Though it’s still a few weeks off in real life, spooky season is well and truly here for MTG. Duskmourn is lurking just around the corner, and last week we saw the reveal of a Ghostbusters x Magic crossover in the form of a Slimer Secret Lair drop. Today, we saw the next step in this ambitious project. A second Ghostbusters Secret Lair, this time based on the ’80s cartoon series The Real Ghostbusters, has been revealed.
The new drop was revealed via Kinda Funny Games in a stream, and it features five (or possibly six) classic cards done up in a lovely ’80s style. While this new drop looks great, it unfortunately doesn’t pack the kind of value you’d expect from a 2024 Secret Lair product.
Real Ghostbusters Secret Lair
A few of the cards in this drop have a decent price tag, as well as solid playability in multiple formats. Eladamri’s Call, styled here as Answer the Call, definitely leads the charge. This is an instant-speed creature tutor that brings the target right to your hand. In addition to ample Commander play, this card also sees use in both Modern and Legacy. Combo strategies like Devoted Druid Combo and Sneak and Show really appreciate the consistency it offers. As a result, the card commands a respectable price of around $10.
Next in the value line is Living End, going by Total Containment Failure in this drop. You’ve probably heard of this card before, since an entire popular Modern deck takes its name from it. While it was originally intended as a slower Living Death with the Suspend mechanic, Cascade cards like Shardless Agent allowed it to be cast for free, creating a very speedy reanimator strategy. As a vital piece of a powerful deck, Living End goes for around $5.50 at present. This isn’t hugely exciting, but it’s nonetheless solid, and an appropriately spooky addition to the drop.
The bronze value medal for this drop goes to, surprisingly enough, Boros Charm, or Ghostbuster’s Patch as it’s known here. This isn’t a card one thinks of as having any kind of value, but frequent play in Commander, Pioneer, and Modern has pushed this uncommon up in the world. Standard copies of Boros Charm today will run you around $4, which is very respectable for a card printed this many times at a low rarity. The flexibility and power on display here really are just that good. Of course, the recent rise of aggressive Boros Energy decks in Modern helps its case a lot.
The Not-So-Good Cards
At the other end of the spooky spectrum, we have the chaff. The inevitable cards in the drop that don’t pull their financial weight. That’s not to say they aren’t playable, just that they aren’t exciting to see in a premium product. First up is Unlicensed Hearse, styled as the Ghostbusters’ iconic Ecto-1 car. This is actually an incredibly solid piece of graveyard hate, which doubles as a beefy threat when needed. It sees play in Modern, Legacy, Pioneer, and of course Commander. Despite this, you can snag a copy for around $2.50 currently.
Careful Study is up next, and it’s an interesting one. This is an innocuous-looking blue cantrip last properly printed in Odyssey, and it’s actually played as a consistency booster in both Pauper and Legacy. It’s great to see this card again after 23 years, even if it does only cost around $2.50 a copy.
Finally, we have Soul-Guide Lantern, or Ghost Trap in this drop. This one is interesting in that no official image was shown on the stream, which may imply it’s a Bonus Card rather than a guaranteed inclusion. If so, it’s one of the most underwhelming yet, as Soul-Guide Lantern goes for about $0.20 a copy right now. Yes, it’s a stellar graveyard hate piece that sees play in Modern, Legacy, Vintage, and even Standard, but it’s also an uncommon that’s been printed to death.
Fear Of Missing Out
Overall, the value of the cards in this drop comes to around $25. Given that Secret Lairs typically cost $30 before shipping, it’s hard to recommend this one on financial value alone. Everything here has a use in multiple formats, which is great, but chances are the singles will be available reasonably cheap down the road. Unless of course the drop sells out, which is a very real possibility.
With recent Secret Lair products, a clear pattern has emerged. The Lairs tied to specific popular IPs, like Monty Python and Hatsune Miku, have sold out incredibly quickly after launch. Monty Python, for example, didn’t even last 2 hours on digital shelves. Ghostbusters is a hugely popular franchise to this day, with even its divisive modern film series getting another installment earlier this year. It also has a similar cult following to Monty Python among classic movie fans.
For that reason, I wouldn’t be at all surprised to see this one sucked up right away when it goes on sale on September 30th. In that case, $30 will seem like a steal compared to the resale prices the Lair will command. That said, I’d only recommend picking this Lair up if you’re a fan of the cards or the art. Speculating on products like this is always inherently risky.
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