A Beginner’s Guide to Understanding Magic: The Gathering Misprints

I’ll never forget finding my first misprint in a booster pack. The card had a faint, ghostly black box in the corner of the art. My first thought was, “Is this ruined?” My second, more exciting thought was, “Is this special?”

That moment is the gateway to one of Magic: The Gathering’s most fascinating corners: collecting misprints. In a world of mass production, misprints are happy accidents.

A true misprint is a factory error, not an intentional variation or a widespread text error that Wizards of the Coast (WotC) later corrects. We love these mistakes because they tap into a deep collector’s mindset where a defect creates a new form of value based on rarity and narrative.

Let’s take a look at some of the most common misprints you will find and if they have any effect on the collector’s market.  

A Field Guide to Misprint Types

Cutting and Packaging Errors

These mistakes happen at the very end of a card’s creation and are often the most visually dramatic.

• Miscuts: This is the most common error. A slightly off-center card is worthless, but a severe miscut that shows part of an adjacent card from the sheet is highly desirable. The holy grail is seeing the name of one card above the art of another.  
• Crimps: This distinctive ripple pattern happens when a card gets caught in the machine that heat-seals the booster pack. A simple crimp on the top or bottom edge is a classic error, but a “full” crimp across the middle of a valuable card can be worth a lot.  
• Square Cuts: Sometimes a card misses the die-cutting process that rounds its corners, leaving it with one or more sharp, square corners. This is a rarer and highly prized cutting error.  

Ink & Color Errors

These errors happen on the printing presses and can range from subtle to reality-bending.

• Color and Saturation Errors: These are cards printed with wildly incorrect colors. The most legendary example is the Blue Hurricane from the Summer Magic set. It was a green card mistakenly printed with a blue border, with one copy selling for over $90,000. Other examples include cards missing an entire ink layer, creating a faded “ghost” or a bizarrely colored card.  
• Double Prints: A rare and chaotic error where a card is fed through the press twice. The Jumpstart set was famous for this, creating valuable “dual lands” where a basic land was double printed with another card.  
• “Albino” Cards: An extreme ink error where most or all of the ink is missing, leaving a nearly blank white card face. These are exceptionally rare and visually stunning.  

Wrong Information and Bizarre Errors

Sometimes the machines work perfectly but are fed the wrong information, or something truly strange occurs.

• Wrong Art: These are some of the most famous misprints. The classic example is the Revised Edition Serendib Efreet, which was printed with the art and green border of a different card, Ifh-Biff Efreet.  
• Wrong Text or Stamp: Errors can include incorrect rules text, power/toughness, or card types, like the sorcery-speed Circular Logic. The holofoil security stamp on modern rares can also be missing, off-center, or even from a different trading card game entirely.  
• The Truly Bizarre: This is the deepest part of the collection. Cards have been found with the wrong game’s back, a foil layer on the back instead of the front, or with foreign objects like tape or even insects pressed into the card during manufacturing. Printers also use “filler” cards with test patterns or color bars to fill sheets, which sometimes sneak into packs.  

Is My Misprint Worth Anything?

The first question everyone asks is about value. The answer, it depends. The vast majority of minor flaws, a slightly off-center print or a tiny ink dot, add no value. The key is how dramatic, obvious, and interesting the error is.

Value is determined by two main factors: the card itself and the error.

• The Card: A misprint on a popular, playable card (like a Lightning Bolt), a Reserved List card, or an iconic card from Magic’s early days will always have a higher potential value.  
• The Error: The more severe and visible the error, the better. A card miscut to show two different arts is worth far more than a slightly off-center one. Rarity also matters; a double print is much rarer than a minor crimp. For major, one-of-a-kind misprints, the price is determined by what the highest bidder is willing to pay, usually in an auction hosted in a dedicated collector community.  

Marketplace and Authenticity

If you think you’ve found something special, your first stop should be the online misprint communities. The heart of the modern misprint world is on Facebook, in groups like MtGRarities, Major Misprints, and Misprint & Oddities B/S/T. The r/mtgmisprints subreddit is also a great place to get initial feedback.

For buying, you can check these groups, eBay, or specialist dealers like ABUGames, though prices may be higher.

You need to beware of post-factory alterations, like non-factory cuts (NFCs) made from uncut sheets or fake crimps applied with tools. For a truly high-value item, the ultimate security is getting it authenticated by a third-party grader like Beckett.  

Embracing the Flaw

Collecting misprints is about appreciating uniqueness. It’s about finding the one-in-a-million card that the machines messed up. So, look closer at your cards. You might just have a treasure with a personality quirk. Now go forth and as always happy hunting!

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