It would’ve been reasonable to assume that the Aetherdrift debut would be the only real MTG news story of this week. It’s the first mainline expansion of 2025, after all, and will set the tone for what else is to come this year. Those sneaky petes at Wizards of the Coast have managed to squeeze in another banger right before the big day, however. In a Twitter post earlier today, Festival in a Box 2025 was officially revealed.
This now-annual product is almost always a cause for celebration. It tends to feature an exclusive Secret Lair, special promos, and sometimes more besides. We don’t have the full details of this year’s edition yet, but from the tease we’ve seen it’s shaping up to be another stellar product. Aetherdrift may have some serious competition come February.
Festival In A Box 2025 Secret Lair
Festival in a Box 2025 was unveiled in a Twitter post from Wizards of the Coast earlier today. The attached image is all we have to go on so far, but there’s a lot we can glean from it. First of all, it’s clear that this edition of Festival in a Box comes with a new Secret Lair drop. Five special alternate art cards are shown, and together they represent a fair bit of value.
First of all, the big hitters. All Will Be One is the biggest of them all, weighing in at $14 currently. It’s pretty much exclusively a Commander card, but we all know how hard that format can drive prices. If you play red and place a lot of counters, it’s a great pick.
Speaking of counters, Benevolent Hydra is, surprisingly, a $13 card. Having just one printing in Jumpstart 2022 is undoubtedly a big part of that. That said, a reprint here isn’t going to bring it down any, so it’s still a nice value add. Finally, Animar, Soul of Elements still holds a price of around $12. Given the sheer power creep in recent years, it’s incredible that a 14-year-old Commander is still worth so much. That’s just how good Animar is, however.
That’s $39 already, which is great by Secret Lair standards. The last two cards shown, Forgotten Ancient and Mulldrifter, are sadly pretty much bulk. Both can be had in the $0.30-0.50 range right now, so they’re not super-exciting financially. The flashy new art versions will likely be worth a good bit more mind you. Mulldrifter is a great card in Pauper, so the ceiling on that one is likely quite a bit higher.
Pricey Promo Cards
So that’s the Secret Lair out of the way, what else does Festival in a Box 2025 have to offer? Well, based on the image in Wizards’ post, it looks like it’ll be coming with a promo pack, too. The 2024 edition of Festival in a Box featured a four-card promo pack, and there are four cards clearly separate from the Secret Lair shown in the image.
Unfortunately, only two of these are really legible for now. Fortunately, one is a more-than-worthy headliner. The First Sliver, a $42 card from the original Modern Horizons, is returning here with a slick new Future Sight frame. If you’re running Slivers in Commander, as many players do, then this is pretty much a must-have. It’s great as a Commander, and it’s great in the 99. This sheer power, and a lack of substantial reprints, have brought this card as high as it is now. In the Future Sight frame, it’s a great include here.
The other legible card from the promo pack is Ponder. This was actually part of last year’s promo pack too, so maybe Wizards is slowly giving out a very fancy playset of this one. It would make total sense if they did. After all, Ponder is one of the very best cantrips in all of MTG. It’s banned in Modern but sees play pretty much everywhere else, including Pauper, Legacy, and Vintage. Last year’s promo Ponder goes for about $3.50 right now, so we can probably expect a similar price tag on this one. The Future Sight frame has a good chance of pushing it higher, however.
The Remaining Details
The final details of Wizards of the Coast’s newest Mystery Booster 2 offering remained a mystery until just recently. The release date for the Festival in a Box has been revealed to be February 3rd, and the price will be $200. That may seem rather expensive for the contents discussed, but this Festival in a Box also comes with a box of Mystery Booster 2, which was relatively expected. For reference, a Mystery Booster 2 is currently worth $350, which makes purchasing this product more than worth it.
Finally, there was one missing promo in the above image cut off at the end of the image, cut off at the right end. That card has since been revealed to be a retro foil Serra, the Benevolent, a Planeswalker from Modern Horizons. The card doesn’t see much play, but holds a $9 price tag regardless.
The recent details revealed about the new Festival in a Box certainly make this deal look absolutely incredible. In fact, many MTG players now suspect that this box will sell out quickly and begin reselling for double the price.
While this is certainly a possibility, many MTG players also suspected that the previous Festival in a Box, which was the only way to acquire Mystery Booster 2 product other than attending a Magic Con event, would also sell out at incredible rates. In the end, the product did not end up selling out, suggesting that there was a ton of supply available. This means that, even if the demand for this product is high, there is a good chance that it will not sell out after all.
Despite this, there is always the chance, and anyone who’s interested in this product has plenty reason to pick it up.