Earlier this week, the Dungeons & Dragons 50th Anniversary Superdrop went live around the world. After just two hours, multiple of these Secret Lair drops sold out thanks to huge demand from thirsty fans. With amazing art and decent reprints on display, there was definitely a lot to love, so this wasn’t a huge surprise.
What is a surprise, however, is the speed at which Secret Lair bonus cards are being revealed. It’s only been two days and we’re already seeing some of the new Secret Lairs being opened. Part of this is thanks to early drops sent to content creators, however, it seems there has been some remarkably fast shipping too!
A Pretty Pair
On Twitter, Pleasant Kenobi has shown off their haul from Wizards, revealing new gorgeous reprints. Hailing from Battle for Baldur’s Gate, these two new bonus cards add a lot of extra value to already enticing Secret Lair drops. Given they have no relevance to the Secret Lairs they hail from, it’s likely these are two of many random bonus cards.
When opening their Death Is in the Eyes of the Beholder Secret Lair, Kenobi found Archivist of Oghma. Featuring stunning new art and surprisingly not very Cleric-y flavor text, this is a great reprint to see. On TCGplayer, copies of Archivist of Oghma tend to sell for around $5, which isn’t bad at all.
Similarly selling for around the $5 mark usually is Xorn. Kenobi states they found this card in their gifted Karlach’s Rage Secret Lair drop. Once again, the art on this card is standout, enough so that many MTG players have been enchanted by it. In theory, this could seriously push the value of this new Xorn, especially if it’s somewhat rare.
Rarity is a big question with these reprints as they appear to be random inserts, rather than dedicated inclusions. Technically, there’s a non-zero chance either of these cards could be an ultra-rare bonus card, but that seems unlikely. Given neither of these cards are particularly iconic, they’d be an odd choice for an ultra-rare.
Seriously Speedy Shipping
While it makes sense that Pleasant Kenobi got their Secret Lair drops early, the same isn’t true for Mike Danovich. Rather than getting their drops early and for free, it seems Danovich simply received their cards remarkably quickly. Hopefully, other MTG players will get their cards at a similar speed, although that’s hardly guaranteed. A shipping time of just two days is unprecedented for Secret Lair.
As for the card itself, Danovich found a reprint of Dark Deal, in the An Exhibition of Adventure Secret Lair. This card appears to be a fixed inclusion as the flavor text matches the rest of the drop it appeared in. Considering the Exhibition of Adventure drop is still available for purchase, this is great news.
Not only is it nice to know what’s in store when buying a Secret Lair, but Dark Deal is another decently valuable reprint. Having only been printed in Fate Reforged, this card sells for around $5. Foil copies, meanwhile, sell for $17, so this card could have a rather high ceiling, even as a guaranteed inclusion.
Technically, there is a small chance this bonus card isn’t a fixed inclusion. As Copernicus1981 notes on Reddit, there could be other reprints with “other books from the 2024 release.” While this would be exciting to see, Copernicus1981 admits this is “unlikely.” Ultimately, we won’t know for sure until more Secret Lairs get delivered to players.
Secret Secrets
While bonus cards are nothing new for Secret Lair drops, many MTG players nonetheless want the system changed. As fun as these cards are as a nice extra surprise, sometimes they can be the deciding factor in a purchase. This is all well and good for drops like An Exhibition of Adventure, but not so much for any sold-out Secret Lair.
With the limited-run print model of Secret Lair drops in mind, maybe it’s time for Wizards to change tactics. Should a bonus card be fixed, there’s little reason for it to be kept under wraps. Players who like the theme of a Secret Lair will surely want more cards in that theme, so why not show them off? Sure it spoils a bit of the mystery and pack-opening experience, but social media does that already as we’ve seen.
For random inserts, it’s more understandable that Wizards keeps some details hidden. At the same time, it’s nice to know what’s on offer, especially if there’s a chase card. As we’ve seen previously, showing these off can drive demand so Wizards may even benefit from this.
Thankfully, Wizards has been showing off some bonus cards recently, although not with much consistency. When revealing drops in Twitter videos, occasionally the bonus card will be shown off too. Frustratingly, this doesn’t happen every time, so players are often left in the dark until social media comes to the rescue.
Sadly for players who want to know it all, Wizards is unlikely to dramatically change how bonus cards are revealed. This may not be the end of the world, however, given that Secret Lair drops are no longer limited by time. Hopefully, this will allow more players to pick up drops once everything has been revealed. Provided they don’t sell out first, that is.
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