The Mind StoneThe Mind Stone | Art by Volkan Baga

At MagicCon: Las Vegas, we had a preview panel that we’ve come to expect at these types of conventions. It was great to get a forecast for some of the new cards coming out through the remainder of 2026. We saw cards from The Hobbit, Marvel Super Heroes, and Reality Fracture. Apologies in advance, as I will be having an unhealthy hyperfixation on the revealed Azorius school from Hexhaven, Fatehold.

But we aren't talking about Reality Fracture today, rather one card in particular that was spoiled from the Marvel Super Heroes set: The Mind StoneThe Mind Stone. This is the second Infinity Stone that has been released into Magic: The Gathering, with the first being The Soul StoneThe Soul Stone from Marvel’s Spider-Man last year.

Part of the reason this card didn’t get as much discussion initially was the art controversy involving Dan Frazier and a reprint of The One RingThe One Ring, which was addressed through the official Magic: The Gathering social media accounts.

I’m not here to rehash that story again, as our very own Josh Nelson wrote a fantastic piece covering everything you would need to know about the incident. But when the initial buzz settled down, and players actually started talking about The Mind StoneThe Mind Stone, the discourse around this card went in a direction that surprised me a bit.

The Mind StoneThe Mind Stone

First, let’s go over what this card actually does. The Mind StoneThe Mind Stone is a mana rock that is indestructible and taps for one white mana. Similar to The Soul StoneThe Soul Stone, this is where it will stay most of the time, but it does has a second ability. For , we can harness it and, on each of our end steps, blink one of our nonland permanents.

This is an incredibly strong ability in a deck that is set up to use it. We can reset a planeswalker, effectively untap a mana rock, or retrigger an enter the battlefield (ETB) effect.

A lot of the conversation about this card online can be summed up with one word: underwhelming. The Infinity Stones and the connected Infinity Gauntlet are one of, if not the most powerful, relics in all of Marvel. The expectation around these Infinity Stones is that they would be high-powered, game-ending machines. With The Mind Stone, this simply isn’t the case, and I am truly thankful that it isn’t.

Don't get me wrong, the abilities are nice, and the indestructibility is great to see on a mana source, but I doubt we'll hear many players saying "That Mind Stone killed me that game." Despite their underwhelming reputation, these cards are positioned to be a perfect recipe for disaster for Commander, Standard, and Magic: The Gathering as a whole. Allow me to explain.

The Storm

When a card skyrockets in price, it is typically because two or three factors are working in its favor. Cards that get expensive are usually scarce, powerful, or collectible.

A perfect example of a card that fits all three categories is Black LotusBlack Lotus. This is an incredibly strong game piece, leading to its banning in nearly every format in Magic. Since it's on the Reserved List, it can't be officially reprinted, so the supply can’t meet the demand. It is such an iconic card that it shows up everywhere in Magic, from cards being named after it like Lotus PetalLotus Petal to supplementary products sharing the name, like MagicCon’s most expensive package, the Black Lotus VIP.

This kind of treatment gives it collectability. The result is a card that is illegal in most formats, but can still sell for more than $13,000 in poor condition. It’s the holy grail of nearly every Magic: The Gathering collector not named Post Malone.

Scarcity

Of all the factors for a card getting expensive, scarcity is probably the biggest. We’ve seen cards like Juzám DjinnJuzám Djinn, a 5/5 Djinn for that deals one damage to us on our upkeep, selling for over $1,000. This card sees almost no play in any format outside of Old School, but since it's on the Reserved List, no reprints can be used to help the price.

When a card reaches high demand but there isn’t enough supply, we see price increases as players have to pay more to beat the market.

Due to a printing error in Kamigawa: Neon Dynasty, Shrine tokens were incredibly hard to come by. One of the most popular commanders from the set, Go-Shintai of Life's OriginGo-Shintai of Life's Origin, needed a lot of these tokens, which basically didn't exist. At one point, these tokens were north of $20 each. Eventually, the demand for Go-Shinati cooled off, bringing the price down somewhat, but these tokens can still go for $10-$13 each. 

The Reserved List is a highly controversial topic that is in the typical Magic discourse rotation, along with “Should we ban Rhystic StudyRhystic Study?” and “Is Commander bad for Magic?” The list is a way to protect certain cards against reprint risk. But outside of the Reserved List, we have a soft version of this with Universes Beyond. If a card is popular in a format, the price can skyrocket. When this happens with an in-universe card, Wizards of the Coast could simply reprint the card in an upcoming set or in a set like Eternal Masters.

This doesn't work with Universes Beyond due to the IP used as well as the licensing agreements. Sure, a card like Orcish BowmastersOrcish Bowmasters might be able to be slipped into a Magic set since it has a pretty generic name, but that wouldn’t work with an iconic card like The One RingThe One Ring.

When The One RingThe One Ring came out, it was a massive hit. Wizards knew this would happen and printed it in a bundle to get extra copies of the card into circulation in an attempt to satisfy the demand. It wasn't enough, as the price for the most basic version is north of $100. After its release, it took three years before Wizards of the Coast even had the opportunity to reprint the card again with The Hobbit, and that was only as a box topper. Now imagine how much the six Infinity Stones would go for if WOTC decided to put them on the same level as The One Ring.

Despite absolutely warping Standard, it would be incredibly frustrating for collectors trying to get the basic version of the card just because they like Marvel. It would be incredibly difficult to meet that demand on WOTC's end, and it would absolutely leave a bad taste in the mouths of the players. 

Power

When we look at the Reserved List, there’s a reason some cards are selling for the price of rent while others might get you a Happy Meal at McDonald's. One thing is fairly common across the most valuable cards on the list. They are strong. This isn’t your typical level of being synergistically strong in the right situation, like The OzolithThe Ozolith. These are cards that are either going to be played in every deck that can support them or are banned for being too good.

It’s not a surprise that in a game where players are trying to take each other out to win, powerful cards are attractive. Yes, Commander is a more casual version of Magic, but the objectives are the same, just flashier. Since your average player appreciates cards that will help them win the game, these cards tend to fetch a higher price. This isn’t just true with rare and mythic cards either.

A card like Stock UpStock Up, an uncommon from Aetherdrift, might see some play in Commander and Standard. It was released in February of 2025. By May of that year, prices around this card were already reflecting our love of power, as we were seeing a $12 uncommon Magic card. After some time and reprints, that price has come down. 

Collectability

With the introduction of Universes Beyond and Collector Boosters, we're seeing collector appeal at an all-time high. From special printings to serialized cards, Wizards of the Coast has made it a priority to create cards that are highly sought after. Now, I don’t have a problem with this as long as we continue to get basic versions of cards for cheap for people who simply care about owning the game piece. Universes Beyond can complicate this even further.

Occasionally, we’ll have a card that is collected for the character itself within Magic, like the different variations of Omnath, but Universes Beyond can take this to another level entirely. Some players simply want to own The One RingThe One Ring, not because it’s an absurdly powerful card, but because it’s a relic from a beloved book and movie series. These collectors who are attached to the name or art of a card bring more buyers into the market, thus increasing demand.

This type of collectability can be an overall net positive for the game, as players will open boxes of cards to find their prized relics. This can help put a lot of singles into the market. But for cards with major significance like the Infinity Stones, they can become much harder to find because even though people are pulling these cards, there may not be as many people willing to put their hard-fought spoils onto eBay or Cardsphere.

I really can’t blame them either. I was fortunate enough to pull one of the Chaos EmeraldChaos Emeralds from a Sonic: The Hedgehog Secret Lair. I know I probably should have sold it, but I grew up watching Sonic cartoons on Saturday mornings and simply couldn’t bring myself to do it. So, on my bookshelf it remains.

Sometimes it’s just an appreciation of the art. Earlier this month, Wizards of the Coast announced a Secret Lair Goblin Commander deck featuring artwork from fan favorite artist Wizard of Barge. Prior to this deck being released, Wizard of Barge had a Goblin Secret Lair released that featured five Goblin cards. In April, you could pick this up for about $95. After the release of the Goblin deck, it shot up above $190. The value of the cards themselves is nowhere near this price, as we could pick up basic versions of these game pieces for a fraction of the cost, but players appreciate the art and collectability and are willing to pay a premium to get them.

Back to The Mind StoneThe Mind Stone

Now that we’ve looked at how scarcity, power, and collectability affect a card’s price, let’s revisit The Mind StoneThe Mind Stone. The Mind Stone is going to be one of the most sought-after cards in Marvel Super Heroes, whether it’s the basic version, the Thanos art, or the textless version. This is going to be highly collectible as the second Infinity Stone in the series.

The fact that its artifact type is also Infinity Stone implies that we will get a card in the future that alludes to or uses Infinity Stones, more than likely the Infinity Gauntlet, which will make these cards even more collectable.

Being mythic rares in a Universes Beyond set that will be very difficult to reprint, getting enough of them into the market to satisfy demand is going to be difficult. We’re already seeing presale prices over $100 on the basic version of this card, and I would expect it to stay there as the set officially releases.

Fortunately, there is a light at the end of the tunnel.

As far as power goes, this is where we as players are getting a bit of a break. The Mind Stone is a powerful card, but it’s a high floor card rather than an absurdly high ceiling one. It's powerful in the same way Boseiju, Who EnduresBoseiju, Who Endures is powerful. It’s a card that can easily be included with very little tradeoff, since if we don't need its effect, we can simply play it as a land without any downside.

As a huge fan of Blink decks and an avid Brago, King EternalBrago, King Eternal player, I love seeing a mana rock that can serve as a Conjurer's ClosetConjurer's Closet in a pinch, but better. In most of the games, this is simply going to be an indestructible mana rock for $100, as paying six mana is a pretty big investment.

If I were to go out and spend $100 upgrading a precon, this would be the last card I would look at because its impact is small in the grand scheme of things. But, if it’s for a deck that I have been playing for years and I’m looking for any tiny opportunity to upgrade, this card becomes much more appealing.

From a power perspective, this is not The One RingThe One Ring, Orcish BowmastersOrcish Bowmasters, or even Vivi OrnitierVivi Ornitier. It’s a card that will be collectable, rare, but ultimately average in play. If it were as strong as those cards on top of being an Infinity Stone, we would have scalpers buying up booster boxes for the off chance of pulling them.

Since we don’t have all three factors working together, we may eventually see the price go down instead of rocketing upward as other Universes Beyond staples do. When The Soul StoneThe Soul Stone first hit the market, it wasn’t surprising to see sales of the card going for more than $100. But as players realized that The Soul StoneThe Soul Stone just wasn’t making a huge splash in their decks, the hype cooled off pretty fast, and I can now go to Cardsphere and pick up a basic copy for around $70.

This is still a lot of money for a single piece of cardboard, but considering that a card like Mana CryptMana Crypt used to sell for well over $200, this could be so much worse.

Wrapping Up

Are the Infinity Stones underwhelming as game pieces? That argument can definitely be made. But in a hobby that has an aggressive secondary market like Magic does, I am far happier to have a serviceable card that is collectable and actually attainable than a power crept must-have staple that I would need to buy in installments.

At the end of the day, we’re all playing one of the most complex games ever created with luxury cardboard rectangles. Let’s not condemn Wizards of the Coast for actually keeping a collectible mythic rare in check. It may be a nice addition for a deck, but you won’t be missing out on too much if you decide to pass on it for something else. 

Are you excited for our second Infinity Stone? Do you find it weird that The Mind StoneThe Mind Stone is white and not blue? Are you annoyed by the existence of both Mind StoneMind Stone and The Mind StoneThe Mind Stone? Let us know your thoughts in the comments below. Until next time, happy brewing.

Please note: card prices listed in this article are accurate at the time of writing, but prices can vary over time and between locations.