Magic’s and Fallout’s release schedules truly seem to be in synch. Our first visit to the world of Fallout occurred right before the hit television series first aired. Now, right before the finale of season two, an entire MTG Fallout Secret Lair drop has been revealed out of nowhere. With a few new cards and plenty of reprints to share, this is one of the best Secret Lair Superdrops we’ve seen in some time.
Secret Lair X Fallout: Beyond Vault 33
Drawing directly from the Fallout television series that’s currently airing its second season, Beyond Vault 33 is perhaps the most exciting of the new drops on offer today. This is down to the three all-new, mechanically-unique legendary creatures it brings to the table.
Lucy Maclean, Positively Armed is the most interesting of these by far. While it’s in play, you can grant copies of tokens players create to other players, drawing cards if you give them to opponents. In a token deck, this is essentially a Group Hug card, letting you dole out goodies in exchange for cards. Alternatively, you can eschew the benefactor angle and just copy tokens your opponents create instead. Five mana is steep, but with how common tokens are in Commander these days, I could see this finding a home in many 99s.
The Ghoul, Gunslinger is less broadly useful, but it seems like an excellent card for Zombie Typal lists. Your dying Zombies will let you stack up Rad counters on yourself, which will then translate into more Zombies in the ‘yard to fuel your synergies. The card also has some neat combo potential, too. If you cut through the text here, you get “whenever a nontoken Zombie you control dies, create a Treasure token.” This is a hugely abusable line of text, opening up easy Gravecrawler loops.
The final new legend here, Maximus, Knight Apparent, is unfortunately the least exciting. Tutoring up Equipment is nice, but being restricted to only two mana options is rough. This can nab you some solid cards, like Lightning Greaves and Swiftfoot Boots, but most of the really good Equipment is down at one mana. Equipment decks will run it for sure, but it lacks the splashability of something like Cloud, Midgar Mercenary. The second ability is also deeply underwhelming, even in dedicated Energy lists. This one feels like it’s pulling in two different directions, and not doing particularly well in either.
On top of the new stuff, Beyond Vault 33 also packs a trio of reprints. All three are Equipment, and all three are very underwhelming in terms of value. Spirit Mantle is the biggest hit at around $1.70 a copy, and is, in fairness, a solid addition to most Voltron decks in Commander. Pre-War Formalwear is next at around $1, combining a solid reanimation effect with a pretty clunky Equipment. This one is mostly seen in dedicated Equipment decks, and is honestly pretty underplayed for its power level. Finally, T-45 Power Armor rounds things out with a $0.20 dud. Even in the Energy decks it’s designed for, this isn’t a particularly powerful card. Notably, thanks to including new cards, this Secret Lair will be a bit more expensive than the others, retailing at $39.99 for its nonfoil variant and $49.99 for the foil.
Secret Lair X Fallout: Welcome to New Vegas
Some of the most exciting reprints in this entire Secret Lair Superdrop can be found in Secret Lair X Fallout: Welcome to New Vegas. Multiple $20 reprints are available here, easily making this one of the best Secret Lairs we’ve ever seen.
Creating tapped Treasures whenever you sacrifice a Food Token, Nuka-Cola Vending Machine has become an absolute staple in Food Commander decks. With this recurring theme across MTG sets, there are regularly new MTG Food Commanders for players to build, keeping demand consistent. Throw in some crazy infinite combo potential, and it’s no wonder Nuka-Cola Vending Machine has a $20 asking price. Thanks to the rarity of MTG Fallout foil cards, the foil Nuka-Cola Vending Machine reprint pays for the lair itself, demanding $45 at the lowest.
Offering one of the most sought-after cards for any discard-themed EDH deck, Tinybones, Trinket Thief is another homerun reprint. Despite this, Tinybones isn’t the most popular card in the world, only seeing play in about 19,000 decks according to EDHREC. Because it is particularly difficult to acquire, Tinybones’s value instead comes from its scarcity. Only available in the original Jumpstart as a Mythic Rare and in other Secret Lairs, Tinybones demands a $20 ransom to join your team.
The last three reprints continue to deliver, too. Isshin, Two Heavens as One is about $5 thanks to being one of the most popular Commanders in the game. Caged Sun retails for about $3.50 thanks to being one of the best cards for mono-colored Commander decks period, and The Deck of Many Things is yet another $5 reprint, mostly appearing in dice-themed Commander decks. Bringing the nonfoil value of this Secret Lair to a staggering $53.50 without factoring in any Universes Beyond premiums, grabbing this Secret Lair for its $29.99 price is a no-brainer.
Secret Lair X Fallout: Rad
Mill aficionados are going to love what Secret Lair X Fallout: Rad has in store. Thanks to an early reveal, we’ve already talked about Mindcrank, an infinite combo mill piece with a $12 market value. Crazily enough, that’s not even the best reprint in this Secret Lair.
That honor, instead, goes to Mesmeric Orb, a classic milling powerhouse. Partnered with cards like Basalt Monolith, Mesmeric Orb can mill you out at instant speed, setting up a Thassa’s Oracle win. Despite a generous collection of reprints, this artifact still demands an impressive $20 price tag.
These two reprints blow the other cards in this Secret Lair out of the water, but there is one remaining card that’s still worth mentioning. Mutational Advantage, seeing its first printing in the original Fallout set, is worth about $4.50 thanks to being one of the best boardwipe protection spell for counters-based decks.
Sadly, Ripples and Potential and The Wise Mothman don’t have impressive secondary market price tags, retailing for $1 each. That puts this Secret Lair at about $38.50 for its nonfoil printing, making this a decent deal for its $29.99 price tag.
Secret Lair X Fallout: Greet the Dog
Every Secret Lair Superdrop has to have a flavorful dud, and this time, it appears to be the Dogmeat-themed Greet the Dog lair. That said, even this Secret Lair has a decent chance of recouping its costs, depending on the markup for these premium printings.
The star reprint in this Secret Lair is Dogmeat himself, masquerading as Yoshimaru, Ever Faithful. The card has a $10 asking price for its base variants, but premium copies of this card have massive markups. The Final Fantasy reprinting of this card goes for $34, while its last Secret Lair appearance demands a whopping $82!
Lightning Greaves and Patchwork Banner are respectful reprints as well, going for about $4 and $5.50, respectively. While Greaves has had a massive series of reprints, this is the first Pathwork Banner reprint we’ve seen since the card’s appearance as an uncommon in Bloomburrow. The Banner, in particular, could be surprisingly sought after thanks to all the new Typal synergies releasing in Lorwyn Eclipsed.
Thanks to a long list of reprintings, Sol Ring and Arcane Signet don’t have an attractive secondary market value. That said, past Secret Lair variants of these cards commonly go for $30 and up, suggesting that these Commander super staples could easily pay for the price of entry. However, at each reprint’s lowest secondary market value, this Secret Lair offers about $21.50 in reprints, which doesn’t quite match the $29.99 cost.
$149 Promo
Finally, should you spend $149 or more during the upcoming Secret Lair: Rad Superdrop, you’ll get an additional Silver Shroud Costume promo with your order. This is yet another reprint from the original MTG Fallout set, and it’s a pretty expensive one. Offering removal protection at instant speed, Silver Shroud Costume repurposes itself as unblockable equipment after entry, making it a great upgrade for Commanders who want to push damage. Offering a secondary market value of $13 for its nonfoil variant and $33.50 for its foil one, this is one of the best Secret Lair sales promos we’ve ever seen.
With mechanically unique cards, two homerun reprint Secret Lairs, and a third that looks promising, the Secret Lair: Rad Superdrop is extremely impressive. Considering that the last Universes Beyond Secret Lair we saw got scrapped for its poor quality, this home run follow-up is really encouraging.
Fortunately for all the MTG Fallout fans out there, you won’t have to wait long for this Secret Lair, either. Dropping on January 26th, this Secret Lair will be available right after the official release of Lorwyn Eclipsed. Sadly, because this Secret Lair drop looks so strong, it might be extremely popular. If you want to ensure that you get your hands on this Secret Lair drop, you’ll want to line up right as pre-queue begins at 8 A.M. PST to give yourself the best odds.
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