Back in September at MagicCon: Atlanta, Wizards revealed the return of the Countdown Kit Secret Lair. Dubbed “An Encyclopedia of Magic,” this product contains 26 unique reprints, all starting with a different letter of the alphabet. While $199.99 is a lot to pay for a Secret Lair, we’ve already seen some pricy spoilers that could help make purchasing it well worth it.
Up to this point, Wasteland was the most expensive reprint revealed, but that seems to have just changed. Thanks to a sneak peek on the MTG Secret Lair Twitter page, it appears one of the strongest lands printed in the history of Magic is making a splash. Only the artwork has been previewed thus far, but that’s more than enough to have us excited.
Urza’s Saga
Since its printing in Modern Horizons 2, Urza’s Saga has become a dominant force in nearly every format it’s legal in. This card is an elite win condition and one of the strongest incentives to play a dedicated artifact shell. On top of that, its third and final chapter offers a ton of utility.
Whether you’re snagging Mox Opal to accelerate towards your big plays or grabbing Lavaspur Boots to push damage with your Constructs, it’s hard to go wrong with such a low-cost tutor. By running a playset of Saga, you even have the luxury of running one-of hate cards like Soul-Guide Lantern in the main deck to boost win rates.
Where Saga gets really intriguing is in combo decks that utilize a zero or one-mana artifact as one of its essential pieces. In Modern, Amulet Titan and Hammer Time became significantly more consistent because of this land. Similarly, Nadu, Winged Wisdom decks in Legacy make great use of Saga as a way to find Shuko on a whim.
Since a recent rules update to Sagas that prevents them from being sacrificed to state-based actions if they have no abilities, this card has only become more popular. Now, Legacy Stompy decks with Magus of the Moon and Blood Moon in the mix are free to run Saga with no repercussions. Jamming a Moon effect after Saga ticks up to two counters allows Saga to stick around long-term, pumping out Constructs every turn!
Once you add on the card’s Commander and Vintage applications, where it can grab busted mana accelerants like Sol Ring, it should be no surprise that this card is in very high demand. Picking Saga to represent the letter “U” in this Secret Lair was a slam dunk.
Reprint Value
Currently, in its cheapest near-mint form, this card’s market value rests at $32. While this expensive card’s inclusion has garnered a lot of attention within the MTG community, not all of it is positive.
Many players fear that without going back to the print-to-demand model, scalpers are going to quickly get their hands on the product before players have a chance. We already know this product will go on sale on November 3rd, “in limited quantities.” Due to this, this variant of Urza’s Saga could end up selling for significantly more than $32 on the secondary market.
Ultimately, while the printing methods for this Secret Lair are a bit concerning, it’s still nice to see such an expensive product feature some heavy hitters. There isn’t exactly an abundance of options for cards starting with the letter “U,” but Wizards certainly picked a good one. Make sure to mark your calendars for November 3rd to pick up this product when it goes live on the Secret Lair website.
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