Today, all eyes are on Wizards of the Coast’s routine WeeklyMTG livestream. Here, at long last, Wizards is set to provide an update on the Commander format’s brackets and unbans are all but guaranteed. As you might expect, many players are hugely excited about this, and some cards are already preemptively spiking in price.
While everyone is distracted speculating about Commander unbans, Wizards has dropped a new Secret Lair. Released quietly via the Chaos Vault program, this drop has been a very long time coming. We first saw the art for this drop way back in late 2024, when it was leaked via MTG Arena. At long last, the Adventures of the Little Witch drop is finally here.
Adventures of the Little Witch
Featuring gorgeous artwork created by Heikala, MTG players have long been admiring this Secret Lair drop’s art. Now that Adventures of the Little Witch has finally been released, there’s plenty of cause for excitement, however, there is a catch. For this Chaos Vault drop, Wizards of the Coast is trying something new for this Secret Lair.
Not only did Wizards challenge a designer to create “the least-terrible possible Legacy deck,” using the drop’s cards, but there’s different pricing too. For the non-foil variant, you can expect to pay the usual $29.99 asking price, however, the foil version is significantly more expensive. For whatever reason, this variant is priced at a staggering $59.99.
In the store page listing for this product, there’s no explanation for this higher price point. Maybe there’s less supply to go around this time, or maybe Wizards is just seeing how much people will pay. We’ll only really know what’s up as time goes on, as we’ll be able to make assumptions based on what sells out.
For now, this price change is rather worrying, but it’s too early to know what’s up. We can only hope that this isn’t the first sign of an impending Secret Lair price hike.
Realms Uncharted
Alluded to in the title, Realms Uncharted is the big ticket item in this Secret Lair drop. Typically selling for around $12, this is a great reprint to see, although it’s the only exciting one in the drop. Notably, foil copies of Realms Uncharted do technically go for $57, however, this new reprint is unlikely to match that premium.
Unless foil copies of Adventures of the Little Witch are in very short supply, this new variant will be significantly more available. Since Rise of the Eldrazi was released at a time when foils were actually rare, the existing variant is deservedly expensive. For better or worse, the increased supply of this new variant will likely mean it’s worth significantly less.
As for the card itself, Realms Uncharted is a fairly popular Commander and cEDH card. While you only get half of the lands it tutors up in your hand, the sheer volume of utility lands in Commander still makes this worthwhile. Thanks to this, Realms Uncharted is included within around 26,000 Commander decks and routinely performs well at cEDH tournaments.
Serenity
Taking a massive step down in value, copies of Serenity can be picked up for as little as $1. Since this is the next most expensive card in the Adventures of the Little Witch drop, alarm bells may already be ringing. Clearly, this Secret Lair drop won’t be breaking even, but that’s not the worst thing in the world.
As always, with every Secret Lair drop, the art is really the point of this release. For Adventures of the Little Witch, this is especially true, as Heikala’s work is fantastic. This reprint of Serenity, in particular, feels especially serene, which is obviously rather fitting. Due to this, it may end up being rather valuable.
While the Mystery Booster 2 variant of Serenity is the cheapest by far, other printings sell for around $5. There’s a good chance this new Secret Lair will be worth a similar amount, or potentially even more once released. This, however, will depend on demand and whether or not this drop sells out.
In terms of playability, Serenity is only really popular in Legacy and Vintage. Appearing in Cephalid Breakfast and Esper Lurrus lists, respectively, these decks typically keep Serenity available as sideboard tech. Unfortunately, this competitive play may mean there’s little demand for this Secret Lair Serenity, since these cards can often cause issues in tournament play.
Esika’s Chariot
Dropping further down the value order, we have Esika’s Chariot, which is surprisingly unpopular. Once a powerhouse in Standard, Esika’s Chariot is now relegated to just seeing fringe play in Pioneer. Outside of that niche, this card is fairly popular in Commander, but it’s by no means a staple.
Following a recent reprint in Bloomburrow Commander, copies of Esika’s Chariot can now be picked up for just $0.40. While the chase Promo variant of the card sells for around $5, it’s clearly no value bomb. That being said, Esika’s Chariot can still put in a lot of work within the right deck.
Provided you’ve got a reliable way to make powerful tokens, Esika’s Chariot gives you the means to copy them. Despite this strength, this card is more often played within Cat Typal decks and with Bello, Bard of the Brambles. Within this archetype, Bello animates Esika’s Chariot while also giving it protection, allowing for easy copying.
Secret Rendezvous
Last, and also least, we have Secret Rendezvous. Even prior to the recent reprint in Bloomburrow Commander, this card was never very expensive. At best, copies once sold for around $0.40, but now they’re just worth $0.20 on average. Despite this low cost, Secret Rendezvous is fairly popular in Commander still.
Historically, white has always been rather lackluster when it comes to card draw. Most of the time, as Secret Rendezvous demonstrates, you’d have to give something to get something. Thankfully, in Commander, this isn’t always a bad thing, since politics allows for all manner of shenanigans.
Ideally, Secret Rendezvous reads “you and target temporary ally each draw three cards,” which is pretty great for three mana. Despite this potential strength, you rarely want to give your opponents the means to win. As a result, Secret Rendezvous is hardly a super staple in Commander, especially since other colors and draw options exist.
A Delightful Dud
Clearly, Adventures of the Little Witch isn’t very impressive from a value perspective. Totaling up the four cards, you’re only getting around $14 of value for the $29.99 asking price. To make matters worse, none of the cards are true staples in Commander, so long-term demand could be rather suspect.
Despite this lacking value, there’s no denying that Adventures of the Little Witch is a visually gorgeous Secret Lair. While this does open up the collector’s market, there’s still no promise of positive value. As always, we’ll just have to wait and see what happens once time goes on.