Magic: The Gathering x Final Fantasy is finally here! Many Characters from across Final Fantasy's vast game library are found in the set. Among them is Cloud Strife, the blond-haired protagonist in Final Fantasy VII. Cloud is depicted on several cards, including Cloud, Midgar Mercenary. This Mythic Rare is an impressive legendary creature with Equipment synergies. In fact, Cloud, Midgar Mercenary's abilities make it an appealing mono-white commander choice for Equipment-centric decks.

In my recent EDHREC article, Cloud Midgar Mercenary Deck Tech, I discuss Cloud's potential as a Voltron commander. There are potent Equipment cards capable of making Cloud deal 21 commander damage, even in a single blow. If you are a fan of aggressive or mono-color decks, you shouldn't skip over this article.

In the Magic: The Gathering trading card game, White is not well known for free spells. The only zero-mana white spell in the game is Intervention Pact, which turns the next source of damage into life gain. However, there is a cost to pay the following turn to not lose the game. Fortunately, White does offer other card choices that may be cast for no mana through alternative conditions. 

In my latest EDHREC article, The Best Free White Spells for Commander, I discuss White's best spells you may cast for zero mana in Commander. Exiling a white card instead of paying Reverent Mantra's casting cost is worth it to save your creatures from Blasphemous Act. Read the article to explore additional white free spells you may want to test in Commander decks.

Magic: The Gathering has a handful of spells with an actual cost of zero mana. The original set of Mox cards from Alpha, Beta, and Unlimited are wonderful examples. As is Lion's Eye Diamond and Mox Diamond. However, the amount of colored zero-mana cards is an even smaller group. 

While MTG's colors fall short of zero-mana spells, they do offer spells capable of being cast for no mana. In my recent EDHREC article, Best Free Red Spells for Commander, I highlight excellent red cards you can play without paying their mana costs. You won't want to skip this article as there are multiple cards that you should consider in the 99.
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TCGplayer is an online platform for buying and selling trading card games. The website also provides a pricing reference for individual Magic: The Gathering cards. One of the biggest draws for players eager to purchase trading cards is TCGplayer's store credit (formerly bonus bucks) promotion. Periodically, TCGplayer offers store credit as a percentage of total purchases, which appears in accounts a few days after the promotion ends. The store credit has historically varied between 5% and 15%. Promotional events are commonly advertised just before an event's start date and occur for a limited time. 
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I have compiled a list (updated 15/16/2025) of TCGplayer bonus bucks and store credit events from January 1, 2018, through May 16th, 2025. This list was created with saved email announcements from TCGplayer. The store credit event list and article are periodically updated to show more recent TCGplayerr promotions.​

2018 TCGplayer Bonus Bucks Days
In 2018, TCGPlayer ran bonus bucks promotions on 63 different days throughout the year. The discounts per bonus bucks promotion varied between 5% and 15%. On average, the bonus bucks percentage offered was 5.6%. In addition, there were restrictions on earning bonus bucks for 22 of the days. These restrictions were either direct orders only or photo listings only. The chart below illustrates bonus bucks promotion dates and discounts during 2018.

In 2018, only 8 of the 63 promotional days offered more than 5%. The highest bonus bucks discounts were offered on Thanksgiving, Black Friday, Cyber Monday, and the release week of Commander 2018. One commonality of the bonus bucks days is that they all fell on release weekends for Standard sets. They also fell on the release weekend for Masters 25 and Battlebond.  

2019 TCGplayer Bonus Bucks Days
As of December 18th, 2019, TCGplayer has offered a bonus bucks promotion on 51 different days. This is 7 less days over the same time period in 2018. The average bonus bucks discount throughout 2019 is 7%. An interesting fact is that the bonus bucks percentage has reached 10% on 10 different days. The only days bonus bucks were 10% or higher in 2018 were around Black Friday. It appears that TCGplayer is getting more aggressive with bonus bucks percentages. None of the bonus bucks days in 2019 have had restrictions regarding direct orders or photo listings. Additionally, the Standard set releases, as well as Modern Horizons' release, have featured a bonus bucks promotion. There are 11 other days that anniversary a bonus bucks promotion from 2018. The chart below highlights bonus bucks promotions and discounts during 2019.

One assumption from the data suggests that TCGplayer will offer bonus bucks promotions on future set release weekends. They have offered a promotion for each Standard set and specialty set release since the beginning of 2018. If you are planning to pre-order individual cards, it may be advisable to wait until release weekend before purchasing them. 

Looking at the 2018 data, there were 5 bonus bucks days from December 1st, 2018 to December 31st, 2018. Another assumption is that TCGplayer will have 5 additional bonus bucks promotion days between now and the end of the year. If this happened, there would be 7 less promotional days in 2019 than in 2018. There is a high probability TCGplayer would anniversary the days just before Christmas. The chance for another promotional day on December 31st, 2019 is not too farfetched. The 5 remaining days could potentially occur in November. In actuality, TCGplayer offered five bonus bucks promotional days between 10/21/2019 and 12/31/2019. These promotions averaged 9% in bonus bucks.

2020 TCGplayer Bonus Bucks Days
​TCGplayer did a two-day 10% bonus bucks promotion from January 27-28th 2020. No other promotional days were offered in 2020 until November 6-7th, when a two-day 8% promotion on singles occurred. On November 27th, 2020, TCGplayer held their annual Black Friday bonus bucks event with 10% on all products. The event was followed by a 30%  bonus bucks promotion for Ultra Pro Supplies on November 28th. The last 2020 bonus bucks event happened on Cyber Monday with a repeat of 10% on all products.

​2021 TCGplayer Bonus Bucks Days
2021 did not have any bonus bucks promotions until October. TCGplayer offered 15% bonus bucks on all products between October 1st and 2nd. However, the event was plagued with issues as TCGplayer's site was unable to process checkouts. The original sale period from 6 p.m. to midnight on October 1st got extended through noon on October 2nd to provide extra time for customers to make purchases. Another bonus bucks event occurred on October 26th with 10% off all products.

TCGplayer offered an exciting promotional event on March 8th, 2022, for fans of Digimon, MetaZoo, and Flesh and Blood. All singles and sealed product purchases for the three trading card games during the event earned a store credit kickback of 7%. The one-day event was probably not the last time TCGplayer offers bonus bucks for these trading card games. TCGplayer increased store credit kickback to 8% on sealed products and supplies for promotions on May 26th and June 24th. 

On April 15th and 28th, TCGplayer offered 10% bonus bucks on all product purchases at or above $35. However, the April promotional events were exclusive to paying subscribers of TCGplayer's subscription program. TCGplayer held a 10% store credit promotion for subscribers on July 15th, August 19th,  September 8th, and October 13th for all products. The promotional event on August 12th only included Yu-Gi-Oh! singles and sealed products. Interestingly, the September 8th event worked on preorders too.

Before Thanksgiving 2022, TCGplayer offered their first store credit event on comic books. Anyone could earn 8% bonus bucks on comics and trading card singles purchased between 9 am and 10 pm ET on November 11th. In 2023, TCGplayer discontinued their comic book business.

TCGplayer's 2022 Thanksgiving weekend and Cyber Monday promotional events differed from previous years. For Black Friday's promotion, TCGplayer offered 15% store credit on all products exclusively for subscribers. While the store credit percentage was the same as in 2021, it was available to the general public. As an additional promotion, TCGplayer offered 8% in store credit on sealed products and supplies for the general public on November 27th. An obvious omission of Sunday's promotion was the exclusion of singles. On Cyber Monday, TCGplayer repeated the 10% store credit promotion from 2021, but made the event only for subscribers again.

On December 16th, TCGplayer offered their store credit event with different percentages for subscribers and non-subscribers. TCGplayer subscribers received 10% in store credit on all products, whereas non-subscribers only received 8%. This particular event type continued where TCGplayer gives different store credit percentages for subscribers and non-subscribers.
 
​2023 TCGplayer Store Credit Days
February 24th marked the first store credit event in 2023. TCGplayer offered an 8% kickback on sealed product and supplies for everyone. TCGplayer subscribers received 10-13% depending on their tenure. The same promotional event was repeated on March 30th with an increased range of 13-15% in store credit for subscribers. On April 28th, TCGplayer repeated a similar promotional event structure but expanded it to include all products. Interestingly, the base kickback percentage for subscribers is 2% - 5% higher between the three events, respectively, than what the general public received. June 30th marked another 8% kickback for the public and 13-15% for subscribers on sealed product and supplies. Lastly, September 29th marked a store credit event for sealed products and supplies with a 10% kickback for everyone.

For Black Friday 2023, TCGplayer gave 10% store credit to everyone for purchases of all products from November 24-27th. TCGplayer subscribers got 15-17% back in bonus bucks on all purchases depending on their tier. Four days of store credit offers is sure to spur many purchases between Black Friday and Cyber Monday. 
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​2024 TCGplayer Store Credit Days
2024's first TCGplayer promotional event occurred on March 22nd. The general public received 8% in store credit on sealed and supplies purchases, while TCGplayer subscribers got 11-13%. Although this particular promotion did not include singles, all trading card games and relates supplies were included. 

TCGplayer's second promotional event happened on May 17th from 9 a.m. - 11 p.m. EST. Non-TCGplayer subscribers received 10% in store credit on purchases of all products and singles. TCGplayer subscribers earned 13-15% in store credit instead, depending on their existing Loyalty Bonus. 

The third TCGplayer promotional event of 2024 occured on September 13th with a repeated offering of the promotion from March 22nd. While a promotion targeted at singles would have been ideal, it did not happen this time. Everyone will have to wait until Black Friday or another future date in 2024 to receive store credit from purchasing singles.

TCGplayer's 2024 Black Friday - Cyber Monday promotion event ran from 9 a.m. November 29th - 11 p.m. through December 2nd. This promotion gave non-TCGplayer subscribers 10% in store credit on purchases of all products and TCGplayer subscribers received 13-15% in store credit. 

​2025 TCGplayer Store Credit Days
TCGplayer waited over five months in 2025 to offer their first store credit promotion of the year. On May 16th, 2025, TCGplayer gave shoppers 10% all products and subscribers 11-13% depending on their tier. The promotion event went from 9 a.m. until 11 p.m. Note that the subscriber store credit percentage was 2% lower than what was offered in December 2024.
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*The information in this article is of my own knowledge and opinion. It is meant for informational purposes only. I am not a registered financial professional or trying to act as one.* ​