Despite the rather eventful Secret Lair sale a few days ago, some players are already getting copies of their MTG X Marvel Secret Lairs. While many may believe that the fanfare ended the moment the cards sold out, there’s actually one more surprise in an MTG Secret Lair – the Bonus Card.
Bonus Cards are a mixed bag. Sometimes, you get an assortment of extended art cards that don’t really end up going for much. Sometimes, a Secret Lair has a dedicated Bonus card. Other times, you can be lucky and open an incredibly rare card worth hundreds of dollars. It seems as though all of the MTG X Marvel Secret Lairs have consistent Bonus cards that share a theme.
Groot, in his child form, has undeniably become a mascot-esque character for the Marvel franchise. That mascot appears on the bonus cards of this Secret Lair drop. While that may make it seem like you have a chance of opening a series of different bonus cards in your individual drops, the Superheroes that each Secret Lair is themed around are making appearances in the artwork as well.
Thanks to some seriously speedy shipping, we already know all five of the MTG Secret Lair Bonus cards for the MTG X Marvel drop.
Regrowth
While all of these Secret Lair cards are themed around Groot, they also serve as strong inclusions into a Commander deck built around the Superhero of the drop. Regrowth is a 50-cent card that has existed in Magic: The Gathering since the first set. While the card isn’t particularly expensive, it is very powerful. Grabbing a card from your graveyard may seem redundant, but it can create some powerful loops, especially when copied.
You can find this Regrowth Bonus card in the Storm Secret Lair. Since that Commander can give a spell of your choice Storm after she attacks, Regrowth can buy back multiple cards from your graveyard. If you run other Storm payoffs in the deck (and we recommend you do), you could use Regrowth (with Storm) to buy back a bunch of cards that upped your Storm count before attacking and do it all over again!
Nature’s Lore
Because these Secret Lair bonus cards are Groot-themed, they all share a green or colorless identity, which is a nice nod to the character. Nature’s Lore can be found in the Black Panther Secret Lair. This is one of the more efficient ways to ramp, even in green, thanks to the card being able to find nonbasic Forests.
Nature’s Lore is quite powerful, but it’s also been reprinted into the ground. As a result of this, you can find copies of the card for about $2. That also means that premium versions of Nature’s Lore are bound to be expensive. If the crazy Marvel sale means anything, it’s that demand for these Secret Lairs are through the roof. This Nature’s Lore should be no different.
Yes, Nature’s Lore synergizes with Black Panther, but this card is a standard inclusion in any green Commander deck. As a result, it may be the most popular of the Groot-themed Secret Lair cards.
Sculpting Steel
Sculpting Steel has become a mainstay in artifact-themed Commander precons. The card has been reprinted several times, so it’s only worth about 50 cents.
Like the other Secret Lairs, however, Sculpting Steel can potentially be a good fit in the Iron Man Commander deck. Since Iron Man sacrifices and tutors up artifacts Birthing Pod style, Sculpting Steel should have a decently powerful artifact it can enter as a copy of. As long as you’re not building a more low-to-the-ground Iron Man deck that’s trying to tutor up infinite combos, Sculpting Steel should be a good inclusion in that deck.
Bizarrely, this may not even become the most expensive Sculpting Steel on the market. That’s because a Masterpiece version of this card exists from Kaladesh. Retailing for $58 a pop on the secondary market, we don’t expect Groot’s Sculpting Steel to climb quite that high, but it should be rather expensive in comparison to the other printings.
Masterwork of Ingenuity
Equipment-themed MTG decks rarely have a use for Masterwork of Ingenuity outside of Commander. Copying an equipment spell isn’t that useful when you still need to equip the artifact you copied. That said, the card fits in Captain America, First Avenger Commander decks like a glove.
Since Captain America shrugs off the equip cost of an equipment, you can put whatever artifact you copied with Masterwork of Ingenuity onto Captain America without much difficulty. This can allow you to retain an equipment’s effects while throwing the other copy to clear out some blockers.
Sadly, Masterwork of Ingenuity doesn’t even retail a dollar – likely because the card is rather difficult to utilize effectively. The card notably got a recent reprinting in the MTG Fallout set which may have pushed prices down somewhat. This will likely be the most expensive copy of Masterwork of Ingenuity on the secondary market.
Unnatural Growth
Perhaps the best of the Groot-themed Secret Lair bonus cards; you can find Unnatural Growth in the Wolverine-themed Secret Lair. We talk about that card extensively in another article, as well as how bizarre this lightning-fast shipping time was.
Personally, I have mixed feelings about these MTG Secret Lair bonus cards. I love that they’re themed after Groot, and the nod to color identity is rather cute. They do fit into the appropriate Commander themes as well, which is a nice touch. Sadly, none of these cards are particularly powerful – some may not even make the cut in their respective Commander decks. While Nature’s Lore, Regrowth, and Unnatural Growth should be more than good enough in their respective decks, Sculpting Steel and Masterwork of Ingenuity may miss the mark. Either way, these adorably thematic Secret Lair bonus cards are likely to be a hit for players who want to play with their Secret Lairs.
