Magic: The Gathering Card Database & Pricing API — Scryfall

Pull structured Magic: The Gathering card data from Scryfall, the card database every serious MTG deck-builder already relies on. Search by query syntax, look up cards by name or ID, walk an entire set, or pull a full corpus dump — all six modes return the same clean row: mana cost, oracle text, format legality across 20+ formats, and USD/EUR/TIX prices.

---

Scryfall MTG Cards Scraper Features

• Searches with full Scryfall query syntax — c:r t:creature cmc:3 f:standard and friends
• Looks up cards by exact name, fuzzy name, or Scryfall ID, and skips a bad entry in a batch instead of failing the whole run
• Walks every printing in a set by three-letter code
• Pulls the full card corpus via a bulk dump — oracle text only, full reprint history, or every language and variant
• Returns format legality for Standard, Modern, Commander, Pioneer, Pauper, Legacy, Vintage, and 15 more formats in one field
• Includes USD, USD foil, EUR, and MTGO (tix) prices, plus TCGPlayer, Cardmarket, MTGO, and Arena IDs for joining against other data sources

---

Who Uses Magic: The Gathering Card Data?

• Deck-building tool developers — power a card search box or price tracker without maintaining your own card corpus
• Collectors and sellers — cross-reference TCGPlayer and Cardmarket IDs to compare prices across marketplaces, or track a want-list's value over time
• Content creators and set reviewers — walk a new set the day it's indexed and pull every card's text and art in one pass
• Format and metagame analysts — filter by format legality to build Standard or Commander card pools, which is the tedious part nobody enjoys doing by hand
• Data engineers — bulk-ingest the whole catalogue (or just Oracle text) as a seed table for a larger MTG dataset

---

How Scryfall MTG Cards Scraper Works

1. Pick a mode — Search Query, By Name, By Scryfall ID, Walk a Set, Bulk Dump, or Random Card.
2. Give it the matching input: a query string, a list of names or IDs, a set code, or a bulk dump type. Everything else is optional.
3. The scraper paginates or streams through the results and stops once it reaches your Max Items cap, so a five-card test run and a full-set walk cost exactly what they should.
4. You get back one flat row per card printing — same field set regardless of which mode you ran.

---

Input

{
  "mode": "search",
  "query": "t:creature f:standard",
  "maxItems": 50
}

Field	Type	Default	Description
mode	String	search	search, by_name, by_id, set_walk, bulk, or random
query	String	t:creature	Scryfall query syntax. Required when mode is Search Query
cardNames	Array	—	Card names to look up. Required when mode is By Name
fuzzyName	Boolean	false	When mode is By Name, match loosely instead of requiring the exact name
cardIds	Array	—	Scryfall card IDs to fetch. Required when mode is By Scryfall ID
setCode	String	—	Three-letter set code (eld, znr). Required when mode is Walk a Set
bulkType	String	oracle_cards	oracle_cards, unique_artwork, default_cards, or all_cards. Used when mode is Bulk Dump
includePrices	Boolean	true	Include USD/EUR/TIX prices in the output
maxItems	Integer	15	Maximum cards to return. 0 = unlimited (Random Card mode caps at 50 regardless)

By name, skipping a miss

{
  "mode": "by_name",
  "cardNames": ["Llanowar Elves", "Lightning Bolt", "Not A Real Card"],
  "fuzzyName": false
}

A name that doesn't resolve is logged and skipped — the other two still come back.

Walking a whole set

{
  "mode": "set_walk",
  "setCode": "eld",
  "maxItems": 0
}

Bulk corpus dump

{
  "mode": "bulk",
  "bulkType": "oracle_cards",
  "maxItems": 0
}

---

Scryfall MTG Cards Scraper Output Fields

Every mode returns the same row shape — one object per card printing.

{
  "id": "6a0b230b-d391-4998-a3f7-7b158a0ec2cd",
  "oracle_id": "68954295-54e3-4303-a6bc-fc4547a4e3a3",
  "name": "Llanowar Elves",
  "lang": "en",
  "released_at": "2024-11-15",
  "mana_cost": "{G}",
  "cmc": 1,
  "type_line": "Creature — Elf Druid",
  "oracle_text": "{T}: Add {G}.",
  "power": "1",
  "toughness": "1",
  "colors": ["G"],
  "legalities": { "standard": "legal", "modern": "legal", "commander": "legal", "pauper": "legal" },
  "set": "fdn",
  "set_name": "Foundations",
  "collector_number": "227",
  "rarity": "common",
  "artist": "Larry MacDougall",
  "prices": { "usd": "0.15", "usd_foil": "0.49", "eur": "0.13", "tix": "0.02" },
  "tcgplayer_id": 557921,
  "cardmarket_id": 795132,
  "scryfall_uri": "https://scryfall.com/card/fdn/227/llanowar-elves"
}

Field	Type	Description
id	String	Scryfall card ID (unique per printing)
oracle_id	String	Scryfall oracle ID (stable across every reprint of this card)
name	String	Card name
lang	String	Language code
released_at	String	Release date of this printing
layout	String	Card layout (normal, transform, split, …)
mana_cost	String	Mana cost string
cmc	Number	Converted mana cost / mana value
type_line	String	Full type line
oracle_text	String	Rules text
power / toughness / loyalty	String	Creature or planeswalker stats where applicable
colors / color_identity	Array	Card colors and Commander color identity
keywords	Array	Keyword abilities on this printing
legalities	Object	Format legality map — Standard, Modern, Commander, Pioneer, Pauper, Legacy, Vintage, and 17 more formats
set / set_name / set_type	String	Set code, name, and type
collector_number	String	Collector number within the set
rarity	String	common, uncommon, rare, mythic, or special
artist	String	Card illustrator
prices	Object	USD, USD foil, USD etched, EUR, EUR foil, and MTGO (tix) prices
tcgplayer_id / cardmarket_id / mtgo_id / arena_id	Number	Marketplace and platform IDs for joining against other datasets
image_uris	Object	Image URLs at several sizes
card_faces	String	JSON-encoded face data for double-faced, split, or flip cards — empty for single-faced cards
scryfall_uri	String	Permalink to this card on scryfall.com
rulings_uri / prints_search_uri	String	API URLs for this card's rulings and other printings
edhrec_rank	Number	EDHRec popularity rank — lower is more popular

---

FAQ

How do I search for Magic: The Gathering cards by query?

Set mode to Search Query and give it a query using Scryfall's syntax — color, type, mana value, and format filters all combine, so c:r t:creature cmc:3 f:standard returns red three-mana creatures legal in Standard. Format legality and prices come back on every row.

How much does Scryfall MTG Cards Scraper cost to run?

It's floor-priced — a small per-record charge on top of a flat start fee, with no account or API key required to run it. A maxItems test run of five cards costs a few thousandths of a dollar.

Can I get every printing of a card, not just one?

Yes. Use Walk a Set with a three-letter set code to get every card in that set, or fetch the whole corpus with Bulk Dump and unique_artwork / default_cards, which return one row per distinct printing instead of one row per card name.

What happens if I look up a card name that doesn't exist?

By Name and By Scryfall ID modes skip a miss and keep going — a typo in a list of fifty names costs you one missing row, not a failed run.

Do I need an account or API key for Scryfall?

No. Scryfall is a public, unauthenticated API, and this scraper needs nothing from you beyond the input fields above.

---

Need More Features?

Need a mode this doesn't cover, or want it paired with TCGPlayer or Cardmarket pricing? File an issue or get in touch.

Why Use Scryfall MTG Cards Scraper?

• Floor-priced — a fraction of a cent per card, cheaper than maintaining your own polite fetcher with rate-limit retries
• Six modes in one schema — search, name lookup, ID lookup, set walks, bulk dumps, and random pulls all return the same row shape, so switching modes doesn't mean rewriting your downstream code
• Join-ready output — TCGPlayer, Cardmarket, MTGO, and Arena IDs ship on every row, which is most of the work of combining this with a pricing or collection tool already done