While it was only officially revealed a few days ago, the MTG Monster Hunter Secret Lair Superdrop is already deeply contentious. It's not because of the nature of the crossover itself, Capcom's killer Kaijus fit much more comfortably into the world of Magic: the Gathering than Furbys, or Dwight from The Office. Instead, fans are concerned that their favorite monsters are being represented using bulk bin reprints that fail to capture a fraction of their power.
There are already several threads across Reddit where disgruntled members of both the Magic: the Gathering and the Monster Hunter communities are venting their frustrations.
Each of the four Monster Hunter Secret Lair Drops costs $29.99 (£22.81), or $39.99 (£30.41) for players looking to secure foil copies of the cards.
Of the four available drops, The Hunt provides the worst value for money. This collection of five cards is supposed to represent "the terrifying attacks that monsters across the Monster Hunter franchise can unleash." Instead, it's a collection of underwhelming noncreature spells with a cumulative value of approximately $7.50 (£5.70).
Two separate drops, The Monsters I and The Monsters II, focus on the big bad beasties who are the faces of the franchise. There are only two cards of value in either of these drops: Nezahal, Primal Tide (representing Lagiacrus), and Razaketh, the Foulblooded (representing the Gore Malaga). Nezahal is a powerful aquatic elder dinosaur that can provide torrents of card draw, while Razaketh is a tutor effect on a powerful flying 8/8 body. Both of these cards are worth approximately $10 (£7.60), or more depending on the specific version that you purchase.
Other than these two headliners, the rest of the cards in these drops are closer to being prey than predators. Rathalos, Monster Hunter's mascot, who even showed up in Super Smash Bros Ultimate, will be depicted on the card Drakuseth, Maw of Flames. This dollar store dragon commands a value of roughly 50 cents, and has only ever really shown up in dragon typal commander decks.
Curiously, the best option for Monster Hunter fans hoping to secure some cool crossover cards is to sideline the monsters completely. The Hunters drop, which focuses on the humble humans who are the playable characters of the series, has by far the best selection of cards. The biggest name is Grand Abolisher, an $11 (£8.36) control card that is playable across multiple formats, and prevents the opposition from interacting with you. Then there's Imperial Recruiter, another $11 creature that can fetch mana value two or less attackers from your deck.
Then there's Champion of Lambholt and Grim Haruspex, who are both $2.50 (£1.90) cards that work decently enough in decks built around their respective niches, +1/+1 counters, and sacrificing creatures, respectively. Finally, Archaeomancer is a card that's worth only a handful of cents, but still sees play in some spellslinger decks thanks to its useful recursion effect.
Are you disappointed by the Monster Hunter Secret Lair, or do you feel it's getting a bad rap? Tell us your takes in the Wargamer Discord.