The Most Expensive Box Toppers In MTG: Aetherdrift

Coming in first place is a rare achievement in anything, and with Magic: The Gathering‘s First-Place Foil Box Toppers, you can capture that feeling in your decks.

These cards are the best of the best from the Ghirapur Grand Prix, the top-of-the-line racers picked from all across the multiverse. These cards are only found in special Box Topper Packs from Play Booster and Collector Booster boxes. If you’re lucky enough to open one of these special gold cards, they can put you ahead in value.

Prices are based on the market value listed on TCGPlayer.com and are subject to change over time.

10

The Speed Demon

Borderless – $50.44

A plethora of keywords and abilities help make The Speed Demon a standout card in Aetherdrift. Between the moderate mana value and sheer advantage that this card can accrue, it stands that The Speed Demon is a solid card for any black or Demon-focused deck.

The artwork for this iteration of The Speed Demon comes from CatDirty, who brings their iconic surrealist style to the card, with an eye-popping amount of color against the gold frame of the First-Place foils.

9

Sab-Sunen, Luxa Embodied

Borderless – $52.24

Gods make a return to Magic with Aetherdrift, and the blue and green Sab-Sunen, Luxa Embodied makes for a powerful ally in the race. Not only is she indestructible, but she has reach and trample, which will quickly become more relevant the longer she’s in play.

See, at the start of your first main phase, Sab-Sunen gets a +1/+1 counter. If the number of counters is even, she can attack. If that number is odd, you draw two cards. You’re going to want to be able to manipulate those counters pretty freely since she won’t be able to attack or block for at least two turns after you play her otherwise.

8

Loot, The Pathfinder

$58.71

Another veritable cornucopia of keywords, Loot, the Pathfinder comes loaded with three keywords and three abilities that are new to Aetherdrift, the exhaust mechanic.

Exhaust is a special ability that can only be activated once. If that creature leaves the battlefield and comes back, it resets the exhaust ability so it can be used again.

Each of Loot’s abilities are inspired by old and exceptionally powerful cards from Magic’s past, namely Dark Ritual, Ancestral Recall, and Lightning Bolt. Loot can be a powerful force in a deck, and one as pretty as the golden First-Place Foil Box Toppers makes for a great collector piece.

7

Brightglass Gearhulk

$60.78

Tutor spells in green or white tend to be a bit more specialized, and with Brightglass Gearhulk you get one of those very specific tutors. When this Gearhulk enters the battlefield, you get to search for up to two artifacts, creatures, or enchantments, so long as they have a mana value of 1 or less.

Casting the Gearhulk is a bit tricky, but the ability to grab two more cards, potentially two combo pieces or toolbox pieces, makes this card a great pick in plenty of decks. Not to mention, the blue hue of the Construct’s body makes for a stark contrast against the gold frame to help make this card look impressive on a battlefield.

6

Ketramose, The New Dawn

$70.96

Another God from the plane of Amonkhet, Ketramose, the New Dawn is a very strong white and black God. While they are prevented from attacking until there are seven or more cards in exile, he does encourage these effects with an ability that lets you draw cards when one or more cards go into exile from the graveyard or the battlefield.

You might notice that in the background of this card is a shattered horn of the massive, omnipresent effigy of Nicol Bolas. Ketramose is a young god from the end of the Phyrexian Invasion of Amonkhet, born of the people’s determination to live.

5

Riptide Gearhulk

Borderless – $83.65

A bit of a bomb that will no doubt make a huge splash in decks that love to blink cards, Riptide Gearhulk has a ton of potential to cause problems for your opponents. While this Construct might not be that impressive on the surface, starting off at just a 2/5, this Gearhulk grow with each noncreature spell you cast thanks to the prowess keyword and then hits harder with its double strike.

If you’re able to keep resetting Riptide Gearhulk, you can keep tucking away your opponent’s permanent third from the top of their deck. While it’s not a permanent solution, it is certainly a frustrating one.

4

Brightglass Gearhulk

Borderless – $101.12

The borderless version of Brightglass Gearhulk is an absolute delight, and it’s easy to see why it holds such a high value in Aetherdrift. This version of the card doesn’t depict the Gearhulk itself. Instead, it appears to be a mural or graffiti on the side of a building, possibly in Amonkhet.

This gives the card a heavily stylized look and makes them feel like they’re a part of the world where artists will creatively support their favorite celebrities. These borderless cards are all either Gearhulks or Gods and are all mythic rare, which makes them even more valuable.

3

Ketramose, The New Dawn

Borderless – $153.77

The borderless version of Ketramose, the New Dawn comes from Florian Bertmer, giving us a great look at the lion-headed God in all their glory. The graffiti style shines on the borderless version of Ketramose, with the energy streaming of his arrows shining against the gold border.

Ketramose’s bow is actually Oketra’s, the former God of stability and order on Amonkhet before she was killed by the Scorpion God during the events of Hour of Devastation. This little detail might not be noticed otherwise, and it is a great homage to the fallen cat-headed god.

2

The Aetherspark

$165.95

This fascinating artifact planeswalker is changing everything we know about the game with some twists on established mechanics. Initially, it acts like any other planeswalker, sitting out on the battlefield and is able to be attacked like usual.

Once you activate its first loyalty ability, however, you get to tuck The Aetherspark on to a creature as a piece of equipment. This renders it no longer vulnerable to direct attacks and makes the equipped creature a little stronger at the same time. Once there, you can safely tick up those loyalty counters until you choose to either draw a bunch of cards or get a bunch of mana.

1

Radiant Lotus

$187.65

It should come as no surprise that the star of the show is the First-Place Foil Radiant Lotus. Though it costs six mana to get out, there are plenty of ways to cheat artifacts into play, so that’s not really a problem at all.

Once out, you can start sacrificing Treasure tokens to triple their mana output or start knocking out Clue or Food tokens to give you an incredible amount of mana. Adding the word Lotus to any Magic card instantly ups the value, and Radiant Lotus’ exclusive printing makes it a chase card for sure.