Last updated on September 11, 2025

The Crystal's Chosen - Illustration by Kotetsu Kinoshita

The Crystal's Chosen | Illustration by Kotetsu Kinoshita

Magic: The Gathering's done some weird things with its cards lately. From Universes Beyond to Booster Fun treatments and playtest cards, the game's always experimenting with what's possible to do on their 63mm x 88mm pieces of cardboard.

And Magic experimented a good bit during its 30th anniversary year, which included the release of the highly controversial 30th Anniversary Edition, which offered players unplayable, essentially proxy versions of Alpha Magic cards for exorbitantly high prices. But Wizards of the Coast apparently had some other ideas in mind to celebrate its 30th, and some newly-surfaced product listings show that crystal Magic cards were in the works at one point.

MTG x Swarovski

Facebook post about Swarovski crystal MTG cards

Source: Facebook

A post by Damyan Brunson on Facebook popped up a few days ago, explaining that Magic collaborated with Swarovski in 2020 to produce crystal-overlaid Alpha cards as part of a proposed 30th Anniversary collaboration. Clearly, those cards never made it into booster packs, though there exist some number of test prints that were manufactured, and an anonymous seller is now offering an uncut sheet of these crystalline cards for a smooth $250,000.

Swarovski is an Austrian-based retailer known for their crystal products, including everything from classy jewelry to Christmas ornaments. If you want something studded with or made out of crystal, chances are Swarovski's got you covered in some way. It's definitely a strange choice for a Magic: The Gathering collab, but they did collaborate with IHOP and Hot Pockets, soโ€ฆ.

Swarovski Shivan Dragon

The Facebook post is specifically for an uncut sheet of test cards, which appears to be the only one of these sheets currently up for grabs. These crystal cards do exist in public marketplaces, though as individual cards instead of uncut sheets. Ancestralmtg.com is an online MTG collectibles marketplace that has several Swarovski MTG cards for sale. These include various pieces of the Power Nine, a copy of Shivan Dragon, and basic lands using the Theros Beyond Death full-art constellation art. And, as you might have guessed, they're pricey.

You thought a playset of Guru lands was expensive? Try a crystal-studded basic Plains for $25,000. Or, just to prove black is better than white, how about a Swamp for 30k?

Those are the cheaper items, too. A Swarovski Crystal mox like Mox Jet or Mox Sapphire is being listed at $75,000, and the coveted Black Lotus has a listing for $300,000. That alone is more than the anonymous seller's asking for an entire uncut sheet!

To be clear, โ€œuncut sheetโ€ here means about nine cards, based on the pictures posted to Facebook, not an entire 200-300 card sheet like you'd expect from a regular MTG set. The description page on Ancestral claims: โ€œโ€ฆwe believe that a total of 12 sheets were produced. Approximately 5 of these sheets were provided to Wizards.โ€ Of the remaining seven, six are owned by the public (including the one posted by the anonymous seller), and the seventh was owned by Ancestral and professionally cut into the individual cards now posted to their marketplace.

Purple Mana Confirmed

Swarovski crystal Magic card back

There is one oddity that people have pointed out here. โ€œNo one ever notices the 6th color,โ€ comments Jason Murray on Facebook. And indeed, the image includes one back-facing, crystalized card that, for some reason, has a sixth color of mana on the mana wheel.

Ancestralmtg.com Swarovski Basic lands

Source: Ancestralmtg.com

There's a whole rabbit hole you can just down if you want to know more about rumors of Magic's โ€œsixth colorโ€, but it's unclear why these versions include it. Note that this particular card back on the uncut sheet is not overlaid onto a physical Magic card, so there is no reverse side to it, and the same goes for the other โ€œcardsโ€ on the uncut sheetโ€”they have no card backs. That's not the case with the individual cards being sold on Ancestral's market. The basic lands were attached to test print versions of the Theros Beyond Death lands, with a unique back that was proposed for 30th Anniversary prints but never made it into the final product. You'll note there's only five colors of mana on this card back.

There's no doubt the MTG collector's market has exploded over the last few years, but these Swarovski cards are top-tier when it comes to Magic collectibles. And if you've got a quarter of a million dollars laying around, you can own this unique piece of Magic history for yourself!

Follow Draftsim for awesome articles and set updates:

2 Comments

  • Nikolas September 11, 2025 8:58 am

    The brand is from Austria, not Tennessee…

    • Timothy Zaccagnino
      Timothy Zaccagnino September 11, 2025 9:02 am

      Haha, thanks for the fix!

Add Comment

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *