How to make a Magic: The Gathering collection spreadsheet

A spreadsheet is the most common first tool collectors reach for — and it works surprisingly well, right up until it doesn't. Here's how to build a good one, and what to do when it starts holding you back.

Why collectors start with a spreadsheet

Spreadsheets are free, universally available, and completely flexible. You control every column. There's no app to learn, no subscription, no sync to worry about. For a collection of a few hundred cards that rarely changes, a spreadsheet genuinely is a fine solution.

The problems show up at scale: manually entering card names is slow, prices go stale the moment you type them, and a spreadsheet has no idea that "Lightning Bolt" from Alpha and "Lightning Bolt" from M10 have very different values.

What columns to include

A useful MTG spreadsheet needs at least these fields:

• Card name — exact name, including split names like Fire // Ice
• Set code — e.g. LEA for Alpha, MH3 for Modern Horizons 3
• Collector number — distinguishes variants within the same set (showcase, borderless, etc.)
• Quantity — how many copies you own
• Foil — yes/no; foil prices can be 2–10× the non-foil
• Condition — Near Mint, Lightly Played, Moderately Played, etc.
• Price (USD) — from TCGplayer or Scryfall; date this column so you know how stale it is
• Total value — a formula: quantity × price
• Location — which binder, box, or deck the card is in
• Notes — signed copies, alters, tournament play, trade binder, etc.

That's a minimum. Power users add columns for purchase price (to track gain/loss), language, and format legality.

Where to get accurate card prices

Prices are the hardest part of a spreadsheet. Your options:

• Scryfall (scryfall.com) — free, comprehensive, shows TCGplayer market price. Look up each card manually and paste the price. Accurate the day you do it; stale the next week.
• TCGplayer market prices — the closest thing to a real transaction price. TCGplayer has a CSV export tool for your "Collection" if you've logged cards there.
• MTGGoldfish — useful for format-specific price tracking and spotting cards with unusual price history.

The catch: none of these automatically update a spreadsheet. You'll need to re-pull prices manually or write a complex API integration to keep things current. For a collection worth hundreds or thousands of dollars, stale prices can genuinely mislead you — especially around spoiler season when reprints can drop card values 30–50% overnight.

The printing problem

This is where most homemade spreadsheets break down. "Lightning Bolt" is not one card — it's dozens of printings across 30 years. An Alpha Beta Unlimited copy in Near Mint is worth thousands; the same card from a recent Commander precon is worth less than a dollar. If your spreadsheet only tracks the name, you don't actually know what you own.

Accurate tracking requires both the set code and collector number. Most people skip this because entering those fields by hand for every card is genuinely tedious, and it's easy to fat-finger a code that makes a price lookup fail silently.

The same problem affects double-faced and split cards. Cards like Delver of Secrets // Insectile Aberration or Wear // Tear have names that most spreadsheet formulas won't match correctly because they contain //. You end up with lookup errors or blank price cells for cards that might be significant parts of your collection's value.

When a spreadsheet stops being enough

A spreadsheet works well for a static list. It struggles when:

• You're adding cards regularly and manual entry becomes a bottleneck
• You want prices to update automatically
• You need to know which cards are in which deck vs. which are available
• You're prepping for insurance or a sale and need an accurate total quickly
• You want to search your collection at a game store, away from your laptop

These are all things a dedicated app handles natively — at the cost of some flexibility compared to a freeform spreadsheet.

How to export from a spreadsheet into a collection app

You don't have to choose one or the other permanently. If you have an existing spreadsheet, most collection apps accept a CSV import — provided your CSV has a card name, set, and quantity column. Clean up inconsistent set abbreviations before importing; most apps will flag rows they can't match.

Going the other direction is also possible: Archivist exports your full collection as a CSV or JSON file, so you can always pull your data into a spreadsheet for one-off analysis — filtering by format legality, building a trade list, or calculating gains if you track purchase prices separately.

The honest answer

A spreadsheet is a perfectly valid starting point. If your collection is small and grows slowly, it may be all you ever need. But if you find yourself re-entering prices, double-checking set codes, or wondering whether your total is accurate, that's the signal to move to a tool built for the job.

The rest of the Archivist blog covers how to digitize your full collection and how to price-check your cards accurately — whether you stick with a spreadsheet or switch to an app.