On Monday, April 8, the Secret Lair Equinox Superdrop 2024 went live with lots of different products for players to choose from. Multiple MTG Fallout Secret Lairs are now on, along with a variety of different thematic collections designed by some very talented artists. If you’re a fan of MTG Fallout or the gorgeous illustrations of Phoebe Wahl, there are still some Secret Lairs available for purchase.
Unfortunately, though, multiple of the Secret Lairs and bundles have already sold out! These Secret Lair items were clearly popular. Combine that with the limited print run, and it’s no wonder multiple Secret Lairs sold out in no time.
Notably, for players quick enough to purchase a select group of pricy bundles, a unique, full-art version of Ignoble Hierarch would be sent as a bonus. While this sounds nice in theory, players were quick to point out multiple issues with how the promo distribution was handled. Before we get into these problems, it’s worthwhile looking at how players could obtain this Ignoble Hierarch promo in the first place.
Ignoble Hierarch Promo
Ignoble Hierarch was featured as the Secret Lair promo of choice for those who purchased a handful of specific bundles. All players who purchased the “We Celebrate the Foils” bundle, “We Celebrate the Non-Foils” bundle, or the “A Celebration of Everything Foil and Non-Foil” bundle were sent a copy of Ignoble Hierarch free of charge.
Many Secret Lair Superdrops in the past have offered similar cards as a bonus for players who purchased a large selection of products. For the recent Winter Superdrop 2024, The Scorpion God was showcased as the bonus of choice.
Notably, if a player decided to purchase multiple of the bundles listed above in any combination, they would receive an Ignoble Hierarch promo for each bundle purchased. This promotion was scheduled to run through April 28, but unfortunately, all three of the qualifying bundles listed above have sold out.
In theory, due to how quickly these bundles sold out, the new promo copies of Ignoble Hierarch could be startlingly rare. How, or whether this will even affect the price of the card currently remains to be seen.
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Minimal Reprint Value
While the inclusion of a promo card is certainly a nice treat, it’s worth noting that these cards have historically not been worth a whole lot. Neither The Scorpion God nor The Locust God, the two most recent Superdrop promos, crack $5 in their cheapest traditional forms according to TCGPlayer market price. Meanwhile, Ignoble Hierarch sits at just over $2 in its cheapest form right now.
This is a noticeable dropoff from when The Scarab God was showcased as the December Superdrop 2022 promo. The Scarab God sits at about $11 in its cheapest form. The only plus here is that these Secret Lair promos typically go for a bit more than their traditional counterparts. After all, these cards are foil, alternate-art variants that are significantly more scarce.
For instance, The Scorpion God promo has a price tag of roughly $9, which puts it $7 higher than a non-foil copy from Hour of Devastation. The Locust God promo is $13, which is about $9 above the Hour of Devastation version. Ignoble Hierarch is unlikely to fall too far out of this price range.
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Issue With Bundle Pricing
The awkward part about how this bundle promo was handled was that, as skywalkr274 points out, you aren’t exactly saving money by purchasing some of the bundles listed above, even with the Ignoble Hierarch inclusion. For example, the “We Celebrate the Foils” bundle costs $209.99. This includes six distinct foil Secret Lairs. However, the Foil Fallout Bundle and the Foil “Sunlight and Moonbeams” bundle each cost $99.99. Together, these two bundles contain the exact same contents as the “We Celebrate the Foils” bundle, minus the Ignoble Hierarch.
This means that you actually need to spend an extra $10 to receive your Ignoble Hierarch promo in the first place. As expected, many players weren’t too happy to hear this, especially when taking into account the small price tag of Ignoble Hierarch in general. This alone was off-putting for some players, but it wasn’t the only aspect of the promo that had players perplexed.
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Player Reaction to Legibility
Overall, the area players seemed to be the most frustrated with when it comes to the Ignoble Hierarch promo is how hard it is to read the card. Many players felt like they were reading a textless card at first, and that the card’s design detracted from the hard work put in by its artist.
It seems to be a recurring theme with the release of this Secret Lair Superdrop that players seem frustrated from a gameplay perspective. Even with the tarot-themed Secret Lair, some clearly felt that these cards, while gorgeous, would be difficult to read from across the table.
The Ignoble Hierarch promo takes this a step further, as even finding “Exalted” on this card could be a struggle in the first place. All things considered, there seems to be consistent frustration with the way this promo was designed and distributed, so it’s worth monitoring how these cards are handled with future Secret Lair Superdrop releases.
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