Core Set 2021 was the last core set Wizards printed before the line went dormant, and it shipped in the narrow window between the debut of Collector Boosters and the arrival of Set Boosters. That means two booster types only, and a set whose value sits in a short list of reprints and artifacts rather than in anything from the Standard metagame it briefly defined.
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| Release date | July 3, 2020 |
| Set code | M21 |
| Set size | 274 cards in the main set, plus Booster Fun variants |
| Booster types | Draft Booster, Collector Booster (Set Boosters arrived three months later) |
| Chase cards | Chromatic Orrery, Terror of the Peaks, Grim Tutor, Fiery Emancipation, Ugin the Spirit Dragon, Teferi Master of Time |
| Standard status | Rotated out in September 2021 after roughly fourteen months; legal in Pioneer, Modern and Commander |
| Draft Booster box (Sep 2026) | $160-$195 |
Thirty-six packs of 15 game cards plus a token or ad card, with ten commons, three uncommons, a rare or mythic and a land, and a foil replacing a common in about one pack in three. M21 limited was a clean, creature-forward format that shops still fire occasionally. Sealed boxes sit at $160-$195 in September 2026 and have been remarkably flat for three years.
Twelve packs of roughly 15 cards with foil commons and uncommons, foil and non-foil rares or mythics, extended-art rares, a showcase or borderless card and a foil token. The box art used Ugin and the product was ordered heavily on the strength of that reprint. It trades at $300-$400, most often near $315-$350.
Ten Draft Boosters, twenty foil basics, twenty regular basics, an alternate-art promo, a spindown die and a storage box. Around $55-$95, and worth more as a way to get foil lands than as a hold.
Five mono-colored 35-card packs with one or two rares. Entry-level product; $10-$20 sealed.
Five 60-card decks, one per color, led by Basri Ket, Teferi, Liliana, Chandra and Garruk. Each contains a planeswalker exclusive to the product. Sealed decks run $12-$25, with the Garruk and Liliana decks slightly ahead.
Two 60-card preconstructed decks with MTG Arena redemption codes, designed as a first purchase for someone moving between digital and paper. Typically $18-$35.
A ten-card sampler Wizards gave away through shops, replacing the old Welcome Deck. Not a retail product and worth very little, but it turns up in bulk lots and is worth recognizing.
Six Draft Boosters, a foil year-stamped rare or mythic, a spindown and a box. Figure $30-$50.
Six boxes to a case, either type. Cases remain the safest sealed purchase because nothing inside has been handled, and they price above six times box value for that reason.
The set's most valuable card is Chromatic Orrery at roughly $35, a seven-mana artifact that did nothing in Standard and everything in Commander. Terror of the Peaks follows near $31, and Grim Tutor near $26 - a Starter 1999 reprint that had never been widely available and whose price reflects that history rather than anything M21 did. Fiery Emancipation and Heroic Intervention sit near $16, Ugin, the Spirit Dragon near $12 despite being the box's cover card, and Azusa and Vito, Thorn of the Dusk Rose just behind.
Teferi, Master of Time is the collectible oddity. He was printed with four different arts at four collector numbers, plus borderless and showcase versions, which gave completionists a reason to keep opening Collector Boosters long after the card's Standard relevance faded. The set's showcase frame borrowed the Signature Spellbook look, and there are borderless planeswalkers and extended-art rares confined to Collector Boosters.
Wizards published the Collector Booster slot contents for M21 but not per-card odds, so ignore any listing that quotes a specific chance of hitting a particular card.
No, not as a hold. Core sets are printed in large quantities by design, they are meant to be accessible, and M21 was printed into a summer when people were at home buying Magic. The set's expected value per box is far below the box price and has been since 2021. A $175 Draft box is not returning $175 in singles except by luck.
Where M21 is useful is as a cheap, pleasant box to open with friends, and as a source of Commander reprints. Chromatic Orrery, Grim Tutor, Heroic Intervention and Massacre Wurm are all cards Commander players want, and buying those four as singles costs less than the box. The Collector box has a slightly better case if you want extended-art copies of those reprints, but it is not going to appreciate. If someone is selling you M21 sealed as an investment, that is a pitch, not an analysis.
M21 is not expensive enough to attract sophisticated counterfeiting, but resealing still happens, particularly on Collector Booster boxes. Factory shrink should be tight and even with a single clean seam; wrap that puckers at the corners, shows adhesive residue or has a seam running the wrong direction has been redone. If the packs shift loosely inside, ask why.
Loose Collector Boosters are a poor buy from unfamiliar sellers because packs can be weighed and the foil-heavy ones pulled. If you are buying more than a box, buy a sealed case, and if you are buying one box, buy it from a shop you can identify and return to. For any older sealed Magic, a seller who will not photograph the actual box they are shipping is a seller to skip.
Core sets sit in shop inventory longer than premier sets, so local stores are the most likely place to find M21 at a reasonable number. Use the card shop directory to find shops near you, and check card shows for planeswalker decks and bundles, which dealers often sell cheaply to clear space. Online, these strings work:
A Draft Booster box holds 36 packs of 15 cards. A Collector Booster box holds 12 packs of roughly 15 cards.
No. M21 rotated out of Standard in September 2021. It remains legal in Pioneer, Modern, Legacy, Vintage and Commander.
No. Set Boosters launched with Zendikar Rising in September 2020, three months after M21. The set shipped Draft Boosters, Collector Boosters and Theme Boosters.
Chromatic Orrery at roughly $35, followed by Terror of the Peaks near $31 and the Grim Tutor reprint near $26.
No. It was the final numbered core set and has been out of print for years, though its reprints continue to appear elsewhere.
The Draft box is the better purchase for almost everyone: cheaper, more packs, and the set is fun to draft. The Collector box only makes sense if you want extended-art and showcase versions of the Commander reprints.
Prices in this guide were last reviewed 2026-09. Live eBay listings above update daily.