It’s time to grab your collection of cryptids, as we check out the most valuable MetaZoo cards!
The definition of cryptid is as follows: an animal that is claimed to exist, but has never actually been proven to exist.
MetaZoo is a card game based around cryptids, which are known in-game as ‘Beasties’.
The Meta of the title refers to the fact that the game mechanics are influenced by the surroundings it’s actually played in, thus breaking the fourth wall or being ‘meta’.
What, in game terms, does that mean?
Well, let’s say you’re playing while it’s snowing outside: that’ll boost the power of your Snow Beasties thanks to what’s known in-game as a Terra Bonus!
Playing near a river? Congratulations, your Water Beasties are now enhanced!
This clever idea, along with a throwback aesthetic that makes MetaZoo look and feel like an early 90s TCG, has brought lots of players into the game.
A wide selection of cards, some extremely rare, has also piqued the interest of collectors in MetaZoo, driving up the value of many of the game’s Beasties and other items.
Just a quick note; we’re using TCG Player’s current Market Price listings in order to find card values. Naturally, we’re not including booster boxes or other sealed product.
Nor are we featuring one-off cards that may have been signed or otherwise altered to look at card values.
So the question is: which are the priciest cards?
Let’s find out, as we take a look at the most valuable MetaZoo cards!
1. Rudy, Investment Sasquatch – Rudy’s Alpha Investments Promo ($116)
In the introduction to this list, the 4th Wall Effects of cards were mentioned; Rudy, Investment Sasquatch has a great example of this, with the card gaining Unblockable if it’s Contracted in a basement.
So if you know your opponent has one of these, whatever you do, don’t agree to play against them in a basement!
The Rudy, Investment Sasquatch card isn’t from a full MetaZoo expansion; rather, it’s part of the Rudy’s Alpha Investments Promo series.
If you aren’t massively into collecting cards specifically for financial gain or investment, you may not be aware of the Alpha Investments YouTube channel, run by Rudy himself.
The channel currently has 368k subscribers and over 200 million views, so it’s definitely fair to say that it’s a pretty big deal.
Rudy offers investment advice, primarily on Magic: The Gathering cards; in the last few years, he’s expanded to cover other games, MetaZoo included, which has led to him having his own set of Promo cards in MetaZoo.
Given to subscribers of the Alpha Investments Patreon, they’re among the rarest and most highly sought after cards in MetaZoo, which is one reason why this card commands an average value of $116!
It’s worth mentioning that this card also has a second 4th Wall Effect; if you place a small piece of cardboard (not a card!) into the Arena, you can deal 10 damage to a targeted Page or Caster as part of this card’s attack.
Even better? The player can deal 10 damage for each small piece of cardboard they place in the Arena, so make sure to both stay out of basements and check your opponent’s pockets before you play against them with this card in their deck!
2. Chibi Aura – Kuromi’s Cryptid Carnival ($100)
Aura is MetaZoo’s energy source, used to pay to bring cards into play.
It’s MetaZoo’s equivalent of Mana in Magic: The Gathering or Pokemon’s Energy types, just as two examples.
So what makes Chibi Aura so sought after?
Well, it can be Fatigued to generate 1 Aura of any type, though there is a catch: it can only be used for Beasties with the Chibi classification.
This card was part of a collaboration with Sanrio, makers of Hello Kitty and other popular, cute animal characters, in a set named Kuromi’s Cryptid Carnival.
Though the individual boosters and boxed product for Kuromi’s Cryptid Carnival aren’t too expensive to acquire, certain cards from the set have proven to be pretty valuable, with Chibi Aura being the highest priced.
The current value of Chibi Aura sits at a pretty impressive $100, and it isn’t the last card you’ll see from Kuromi’s Cryptid Carnival on this list!
3. Content Creator Medal – 2021 Medals ($99)
One thing that’s clear about most MetaZoo cards is that they’re often full of text and symbols, with lots of different attacks, abilities and keywords.
So why is this card, featuring Bunnyman, so different in being bereft of text?
Well, that’s because it’s a special type of card that was given to content creators who featured MetaZoo in their videos.
Creators needed to apply to MetaZoo directly to be awarded a Content Creator Medal card, completing a form by a specific date.
Different types of medal cards were available to creators and players, including the Diplomat Medal, Patreon Medals and Tournament Medals.
The rules for being awarded a Content Creator Medal were quite strict, and required that the applicant provided links to their social media account, as well as screenshots, in order to prove that they have indeed created content centred around MetaZoo.
This Bunnyman card was the 2021 Content Creator Medal award, and is currently selling for an average price of $99. As you’d expect, they’re pretty rare and don’t pop up for sale very often!
4. Rudy Claus – Rudy’s Alpha Investments Promo ($91)
Here we are with another card featuring Rudy from the Alpha Investments channel.
For some reason (perhaps fans more familiar with Rudy himself would know?), each of these cards classifies Rudy as a Sasquatch, and casts him in different roles.
He’s been featured as popular characters such as Max, from the children’s book Where The Wild Things Are, for example.
However, this particular card, valued at $91 currently, casts Rudy in the role of Santa Claus.
As is the case with the card at the number one spot on this list, and other Rudy’s Alpha Investments promo cards, Rudy Claus would have been offered only to members of Rudy’s Patreon, so it’s a particularly scarce card that’s difficult to acquire, unless of course you happened to be an Alpha Investments Patreon supporter when the card was issued!
5. Wendigo – Pin Club Nightfall Mystery Collection ($90)
It’s clear from the cards on this list so far, with Sanrio and Alpha Investments cards featuring prominently, that the limited edition collaborations MetaZoo works on tend to result in many highly valuable cards.
Here’s another, from a set of cards that could be purchased with pin badges from popular online store, Pin Club.
Though the Pin Club MetaZoo range featured pins with promo cards to match, they also offered mystery pin boxes with random promo cards, and the Wendigo was one of these.
So you couldn’t just buy a Wendigo pin with a Wendigo card; instead, you would have had to pull it from a mystery pack, in this case, the Nightfall Blind Box Pin and Promo Card set.
There were 19 of these pins and cards to find, with four Beasties whose identities were kept hidden even on the list of those available; the Wendigo pin and card was one of these secret Beasties!
Though these Nightfall Blind Box sets were sold for $15 upon release, now that they’re sold out, they’ve become highly collectible; the Wendigo being the most valuable of them all, at a current price of $90!
6. Hello Kitty and Kuromi – Kuromi’s Cryptid Carnival ($80)
Another card from the late 2023 Sanrio collaboration set, Kuromi’s Cryptid Carnival, this Hello Kitty and Kuromi card is absolutely gorgeous, with a typically cute illustration and spectacular foil design.
So it’s unsurprising to see it here, and holding a current average value of $80.
As is always the case, regardless of card type or game, you can expect to pay a lot more than that for this card if you opt for a graded copy in great condition, but this is a recent enough printing that you should be able to find pristine (or very close to!) non-graded cards without too much trouble.
This Hello Kitty and Kuromi card also has an interesting 4th Wall Effect: if you’re wearing a red bow, the card gains all of the traits from other Beastie Friends in the Arena. It also gains a bonus if you’re playing in a suburban area!
7. Hodag – Cryptid Nation: Kickstarter Edition ($75)
Hailing from the limited, Kickstarter edition of the very first MetaZoo set, Cryptid Nation, this Hodag card is currently valued at $75.
Hodag can mimic an attack or power from an opposing Beastie, once per turn; this means that it can switch targets and abilities as new enemies enter the Arena!
So it’s unsurprising that this is the highest value card from the original set, given its strategic flexibility.
Note that other variants of Hodag are available, if you’re looking for a more cost effective way of adding this card to your MetaZoo collection!
8. Piasa Bird – Cryptid Nation: Kickstarter Edition ($74)
Springing from Native American mythology, the Piasa Bird has been spotted in numerous real world murals, potentially dating back as far as the middle ages in some cases.
It’s also said to be ‘the bird that devours men’ – so you certainly wouldn’t want to run into one on a dark night in the American wilderness.
The MetaZoo Piasa Bird features in numerous sets, with some differences in the variants on offer.
This particular version, another card from the Kickstarter Edition of the Cryptid Nation set, currently sells for around $74.
It’s another card with a thematic 4th Wall Effect, giving itself a bonus if you can see a fire while playing the game with your opponent.
Do note that we can’t condone starting a fire just to get an in-game bonus!
9. Chibi Adam Ackler and Sam Sinclair – Kuromi’s Cryptid Carnival ($70)
If you’re not a die-hard fan of MetaZoo, or you don’t know the stories behind the cards, you may be forgiven for not knowing who Adam Ackler and Sam Sinclair are.
They are, in fact, at the heart of the story written to accompany the very first MetaZoo set, Cryptid Nation.
Here, of course, they appear in Chibi form, which fits with the overall theme and aesthetic of the Kuromi’s Cryptid Carnival set.
Their importance to the overall story, as well as the fact that they appear as cute versions of themselves here, has no doubt added to the value of this card, which currently sells for an average of $70.
10. Possessed Aura – Seance: First Edition ($60)
What’s special about Possessed Aura, released as part of the game’s fifth set, Seance, in 2022?
Well, it’s one of eight cards known as ‘The Hateful 8’ – due to the fact that they were only printed in full holo form.
That means no other variants of the cards were printed; which includes no non-holo versions.
Possessed Aura is likely one that’s highly sought after due to the fact that it can be exhausted to provide one of any type of Aura too.
So perhaps it’s no surprise that this full holo-only card, with a pretty powerful in-game use, is currently market valued at $60!
Though we haven’t covered other MetaZoo card types yet, why not check out our most valuable Promo Pokemon cards list?
Or our most valuable One Piece cards article?
If you want a real shock, check out how much collectors are willing to pay for the most valuable Flesh and Blood cards!
