? Lucky for you, I recommend a selection of stores here today! This list focuses mostly on online stores rather than local game stores to be useful to the widest audience possible. My rankings are based on my own experiences, my friend’s experiences, and online word of mouth that I researched.
Let’s dig in!
#13. ABUGames
“ABUGames” stands for “Alpha, Beta, Unlimited” Games. It's based in Boise, Idaho and has both local and online stores.
This store is aimed more toward collectors than anyone else, hence the name. It has a wide selection of sealed products and also sells some very high-end cards like Ancestral Recall. I might check this one out if I were in Idaho, but I otherwise prefer its many superior online competitors.
#12. Nerd Rage Gaming
Nerd Rage Gaming (NRG) is a store based in Buffalo Grove, Illinois that's notable for its amusing name and popular cash tournaments. It has a limited selection in its online store, and is a welcome force in the competitive Magic scene and hosts tournaments with its NRG Championship Series.
As for its actual storefront, NRG is a fully competent Magic store that I’d be happy to pick up singles from. But it's not an online giant, so you’ll want to be in Illinois first.
#11. GameNerdz
The clean and neat shopping experience on Game Nerdz is refreshing and I really like the potential for free shipping, unfortunately it's limited to 48 contiguous United States. For getting supplies, saving on deals or sealed MTG, this is a contender for me.
#10. Stomping Grounds
I like that Stomping Grounds is up front about it's number of products and the discounts are some real money savers. The threshold for free shipping is high, but they have a decent selection of singles and sealed Magic products.
#9. Ninety Five
Ninety Five is an online store that started as a Grand Prix vendor. They eventually carried the profits they made selling and buying singles at tournaments into their very own online storefront. They have a buy list, a decent selection of singles, and are also notable for their blog which features great players like Mike Sigrist.
I don’t have a ton of experience with them online, but I did have good experiences buying from their booth at GPs. Give their game center a try sometime if you’re in the mood for Arena-style card shopping!
#8. CoolStuffInc
CoolStuffInc.com has frequent online sales, and is a busy store with singles and sealed Magic products. They have lots of other gaming items and accessories. It's a popular store here in Florida, the place where this humble Magic writer resides. CoolStuffInc.com has six Florida locations (Hollywood, Jacksonville, Maitland, Miami, South Orlando, and Tampa) and one in Augusta, Ga. and a massive online store.
Their physical locations also tend to be clean, family-friendly places to play Magic. They have even hosted some PTQs!
#7. Cardmarket
Although I don’t live in Europe, I'd be remiss to not mention Cardmarket. It has a huge responsive marketplace for trading, buying, and selling singles of all kinds. All the Reddit posts that I read online consistently recommended this store above all others.
You can hardly do better than Cardmarket if you enjoy price hunting and live in Europe.
#6. Star City Games
Star City Games is an online store based in Roanoke, Virginia. It’s one of the most famous online MTG stores and was once a vanguard of Magic’s competitive scene. It’s a great place to buy singles, particularly if you're patient enough to wait for a flash sale that matches your specific needs.
Were I to have written this years ago, Star City Games might have taken the first place spot on this list. But competitive Magic has fallen off a bit in terms of importance to the game’s profitability, hurting its primary niche.
#5. eBay
eBay is one of the original titans of ecommerce, and it’s a decent place to buy Magic cards. eBay should most appeal to those who enjoy bargain hunting because deals can vary wildly in quality on the site. You’re best off buying singles from here when you find good deals, and buying general sealed products elsewhere.
Be sure to cross reference prices here with a price aggregator from TCGplayer and MTGGoldfish!
#4. Amazon
Do I even need to post a site image here? Everyone knows Amazon at this point!
Amazon often has good prices on sealed products, especially if you’re patient enough to look for sales on boxes or precon decks. Wizards links directly to Amazon for its sealed product, and offers pre-orders as well.
It’s a poor market for singles and sleeves because few people sell a bunch of singles there, and sleeve prices have rarely impressed. There's rarely a Magic product you can not find on Amazon, so it’s easy to pick up an MTG “treat” or two while you shop for your usual groceries or other goods….
#3. Card Kingdom
Card Kingdom is a very solid Magic store for your card gaming needs. They have a large selection of singles, sealed products, and sleeves, as you'd expect.
One unique facet of their site is their large section for Magic beginners with lots of video tutorials and articles aimed at players with little experience. They’re also notable for not selling any of MTG’s competitors like Yu-Gi-Oh!, Flesh and Blood, etc.
#2. TCGplayer
TCGplayer is my pick for the best shop for the average Magic player. It has a nice clean interface, a huge selection of goods, and an easy-to-use user-based marketplace that lets you buy cards and compare prices from thousands of different stores. It also has one of the best price aggregators for MTG in general, which lets you shop with supreme confidence.
As one last bit of trivia, it’s worth noting that eBay actually bought TCGplayer too. The site is owned by eBay now, but both still operate independently.
#1. AncestralMTG
Founded by Joel Mick, one of the original Magic playtesters and former Vice President of Magic, AncestralMTG is the ultimate MTG store. It's got an easy-to-browse interface that shows you some of the absolute rarest and unique Magic cards, products, and collectible items out there. They have things that no other store has like test prints, original playtest cards, tons of uncut sheets, and even graded black lotuses.
AncestralMTG is my go-to anytime I'm looking for something rare. I know their products are legit, their customer service is great, and they've got one-of-a-kind cards you just can't find anywhere else.
Wrap Up
Night Market Guard | Illustration by Steve Argyle
And with that we come to the end. I use TCGplayer and Amazon for most of my card-playing needs, but feel free to shop around a bit and try other stores. You get the best deals when you look in a variety of places, but you can also just use a couple of them if you’re strapped for time.
How do you feel about my rankings and justifications? What are your experiences with these stores? Let me know in the comments or come chat about it in the official Draftsim Discord.
Until next time, may you always find the best deals on every card you buy!
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3 Comments
Card kingdom earns is place above star city on this list, especially for selling cards to them. I have often found for sell orders, star city tends to just downgrade the highest value items in a sell order. Card kingdom generally has better buylist prices and even when star city is advertising a higher price, because star city appear to automatically downgrade high value cards, card kingdom still has the better price for the cards, especially because their downgraded value is higher (if/ when a card happens to be downgraded). I understand many different people handle cards at these online stores and the grading process is highly subjective, but I have on more than one occasion sent an unplayed card back to star city games when the price spiked, only to find the grading they sold the card at was different than the grading they accepted the same physical card I purchased from them . Card kingdom tend to be more consistent in it’s grading. Tried to go back to Star city when there were a few cards not being buylisted on card kingdom and just found the experience of buylisting with star city to be more of a negotiation than a buylist experience, where I feel they use the grading process to negotiate you down on the buylist prices they are advertising up front. Star city should just lower their buylist prices on high value cards they want to accurately reflect what they are willing to pay. My two cents.
Is there a reason you left out Manapool? I’ve had pretty good experiences with them; some of the prices tend to run a little higher than TCGPlayer but the website is much nicer to use.
Maybe it’s something we should check out next time we revisit this for an update, thanks for the suggestion Jordan!
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