It has been all go in the world of Secret Lair recently. Between the Super Scare Superdrop, PlayStation x MTG, the latest Countdown Kit, and Avatar: The Last Airbender, Secret Lair has been working nonstop. Not only have these Secret Lairs unveiled tons of new cards and fantastic reprints, but there’s a bevvy of bonus cards too.
Over the past few weeks, we’ve been consistently impressed by the flavorful and remarkably expensive new bonus cards. Unfortunately, one of the most anticipated Secret Lair products in recent memory doesn’t continue this trend. Despite offering obscene value for money, the Secret Lair Countdown Kit: An Encyclopedia of Magic bonus card is a bit of a dud…
MTG Alhammarret’s Archive
On the surface, Alhammarret’s Archive is a pretty solid reprint, but nothing that spectacular. Offering double life gain and card draw, outside of your first, this card is a true Commander staple. To date, this card has appeared in around 117,000 Commander decks, according to EDHREC.
Beyond seeing a good amount of play across a variety of lifegain and card draw-focused archetypes, Alhammarret’s Archive is also rather expensive. Despite being reprinted three times, the consistent mythic rarity of this card has kept a lid on supply. Due to this, prices start at just shy of $19, which adds a good chunk of extra value to the Countdown Kit.
Considering the Encyclopedia of Magic already offered $270 of raw reprint value for its $200 price tag, this extra $19 wasn’t really needed. It’s nice, of course, especially when you factor in the fact that this is the first chase printing of the card. Theoretically, this could push the card’s value up quite significantly, easily bumping it above the $20 threshold.
Ultimately, as far as bonus cards go, it’s pretty hard to complain about getting an extra $19 in value for free. That said, on social media, MTG players have still managed to do just that. While the financial value of Alhammarret’s Archive may be decent in the grand scheme of MTG, this card is hardly flavorful.
An Alphabetical Anomaly
Considering the theme of the Secret Lair Countdown Kit: An Encyclopedia of Magic, this bonus card doesn’t make sense. At the end of the day, Alhammarret’s Archive is just an MTG card that starts with A. Much like Altar of the Brood, there’s nothing about this card that is alphabet-themed; it’s just a solid card.
This, then, makes it a very odd choice as the Countdown Kit’s seemingly only bonus card. If it were one part of a 26-card series, which repeated the alphabet, that would make a lot more sense. Sadly, it doesn’t appear this is the case, as no additional bonus cards have been spoiled so far. In the eyes of MTG players, this appears to be a huge flavor faux pas.
On Reddit, once Alhammarret’s Archive was revealed, players were quick to complain that other obvious choices were seemingly ignored. While it would be a terrible reprint, +2 Mace was a common suggestion for what should have been the bonus card. As the only Commander playable card that starts with a symbol or number, it would have at least been flavorful.
Additionally, Aether Vial was another frequent suggestion from fans, specifically the original Darksteel printing. Before 2016, this card used the Æther Vial spelling, making it another fittingly unique bonus card option. If chosen, this could have also been a fairly compelling reprint, with past Secret Lair copies selling for $10+.
Alternatively, there were also suggestions for multiple Un-set cards to be reprinted as a fitting bonus card. While all of these cards are unplayable, reprinting Now I Know My ABC’s or _____ would have made a lot of sense. The same is true for Zzzyxas’s Abyss, as it also plays into a strong alphabet-centric theme.
The Best Worst Product
At the end of the day, the odd bonus card is hardly the only problem with the An Encyclopedia of Magic Countdown Kit. The immense scarcity of this product quickly ruined what could have otherwise been a fantastic celebration. Unsurprisingly, the kit’s $70 of positive value had a bit effect on this, but that’s just the tip of the iceberg.
As expected, the Holo Foil variants of the Countdown Kit cards are hugely popular and selling for insane money. On eBay, Halo Foils have already sold for between $99 and $250, and that was for a Junji, The Midnight Sky. Halo Foil copies of Urza’s Saga or Sol Ring are expected to sell for upwards of $1000, which is nuts.
With these sales and high-priced staples, it’s really no wonder that the Countdown Kit sold out so quickly. Realistically, we can only hope that the lightning-fast sale of this drop left a bunch of money on the table. Sadly, this feels like the only way that Wizards might take notice and actually up Secret Lair print runs significantly.
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