Chase card

Chase card is a slang term for any Magic card (mythic, rare or uncommon usually) that is highly pursued on the secondary market due to power, playability or collector's value. Chase cards may fetch very high prices on the secondary market and are valued by condition.

History

Although Wizards of the Coast consistently emphasized trading rather than collecting (referring to Magic: The Gathering and its successors as TCGs, the company recognized that collecting was an important facet of the game's appeal. However, the ever-larger print runs of new sets in the first two decades posed fewer challenges to collectors, since stores rarely ran out of expansions before someone could buy their way to a complete set. Some of the more famous chase rares of those days include Tarmogoyf, Umezawa's Jitte, and the Power Nine.

When foil cards were introduced, Wizards of the Coast promised never to print chase cards for Magic. This began to change when they began to print a variety of foil mythic rares in a set where one or two were particularly sought after (such as Ugin, the Spirit Dragon). Still, the premium Magic cards didn't change the game environment, since they were duplicates of cards already in the set.

As of Dominaria, Wizards of the Coast started to print foil mythic cards as Buy-a-Box promo cards, that didn't appear in a regular version in the set. They were often weak and of limited appeal, though some overshoots occurred and were poorly received as a result. In the era of Secret Lairs, cards with special art and limited availability could be obtained by direct order, which was typically mitigated by normal versions being readily accessible. However, some chase cards are artificially created by combining these three factors extreme rarity, high power, and mechanical uniqueness.

The rise of Commander and its singleton nature means that many uncommons from older sets have risen to chase level due to a lack of reprinting. Some are color pie violations or are too powerful, and as such are not supplied as readily as reprinting in Commander products does little to satiate demand. Relentless cards have a unique chase value as any player that would typically want them would want double-digit copies.

Regular sets may feature serial numbered cards. The ultimate chase card was the The One Ring from Universes Beyond The Lord of the Rings: Tales of Middle-earth, which featured a one-of-a-kind raised gold foil treatment applied to the frame, art, and text written in the Black Speech of Sauron using Tengwar letterforms. It was ultimately obtained by bestselling musician Post Malone.

Inspired by the success of The One Ring, Wizards of the Coast introduced the Headliner-program. Headliners are basically chase cards tailored to each individual set.