A couple of weeks back, Magic: The Gathering players lucky enough to snag the Festival in a Box 2025 Secret Lair drop reported the Bonus Cards they received within. These came as different Retro Frame Zombies from throughout Magic’s history. Cool as these cards were, many assumed they were just fun extras for Festival in a Box. This week, as MTG players started receiving drops from the Winter Superdrop, further Zombie Bonus cards were discovered.
This is an exciting revelation on multiple fronts. Firstly, because some of the new Bonus cards revealed have real financial value behind them. Second, because these cards showing up in other drops confirms they’re not Festival in a Box exclusives. Future Secret Lairs this year should have a chance to contain these cards. This may change your outlook on certain drops, particularly if you’re a big Zombie player.
Classic Commanders
Since the last time we covered them, a total of five new MTG Zombie Bonus cards have been revealed. These span a range of Magic: The Gathering eras, but what they all have in common is that they’re all great pickups for Commander. Some are even great Commanders themselves.
Wilhelt, the Rotcleaver is the clear highlight here. In the world of Zombie Commanders, this is as good as it gets. Wilhelt both rewards you for having Zombies die, and serves as a sacrifice outlet for your Zombies at the same time. It draws you cards and makes tokens, all while being a Zombie itself for synergy reasons. Top it off with the Dimir color identity, which encapsulates the majority of Zombie support, and there’s little reason to run anything else at the head of your undead horde.
Because of this, and the fact that the card is only available in an old precon or Innistrad: Midnight Hunt Collector Boosters, Wilhelt is a pretty pricey card. You’re looking at around $18 for a copy of this bad boy right now, or $24 for the extended art version. This Retro Frame take will probably be twice as expensive if not more. A lot of players love the Retro Frame aesthetic, after all.
On the subject of Commanders, Nekusar, the Mindrazer has also been confirmed as one of the Retro Frame Zombies in the pool. While not a great Zombie Typal Commander, Nekusar is one of the most popular overall Commanders in the game’s history. In fact, it’s ranked #12 in the all time list on EDHRec. This isn’t reflected in the card’s sub-$2 price due to multiple reprints, but this Bonus card version will likely go for a lot more.
Other MTG Secret Lair Zombie Bonus Cards
While the two MTG legends above are the cream of the crop so far, there have been plenty of other Zombie Bonus cards discovered too. All of these, it’s worth noting, are making their Retro Frame debut here.
Fleshbag Marauder is a true classic. As an edict on a creature, it has many applications in black Commander decks. Fleshbag may have been power crept significantly by cards like Accursed Marauder and Plaguecrafter, but it’s still more than acceptable, especially in Zombie Typal lists. Value-wise, Fleshbag has had a ton of reprints over the years and, as such, is only worth around $0.20.
Along similar lines, Ravenous Rotbelly offers the potential for a triple-edict effect. Granted, you need three Zombies to sacrifice to make this happen, but Zombies are notoriously good at swarming the board, so this shouldn’t be an issue. In Zombie Typal decks, this is essentially a board wipe on a body. Like Wilhelt, this card is exclusive to Midnight Hunt Commander product. Unlike Wilhelt, it only goes for about $0.60 a copy right now.
Last but not least, Corpse Connoisseur is an interesting pick for the pool. It’s essentially a worse Vile Entomber, but you can recast it via Unearth for extra value. Only hitting creatures and costing more mana are both significant downsides. That said, self-mill decks love cards like this, which can be cast from the graveyard as well. It’s a solid card, and probably fairly-priced at its current $0.30 value.
Clearly none of these cards are as exciting as Wilhelt. They are all decent includes in a Zombie Typal Commander deck, mind you.
An Ongoing Initiative
Though the above Zombie Bonus cards aren’t too exciting in isolation, they have some interesting implications for future Secret Lair drops. This is because, unlike the original batch of Zombies, these cards came from multiple different drops.
Nekusar was found in City Styles 2: Dressed to Kill. Wilhelt was pulled from Featuring: Luke Pearson, as were Fleshbag and Connoisseur. This means that Retro Frame Zombies is now an ongoing series of Bonus cards, and not just a one-off gimmick for Festival in a Box.
We’ve seen these in the past. Both Slivers and Elves got their own similar pools of Bonus cards, given out with a range of different drops. There were 53 Slivers on offer, and 25 Elves. Each of these cards was given the Extended art treatment, which made them unique compared to previous printings. These new Zombies get it even better.
It’s not clear exactly how many Zombies we’ll get yet. Currently, eight have been discovered, spanning numbered entries 837 to 860. This means we’ll be getting at least 23 of them. That said, I’d wager the final number will be 25 as it was with Elves.
The Elf and Sliver Bonus cards were often viewed as boring consolation prizes in the past. I think these Zombies are a nice step up from there, however. The Retro Frame is likely a bigger draw than Extended art, and we’ve already seen some high-value hits from the pool in Wilhelt and Relentless Dead. When considering whether to buy a Secret Lair drop in the coming year, remember that these cards are potentially on the table.