TCGplayer revealed their February 2023 data for sealed product sales, which ranks the most active products on the platform by dollar volume and shows the beginning and ending prices of each product. The data reinforced some of the trends that had developed in the TCG sealed market space over, thus far in 2023.
After taking a back seat to Pokemon TCG for most of 2021 and 2022, Magic seems to have returned with a vengeance in 2023. The top three slots of the February 2023 chart (see “February 2023“) were totally consumed by Magic: The Gathering – Phyrexia: All Will Be One products, with the top two products gaining value over the course of the month. Magic had a good January as well, claiming the top spots on that list as well (see “A ‘Magic’ Month“).
The success of Phyrexia: All Will Be One is not all that surprising, as there were early signs in preorder that this set was going to do well based on its theme alone. The Phyrexians, Eldrazi, and Nicol Bolas are the main antagonists in the Magic Multiverse, and sets that revolve around them as part of the storyline tend to do okay. However, the element that is quite surprising is the sheer number of Phyrexia SKUs that did well on this chart. Fans were buying enough Set Boosters, Collector Boosters, Draft Boosters, and Pre-release Packs to have them all make the chart. They were also likely buying in volume as well because Collector Booster Cases made slot #8 and Set Booster Cases made the #25 slot.
Magic: The Gathering has no doubt done well in Q1. Looking at their 2023 release schedule (see “2023 Release Calendar“), one could ponder the following: “If the first Magic set of 2023 has done this well, what is buying frenzy going to be like when The Lord of the Rings: Tales of Middle-earth comes out in Q2?!!” If the sales of the Universes Beyond: Warhammer 40,000 set are any indicator (which is now in its third printing), The Lord of the Rings: Tales of Middle-earth set (see “‘Lord of the Rings’ Cards“) has a solid shot at becoming the best-selling ever. As long as Magic‘s momentum in 2023 continues, this could be a very good year for Wizards of the Coast and Magic fans everywhere.
As for other card games on this month’s chart, the usual suspects continued to turn in strong performances despite Magic‘s dominance. Pokemon TCG, Yu-Gi-Oh! TCG, One Piece CG, and Digimon CG all landed at least one product in the top ten slots of the chart. One Piece CG continues to be the break out story of 2022 into 2023, and seems to continue to gain momentum in the marketplace.
Source: ICV2
