After teasing its existence yesterday, Wizards of the Coast didn’t wait around to show off the Corn Maze Superdrop. Today, all eight Secret Lair drops and a brand new promo have been shown off, ahead of their October 12th launch. While there’s a lot to be excited about, the card choices for the KPop Demon Hunters drop are causing some intense frustration.
Huntrix Without the Hunters
At first glance, the Secret Lair x KPop Demon Hunters: How It’s Done drop looks absolutely fantastic. The art across the cards, which comes from the movie’s art book, looks utterly stunning and perfectly matches the chosen cards. Even the value on offer isn’t too terrible, with roughly $31 of raw reprint value available.
Unfortunately, while most of the cards chosen are pretty playable in Commander, the choices here are nothing short of baffling. Despite KPop Demon Hunters having multiple main characters, not to mention plenty of iconic side characters, this drop has no creatures. Even Rumi, the group’s leader and the focal point of this drop, doesn’t get a dedicated creature card.
To put it mildly, this immediately caused quite a stir on social media. Across Reddit, there are tons of players baffled and frustrated by the card choices, as it feels like Wizards totally missed the mark here. It’s not all bad, since we’re getting several Commander staples with gorgeous new art, but not giving iconic characters legendary creature cards is… a choice.
Given the immediate and strong reaction from fans, this doesn’t feel dissimilar from the Monster Hunter Secret Lair situation. While not quite on the same level, this drop was so poorly handled that it was scrapped entirely and is currently being reworked. In theory, the same could happen here, but that does feel very unlikely, given Wizards will surely endeavor to avoid this again.
Notably, while KPop Demon Hunters does feel mishandled, this isn’t the first bizarrely legendary creature-free Secret Lair. The same also happened with Arcane, which got eight cards but didn’t have any legendary creatures. Sadly, it’s unknown why this has happened again, but some suspect existing KPop Demon Hunters trading cards may have caused this.
Pricy Promo Problems
As if KPop Demon Hunters being fumbled wasn’t bad enough, the promo choice for the Corn Maze Superdrop is an oddity. Technically, this promo is a pretty solid reprint, as
Maze of Ith
Maze of Ith
{T}: Untap target attacking creature. Prevent all combat damage that would be dealt to and dealt by that creature this turn.
sells for around $9 on average. It also makes great flavor sense, as Magic’s most iconic maze is being reprinted as The Labyrinth from Labyrinth.
Unfortunately, while this is technically a solid promo, being locked behind a $200 paywall feels like an insult. Given the flavor, this card really should have been included in one of the three Labyrinth drops. Failing that, it could have been available as part of a bundle of all the Labyrinth drops, which total only $90.
Unsurprisingly, this bizarre choice has also raised some eyebrows on social media, with players quickly sharing their outrage. Given how iconic the Labyrinth in Labyrinth is, it’s hard not to feel aggrieved, especially since promos tend to sell out quickly. Potentially, this could cause this promo of The Labyrinth to be obscenely expensive, but we’ll have to wait and see about that.
Speaking of waiting, we’ll also have to do the same to see any bonus cards that could potentially redeem unusually mismanaged drops. Realistically, though, I wouldn’t hold out much hope that Wizards has got something incredible in the bag to surprise us. Sadly, this likely means that the hope for a full KPop Demon Hunters Secret Lair helmed by
Trostani, Three Whispers
Trostani, Three Whispers
{1}{G}: Target creature gains deathtouch until end of turn.
{G/W}: Target creature gains vigilance until end of turn.
{2}{W}: Target creature gains double strike until end of turn.
won’t go anywhere.
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