Within the Secret Lair product line, the Chaos Vault has been a rather recent development. This sub-sub-brand is used to test new, bold experiments that break away from the typical patterns seen in normal Secret Lair drops. In a new experiment, Wizards of the Coast has created a Secret Lair designed to function as a direct upgrade to existing Commander preconstructed decks.
After having played against World Shaper with many of these upgrades attached, it’s safe to say that these will have a massive effect on the performance of the deck. As if that wasn’t enough, this Secret Lair also offers some pretty compelling financial value.
Alien Auroras
Created as a Secret Lair intended to upgrade the Edge of Eternities World Shaper precon, Alien Auroras offers five cards that match the deck’s theme of sacrificing lands. Zuran Orb, Aggressive Mining, Sylvan Safekeeper, and Reprocess offer massive payoffs in exchange for your lands, and Crucible of Worlds can replay them from your graveyard.
It may not seem like these cards have a big impact on World Shaper, but this gives the deck consistent combo kills that can occur once you’ve fully Stationed your Commander. Hearthhull, the Worldseed will cause your opponents to lose two life for every sacrificed land. Combine that with a ton of land acceleration, and it’s not uncommon to be 4-5 lands ahead of the table.
Say you have ten lands. Sacrifice them all of Zuran Orb, Sylvan Safekeeper, or Reprocess, and you can deal 20 damage to all of your opponents. Then, you can revive them all with Splendid Reclamation, Aftermath Analyst, or Worldsoul’s Rage from the precon. Sacrifice them all again, and the table is dead. In our testing, this can consistently kill the table around turns 6-7.
If having Hearthhull removed once it becomes a creature is a concern, just Station it into a creature on the turn you go for the win. In some instances, removal won’t even be able to save them once Hearthhull is fully Stationed. If Aftermath Analyst and Zuran Orb are in play, for example, you can kill your opponents on the stack. Sylvan Safekeeper can even give Hearthhull Hexproof.
These will be a massive upgrade to the World Shaper precon, easily pushing it into Bracket 3 territory in terms of playability. So, if you’re looking to upgrade the deck to fight against non-precon strategies, this will certainly do the trick. Whether or not the Alien Auroras Secret Lair is a good deal financially, however, is a completely different question.
Alien Auroras Finance
As far as reprint value goes, Crucible of Worlds is the clear winner here. Worth $26 at its absolute cheapest, this almost pays for the entire Alien Auroras Secret Lair on its own. The effect is also undeniably important for the deck, so much so that you should consider running multiple copies of it via cards like Ramunap Excavator and Icetill Explorer. Combined with sacrifice lands like Terramorphic Expanse and Cabaretti Courtyard, these cards will ensure that you never miss a land drop.
Sylvan Safekeeper also isn’t a horrible reprint from a finance perspective, offering about $4.50 in terms of reprint value. The card sees some demand from Legacy, fitting into multiple land-based strategies. The card otherwise appears in Duel Commander, cEDH, and rarely, Modern.
Reprocess, on the other hand, has some financial value thanks to a lack of easily accessible printings. The card is worth about $6.70 at its cheapest, but sees absolutely no play outside of incredibly specific strategies like this one. Considering how difficult this card is to use, this isn’t that surprising, as sacrificing permanents for most decks is a disastrous cost.
Finally, Zuran Orb and Aggressive Mining aren’t very exciting reprints, finance-wise, but they don’t need to be. Zuran Orb is only worth about a dollar, and Aggressive Mining goes for about half that. Being unable to play lands is a bit of a concern in terms of Aggressive Mining’s usability. Unless you have a lot of effects that can put lands in play for you, this upgrade might be a bit troublesome to use properly.
A Fantastic Buy to Upgrade World Shaper
As far as secondary market value goes, Alien Auroras offers more reprint value than the base price point. You can expect about $38 of value here, which is beyond the $30 needed to buy the cheapest variant of this Secret Lair. As a reminder, unique artwork is provided for all these cards, which will likely grant these singles some form of premium. Galaxy Foil variants of Alien Auroras are also available for $60 for those interested.
This Secret Lair drop uniquely features a bundle that offers the World Shaper precon in addition to the drop. You can tack on the deck for an additional $44.99 on top of whichever variant of the Alien Auroras Secret Lair you’re interested in. This isn’t a particularly strong deal, as a majority of sales for World Shaper are going for around this price anyway. This is on the lower end of that spectrum, suggesting that you might be able to save a few bucks, but it’s not really relevant. Buying this here is as good as buying this somewhere else, so it’s up to you whether you want the precon or not.
If you’re planning on using Alien Auroras to upgrade World Shaper and don’t have the precon already, grabbing it here is perfectly fine. This will turn World Shaper into a surprisingly nasty Commander deck.