MTG SPECIAL Fallout Secret Lair Product Offers Dismal Reprint Value

MTG Fallout Commander decklists have finally all been revealed, and it truly is an incredibly flavorful set. This set features plenty of important characters, such as Agent Frank Corrigan, the final boss of Fallout 2, on their own individual cards. Meanwhile, cards like Almost Perfect do a fantastic job directly referencing various characteristics of the Fallout franchise, including perks, SPECIAL stats, and more.

Speaking of SPECIAL stats, a new Secret Lair product completely centered around this dynamic has now been previewed. For those that don’t know, SPECIAL is an acronym standing for the primary statistics within the system. The letters stand for Strength, Perception, Endurance, Charisma, Intelligence, Agility and Luck. The SPECIAL Secret Lair specifically utilizes six reprints whose names begin with different letters from the word SPECIAL.

Not only that, but each card also has flavor text referencing one of the seven statistics utilized. It’s unclear why there are six cards, not seven, as Agility is not highlighted. Perhaps this could be a sign for a bonus card that starts with the letter A? This remains to be seen, but for now, let’s jump right in and see what the SPECIAL Secret Lair has to offer.

Elixir of Immortality

First, we have Elixir of Immortality, representing endurance. Given that the term endurance refers to one’s ability to maintain a brisk pace for a long period of time, this Artifact highlighting immortality is a neat card to represent this SPECIAL stat. Elixir of Immortality has shown up in some Constructed decks throughout MTG’s history with very slow developing gameplans as a means to prevent decking. The life buffer is also nice against aggressive strategies.

Unfortunately, the card hasn’t exactly stood the test of time. As an uncommon, it also holds very little reprint value. It currently sits at roughly 50 cents in its cheapest traditional form according to TCGPlayer market price. Even with new artwork in the MTG Fallout SPECIAL Secret Lair, this card will certainly not be breaking the bank.

Council’s Judgment

Council’s Judgment is next, representing charisma. Council’s Judgment is a powerful card that originally debuted in Conspiracy, highlighting the voting mechanic. In multiplayer Commander games, the card can often remove the most threatening card at the table. However, it can have different effects on the game depending on how players vote, potentially exiling multiple non-Land permanents in play.

In typical one versus one formats, though, this card serves an important purpose. First of all, whatever you vote for is guaranteed to get exiled with only two players voting. As such, your opponent will generally just vote for the same permanent you do as to have Council’s Judgment only remove one thing on board. While this isn’t the most efficient for three mana, because it doesn’t target one of your opponent’s permanents, it can answer sticky, problematic cards like True-Name Nemesis.

Once again, though, the card isn’t too valuable. It was also just recently reprinted in Ravnica: Clue Edition, further depleting its value. It has a price tag of about $1.

Lightning Bolt

Lightning Bolt is next, with the flavor text referring to luck. Interestingly, there’s basically no luck element involved with Lightning Bolt whatsoever. This is one of the most straightforward cards in MTG but is also super effective. Getting to deal three damage to any target at Instant speed for one mana makes this card versatile and excellent on rate. Obviously, this is a staple in Modern Burn decks as the premier burn spell, but it shows up in plenty of other tempo-style decks, such as Izzet Delver in Legacy. It’s an efficient removal spell and a finisher rolled up in one. What more could you want?

Well, for a Secret Lair, it isn’t necessarily a great inclusion. It has been reprinted countless times, most recently in Ravnica: Clue Edition. It also sits around 50 cents in its cheapest traditional form.

Steelshaper’s Gift

Up to this point, none of the cards featured have been worth all that much. Our next couple cards are a bit pricier, but as we will see, the reprint value overall is not spectacular. Steelshaper’s Gift is next, referencing strength. This card can tutor for any Equipment on the cheap. In Modern, this card has seen play alongside Stoneforge Mystic to help search for Colossus Hammer.

+10/+10 is a very large buff, so showing off the card that lets you tutor for Hammer with new artwork depicting an increase in strength is brilliant. Still, the card only costs around $3, as it plummeted in price since its Commander Masters reprint.

Propaganda

Propaganda is next, with flavor text highlighting Perception. Much like Ghostly Prison, Propaganda is primarily a Commander card that can help protect you from getting attacked by lots of Creatures at once. Two mana is a lot to pay to attack with even one Creature, so decks that go wide with tokens will feel its effects right away.

Propaganda has a price tag of roughly $4, seeing a recent printing in MTG Doctor Who. This makes it the second most expensive card in this Secret Lair from a reprint value standpoint.

Idyllic Tutor

Last but not least, we have Idyllic Tutor, the card with the highest reprint value in this product. Idyllic Tutor symbolizes Intelligence, allowing you to find any Enchantment in your deck to help progress your board. For decks with lots of Enchantments to find, this card gives you a lot of flexibility depending on what effect you are looking for during a Commander game.

Idyllic Tutor sits at roughly $6 in its cheapest traditional form. As the priciest reprint, this isn’t much. That puts the total reprint value of this Secret Lair product at about $15. As such, it is rather disappointing from a financial perspective. At least it is quite flavorful, so it can certainly be appealing to fans of the Fallout franchise. Just don’t expect the best bang for your buck with this one.