By Brian Cooper |
Updated on February 14, 2024
It has been fascinating watching the TCG market lately, especially Magic: The Gathering which is coming out with new products just about every month these days. And with other sets booming like Flesh and Blood and newcomers like MetaZoo on the horizon, things will be all the more interesting over the next few months for sure.
But there are a lot of older MTG sets that sit in the background and slowly climb in value until BOOM!….prices skyrocket and you end up missing the boat again. Today I’m sharing one such set that has 10-cards that are both valuable and primed to continue climbing in value. This list we’ve compiled are the TOP 10 most valuable cards in Return to Ravnica, Magic’s very popular set released back on October 5, 2012.
When it comes to determining the most valuable cards in a set, we all know that things can change over time. What is valuable right now might not be worth as much later down the road and vice versa.
A simple MTG rule change can make one card normally worth pennies skyrocket and make other cards drop like a hot potato. That’s why analytics are so important when evaluating Magic cards for investment purposes.
For this exercise in finding the 10 most valuable cards in Return to Ravnica, we’ll use multiple data sources to gather numbers, including some of the most popular sites. Those sites include MTGPrice.com, the TCG Player price guide and MTGGoldfish to name a few. I’ve found their data to be kept up to date and accurate compared to how the market is reacting to the cards.
The cards chosen for this top 10 list do not have anything to do with my personal opinion. Rather they are chosen based on a study of each card across multiple data sources. So without further ado, here are the Top 10 Most Valuable Cards in Return to Ravnica.
Contents
#10 – Hallowed Fountain
RTR Hallowed Fountain Average Price: $8.79
: Add 
or 
to your mana pool
As Hallowed Fountain enters the battlefield, you may pay 2 life. If you don’t, Hallowed Fountain enters the battlefield tapped.
Magic Card Investor Investment Outlook:
Because white is not the most popular of colors in Magic, we’re not big on this card as a long term investment. Multi-color lands will always be popular (especially the rare ones) but white/blue is not for every player.
#9 – Deathrite Shaman
RTR Deathrite Shaman Average Price: $9.28
: Exile target land card from a graveyard. Add one mana of any color.
, : Exile target instant or sorcery card from a graveyard. Each opponent loses 2 life.
, : Exile target creature card from a graveyard. You gain 2 life.
Magic Card Investor Rating:
Powerful Black/Green card that I believe over time will gain in price (slowly.) If you can protect the Shaman, it can just sit there late in the game helping you gain life and knocking your opponents life count down. The artwork on this card is incredible too. I can see this being a $15-20 card, but not for a while.
#8 – Worldspine Wurm
RTR Worldspine Wurm Average Price: $10.46
Trample
When Worldspine Wurm dies, create three 5/5 green Wurm creature tokens with trample. When Worldspine Wurm is put into a graveyard from anywhere, shuffle it into its owner’s library.
Magic Card Investor Rating:
Talk about an overpowered card, the Worldspine Wurm is just that. It takes 11 mana to get it on the table, but talk about a game ender. A 15/15 with Trample? This is just the kind of card that Magic players love and I can see this one being in demand just because of how crazy it is and how inexpensive it is right now too. I love the card….it’ll be $20+ in time.
#7 – Chromatic Lantern
RTR Chromatic Lantern Average Price: $10.30
Artifact
Lands you control have “: Add one mana of any color.”
: Add one mana of any color.
Magic Card Investor Rating:
Artifacts that add mana are always going to be popular among players and the Chromatic Lantern is right up there. The only drawback is you’re paying 3 mana to get it out. Outside of that, the lantern gives EVERY land the ability to add a mana of ANY color. That’s crazy and a big reason why I think the card will continue to be sought after. There are other versions (Commander 2016, Guilds of Ravnica, etc) and that may suppress the price but I belief the price on this card will maintain for a while and eventually works it’s way to that $15-20 range.
#6 – Utvara Hellkite
RTR Utvara Hellkite Average Price: $10.54
Creature — Dragon
Flying
Whenever a Dragon you control attacks, create a 6/6 red Dragon creature token with flying.
Magic Card Investor Rating:
I’m big on Dragon cards but for this card I’m not big on the casting cost. However it’s a powerful card and one that I think will continue to draw attention simply because this one has the added bonus of creating additional 6/6 Dragon creature tokens just by attacking with any other dragon. If you make a killer Dragon deck, this card all of a sudden becomes a game winner. I think it falls in line with the others listed in the 10 Most Valuable Cards in Return to Ravnica and it will probably slowly increase in value (emphasize SLOWLY.)
#5 – Temple Garden
RTR Temple Garden Average Price: $10.93
Land — Forest Plains
(: Add or to your mana pool.)
As Temple Garden enters the battlefield, you may pay 2 life. If you don’t, it enters the battlefield tapped.
Magic Card Investor Rating:
This one falls right in line with Hallowed Fountain. White is simply not the most popular of colors in Magic and I think long term cards like this will be stagnant. I don’t like that you have to pay 2-life to ensure it comes into play untapped either. I just think this card hovers in the $10-15 range for a long time.
#4 – Steam Vents
RTR Steam Vents Average Price: $12.36
Land — Island Mountain
(: Add or 
.)
As Steam Vents enters the battlefield, you may pay 2 life. If you don’t, it enters the battlefield tapped.
Magic Card Investor Rating:
Yep, another land just like Hallowed Fountain and Temple Garden that probably won’t do much for a long time. At least Steam Vents is blue and red which are widely more popular in Magic play, but the flip side is you can find Steam Vents in like in a handful of other sets so that will keep the values low. I just don’t see these as big time long term investments so don’t spend you life savings on a thousand of these. I think it stays in the $10-15 range for a while.
#3 – Overgrown Tomb
RTR Overgrown Tomb Average Price: $13.05
Land — Swamp Forest
(: Add or to your mana pool.)
As Overgrown Tomb enters the battlefield, you may pay 2 life. If you don’t, it enters the battlefield tapped.
Magic Card Investor Rating:
Ok, so this is also a very similar card to the lands above but what this one has is a the ability to provide black mana and we all know swamps are super popular. I think this dual land stays up there in popularity simply because it’s black and has cool artwork. Do I think it’s a $50 card anytime soon? Nope. Target the $13-15 range for another year or so before you see this one creep up in value.
#2 – Blood Crypt
RTR Blood Crypt Average Price: $20.70
Land — Swamp Mountain
(: Add or .)
As Blood Crypt enters the battlefield, you may pay 2 life. If you don’t, it enters the battlefield tapped.
Magic Card Investor Rating:
Black/Red decks are more popular than just about any other combination which is why Blood Crypt lands in the top two. It’s not only an aggressive combo, you have your pick of handfuls of awesome creatures and direct damage instants and sorceries. This card has more potential than the other lands on the list because of the combo popularity and I think over time you’ll see this creep up closer to the $30-40 mark, as long as WOTC doesn’t keep reprinting the living heck out of it.
#1 – Cyclonic Rift
RTR Cyclonic Rift Average Price: $29.89
Blue – Instant
Return target nonland permanent you don’t control to its owner’s hand.
Overload 6 (You may cast this spell for its overload cost. If you do, change its text by replacing all instances of “target” with “each.”)
Magic Card Investor Rating:
Blue is widely known for being all about CONTROL and the Cyclonic Rift is the ultimate control card. If it didn’t have the extra Overload ability, it would be your run of the mill ‘return card to owners hand’ but Overload makes this card incredible. Cast this towards the end of the game and your opponent is in DEEP trouble as you just put all of his/her nonland permanents back in his/her hand. Ouch. It’s a powerful card that is here to stay and I can see it getting closer to the $50 mark in another 12-18months.
