For better or worse, Magic: The Gathering’s relentless spoiler season is well and truly back in full force. Since returning from their holiday break, we’ve had not one, but two spoiler seasons! Following swiftly on from Murders at Karlov Manor, the latest round of MTG Secret Lair drops stole the show. With new reprints being revealed each day, the overwhelming drip feed of content has practically been neverending!
Thankfully, at long last, the release day for the Winter 2024 Superdrop is finally upon us. Putting an end to the set’s spoiler season, players can finally look forward to actually purchasing these cards! Before that time comes, however, Wizards of the Coast did have one last reveal up their sleeves.
Keeping the worst to last, a final, rather dire, Secret Lair drop, Deceptive Divination, has been revealed! Worryingly, beyond its dismal value, this Secret Lair drop appears to have a major misprint, making one MTG card almost useless!
An Almost Unplable Counterspell
First printed in Torment Circular Logic is a classic counterspell that has been around for literal decades. Despite this provenance, Circular Logic isn’t a very good MTG card since it’s a three mana counterspell. As if this wasn’t poorly costed enough, Circular Logic also requires a good deal of fuel to be effective.
Through these details combined, Circular Logic is completely unplayable in the vast majority of MTG decks. Even Commander doesn’t really want this unusual counterspell. Thankfully, to save it from being Draft chaff, Circular Logic has a saving grace; Madness. If it’s discarded, this counterspell can be cast for just one mana, which seems about fair for its requirements.
While it’s far from a tier-one archetype, Circular Logic does see some play in Premodern Madness decks. Similarly, Madness decks in Commander can also make use of this card, but it’s hardly a staple. In theory, being a cult card could make the new Secret Lair variant of Circular Logic surprisingly lucrative. That would be the case, however, if it was playable.
For some bizarre reason, the new Secret Lair artwork has made Circular Logic a sorcery, rather than an instant. As you might suspect, this makes the card effectively unplayable outside of its Madness ability. Since this is essentially the only way it is played, this nerf might not be as devastating as first thought.
Considering there is a large market for misprints in MTG, this new Circular Logic could be rather desirable. That being said, this misprint isn’t going to be uncommon by any means. According to Wizards, this misprint has made print and affects both foil and non-foil variants of Deceptive Divination. As always, while this misprint is unfortunate it does not change the playability of the card at all. The functional oracle text for Circular Logic remains the same as always.
Utterly Dismal Value
As much as Circular Logic is undeniably an interesting oddity, in terms of value, this card is severely lacking. Thanks to a bounty of reprints, most recently in Dominaria Remastered, this card is effectively worthless. Costing just $0.07, there’s really no demand for this card so its Secret Lair value is a total mystery.
Unfortunately, the value of the Deceptive Divination Secret Lair drop doesn’t get much better outside of Circular Logic. Moving on up, the next most expensive card is Wall of Omens at just $0.31. While cheap, Wall of Omens does see some Commander play according to EDHREC, but it’s hardly a beloved staple.
Thankfully, the same isn’t true for Eternal Witness as they’re an immensely popular card. Found in over 350,000 Commander decks, Eternal Witness is truly a green staple. For better or worse, despite this status, Eternal Witness is also incredibly cheap due to being reprinted into the ground. While this may disappoint some MTG finance fans, there should still be demand for this fancy Secret Lair variant.
Taking another step up, Price of Progress is another popular yet fairly inexpensive MTG card. Selling for around $3.75, Price of Progress can be quite a punishing card in the right deck and format. Played in Legacy and Commander, the ubiquity of non-basic lands has made this card somewhat of a niche darling. Thanks to this, depending on opinions about the artwork, the new variant could be rather expensive.
Topping the value charts for this Secret Lair drop, Scheming Symmetry is worth a staggering $4.75. In case the sarcasm was lost through text, this symmetrical tutor is not very popular or expensive. Practically only seeing play in Commander, there’s little demand for this risky bomb.
How Will It Sell?
With the limited stock Winter 2024 Superdrop now on sale, only one question remains; how will each Secret Lair sell? Unfortunately, this isn’t an easy question to answer. Conserving the lack of value, first impressions may seem like this Superdrop will be a super flop. In reality, however, the success or failure of this Secret Lair drop depends on the print volume.
As the first limited stock Secret Lair Superdrop, the Winter 2024 drop is uncharted territory. Thanks to this, no one really knows what is going to happen until it happens throughout the month. In theory, each Secret Lair could sell out incredibly quickly thanks to eager players and scalpers alike. Alternatively, should demand be high enough, many of the Secret Lairs may never sell out at all!
Right now, we’re just going to have to wait and see what happens throughout the following weeks. Only then will we know the extent of current demand, and how that may affect prices going forward.
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