The Dark
Just like the newest novel by Stephen King, Wizards of the Coast decided in 1994 “You Like It Darker” and released The Dark, which included many Dark Fantasy styled cards. Dark magic was the theme and apart from that very promising premise, The Dark also included a lot of new gameplay designs!
So what actually was new in The Dark?
The Dark gave birth to the very first multicolored non-creature card Dark Heart of the Wood (which was also the first enemy-paired multicolored card) as well as the first Common multicolored cards Marsh Goblins and Scarwood Goblins, some of the scariest looking Goblins ever! Ironically, The Dark only included these three multicolored premieres and no others.
Another premiere to the multicolored cards were reminder texts that the cards counted as two colors. This was not included in Legends, although Legends already had multicolored cards in it.
The Dark was also the first Magic expansion that was printed Italian. Many believe that Italian Legends was the first Italian set, but The Dark actually released before the Italian iteration of Legends! (Source)
Let’s take a look at The Dark!
The Dark introduced 119 new cards, which makes it a VERY small expansion. Basically, The Dark is roughly only a third of Legends. This set size is more in line with Arabian Nights was (78 cards) or Antiquities (100 cards) than with Legends.
We want to give new and experienced players an overview for collecting Magic's fourth expansion: The Dark.
We'll aim to answer a few very important questions:
- Why are The Dark cards so valuable?
- What are the most expensive cards?
- Who are the Four Horsemen of Magic?
- Where to buy The Dark cards?
Set Information: The Dark
The Dark was released on August 8th, 1994. This continued the three month “cycle” we got to know over the previously released expansions. Just like Arabian Nights, Antiquities and Legends before it, The Dark didn’t include any Basic Lands because the sets were not meant to be standalone expansions. That said, The Dark included exactly one land that produces mana: City of Shadows.
The Rarity Distribution of The Dark
The rarity distribution of The Dark was as follows:
41 Commons, 78 Uncommons
There are no Rares in The Dark, but the Uncommons are again split into two rarities, just like in Arabian Nights! C1 and U2 are the Uncommons of The Dark and U1 is something like the Rares (“the rarer Uncommons”). 35 of the 78 Uncommons are of U1 rarity.
That can lead to some interesting surprises, because popular cards like Maze of Ith or Eater of the Death are considered “true” Uncommons of the set, which probably would nowadays be Rare.
U1 134.000
U2 269.000
C1 403.000
C3 1.209.000
(Source)
What's the Print Run of The Dark?
We are kinda in the dark (pun intended) considering the true print run of The Dark. People expect it to be somewhat between 62 million and 75 million cards. It gets even darker when we look at the print run of Italian The Dark. Redditor Phitt77 expects it was half of the original print run, so we might be looking at roughly 100 million The Dark cards in total. (Source)
As far as it goes for The Dark boosters, they contained only 8 cards, including 6 Commons and 2 Uncommons. Sometimes we even have some in our webshop. Subscribe to our New Arrivals newsletter to know when we will stock up on those!
Most Expensive Cards: The Dark
Now let’s be real here: The Dark doesn’t come close to any of the price points of cards from Arabian Nights, Antiquities or even Legends. Nonetheless, The Dark has some pretty cool sleeper hits and staples to look out for!
Here are the most expensive cards of The Dark!
Blood Moon
The first printing of Blood Moon keeps a surprisingly high price tag, although we already have a lot of reprints of this fantastic card. It’s a staple in almost every format, and it’s no different for Old School, where some red decks might need it to win the race!
The original printing of Blood Moon will cost you between 40 and 120 Euros, depending on its condition! The current price trend on Cardmarket is €70.49 (21.02.2025).
Goblin Wizard – Currently for Sale
The very only printing of Goblin Wizard is available in The Dark and Italian The Dark. It’s not even the best Goblin out there, but because of Reserved List reasons, this rare Uncommon from The Dark is one of the most valuable cards in the set!
The Goblin Wizard will cost you between 35 and 70 Euros, depending on its condition! The current price trend on Cardmarket is €48.53 (21.02.2025).
City of Shadows – Currently for Sale
Unfortunately, the same facts that apply to Goblin Wizard apply to City of Shadows! The card is rare and on the Reserved List. Why this card specifically is among the most expensive cards of The Dark, we can’t tell for sure!
The City of Shadows will cost you between 25 and 80 Euros, depending on its condition! The current price trend on Cardmarket is €42.14 (21.02.2025).
Preacher
Now, Preacher on the other hand has a few good reasons to be expensive: First of all, look at that amazing artwork by Quinton Hover! The second reason is that Old School players actually care about Preacher to steal creatures from their opponents and sacrifice them to stuff like Diamond Valley or Ashnod’s Altar.
The Preacher will cost you between 20 and 55 Euros, depending on its condition! The current price trend on Cardmarket is €32.95 (21.02.2025).
Season of the Witch
Season of the Witch is just THE Halloween card! It's unique control effect basically removes blockers from the game, except for Walls and creatures that got summoning sickness. Great aggro card!
The Season of the Witch will cost you between 12 and 28 Euros, depending on its condition! The current price trend on Cardmarket is €26.23 (21.02.2025).
Other Expensive The Dark Cards
There are some smaller hits in The Dark, since a lot of these cards have no reprints! Cards like Ball Lightning, Mana Vortex, Maze of Ith, Elves of Deep Shadow or Eater of the Dead are beloved in different formats such as Old School and Commander. No wonder the OGs are keeping their price tags!
(Source: Cardmarket 14.02.2025)
Italian The Dark
The Italian print run of The Dark is a fantastic budget option, if you want the cheapest options for your deck. Or if you are collecting the set, then an Italian version should not be missing! As already mentioned before, the Italian The Dark print run is estimated to be half of the English print run. So Italian The Dark cards are rarer!
Nonetheless, from a financial stand, Italian The Dark can be seen as the budget version of The Dark.
The Four Horsemen of Magic
Now, here’s a term that doesn’t get thrown around too much on the internet, but it should at least once be mentioned in our Set Reviews: The Four Horsemen of Magic. The four horsemen are the very first four expansions of Magic: The Gathering. By now we all know these are Arabian Nights, Antiquities, Legends and The Dark.
After the release of the Four Horsemen, Wizards of the Coast increased the print runs of their product drastically. For example: Fallen Empires had a print run of 350 million cards. Compare that to the last horsemen’s approximately 100 million!
This makes the Four Horsemen more valuable from a collectible standpoint, and some might even argue that The Dark doesn’t deserve the spot because of its lower price point (Source).
The Four Horsemen are not to be confused with the combo and Legacy deck with the same name. There’s also an OS community focused format that plays with the idea of the Four Horsemen.
Where to Buy The Dark Cards?
You want to collect all the 119 cards from The Dark? The easiest way to do this is to buy a full set from our very own web shop!
The next best thing you need to do when looking for The Dark cards is: Check out our singles on Cardmarket! We got most of the cards from The Dark for sale there, so no need to look somewhere else.
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Every Wednesday, each week of the year, we get new High-End cards. That includes a lot of Old School cards, and you'll be the first one to know when the cards you are looking for are available!
