The number of ridiculous Universes Beyond crossovers that were announced in the span of a few hours is ridiculous. Not only do we have four new UB sets next year, but there are an absurd number of different crossovers coming to us via Secret Lair.
The strangest of these crossovers is undeniably Furby and The Office. Even the strangeness of Hasbro’s Play-Doh pales in comparison to an entire Secret Lair themed after Dwight Schrute. These reimaginings are among the most terrifying creations that MTG Universes Beyond has ever produced, in both concept and artwork. To make things worse, a majority of these aren’t bad deals, either.
Secret Lair X Furby: The Oddbodies
I don’t think I’ve ever seen something as terrifying as the new artwork for Umbris, Fear Manifest. As a Horror Typal Commander, the rest of the cards in this Secret Lair fit into the 99 of a deck under its command. The card has a shocking secondary market value of about $9, thanks in part to only seeing one printing in a Commander precon.
One of the stronger Horrors on offer in Magic, Spellskite used to be a card all over competitive Magic thanks to its redirection effect. It’s more or less a retired staple now, but that doesn’t mean Spellskite is cheap. This card still retails for about $7, primarily seeing play in cEDH. The card otherwise makes rare appearances in Duel Commander.
Maddening Cacophony doesn’t really fit the theme of the rest of the Secret Lair, but it’s on brand for the reaction this drop might cause. This may not seem like an exciting reprint, but the card actually has a secondary market value of $7. It sees most of its play in rogue cEDH decks, but it is part of any and every Mill deck in Commander, Modern, and Pioneer. That strategy isn’t particularly popular, but Maddening Cacophany only has one printing from Zendikar Rising, meaning that its supply is likely limited. This reprint likely won’t help that, either.
Another extremely powerful Horror, Hullbreaker Horror may have a fair number of printings, but it’s one of the most powerful creatures in all of Magic: The Gathering. Use some mana-positive mana rocks with the Horror, like Sol Ring and Mana Vault, and creating infinite mana becomes trivial. Some cEDH decks base their entire strategy around Hullbreaker Horror and Proteus Staff. Despite the card having a reprint value of $2.50, there’s a lot of appeal to a premium copy of a card like this.
Finally, Serum Visions is the only complete whiff in terms of secondary market value in this Secret Lair. The 50-cent cantrip has been reprinted in a lot of preconstructed decks.
Secret Lair The Office: Dwight’s Destiny
This is the most bizarre Secret Lair crossover we’ve ever seen. It takes a lot to top a SpongeBob SquarePants Secret Lair entirely constructed around internet memes, but somehow, Dwight’s Destiny has done that. Offering five reprints with the Office character’s likeness, this Secret Lair is truly unlike any other.
Heliod, Sun-Crowned, infamous for creating infinite combos with the likes of Walking Ballista, has a decent amount of demand behind it. Besides ending games on impact, Heliod is one of the best cards in Magic for Lifegain Commander decks. Despite multiple reprints, this card continues to demand a $15 reprint value.
Steelshaper’s Gift is an auto-include in any Equipment matters Commander deck, and also appears in constructed formats when Equipment is a prevailing theme. For just one mana, this is the best tutor in the archetype, and largely has its secondary market value reflect the amount of current demand for Equipment decks. Considering Final Fantasy released a lot of support for the archetype, equipment is rather popular in Commander at the moment, reflected in this card’s $8 price tag.
Reaper King is far less popular than some of the other cards in Dwight’s Destiny, but it’s also a five-color Typal Commander that has only seen two niche printings. The first was in Shadowmoor and the second was in The List; neither printing is widely available. The card has a $9 secondary market value as a result.
Ghostly Prison is perhaps the most hilarious artwork I’ve ever seen in Magic, but the card itself can be rather annoying. This is a very common card that appears across all kinds of Commander decks. Anything that wants to buy time will play this, and its wide usability reflects its $5 price tag.
The rest of the cards in this Secret Lair are not particularly expensive. Swords to Plowshares, while a very powerful card in multiple formats, is only worth $1 thanks to a ludicrous amount of reprints. This one will likely have a decent premium on it, however.
Baral, Chief of Compliance is similar to Swords to Plowshares. The card sees plenty of play in competitive Storm decks across Modern and Commander, but does not have a high secondary market value due to a high number of reprints. It is worth about $2.
Finally, Garruk Relentless is the cheapest card of the Secret Lair, going for just $0.50, but the flavor here is intense.
Secret Lair: Furby: The Gathering
Furby: The Gathering offers some charming artwork with Hasbro’s iconic Furby character interacting with various MTG ones. It’s quite a funny scene, but many of the reprints offered in this Secret Lair are rather disappointing.
Sphere of Safety is the standout card in this collection. Unlike Ghostly Prison, Sphere of Safety can protect your Planeswalkers as well as your life total from attacking creatures your opponents control. You need a lot of enchantments to support the card properly, which makes it less ubiquitous across Commander archetypes, however. This reflects in its $3.25 price tag.
Phyrexian Arena, for a long time, was a chase card worth looking for in Commander. Drawing two cards per turn is still good by today’s standards, but after a ton of power creep, and a lot of reprints, Phyrexian Arena is both less powerful comparitively, and has tons of supply available. The card is only worth $1.27, but it is Standard legal, allowing you to play Furbies at your local FNMs. As far as Commander goes, Arena is a fantastic buy for just a dollar, as well.
Bizzarely, Tamiyo’s Safekeeping is actually more expensive than Phyrexian Arena. For a long time, this Kamigawa: Neon Dynasty common was played across formats as one of the best ways to protect your creatures for cheap. Granting Indestructible and Hexproof for just one mana is still very rare by today’s Standards in Magic, especially for a common. The card sees play in Commander, cEDH, Duel Commander and Pauper as a result. Add on that this card hasn’t had a reprinting until now, and its surprising $2 secondary market value makes a lot of sense.
The last two cards in this Secret Lair aren’t particularly exciting. Miscast is a common cEDH card thanks to offering cheap interaction for common threats in the format. The card also makes odd appearances in competitive formats when metagames become particularly narrow. The card has a $1 market value, which is somewhat surprising considering it hasn’t been reprinted.
Finally, Tormenting Voice is the most flavorful inclusion amongst the Furby Secret Lair cards, but it’s also the worst. Not only is this card undeniable Draft Chaff, but there are multiple cards in use now that are strict upgrades to this design. Unless you want to make your opponents cringe upon your casting of this card, Thrill of Possibility, Bitter Reunion, Demand Answers, and many other MTG cards are direct upgrades to this 20-cent card.
Secret Lair: Doo-ay Noo-lah
Between these Universes Beyond reprint Secret Lairs, Doo-ay Noo-lah is the weakest one by quite a long shot. The most expensive card in this Secret Lair is Chromatic Lantern for just $2. Sol Ring offers a $1 reprint with massive premium potential, but every other card in this Secret Lair is worth 50 cents or less.
That doesn’t mean the cards are useless, however. All of these cards are usable across a popular Commander archetype. Explore is strong in any deck that wants to accelerate their land drops, while Inspiring Call and Distant Melody are decent card draw support in their respective archetypes. These cards have all been reprinted recently or are going to be printed in an upcoming set, however. This makes them rather undesirable mechanically.
The other two Secret Lairs, on the other hand, don’t disappoint. Dwight’s Destiny is the standout choice for this unsettling selection, offering about $41 in reprint value. That’s just over $10 of the usual $29.99 entry fee, for the most bizarre Secret Lair that Magic has ever seen. The creepy Oddbodies Secret Lair just about breaks even, justifying this collection for those who want to creep their opponents out.
Even for Secret Lair, this collection of drops is a departure from an already chaotic norm for Magic. The gloves are truly off now. There’s no crossover too bizarre for Magic anymore.
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