More Magic: The Gathering Secret Lairs are here! With the turtles cards all revealed already, I thought we were in for a relatively quiet few weeks in this tiny lull in the MTG release schedule.
But Wizards of the Coast has now announced a sizeable batch of seven new Secret Lairs, each one a collection of cards themed around its TTRPG Dungeons and Dragons.
These SLs include several cards from the Adventures in the Forgotten Realms and Battle for Baldur's Gate sets, including some that were exclusive to the precon decks and have never been printed in foil.
Below you'll find a financial breakdown of each SL in this superdrop, with the current cheapest value of every card. Each one is selling for $29.99 or $39.99 in foils, so we consider that the baseline.
Lands of the Forgotten Realms
- 2x Plains
- 2x Island
- 2x Swamp
- 2x Mountain
- 2x Forest
You don't need a price breakdown for a basic lands lair. Whether or not a cycle of basics is worth $30 is between you and your conscience. A small victory, however: we now get two of each land type. I still think it ought to be about ten, but two lands are better than one!
Gale's Ambition
- Gale, Waterdeep Prodigy - $0.30 Nonfoil / $0.50 Foil
- Arcane Denial - $2.10 Nonfoil / $5.25 Foil
- Archmage's Charm - $0.90 Nonfoil / $1.35 Foil
- Brainstorm - $1 Nonfoil / $1.75 Foil
- Personal Tutor - $4.75 Nonfoil / $5.40 Foil
- Total = $9.05 Nonfoil / $14.25 Foil
We're finally getting Secret Lairs for more of the most popular characters from Baldur's Gate 3. Sadly, this collection of blue cards for Gale is woefully low cost, with only Personal Tutor worth more than $3.
I've been looking at the old Astarion and Karlach cards, trying to work out if there's a 'Baldur's Gate effect' that inflates the value above what's normally added by the SL label.
I think as with all SLs, it's dependant on the art. Thrill of Possibility for instance, features a particularly cute Karlach, and that's driven a 10 cent card to $4, but not all the instants and sorceries in those drops fare so well.
All the cards featuring Astorian looking thirsty are pretty pricey too, however, so I wonder if we can expect Archmage's Charm to be the most desirable card here. I also need to acknowledge the pun. Well played, Wotc.
Shadowheart's Devotion
- Shadowheart, Dark Justiciar - $0.50 Nonfoil / $1.20 Foil
- Beseech the Queen - $4.10 Nonfoil / $6.60 Foil
- Black Market - $4.10 Nonfoil / $5.60 Foil
- Victimize - $0.50 Nonfoil / $0.95 Foil
- Ancient Bronze Dragon - $18 Nonfoil / $20 Foil
- Total = $27.20 Nonfoil / $34.35 Foil
Shadowheart's drop is a bit better than Gale's, with higher card quality overall and one card, Ancient Bronze Dragon, almost pushing it up to the $30 mark.
The dragon is nice to have, but I am surprised this was the most fitting high-priced inclusion Wizards could think of. Shadowspear was right there, you guys. Frustratingly, since all the backgrounds are monocolored, you won't be able to play all these cards in the same deck, unless we get that rules change for hybrid mana.
Still, you can't go wrong with Shadowheart; I think fans are going to want that Beseech the Queen card quite a lot.
Strahd's Descent
- Strefan, Maurer Progenitor - $0.75 Nonfoil / $0.75 Foil
- Bloodletter of Aclazotz - $30 Nonfoil / $30 Foil
- End the Festivities - $1 Nonfoil / $1 Foil
- Voldaren Estate - $0.25 Nonfoil /0.50 Foil
- Total = $32 Nonfoil / $32.25 Foil
This Secret Lair is themed around Dungeons and Dragons' favorite vampire, and it's the only one on this list with reskinned cards, featuring Innistrad and Ixalan vamps with new names.
Once again, there's a single big money card holding this thing up, except this time the other cards are worth peanuts. The load supporting beam in this case is Bloodletter of Aclazotz, ahem, sorry, I mean 'Cast-Off Consort'. Is it just me or is that the least directly Strahd-y card of the lot?
Whispers in Candlekeep
- Counterspell - $1.25 Nonfoil / $2.05 Foil
- Dragonborn Champion - $10 Nonfoil / First Foil
- Klauth, Unrivaled Ancient - $20 Nonfoil / $20 Foil
- Miirym, Sentinel Wyrm - $7.40 Nonfoil / $6.35 Foil
- Total = $38.65 Nonfoil
One of these things is not like the other. What's that counterspell doing in this Timmy dragons lair?
What it's doing is slotting right into your new blingy Miirym, Sentinel Wyrm deck, alongside the more valuable creature cards featured here. I do wish there was a dragon in its art though - I guess the current illustration fits the Candlekeep theme - but I just feel like it would make it a more seamless inclusion.
Black Lights & Dark Dungeons
- Seasoned Dungeoneer - $9.45 Nonfoil / First Foil
- Displacer Kitten - $22.40 Nonfoil / $26 Foil
- Tortured Existence - $5.20 Nonfoil / First Foil
- Sefris of the Hidden Ways - $5.80 Nonfoil / $0.72 Foil
- Total = $42.85 Nonfoil
Now we're really getting to the good stuff, with no cards in this (admittedly only four-card) drop worth less than $5. Tortured Existence was once small fry, but it moved up the ranks last year, thanks to combos with Teval and Hashaton.
Notably, while several cards are getting their first foils here, Sefris of the Hidden Ways is actually much easier to find in foil than nonfoil, simply because it was a commander in an AFR Commander precon.
Displacer Kitten is the most important card, of course, a premier blink engine that's not had enough printings, given how many decks it's great in.
Shadows Over Baldur's Gate
- Grim Hireling - $19 Nonfoil / First Foil
- Wild-Magic Sorcerer - $11 Nonfoil / First Foil
- Xorn - $8.40 Nonfoil / $9 Foil
- Prosper, Tome-Bound - $15.05 Nonfoil / $17.05 Foil
- Total = $53.45 Nonfoil
It's the best SL in the drop, and if you look closely, you'll notice most of these cards come directly from the Prosper Tome-Bound precon. They are the most desirable exclusive cards in the deck though, which is what makes this drop such good value for money.
Xorn is the odd one out here. Except not really, because this treasure-making monster is such an obvious upgrade to a Prosper deck, appearing in 85% of EDHREC lists. If you missed the boat on this precon (which now costs about $80-90 on the secondary market) this SL provides a decent opportunity to hop on board.
What do you think of this batch of D&D Secret Lair cards? I think EDH players have a lot to be happy about here, but let us know your feelings over at the Wargamer Discord.