At long last, the full contents of the latest Secret Lair Countdown Kit have been revealed. Dubbed “An Encyclopedia of Magic,” this product features 26 cards, each starting with a different letter of the alphabet. In this product’s mini spoiler season, we’ve already been wowed by multiple high-priced reprints. For better or worse, the product’s full card list really doesn’t disappoint.
Worryingly, this Secret Liar drop may even be too good. From the moment it was released, the Secret Lair website crashed as players hugged it to death. Unless Wizards of the Coast pre-printed an absolute mountain of this drop, it may not last long. There’s a good, albeit concerning, chance in fact it sells out before we finish writing this article.
Miraculously, selling out appears to be the least of the Countdown Kit’s problems. As the intended 9 AM PT release date approached, the website continued to suffer issues, causing the product to be delayed. Now, its scheduled launch time is 9:45 AM PT.
The Good
Somewhat unsurprisingly, the best of the best from An Encyclopedia of Magic are the initial spoilers we saw. Phyrexian Altar, at $58, Urza’s Saga, at $32, and Wasteland, at $21, are all insane reprints that offer over $111 of value alone. Thankfully, these are hardly the only heavy hitters in this Secret Lair drop.
Field of the Dead, Isochron Scepter, and Myrel, Shield of Argive are all fantastic reprints in the Countdown Kit. Selling for $40, $15, and $19, respectively, these cards add another $74 of value to this product. Throw in the last two $10 cards, Demonic Consultation and Zo-Zu the Punisher, and you hit the $200 asking price.
Thanks to these eight cards, this Secret Lair Countdown Kit automatically offers positive value and, essentially, 18 free cards. Some of these are pretty great in their own right, too, as Krark-Clan Ironworks is worth another $20. As if that somehow still wasn’t enough, both Altar of the Brood and Brain Freeze sell for around the $8 – $9 mark.
While not every card is a winner, all in all, this Secret Lair drop contains a whopping $270.85 in value. While you do have to put up some serious cash to get these drops, it’s a no-brainer. Even if these were basic reprints, you’d break even, but these are Secret Lair cards. With limited supply and unique art, it’s basically guaranteed these cards will sell for more than their base prices.
The Bad
Thanks to the assumed scarcity of this product and the insane demand we’re seeing, there are no bad reprints. As mentioned, even the bad cards are free, since the heavy hitters are worth so much money. On top of this, many of the financially poor cards are actually great in Commander, and could be worth significantly more.
Sol Ring is an obvious example of this trend. While this card has been repritned into the ground, chase Secret Lair variants can often sell for significantly more. Some Secret Lair copies can sell for $31, while others are only worth $6.
Thanks to this past precedent, cards like Eerie Ultimatum, Llanowar Elves, Questing Beast, and Vesuva are bound to sell for significant premiums. Similarly, Xantcha, Sleeper Agent could potentially sell for upwards of $42, which is the current most expensive variant. Even Ob Nixilis, the Fallen, has a good chance of being surprisingly pricey.
That said, while a lot of these reprints are bound to be costly, there are some genuinely bad cards. Hymn to Tourach is only really played in pauper nowadays, and Secret Lair cards aren’t loved in competitive formats. Similarly, Junji, the Midnight Sky is by no means a staple, although they do see moderate Commander play.
For better or worse, while there are a couple of duds, these cards hardly stand in the way of this drop’s value. This Secret Lair Countdown Kit is so good, in fact, that you’d have to be downright foolish not to buy it.
The Ugly
Unfortunately, Wizards of the Coast hasn’t done itself any favors with this Secret Lair drop. From the early spoilers, we already knew this product would be hugely in demand, and Wizards has leaned into that hard. Rather than implementing a strict one-per-person limit, Wizards has left the floodgates surprisingly open.
Not only can players purchase two copies of the Secret Lair Countdown Kit: An Encyclopedia of Magic, but there’s also a bundle. This bundle bafflingly offers two copies of the Countdown Kit for a discounted price. Available for $300, this product offers an immense $100 saving, and you can even buy two copies of it.
In total, this means any individual player can pick up six copies of the An Encyclopedia of Magic Countdown Kit. To say this would be a problem is a massive understatement, considering the expected tidal wave of scalpers we’ll soon see. Unless Wizards of the Coast has printed this product to the moon and back, it’s bound to sell out near-instantly.
Compounding these problems even more is the fact that it’s in players’ best interest to buy as many of this product as possible. Not only is it essentially free money, but there are two chase foil variants. Both Traditional Foil and Holo Foil cards can randomly appear in this drop, and these are bound to sell for even more.
Unfortunately, as always, this problem could have been easily solved by Wizards of the Coast. If this drop were printed to demand instead, we wouldn’t have players scrambling over one another right now. Thanks to the value on offer, Wizards would also make bank off this one drop, but that bizarrely wasn’t the plan.
The List
In case you only care about prices and what’s in the Encyclopedia of Magic Countdown Kit, we’ve got you covered. Here’s every reprint in this new Secret Lair product, along with their rough pricing. Keep in mind, the actual Secret Lair variants of these cards will likely sell for a lot more.
- Altar of the Brood | $9
- Brain Freeze | $8
- Crop Rotation | $5
- Demonic Consultation | $10
- Eerie Ultimatum | $4
- Field of the Dead | $40
- Gray Merchant of Asphodel | $1
- Hymn to Tourach | $0.50
- Isochron Scepter | $15
- Junji, the Midnight Sky | $0.50
- Krark-Clan Ironworks | $20
- Llanowar Elves | $0.25
- Myrel, Shield of Argive | $19
- Narset’s Reversal | $2
- Ob Nixilis, the Fallen | $4
- Phyrexian Altar | $58
- Questing Beast | $3
- Retrofitter Foundry | $0.50
- Sol Ring | $1
- Temple of the False God | $0.10
- Urza’s Saga | $32
- Vesuva | $2
- Wasteland | $21
- Xantcha, Sleeper Agent | $2
- Yarok, the Desecrated | $3
- Zo-Zu the Punisher | $10
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