At long last, the Lorwyn Eclipsed MTG set is finally playable today as prerelease events kick off. Considering this set was originally meant to be released in 2025, this day has certainly been a long time coming. While the set itself doesn’t disappoint, with tons of powerful and exciting cards, its release hasn’t exactly been faultless.
Despite getting its well-deserved time in the spotlight, prereleases for Lorwyn Eclipsed have been smothered by other content. Earlier this week, leaks for Secrets of Strixhaven appeared online, and a new Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle leak appeared today. As if that somehow wasn’t enough, Wizards also announced a brand-new Fallout-themed Secret Lair Superdrop yesterday.
While all of this other content has been stealing the spotlight somewhat, it’s equally hard not to be excited about it. The new Fallout-themed Secret Lairs, in particular, are arriving later this month, to coincide with the TV show’s second season. Unsurprisingly, the gradual release of this show has also caused some iconic Fallout MTG cards to spike in price.
MTG Agent Frank Horrigan
Released as part of the Mutant Menace Commander deck, Agent Frank Horrigan is a powerful, albeit costly, MTG card. At the very least, this sometimes Indestructible Mutant will Proliferate twice upon entry, and then again whenever attacking. Thanks to attacking also granting Agent Frank Horrigan Indestructible, this turns them into a serious Proliferating machine.
Within the Mutant Menace precon he originated in, this Proliferate ability worked wonders with Rad Counters. By stacking them up on your opponents, you can easily force them to mill through their deck rather quickly. Thanks to this utility, Agent Frank Horrigan is predominantly played alongside The Wise Mothman, but he’s also great with Atraxa, Praetors’ Voice.
While Agent Frank Horrigan does most of his work in the 99, he’s also not a terrible option in the Command zone. Leaning into Infect and Toxic cards, Agent Frank Horrigan can knock out opponents with frightening ease once on board. Admittedly, you do need a lot of ramp to get Agent Frank Horrigan out in the first place, but thankfully, Commander has no shortage of that.
Curiously, while it seems that interest has surged in Agent Frank Horrigan, thanks to the TV show, there aren’t tons of new synergies. Technically, he can work fairly well with Earthbending from MTG Avatar, but those synergies are hardly brand new. There are also some synergies with -1/-1 Counters and the Blight Curse precon, but its casting cost makes it a somewhat dubious upgrade.
Notably, Agent Frank Horrigan doesn’t even work well with any of the new mechanically unique Fallout Secret Lair cards. At best, The Ghoul, Gunslinger can dish out Rad Counters, but Agent Frank Horrigan doesn’t fit The Ghoul’s color identity. Instead, to play these cards together, you’d have to fall back upon The Wise Mothman.
The Spike
In the past month alone, Agent Frank Horrigan has spiked in price by over 1020%. This is largely thanks to the card’s cheap starting price, as back in December copies were selling for $0.81. This price point isn’t massively surprising, as Agent Frank Horrigan is only played in around 34,300 decks, according to EDHREC.
Despite this somewhat low play rate, out of the blue on January 2nd, over 500 copies of Agent Frank Horrigan were sold. Given the lack of new synergies, the Fallout TV show certainly seems like the cause of this spike. Specifically, it looks like a targeted buyout to capitalize on hype for the show.
While this buyout didn’t initially impact the price much, it has exploded in the past few days. Even before the new Fallout Secret Lair drops were announced, $19.99 sales caused Agent Frank Horrigan’s market price to spike dramatically. Now, the market price figure sits at $9.08, marking a 1020.99% price spike in one month.
Notably, while this spike is already quite high, recent sales have consistently been around the $12 mark. As if that wasn’t expensive enough, new listings are even dearer, with near-mint non-foil copies starting at $18.95. Notably, these expensive copies haven’t been flying off the shelves recently, as demand isn’t incredibly high, even after the Secret Lair reveals.
Sadly, while there are a handful of other Agent Frank Horrigan variants, none offer significant savings at the moment. The Extended Art variant is currently going for $16.90, including shipping, despite not seeing a major increase in sales. Somewhat unsurprisingly, both Surge Foil variants are also up significantly, with copies now going for $30+.
The Future
While Agent Frank Horrigan is a Fallout-themed MTG card, that’s just about the only thing going for it. Even with all of the synergies that Proliferate works well with, this card is simply too expensive.
To make matters worse, Agent Frank Horrigan isn’t even in season two of the Fallout TV show at the moment. Subsequently, those wanting to lean into the show’s flavor are better off building around cards like Mr. House, President and CEO, or the new Secret Lair cards. Due to this, it feels like demand for Agent Frank Horrigan isn’t going to last, unless he does appear in the show.
Ultimately, there’s a good chance that the current price spike that Agent Frank Horrigan is seeing won’t last forever. Even if any investors who bought up copies during the sales surge don’t sell, demand simply isn’t strong enough. As a result, prices will naturally have to fall to keep stock moving.
That being said, there is a very real chance that Agent Frank Horrigan could end up spiking again in the future. With season three of the TV show already greenlit and Fallout 5 also confirmed, demand for Fallout-themed MTG cards will surely return. The only question is whether or not Wizards of the Coast will end up reprinting any of the cards they’ve made.
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