Hot off the heels of announcing not one but two Secret Lair X Post Malone collections, Wizards has announced yet another collaboration with the world-famous rapper. This time, rather than being a limited-time and effectively region-exclusive Secret Lair, Post Malone is coming to MTG Arena. Dubbed “Post Malone’s Arena Concert event,” this limited-time event allows Arena players to “play like Posty!” Alongside playing with Post Malone-themed decks, Arena players can also earn enticing rewards throughout the concert. Somewhat bafflingly, however, this Arena Concert doesn’t feature what you might expect from a show. Namely, Wizards of the Coast appears to have forgotten to bring the music.
A Concert Without the Concert
Following the somewhat lackluster digital concert by Marshmello in Fortnite, digital concerts in games have become big business. Following this initial concert, Fortnite itself went on to host events with Travis Scott and Ariana Grande to huge acclaim. While few games had Fortnite’s platform, it was only a matter of time before other games debuted their own concerts. Subsequently, it was no surprise to see concerts announced for Minecraft and Roblox. Having a concert announced for MTG Arena, however? Now that’s a surprise! It’s also exceedingly generous to actually call MTG Arena’s concert a concert.
Throughout the event announcement by Wizards of the Coast, no mention was made of Post Malone’s music. If you ask us, this seems like a fundamental part of a concert to be missing from the event. Thankfully, outside of its quite frankly bizarre name, Post Malone’s Arena Concert event actually looks rather alluring for Arena players. Running from the 20th to the 24th of October, this free event gives players a chance to play with Post Malone-themed Historic Brawl decks. Alongside interesting decks to play with, the event also allows players to earn free Post Malone-themed sleeves and avatars. These sleeves feature the same art as the Secret Lair X Post Malone: The Lands bundle, albeit without Posty’s signature. There will also be a commemorative sticker pack, which includes an adorable crowd-surfing Karn, in the Arena store for purchase.
Despite initial concerns following the Secret Lair’s initial reveal, player response to this Arena Concert has been miraculously positive. “OK, this is pretty sweet. Love the Post avatars,” u/TheProfessorX stated. “The avatars look pretty slick. It’s fine by me, they Magic-ified him enough that I don’t find it uncanny,” u/Deho_Edeba concurred.
Secret Lair X Post Malone Collection
Shortly after the reveal of the concert, Wizards of the Coast also debuted the entire Secret Lair X Post Malone Collection. As we suspected, following the reveal of Post, Son of Rich, the Backstage Pass drop features several offbeat Commander favorites. Each is seeing play in Posty’s own K’rrik Commander deck. These cards all feature Post Malone prominently in the artwork. Similarly to many Universes Beyond Secret Lair cards, all but one of the cards feature a new name. As with the Godzilla Universes Beyond cards from Ikoria: Lair of Behemoths, it’s important to note this doesn’t mechanically give the card a new name. This means you can’t go playing more than one Bolas’s Citadel in your Commander decks.
Here are the four cards in the Secret Lair X Post Malone: Backstage Pass collection:
- Post, Son of Rich / K’rrik, Son of Yawgmoth
- Post’s Citadel / Bolas’s Citadel
- Post’s Sigil / Leshrac’s Sigil
- Jet Medallion
As Reddit user u/Bobcam7 noted, thanks to the inclusion of Jet Medallion, this Secret Lair Drop is surprisingly good value. That is, only so long as you don’t get fleeced by extortionate Secret Lair shipping costs. Currently, on TCGplayer, Near Mint prices for Jet Medallion are around $34.97. This already completely covers the $29.99 worth of the Secret Lair. K’rrik, Son of Yawgmoth, Bolas’s Citadel, and Leshrac’s Sigil are also worth $12.10, $6.45, and $0.46, respectively. This brings the total value of the Secret Lair X Post Malone: Backstage Pass to $53.98. Not a bad guaranteed value for a product that only costs $29.99. The Secret Lair X Post Malone: Backstage Pass is also available in foil printing for $39.99.
Secret Lair Problems
While the Secret Lair X Post Malone: Backstage Pass appears to be a worthwhile investment, Secret Lair products have seen their fair share of controversy. From cards arriving with significant damage right out of the box to cards not arriving at all, sometimes Secret Lair products can be more trouble than they’re worth. If that wasn’t bad enough, sometimes Secret Lairs can take almost a year to deliver.
Initially preordered in November 2021, the Heads I Win, Tails, You Lose Secret Lair Commander deck has only recently received its, hopefully final, shipping date of October 24th. Thankfully, Wizards is supposedly being merciful and compensating players for this monumental wait. “They would be sending out 2 NEO collectors boosters in a separate wave of shipping to make up for the delay,” u/TinTitan88 stated on Reddit. While this compensation is nice, we can only hope something like this doesn’t happen again.
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