MagicCon events are the largest Magic events in the world right now. Whether you’re playing in a Pro Tour, or attending one of the many panels, MagicCon is a haven for MTG fans. Unfortunately, not everyone can attend MagicCon events, but players can still enjoy the event from home. The MagiCon Festival in a Box products is Wizards of the Coast’s attempt to offer that experience for anyone, regardless of where they are.
MagicCon Festival in a Box generally offer an exclusive Secret Lair sold at the Con, a booster box of cards, and a few extra goodies. These are generally some of the best value offered for MTG products all year, and this one looks like no exception.
Sliver Hive
Among the seven new promos, two of them offer cards that are receiving retro borders for the first time. Sliver Hive is the best land to include in Sliver decks, regardless of the format. Not only can the Hive tap for any color of mana to cast your Sliver spells, but this land can start making bodies of its own if you run out of cards to cast. Because Slivers grant all their abilities to other Slivers, these measly 1/1s can start doing a lot of stuff once you get snowballing.
The Sliver archetype got a ton of support with the recent(ish) Sliver Swarm Commander precon released as part of Commander Masters. Shockingly, Sliver Hive was not included in that precon. To this day, the only places you can find a Sliver Hive are in Magic 2015, as a Secret Lair Bonus Card, and now as a promo in the MagicCon Vegas 2025 Festival in a Box.
While there isn’t a ton of demand for Sliver Hive, the card is quite difficult to come by. As a result, this card has a $20 secondary market price for its cheapest copy.
Ugin, the Spirit Dragon
Ugin, the Spirit Dragon is yet another financially lucrative reprint seeing a retro border for the first time. Capable of wiping all colored permanents off the board, provided they have a moderate mana value, Ugin, the Sprit Dragon sees plenty of Dual Commander play in ramp-oriented decks. The card used to see lots of Modern Tron play, but has since been usurped by Ugin’s new appearance in Tarkir: Dragonstorm.
Even though this card isn’t seeing as much play as it used to, Ugin, the Spirit Dragon maintains a $15 price tag for its cheapest variants. Ugin remains an incredibly powerful Planeswalker in the Commander format. Slot this into any of your Commander decks; you won’t be disappointed.
Marwyn, the Nurturer
Marwyn, the Nurturer is the first of the four cards appearing in the Exclusive Slay the Day Secret Lair that comes with this Festival in a Box. Offering four cards with a fashion theme, the artwork for this Secret Lair is quite striking.
For Elves decks, Marwyn, the Nurturer is an auto-include. This Legendary Elf grows in strength, and in mana production, the more Elves enter play under your control. Just a few Elves make it more than easy to pull ahead of the game with a massive mana advantage.
Marwyn, the Nurturer was printed rather recently in Foundations Jumpstart. That wasn’t the most opened set in the world, but it does give Marwyn a new cheapest secondary market value: about $2.68. This isn’t the most valuable Elf in the world, but anyone running a Marwyn Commander deck, or who otherwise wants to run some fancier variants in their Elf decks, will likely enjoy the artwork this Marwyn offers. This is the first time Marwyn has received alternate art, and its exclusivity could mean that a serious premium is available.
Sythis, Harvest’s Hand
As far as Enchantress Commanders go, Sythis, Harvest’s Hand is hard to beat. This is the only Legendary Creature that has the typical Enchantress ability to turn your enchantments into cantrips. Gaining life is a nice secondary bonus, helping you weather the storm against aggressive decks.
According to EDHREC, Sythis is the third-most popular Enchantress Commander, and for good reason. Beating this card’s value is incredibly difficult in a focused strategy. Even if you aren’t running it as a Commander, Sythis is an auto-include in any Enchantress strategy, whether it’s Commander, Modern, or beyond.
Sythis has only seen one reprinting to date in a premium Commander Masters person. Otherwise, Sythis was originally printed in Modern Horizons 2 as a rare. The card’s secondary market value of $2.62 isn’t the most impressive, but similar to Marwyn, this is the first variant of Sythis with alternate artwork, which could create quite a premium.
Oloro, Ageless Aesthetic
Back in the day, Oloro was a Commander who was a force to be reckoned with. To this day, any Commanders with abilities that function in the Command Zone are scary. Oloro’s Command Zone ability only gains 2 life on your upkeep, however, which certainly pales in comparison to The Ur-Dragon or Edgar Markov. Regardless, Oloro turns that life gain into a win condition when in play. Drawing cards and shaving life off your opponents should give you everything you need to end the game.
This is the big reprint in the Slay the Day Secret Lair. Oloro, Ageless Aesthetic has only seen one List reprint since Commander 2013. List reprints don’t tend to impact supply much since they’re relatively scarce, which also means that secondary market price isn’t affected much, either.
Sadly, this reprint won’t reverse the trend, but it does mean that Oloro, Ageless Aesthetic has a $25 secondary market value. Like the other cards in Slay the Day, this is a Commander favorite for many, meaning the fancy new artwork could bring moths to flame.
Liesa, Shroud of Dusk
Liesa, Shroud of Dusk is another Commander with an interesting relationship with the Command Zone. You won’t ever have to pay Command tax in the form of mana for Liesa. Instead, you can pay with life. Just be careful since Liesa treats everyone equally. Anyone casting a spell must pay an additional two life to do so. If you can’t, Liesa will simply end your life. Of course, you can give your deck lifelinking tendencies to offset this downside.
This is the worst promo in the MagicCon Vegas Festival in a Box in terms of reprint value. Originating in Commander Legends and seeing a List reprint, Liesa is only worth 50 cents.
All-You-Can-Eat Buffet
The last promo offered in the MagicCon Vegas Festival in a Box is not tournament-legal. All-You-Can-Eat Buffet basically functions as a Future Sight, but the cards that come from the top of your library are Food Tokens.
This card works for sanctioned play until you get to the Food Token part. This is not something that has ever appeared in Magic, and likely creates a bunch of rules issues. You could likely sacrifice food tokens from the top of your deck to gain life, but would that also mean that your opponent could target it with spells since it’s a token? It would undoubtedly lead to wacky games depending on how one interprets the rulings for this card.
Either way, this card will not be tournament-legal, so it only serves as a unique trinket that your playgroup can use to spice up some Commander games at your discretion.
These Are Always Amazing Deals
At the time of writing, we don’t have a price for the MagicCon Vegas Festival in a Box product, but historically, these have always been fantastic deals. A Mystery Booster 2 Box, confirmed to appear in this product, is currently about $273, so even if this product retails for $300, it would technically still be a good deal. That said, recent Festival in a Box products have only ranged from about $200 to $250. For that cost, the booster box alone is great. The promos add another $68 in value to the pot.
Players interested in acquiring the MagicCon Vegas Festival in a Box won’t have too much longer to wait. This goes for sale on May 19 at 12 PM EST on the official Secret Lair site. Of course, if you’re at MagicCon Vegas, you’ll be able to find everything in this box there, as well.