Last week, Secret Lair drops were having their own mini spoiler season ahead of the Summer Superdrop 2024. This week, the upcoming Universes Beyond Assassin’s Creed MTG set is taking center stage with its own spoiler season. With 100 cards and myriad variants set to be revealed in just two days, this week is jam-packed with reveals.
As if the Summer Superdrop 2024 didn’t have enough going on already, Assassin’s Creed has its own Secret Lair drops. As always, each drop contains thematically appropriate cards in gorgeously fitting art styles. Thanks to this, it’s hard not to be excited about these Universes Beyond Secret Lair drops. That is the case, at least, so long as you’re not a fan of pure reprint value.
Currently, the Secret Lair x Assassin’s Creed: Da’Vinci’s Designs is set to launch alongside the Summer Superdrop 2024 on June 24th, 2024. This may come as a surprise if you were watching the set’s Debut as a different date was announced during that event. Initially revealed to release on June 29th, Wizards moved up this date shortly after the announcement was made.
Secret Lair x Assassin’s Creed: Da’Vinci’s Designs
First appearing in Assassin’s Creed 2, Leonardo da Vinci is a little-known historical figure from Florence. In the game, da Vinci provides Ezio Auditore with a few gadgets to aid their assassin-ing. Later, in Assassin’s Creed: Brotherhood, da Vinci also builds a 15th-century tank. He’s also largely considered to be one of the greatest painters of all time, I guess.
Turning our attention back to Assassin’s Creed, the game leaned into da Vinci’s famed sketches. Doing the same, this Secret Lair reprises that iconic style to create some truly gorgeous cards. Admittedly, these cards are rather difficult to properly read, but they nonetheless look stunning.
Much like the Retro Schematic Artifacts from The Brothers’ War, each card essentially features multiple pieces of art. Across the card, multiple sketches can be seen which demonstrate the applications of da Vinci’s latest innovation. As you might expect from a Universes Beyond Secret Lair drop, each card also offers heightened Assassin’s Creed-themed flavor.
Ultimately, while good and unique looks can be expected from Secret Lair drops, there is another expected trend. Sadly, the Secret Lair x Assassin’s Creed: Da’Vinci’s Designs drop continues the trend of offering rather disappointing financial value. While flavorful, this mostly mediocre assortment of reprints sadly doesn’t justify the cost of admission through raw reprint value alone.
Appraising An Assortment of Artifacts
While the Assassin’s Creed: Da’Vinci’s Designs Secret Lair drop doesn’t break even, it is closer than past drops. Boasting a non-foil reprint value of around $25, this Secret Lair isn’t too bad really. Sadly for anyone hoping for better foil value, this totals to only $34, which still doesn’t break even.
Despite not being the most outright expensive card, Whispersilk Cloak may be the most interesting. Seeing a good amount of play in Commander, the Secret Lair variant of this card could sell for a pretty penny. On its own, copies of Whispersilk Cloak go for around $2, but there’s a lot of potential above this.
For better or worse, the same is true for the reprint of Darksteel Plate. While this card is hardly the most played artifact in Commander, it’s nonetheless a popular and iconic card. Currently, this rarely reprinted card sells for around $8 a pop, however, with foil-etched variants selling for $17, there’s clearly demand for fancy versions.
Curiously, despite being the second most valuable card at $5, Conqueror’s Fail is also the second least played. Only appearing in 31.000 Commander decks, this Domian-based Stax-y equipment isn’t all too popular. Despite this, its lack of reprints has kept its price fairly high, making it a potentially lucrative Secret Lair card.
Losing the popularity contest this time around, Deathrender is barely played in any format. Despite this, this middling cost-cheating engine is still worth a little over $4 since it’s only been reprinted once.
Last but not least, the reprint of Blade of Selves is a nice, albeit not that financially exciting addition. In theory, using Myriad to copy your best creatures can work wonders, but this card is still only worth $3.
The All-Important Question
Now, every time a new Secret Lair drop is announced, there are two questions on every player’s lips. Firstly, and arguably most importantly, players want to know if this Secret Lair will sell out. Like most of the time, the answer to this question is a vague, yet FOMO-fueled, maybe.
In theory, since Assassin’s Creed: Da’Vinci’s Designs is a Universes Beyond drop, it has a higher potential to sell out. That being said, past Fallout Secret Lair drops didn’t sell out instantly, so there’s no guarantee of a lightning-fast sale. Sadly, thanks to the limited-run nature of Secret Lair drops, it’s still best to not wait around if you’re interested.
Following this always prevalent question, players are often keen to know about any bonus cards available alongside the main drop. Typically, bonus cards are often kept secret until players physically acquire their cards, but this time, Wizards is doing things differently. Ensuring players know what they’re buying, Wizards has reportedly revealed Haystack as this drop’s bonus card already.
Sadly for curious players, the Twitter post containing this juicy detail has been removed and replaced by a spoiler-free alternative. Thankfully, since the internet is forever, players haven’t forgotten what they’ll be getting. As a new card from the Assassin’s Creed MTG set, it’s unclear how much Haystack will be worth.
Ultimately, this Secret Lair drop seems pretty decent overall. While it doesn’t break even, it still offers compelling cards and value alongside a gorgeous theme. Since the art and theme are what should inspire your purchase in the first place, it’s hard to complain overall. We can only hope that it doesn’t sell out instantly so genuinely interested players can get their fill.
Read More: New Assassin’s Creed Uncommon Breaks Magic’s Deckbuilding Rules!