With Final Fantasy still in its prime and Edge of Eternities right around the corner, few Magic: The Gathering players will have had “massive new Universes Beyond collaboration” on their bingo cards. That, however, is exactly what we’ve received today. Turns out Sonic the Hedgehog and friends are coming to Magic, with the Sonic x Secret Lair drop series.
This new range will be made up of three drops in total. One will feature seven brand-new, mechanically-unique cards. The other two will be composed entirely of reprints, given shiny new Sonic skins. Putting aside how thoroughly bizarre it is to see Sonic in Magic so suddenly, there’s some decent value to be found here. That value, however, is not exactly spread out evenly. Buyer beware before delving into these drops.
Secret Lair x Sonic: Turbo Gear
The first drop we’ll be looking at today is Turbo Gear, revealed in an IGN article earlier today. This drop has a clear Equipment focus, with a number of the game’s very best pieces getting reprints.
The big hitters are Hammer of Nazahn and The Reaver Cleaver, which command prices of $15 and $8, respectively. Both are fantastic additions to any Equipment-matters deck, as well as just solid cards in their own right. Reaver Cleaver is an easy add to any Treasure deck, for instance, while Hammer is top-tier protection for your Commander.
After this pair, the next most valuable card in the drop is Lightning Greaves. As with Hammer, this is primarily used to protect your Commander. The added Haste is handy in a lot of cases, too. The card has seen a lot of reprints recently, so copies can be had for around $4. It’s still an absolute staple, mind you, and one you’ll be glad to have in your collection.
Things fall off pretty hard after this point. Swiftfoot Boots is another great piece of protective Equipment, but it’s been printed so often that copies are only about $1. The other two cards aren’t even Equipment, and feel a bit random in all honesty.
Weatherlight does let you draw Equipment from your deck, but it’s incredibly clunky at doing so. Its current $1 price tag is okay, but nothing special. Rounding out the drop we have Myr Battlesphere, coming in at a whopping $0.20. The Sonic flavor is fun here, but as a card it’s a bit of a dud.
Overall, the total value here is about $29.20. That’s better than some Secret Lairs, but not the most impressive we’ve ever seen by a long shot.
Secret Lair x Sonic: Chasing Adventure
Unfortunately, Turbo Gear is actually the better of the two Sonic x Secret Lair reprint drops, and by a significant margin, too. The other drop, Chasing Adventure, is much, much worse in the value department. This one was revealed by GameInformer, and has a clear emphasis on Treasures and artifact synergies.
Half of this drop, flavorful as it is, is really just bulk. Deadly Dispute is a $0.40 card, Generous Gift is a $0.70 card, and Unexpected Windfall is a $1 card. All three of these cards see plenty of play, particularly in Commander. Unfortunately they’ve all seen regular reprints too, so they’re not exactly showstoppers price-wise.
The rest of the drop is better, but still not great. Open the Armory is a nice tutor for Equipment decks, and one you can play in Commander without taking up your Game Changer slots. It goes for $1.60 currently, which is low by most standards but decent for this drop.
Speaking of artifact tutors, Chasing Adventure also contains a copy of Fabricate. This is an absolute classic, seeing a ton of Commander play thanks to its ability to grab any artifact you need. Even after many reprints, a copy of this will still run you $6, so it’s a great addition to the drop.
The last card in the drop, and the one that could very well save it, is Sol Ring. This is $1 at a base level, but premium versions like this have gone for a lot more in the past. Secret Lair printings range from around $8 to over $60. Given how popular Sonic is, this one card could easily be worth the price of admission alone. If that doesn’t work out, however, we’re looking at a miserable $13 value on this drop.
A Token Turnabout?
While the Secret Lair x Sonic drops are looking pretty uneven right now, one thing that could balance things out is their choice of tokens. Turbo Gear comes with a Myr token, recast as one of Eggman’s Egg Pawns. Chasing Adventure comes with a Treasure, predictably represented by one of Sonic’s famous gold rings.
Generally, tokens don’t add much value to any drop. In the case of the Myr token, this will likely still be true here. While the art is excellent, there’s just not much demand for Myr tokens from players. Few cards create them, and few of those cards see regular play. As a result, this token is unlikely to go higher than a dollar or two on the secondary market.
The Treasure token, on the other hand, has huge potential. Treasures are incredibly common in modern Magic, after all, and Sonic’s gold rings are iconic collectibles, which die-hard fans will absolutely want in their collections. If the Sol Ring plan doesn’t work out, this could always salvage Chasing Adventure from mediocrity.
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