After a few preliminary teasers yesterday, MagicCon: Amsterdam has kicked off in earnest this morning with the Secret Lair Reveal-a-thon. That proved to be an apt title indeed, as we saw a mountain of reveals today, with no less than four separate Superdrops announced. Throw in a release date for one of the most anticipated Secret Lair Commander precons of the year, and the Reveal-a-thon truly had something for everybody.
Welcome To Stardew Valley
Perhaps the biggest reveal from today’s event was the Stardew Valley Superdrop, which will be landing in less than two weeks’ time on July 27th. Subtitled ‘Superdrop of the Moon Jellies,’ this Superdrop will consist of at least three separate Stardew Valley-themed drops.
The first of these, Welcome to Stardew Valley, is by far the most exciting, as it contains a new mechanically unique card in Stardew Valley. This is a colorless land that can make Food by tapping your creatures, and draw you a card by giving away permanents. This looks like a slam-dunk addition to Food Commanders like Ygra, Eater of All, as well as Donate decks like Zedruu the Greathearted. For now, however, its financial value can only be guessed at.
As for the rest of the drop, there’s actually some solid value here, with Wedding Ring leading the charge at $10. Though it only really sees play in Commander, this is a powerful and unique draw engine in the right deck. We’re also getting reprints of Kynaios and Tiros of Meletis and Dawn’s Truce, which come in at $9 and $7.50, respectively. Both are excellent Commander cards, and Truce is even a first-time reprint, so it’s doubly spicy.
As is typically the case, however, Welcome to Stardew Valley also hosts a few financial duds. Swords to Plowshares, Rites of Flourishing, and Sol Ring are all $1 cards, so they don’t move the needle much value-wise. That said, they are all very playable cards, so the excellent art here could propel them to decent heights. Overall, we’re looking at a total value of $29 here, which is far below the $39.99 asking price, but Stardew Valley itself could easily bridge that gap.
Life In Pelican Town
After a solid start, Stardew Valley kicks things up a notch with Life in Pelican Town, a heavily land-focused drop. New card notwithstanding, this is easily the standout from the Superdrop so far in terms of value. The headliners here are two $15 land reprints: Yavimaya, Cradle of Growth and Homeward Path. Both see extensive Commander play all the way up to cEDH, and Yavimaya is a regular in Legacy as well.
Things drop off a lot after this, but there are still some hits to be had. Crop Rotation is a powerhouse land tutor, thoroughly deserving of its Game Changer status in Commander. At $4, it’s not hugely expensive, but it is a very powerful tool in any kind of Landfall deck. Fountainport is another reasonable inclusion at $3, seeing extensive Commander play as well as putting up appearances in both Standard and Pioneer.
Though Command Tower is a bit of a dud to close out on, being a $0.20 card on the low end, the overall value in this drop is still excellent. All in all, you’re getting $37 worth of cardboard here, which far exceeds the $29.99 asking price. Factor in the inevitable Stardew Valley art markup, and this one feels like a no-brainer purchase.
A Flicker In The Deep
Last, and unfortunately least, among the Stardew Valley Secret Lair drops is A Flicker in the Deep, drawing on the game’s dungeon crawler elements. Things start off promising here with Sword of Forge and Frontier, a $10 Commander staple for Equipment decks. This actually marks the card’s first real reprint, too, outside of its pricey Spotlight Series promo.
Sadly, pretty much nothing else in this drop offers any significant value. Treasure Vault is a decent land for Treasure and Artifact decks, but at $1.50, it’s not exactly a spicy add. Everything else here is under $1, too, with Arcane Signet, Atsushi, the Blazing Sky, and Mitotic Slime all clocking in at around $0.30. While Signet and Atsushi are excellent Commander playables at least, this is still a very uninspiring lineup.
With a total value of just $12.50, you’re not even getting half of the $29.9 asking price back with this drop. Even with inflated Secret Lair prices in mind, this drop may not break even, making it a tricky recommendation even if you personally enjoy the art.
As a final note on the Stardew Valley Superdrop, the official reveal article also mentions a Puca’s Mischief promo card. The exact distribution method for this promo is unknown at present, but the article notes that it will come with “selected bundles” while stocks last. At around $3, this is a fairly mediocre promo pick, but it may well end up pricey on scarcity alone.
Marvel Couples
Offering an unexpected but not unwelcome bout of romance in the Marvel Universe, Marvel Couples offers quite a unique flavor among what Secret Lair revealed today. The reprint value of this drop isn’t the worst, either, but it’s mostly carried by one reprint.
The headliner of this Secret Lair by a massive margin, Grave Pact is an incredible addition to any creature-heavy MTG deck. Whether you’re just running the card as a deterrent or actively taking advantage of it with aristocrat strategies, Grave Pact is well worth its $27 price tag. This is the card’s first Secret Lair appearance, too, meaning that this particular copy could be worth even more.
Outside of Grave Pact, the extremely flavorful and somewhat tragic Savor the Moment pushes this Secret Lair over the traditional $30 price tag with a $9 reprint value. It’s a bit difficult to take advantage of this cheap extra-turn card since it skips your untap step, but reusable mana effects like Vivi Ornitier break the card in half.
Sadly, outside of these two reprints, the rest of the cards in this Secret Lair are extremely unimpressive. While Thrill of Possibility does see a ton of Commander play, it’s not an expensive card at all considering it’s a common. Run Away Together, Happily Ever After, and True Love’s Kiss are even worse here, offering poor effects and dismal reprint values. Even though all of these cards total up to a measly $0.78, this Secret Lair is still worth its entry fee.
Hulk Secret Lair Drop
Unfortunately, for fans of Hulk and value, the Hulk-themed Secret Lair drop is a bit of a dud. At its best, only one card is more than $3, and even then, Rishkar’s Expertise just scrapes by at $3.15. Technically, Unnatural Growth usually sells for a similar price point; however, its recent Marvel-themed reprint is selling for just $1.50 right now.
After this, Anger is the next most expensive reprint, and that’s saying something, since it’s just $0.50. With Gratuitous Violence and Search for Tomorrow selling for similar price points, this drop is only worth around $6. While this isn’t very exciting, this drop does have a silver lining that could pump up values.
Currently, Bruce Banner // The Incredible Hulk is the second most popular Marvel Super Heroes Commander in the main set. Since all of these Secret Lair cards are in color and make sense to run, there could be a surprising amount of demand. While this might give the drop some legs when it launches, it remains to be seen if it’ll be popular enough to sell out.
Dan Hipp x Marvel
With a raw reprint value of around $52, the Dan Hipp Secret Lair is a rare drop that actually offers positive value. This is largely thanks to the reprint of Bristly Bill, Spine Sower, which sells for $40 alone. Reskinned here as Man-Thing, Marsh Protector, this card is such a Commander staple that there’s bound to be strong demand for this drop.
Sadly, after Bristly Bill, prices drop off hard, as Training Grounds is the next best reprint. Spotted recently as an early preview, this card is only worth around $7, which is decent, but not amazing. Unfortunately, the same can’t be said for the rest of the drop, as An Offer You Can’t Refuse is the only other card of note.
After this well-played instant, which sells for around $3, Endrek Sahr, Master Breeder is only worth around $1.50. Falling further, Mystical Dispute can be picked up for as little as $0.50, depending on the variant. Thankfully, while this drop isn’t all stellar picks, it’s still well worth picking up from a value perspective, so long as the art doesn’t tank prices.
Marvel Pets
Despite the adorable theme, the Marvel Pets drop is sadly one of the weakest offerings revealed today. While everything here is reasonably playable, there’s also very little value, even at the high end. Ephemerate is the “big” hit here, a serious multi-format Blink staple with plenty of competitive pedigree. Even this banger is only a $5 card, however, and Marvel Pets only goes downhill from here.
Further down, Titanic Ultimatum and Shark Typhoon add just $2.40 and $1.50 to the drop, respectively. Both are solid Commander cards, and Typhoon even sees scattered play in Pioneer, but that doesn’t save their mediocre pricing. They are better hits than Searing Blaze at $1, Lightning Bolt at $0.75, and Commune With Dinosaurs at $0.10, mind you.
Though the flavor is on point in each case, these are still disappointing card picks to see. With a total value of $10.75, only an experimental low price point will save this drop from being an easy pass on release.
Secret Lair: Ian Miller
Offering some incredible artwork for rather popular Commanders, Secret Lair: Ian Miller offers lots of cards that could be worth far more than their cheapest reprint value. Even if this isn’t the case, however, this Secret Lair’s reprint value is also worth the product’s typical $30 entry fee.
Animar, Soul of Elements is the big reprint here, immediately adding $30 to the reprint value of this Secret Lair. Capable of casting out massive Eldrazi Titans for free, and even going infinite with Cloudstone Curio, it’s no wonder why this card is so expensive. Notably, the card has had a Secret Lair reprint before that currently retails for $40.
Outside of Animar, the other cards in this Secret Lair don’t have a big reprint value, but they do have some potential. Korvold, Fae-Cursed King’s price was recently tanked to $0.75 thanks to its appearance in the World Shaper precon. Despite this, because it’s one of the best sacrifice Commanders in MTG, the Dragon’s Secret Lair reprints have held a reprint value of $20.
The last two cards in this Secret Lair, Tsabo Tavoc and Shivan Dragon, are unlikely to have a meaningful secondary market value. While this reprint should make acquiring a foil Tsabo Tavoc a bit cheaper, its base reprint value of $1 is unlikely to be affected much. Shivan Dragon, on the other hand, has both seen tons of reprints and has been powercrept out of relevance.
Despite this, acquiring just the Animar alone makes this Secret Lair a fine deal from a reprint value perspective. With the high amount of potential the other cards have, Ian Miller’s Secret Lair could be a sweet deal indeed.
Secret Lair: Robin Eisenberg
Artist Robin Eisenberg is making their MTG debut with this drop, featuring five blue cards in a funky cosmic style. Commander combo enabler Sage of Hours is the biggest hit here, offering countless infinite turn combos for a range of decks. At $12.50, it’s a solid value add, too, and a notable first-time reprint for this excellent two-drop.
There’s nothing else quite so exciting in Eisenberg’s drop, but Sway of the Stars and Orvar, the All-Form are decent at $5.50 and $3. Sway only recently escaped the Commander Game Changers list, and it remains a wild effect for decks that can generate the 10 mana needed to cast it. Orvar is a well-played Commander even up in cEDH, and it wreaks plenty of havoc in the lower brackets too thanks to its penchant for combos.
Rounding things out here, we have Slip Through Space and See Double, at $0.40 and $0.74, respectively. Both see moderate Commander play, but neither is particularly exciting, even with the new artwork. Overall, this drop offers around $22 in low-end value, which makes it better than some of today’s new drops, but still very underwhelming regardless.
Gene Luen Yang
The Gene Luen Yang Secret Lair celebrates the works of an incredibly prolific artist who has appeared in everything from Marvel to DC to Avatar: The Last Airbender. Here, he reimagines popular cards as known characters from the extremely prolific 16th-century Chinese novel Journey to the West. Fortunately, for fans interested in picking this Lair up, the reprint value looks excellent.
Dosan, the Falling Leaf is the big reprint for this Secret Lair, offering a double-sided Silence effect that threatens to allow any and all players to combo off. While it is strictly worse than newer takes on the mechanic, its lack of reprint and its uniqueness in green have kept the card expensive. Thanks to this, the card maintains a $27 reprint value, jumping to $135 in foil.
While Dosan is, by far, the most expensive card in this Secret Lair, the $6.59 Kibo, Uktabi Prince reprint might be even more notable. Besides offering a Sun Wukong skin to MTG players, Kibo’s banana token currently doesn’t have a printing. Because of this, players speculate that the Bonus Card for this Secret Lair could be the missing Banana token, which would skyrocket its value.
If that weren’t enough, Gene Luen Yang’s Secret Lair has two more decent reprints to offer. Coming in at an $8.70 secondary market value, Ilharg, the Raze Boar is a fantastic addition to any red Commander decks trying to cheat massive Eldrazi Titans into play. Quest For Renewal is yet another $5.19 boost, offering an extremely potent untap effect for Commanders that have tap abilities.
That leaves Kazuul, Tyrant of the Cliffs, which is shockingly the only real dud in this entire Secret Lair, coming in at $0.33. Despite its low value, the card sees tons of play in the format, so players should easily find a home for it. All in all, the Gene Luen Yang Secret Lair might be the best among all of the drops so far.
Lofi Girl
Perhaps the most out-there of all the Secret Lair collaborations announced today, this drop draws from the popular YouTube study music series of the same name. Even more surprising than the source material is the fact that this drop is actually incredibly solid, offering $34 in value overall.
The bulk of that comes from Starfield of Nyx, a $14 powerhouse for enchantment-based decks in Commander. This is great for resilience in fair decks, and it enables a nice suite of infinite combo lines, too, which has earned it a spot in several cEDH lists. Speaking of combo enablers, Paradise Mantle also makes an appearance here, adding a nice $8 Equipment to the mix.
Even the low-end cards in this drop aren’t terrible, with Merchant Scroll at $5, Careful Study at $4, and Felidar Guardian at $3. These are all decent value adds and very playable Commander cards to boot. Assuming the usual $29.99 price tag, this drop should be an easy pickup on the value front alone.
The Hobbit: A Marvelous Mathom Superdrop
As you’d expect from such a hyped-up set, The Hobbit will be getting a dedicated Secret Lair Superdrop of its own. So far, we’ve only been shown one complete drop from this, Second Breakfast and Beyond, which consists of seven Food tokens named for each of the traditional Hobbit meals. While this doesn’t sound particularly exciting, the tokens from the last all-Food Secret Lair drop are all worth $6-10, so we can likely expect similar or higher value here.
Flashy Food aside, we also got to see one card each from four different drops, each with an art style bolder than the last. Diabolic Intent is the clear highlight here, weighing in at around $18 on the low end. This is one of the best tutors in Commander, seeing play all the way up to cEDH, where Rograkh decks basically remove its downside.
The other Hobbit Secret Lair cards revealed so far aren’t very valuable, but they do pack some pretty excellent art. Arcane Heist and Stony Silence, in particular, are looking excellent here, despite only being worth $4 and $1.50, respectively. We’re also getting yet another borderless Sol Ring in this Superdrop, which, as always, should pack a low floor and a high ceiling price-wise.
Dates For The Diary
In addition to the torrent of new drops, we also got the official announcement of the leaked Hatsune Miku Commander precon today. Thanks to a shipping mix-up, we’ve already seen a good chunk of the cards from this deck, including valuable reprints in Archangel of Thune and Finale of Devastation. This precon will be available to buy on August 10th, so set your alarms for then.
Finally, the Secret Lair Reveal-a-thon rounded off with another release date announcement, this time for a Masters of the Universe Superdrop. This Superdrop will be released on September 14th, and so far, that’s all we know about it. While the reveal post mentions “exclusive artwork” and “a muscular Commander,” that still leaves us basically in the dark on this one.
Even with no actual reveals for these two products, today’s Secret Lair Reveal-a-thon still gave us more than enough to chew on. Whether you’re after exciting collaborations or spendy reprints, it’s looking like a spicy summer of Secret Lair ahead.
Stick with us here at mtgrocks.com: the best site for Magic: The Gathering coverage. Be sure to check out our deckbuilder for your next big brew, and our brand new MTG Rocks Podcast!