Player Pascal Maynard found a relatively rare card during one of the biggest Magic tournaments of the year. And while it didn’t fit his deck strategy, he kept the card and put it up on eBay. Because of this and because thousands saw it live, the card sold for a crazy amount of money.
So what’s the deal with this card? The Tarmogoyf (originally printed in 2007 as part of the Future Sight set) is one of the strongest creatures in the game, and while the card is not the rarest (that might be the famous Black Lotus card from the 90s and a few very limited ones you’ll probably never see on eBay), it’s still hard to find and certain factors makes this particular one worth thousands: The value of a Tarmogoyf card is around $175 while a foil version worth approximately $400. But this card is a “stamped” tournament version, signifying that it’s from the Top-8 Draft of one of the biggest tournaments of the year.
On top of all this, thousands witnessed everything on Twitch as player Pascal Maynard opened (you can watch it on Twitch and skip to the 5h40m mark) a deck during the tournament and found the card. And because of a tiny controversy, it’s now a piece of Magic: The Gathering history: Despite being a strong card, the green Tarmogoyf didn’t fit his red/white deck strategy, and he should’ve picked a red Burst Lightning instead. That should’ve fit, but that card is worth next to nothing, and he would’ve also lost the Tarmogoyf. So he had to choose: Money card or a card that fits his deck. He took the money card, lost the semifinals, put the card up on eBay and made a lot of pro players pissed. You can read more about this mini-drama and how the card ended up on eBay on Kotaku Australia.
That’s a crazy amount of money for one card, so he decided to donate 50% of the proceeds to charity:
I’m eager to see how much it can sell for and I’m even more excited to announce that I will donate 50%* of the proceeds to the Gamers Helping Gamers charity. This pro player needs money to travel, but more importantly, some young Magic players might be unable to afford college. I hope we can change that!
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