Commander has absolutely surged in popularity in recent years, and Wizards of the Coast has responded in kind. Almost every MTG release nowadays has preconstructed Commander decks attached to them, but there are opportunities to go even further. Most of the MTG Secret Lair products offer a curated collection of reprints, but occasionally Wizards offers premium Commander decks full of alternate art reprints. While these are incredibly expensive, the reprint value has historically made the purchases worthwhile.
Of all the Secret Lair preconstructed decks yet, 20 Ways to Win looks the most bizarre. Championed by Go-Shintai of Life’s Origin, there are a ton of different things going on in here. How well all of the different pieces synergize with one another is certainly questionable. While we won’t be able to play with the deck right away, the full decklist for Wizards of the Coast’s latest premium Commander precon is now available.
Barely Breaking Even
If you’re looking to buy this Secret Lair Precon for value, the strict reprint value of the deck is disappointing. That isn’t the entire story, but you’re only getting about $222 in value for a $150 Commander deck. That’s strictly looking at the cheapest reprints of each card and including every single card, outside of new artworks, in the deck. There are a lot of sub $2 cards that will be near-impossible to sell individually, and taking those out of the reprint total will make it look even worse.
That said, there are some spicy reprints in the 99 of this bizarre Commander deck. Kynaios and Tiro of Meletis is the best one price-wise, coming in at $19. There’s only one printing of this card currently in existence so, despite this reprint not being widely available, it should temporarily nudge the price of the card down. Notably, this might be the first non-foil copy of Kynaios and Tiro of Meletis in existence.
Clever Concealment is another $19ish reprint showing up in this precon. Printed in Phyrexia: All Will Be One Commander, this protective spell also has very little supply in the marketplace. This is no Teferi’s Protection, but being able to protect your board for, situationally, zero mana is very powerful.
Wooded Bastion and Heliod, Sun-Crowned wrap up the reprints in 20 Ways to Win that are above $10. Heliod is an auto-include in any lifegain strategy, and Wooded Bastion is surprisingly difficult to find for a Filter Land.
Moving on to cards in the $5-10 range, we have Halo Fountain, Revel in Riches, Mystic Remora, Eerie Ultimatum, Lightning Greaves, Forbidden Orchard, The World Tree, and Bountiful Promenade. All of these cards, bar Halo Fountain, see constant Commander play and should be great additions to your collection whether you decide to keep this deck together or take it apart.
There is a collection of $2ish reprints available, but the cards listed above are where a majority of the reprint value for 20 Ways to Win lies. With this snapshot, it would make sense for us to tell you to skip on this deck if you aren’t interested in actually using it – but there’s more to the story.
Alternate Art Win Conditions
The reprint value given in this article does not include any of the win conditions in 20 Ways to Win that are getting alternate art treatments. For reference, here’s the list of cards in the deck that are getting alternate artwork that can only be found in this preconstructed deck:
- Revel in Riches ($15)
- Homeward Path ($15)
- Maze’s End ($1.50)
- Happily Ever After ($0.25)
- Simic Ascendancy ($0.50)
- Helix Pinnacle ($9)
- Sol Ring ($1)
- Approach of the Second Sun ($3)
- Felidar Sovereign ($1)
- Triskaideckaphile ($0.50)
- Go-Shintai of Life’s Origin ($4)
Taking from the lowest reprint values mentioned above alone, this adds another $50 in reprint value to the deck, bringing the total up to about $272. The catch? These full-art alternate treatments rarely match the lowest price on the secondary market, and generally go for a significant premium.
Take Nicol Bolas, the Ravager from the Cute to Brute Secret Lair Commander preconstructed deck, for example. The cheapest copy of Nicol Bolas currently costs about $17, but the Commander variant costs $50.
When a player puts a win condition like many of the cards being reprinted above, it’s very common that the win condition is the focus of their deck. It makes sense for a player to want to bling out their core card, which means that these extended art reprints could have some serious demand.
We would not be surprised if Revel in Riches, in particular, goes for $50 or more. This is an incredibly easy win condition to satisfy that fits into just about any deck that has a Treasure subtheme. Helix Pinnacle could also go for quite a high premium. To date, there is only one printing of the card, so a premium reprint may be incredibly desirable.
There’s also a Spirit and Shrine token with new artwork available in the deck. These will likely be worth a couple of bucks each on their own.
Final Verdict?
In our opinion, if you want to play with this deck, or want multiple cards in the deck, 20 Ways to Win is a fine buy financially. The reprint value of the deck will go down a bit since this is being written as the decklist was announced, but the premiums in all of the alternate art cards are likely to go a long way, especially considering that many of the cards getting unique artwork are win conditions.
If you’re buying this purely for reselling, your success will largely depend on the amount of demand that 20 Ways to Win sees. If the deck sells out in record time, then you can probably flip it for a decent deal. Otherwise, you’ll still likely resell it for a profit, but it may not be worth your time.
Ultimately, the real final verdict depends on how well this deck plays, and it looks like a hot mess. It’s tough to write off a deck before even trying it, but the strategies involved look incredibly unfocused. We wouldn’t be surprised if you end up having dysfunctional games with cards that don’t really do anything.
If this ends up being accurate, 20 Ways to Win might be something to pass up, but unfocused, random wins out of nowhere are definitely some Commander player’s perfect cup of tea. Regardless, the alternate artwork on alternate win conditions is a very strong draw, and there’s a decent chance that the Bonus cards offer even more alternate wins that could really make this deck worthwhile.
20 Ways to Win will be available on December 2nd on Wizards of the Coast’s official Secret Lair site. You can find the full decklist for 20 Ways to Win here.
