As Magic: The Gathering players around the world get their hands on the drops from the ‘Our Boss is on Vacation’ Superdrop, we’re seeing the latest round of Bonus Cards trickle in. Last week was all about SpongeBob, with an extra meme card and a pricey new Smothering Tithe variant being revealed. This week, so far at least, is a bit more varied in terms of MTG Secret Lair Bonus Cards.
Not only have we seen a new addition to a lineup of ultra-rare Bonus Cards, but also some more Retro Frame Zombies too. On top of that, a spicy new drop-exclusive treatment is drawing many a wandering eye. While not all of these new Bonus Cards are hits, they are at least all interesting. As long as that remains the case, Secret Lair as an initiative is doing its job right.
New Seven Dwarves Bonus Card
First up among today’s fresh batch of MTG Secret Lair Bonus cards, we have a new Seven Dwarves variant. This is actually part of an ongoing series. Back in February we saw the first one, then another later on. Since you can run up to seven copies of the card in a deck, it’s likely that Wizards is planning to release seven of these in total.
The first two Seven Dwarves Bonus Cards currently command pretty hefty price tags. The first one revealed goes for around $115, and the second for a whopping $240. This mirrors the pricing trend we saw with other ‘any number of this card in your deck’ Bonus Cards like Shadowborn Apostle and Persistent Petitioners. There’s a pretty good chance this new Seven Dwarves will be worth a high price, in other words.
Just how high that price will be remains to be seen. There’s a huge amount of variation between past ‘ultra-rare’ Bonus Cards like this. One Persistent Petitioners variant goes for around $310, for example, while another goes for just $14. This variance largely seems to come down to scarcity rather than aesthetic appeal, which makes it pretty much impossible to predict values on these things.
There was a big price jump between the first two Seven Dwarves Bonus Cards, but there could be a fall for the next one. Alternatively, it could be worth even more still. Only time will tell, but in any case opening a Bonus Card like this remains an exciting event. Drop-specific bangers aside, they remain some of the best things you can get from a Secret Lair.
More Retro Frame Zombies
Next up on our tour of the new MTG Secret Lair Bonus Cards are some additions to another ongoing series: Retro Frame Zombies. We first saw these cards when the Festival in a Box drop launched back in February, and we got more in other drops later on. By this point, it’s clear that Retro Frame Zombies is the new ‘default’ range of Bonus Cards for drops that don’t have specific ones allocated. This week, we got to see a few more cards from the range.
Leading the charge here is Varina, Lich Queen. This card experienced a huge price spike at the end of January thanks to the Aetherdrift Eternal Might Commander precon. Incredibly, it’s continued to grow in price since. As of right now, a copy of this top-tier Esper Zombie legend will cost you around $14 on the low end. A rare, exclusive, foil-only variant like this could easily be worth double that, if not more. Out of all the Retro Frame Zombies we’ve seen revealed so far, this is second only to Wilhelt in terms of financial potential. The Bonus Card variant of that is currently selling for nearly $300, too, so Varina could be worth a nice chunk itself.
In addition to Varina, we also got to see Retro Frame versions of Tormod, the Desecrator and Liliana’s Standard Bearer. These are considerably less exciting, selling for $1.20 and $0.15, respectively. The Retro Frame Tormod may well have its fans, however, given he’s a well-known character from the old-school Magic: The Gathering storyline. I wouldn’t expect miracles here, but it could receive a significant markup. The same likely can’t be said of Liliana’s Standard Bearer, unfortunately.
Twisted Toons Bonus Cards
Finally, we have some MTG Secret Lair Bonus Cards tied to a specific drop. For players who purchase the Twisted Toons drop, it looks like the Bonus Cards will be black-and-white versions of cards from the main drop. As a drop that pays tribute to the style of old 1920s-era animation, this stylistic decision makes perfect sense. It’s reminiscent of what Wizards attempted with Innistrad: Double Feature, but sensibly not spread over a whole set this time.
In terms of the cards you can receive in this treatment, it looks like any of the five from the drop are on the table. The above image from easchner confirms that Fatal Push is an option. Additionally, thetaleofhousehoslow also posted an image confirming Young Wolf. We haven’t seen them posted yet, but it’s likely Winds of Abandon, Silence, and Culling the Weak will all be options too. The one you get with your drop, naturally, will be chosen at random.
Financially, Silence and Winds of Abandon will likely be the best hits here. These are the two priciest cards in the drop right now, and rarer variants will inevitably be worth considerably more. The two we’ve actually seen, Fatal Push and Young Wolf, ironically sit at the opposite end of the spectrum.
Whichever Bonus Card you get, however, you’re unlikely to be disappointed. The markups on all of the cards in this drop are already looking pretty good, which speaks to an appreciation of the retro cartoon style. For those who want to lean into it heavily, these Bonus Cards are going to be very sought-after indeed.