Somebody dropped more than $87,000 on a Magic: The Gathering card

Instead of buying a car, paying for a four-year education at a state school, or stocking up on enough Hot Pockets to keep a person fed for roughly 53 years, someone took $87,672 and spent it on a single Magic: The Gathering card.

The elusive Alpha Black Lotus card was sold on eBay last week for that jaw-dropping sum, Kotaku reported Saturday.

Take a look at this very expensive piece of action:

Original image has been replaced. Credit: Mashable

So what makes this card so expensive? First of all, it's a really good card. While in most cases players can only tap a small amount of mana every turn (only one on the first turn, thanks to the game's rules), this card allows you to tap an extra three mana, which is a huge advantage early on in any game.

Black Lotus, like a handful of others from the early days of Magic: The Gathering, is a bit overpowered and has since been taken out of rotation, and that rarity gives its some of its value.

Up in the top left corner of the image, you may notice a little text that says "1993 Alpha," which is what turns this card into such a cash cow. Only 1,100 copies of this particular version of the card were ever printed.

These facts on top of the card's Professional Sports Authenticator's (PSA) near-perfect score of 9.5 (out of 10) makes it quite the card.

Here's hoping the winner of the Black Lotus auction looks back on this purchase with no regrets.