It has only been two days since the Monty Python Secret Lair drop was revealed, and the Bonus Cards have already appeared online. This is a very unusual situation. Typically, these cards are only discovered once players have ordered their drops and waited several weeks for delivery. In this case, however, early access via San Diego Comic-Con has allowed players to purchase the drops, and see the Bonus Cards, already.
As with the core drop contents, the Bonus Cards combine mediocre reprints with top-tier references. Monty Python fans will be more than happy with them, but those looking for a big ROI will not. We can argue all day about whether this is a good thing for Secret Lairs or not. What isn’t up for debate is the aesthetic value of these cards, both visually and comedically.
Barmy Bonus Cards
Photos of the two Monty Python Bonus Cards were posted to Reddit late last night, by a user called Captainvontapdat. Both drops were available for purchase at the Hasbro booth during Preview Night of San Diego Comic-Con. Each drop features one fixed Bonus Card that references a different iconic scene from The Holy Grail.
For Volume 1 of the Holy Grail drop, which contains flavorful reprints of Prodigal Sorcerer, Buried Alive, Birds of Paradise, Dismember, and Three Visits, the Bonus Card is Goblin Bombardment. As you can see above, this card has humorously re-skinned as Cow-tapult. This is a classic free sacrifice outlet, often used for combo kills or grindy value in Aristocrats decks.
Goblin Bombardment is largely played in Commander, but it’s actually been on the rise in Modern recently, too. Mardu Energy and Midrange decks that lean into Ocelot Pride have a lot of things to sacrifice, after all. Despite this strong playability, the card only goes for $1-2, even in its pricier variants.
Volume 2 gets a much more interesting Bonus Card. This volume contains some of the darker cards in the drop. Inside you’ll find re-skins of Door to Nothingness, Ashnod’s Altar, and Dark Depths, alongside a nifty Marit Lage token. The Bonus card for this one is Kezzerdrix, reskinned as the Killer Rabbit of Caerbannog.
This is a great reference, and one many fans were hoping to see, but unfortunately, Kezzerdrix is a terrible card. It’s a creature from the days when vanilla stats needed drawbacks, and it doesn’t see meaningful play in any format. The current value of this is around $0.30, and it’s unclear how much collectability will carry the value of this new variant.
Where’s The Holy Hand Grenade?!
The appearance of the Killer Rabbit of Caerbannog as one of the Monty Python Bonus Cards was something many players predicted. Alongside this, a lot of players were hoping to see the film’s iconic Holy Hand Grenade. Sadly, this fitting Bonus Card hasn’t appeared yet. In the recent r/MagicTCG thread discussing the new Bonus Cards, its absence has been lamented many times over.
In fact, the card being missing is so conspicuous to fans that many have begun to speculate that Wizards has more Monty Python up their sleeve. The idea that a third volume of the Monty Python drop may be coming has been bandied about. Whether or not this will actually happen, however, remains to be seen.
Alternatively, the Holy Hand Grenade could be a rare Bonus Card for volumes one and two. We’ve seen plenty of those in the past, most notably the $1,000+ Fallout Mana Vault. Since we’ve only seen one person’s Bonus Cards so far, it’s possible that the Holy Hand Grenade could show up some of the time instead. Whether this is the case or not will undoubtedly become clear in the coming days, as more players get their hands on the drop.
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