Magic: The Gathering released a surprise pair of Secret Lairs on May 11, and stock is already starting to run out in some regions. This drop was part of Wizard's 'Chaos Vault' initiative, which includes small batches of premium cards, usually released without warning.
The two Secret Lairs in this drop are pretty cool. Inked has five cards by tattoo artist Virginia Elwood, and the art is really lovely, but 'Back in My Day!' is probably the most interesting of the duo.
This SL takes four cards and reimagines them as though they were printed in the earliest years of the game. The retro frames have been trotted out, but the wording and furniture on the card is what really stands out, because it apes the language used back in the day before Magic's modern conventions were adopted.
We've got interrupts instead of instants, 'Enchant Creature' in the typeline instead of 'Aura', and the rules text is super convoluted. These aren't the easiest SL cards to play at the table, but the gimmick is fun.
Obviously, like all Secret Lairs, these cards come with new art, which will affect the resale value, but the baseline card value here isn't half bad - take a look:
Inked
Mulldrifter - $0.35
Burnished Hart - $0.25
Ice-Fang Coatl - $1.70
Deathrite Shaman - $8.50
Crypt Ghast - $13
Total - $23.80
Back in My Day!
Breath of Fury - $20
Birthing Pod - $15.90
Battle Hymn - $1.85
Veil of Summer - $4.05
Total - $41.80
The only downside, and it's kind of a biggie, is that you can't buy these Secret Lairs individually. You either have to pick up both, or buy two copies of the same collection. Wizards has used some creative marketing here, describing this as the 'Two Scoops' bundle and using pictures of ice cream, but judging by some of the comments I'm seeing online, this move hasn't gone down so well.
Wizards of the Coast likes to experiment with new ways of selling its products through the Chaos Vault program, and it's recently received criticism for some of these approaches. For example, the recent Prints Charming drop, which sold the same product at multiple price points - from $9.99 to $49.99 - left a bad taste in the mouths of many.
The approach doesn't seem to have slowed down sales, at any rate. At time of writing, copies are sold out in the US, though they're still available in other countries, like the UK.