Duskmourn preview season is here, and we’ve survived the first of the promised “13 days of Duskmourn.” Already we’ve seen some wild new cards and spicy promo reprints in the Nightmare Bundle. So far so standard, but we’ve also been given early details of the Duskmourn Showcase Secret Lairs via Twitter. There are two of these, each highlighting a different distinct art style, and packing some notable reprints for multiple formats.
Paranormal Frame Drop
The official names for the two Duskmourn Secret Lairs haven’t been announced yet. That said, going by past precedent, it seems likely that they’ll be called Showcase: Duskmourn Volumes One and Two. Volume one spotlights the Paranormal card frame that can be found in the main set itself, with five very nice reprints indeed.
Dauthi Voidwalker is the obvious big hitter here. This is an absolute staple in Modern, Legacy, and Commander too. One-sided graveyard hate plus mana cheating for two mana is an incredibly powerful combination, it turns out. As a result, Dauthi Voidwalker goes for around $15 at the moment, which is a great start for this drop.
Thankfully, it’s not the only great card here. Phyrexian Metamorph and Magus of the Moon are both multi-format staples as well. Modern, Legacy, Vintage, Commander: there’s no shortage of homes for this pair. Metamorph will run you around $6 at present, while Magus goes for more like $8. Both are excellent value adds alongside Voidwalker.
Rounding out this first drop we have a lovely little self-contained combo pair. Cauldron Familiar and Witch’s Oven are often used together to form the ‘Cat Oven’ combo. You sacrifice the Familiar to the Oven, making a Food, then sacrifice the Food to recur the Familiar from the graveyard. You can do this every turn at instant speed, giving you a constant blocker and life drain.
Though it seems slow, this combo actually saw real play in the Standard of the time and continues to do so in Pioneer and Commander today. Both pieces only go for around $1.50 each, but it’s nice to get them both together in this drop. In a nifty matching style, no less.
Horrors From Across The Planes
The second of the Duskmourn Secret Lairs takes things in a different direction. The art style here is reminiscent of classic horror movie comic books. This is not unlike the Creepshow Secret Lair from last year. Each features a different horrific creature, some of which have horrific price tags to match.
The priciest card in this drop is Mazirek, Kraul Death Priest. Despite being reprinted a few times, and only seeing play in Commander, this Insect Shaman will still run you $10 on average if you want to pick it up. With the increased use of Food and Treasure tokens in recent sets, players sacrifice permanents at a rate like never before. Pair that with Mazirek’s ability and even a small board can get out of hand very quickly.
There’s more of a value drop-off with this Lair than the previous one. After Mazirek, the next most valuable card is Koma, Cosmos Serpent, at around $4.50. Not super spicy but, again, a great Commander and card in the 99. This drop also includes a copy of Doom Whisperer, which is fantastic in most black Commander decks as a way to fix your draws and fill your yard. Even so, copies will only cost you around $4 at present.
After this, the rest of the drop is, unfortunately, all bulk. Uril, the Miststalker and Ravenous Chupacabra are both great Commander cards, but that isn’t reflected in their value. Uril goes for around $1, while Chupacabra is closer to $0.20, so they hardly factor into the drop’s financial weight at all. The art may be stylish, but you’re unlikely to get a return on investment on this one, as opposed to the first.
Worthy Additions?
Now that we’ve broken down the contents of both Duskmourn Secret Lairs, we can answer the big question. Are these drops worth picking up? The answer to that, as always, varies depending on what you’re hoping to get out of a Lair.
For the first drop, the Paranormal frames one, the answer is undoubtedly yes. When tallied up, the total value of the cards it contains comes to around $32, which almost perfectly matches the $30 asking price. That’s before you factor in the usual Secret Lair markup. All five cards here are very usable in multiple formats, so even if you’re not looking to sell later you should get your money’s worth.
Drop two is a trickier proposition. When you add up the value here, it only comes to around $20, which is far below what you’re paying. The cards chosen are essentially all Commander-only, too, which gives this drop no value for those who play other formats. Mazirek and Koma are nice hits, to be sure, but they don’t do enough to salvage this drop from mediocrity. The more ‘out there’ card frames like this are also usually the most divisive, which limits their potential for boosting the base price of the cards in question.
So there you have it: two Secret Lairs. One great, one not so great. Curiously, these drops may not be the last Duskmourn Secret Lairs we’ll be seeing. In the tweet that revealed these Lairs, it was noted that “These and more coming to a Secret Lair Drop near you soon!” Whether the “more” will include extra Duskmourn stuff or just extra drops in general remains to be seen.
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