Wizards of the Coast has just announced the Masters of the Universe Secret Lairs it teased at MagicCon, presenting five premium MTG card collections themed around He-Man and pals.
There’s some fantastic artwork in this drop, and a lot of care was clearly taken to delight fans of the franchise. For everyone else, though, you’re probably more interested in the actual reprint value of the cards on show.
Remember that the target here is $29.99 for regular versions or $39.99 for foils, as that’s what these will cost from the Secret Lair website. Let’s take a look.
5. Allies And Enemies Of Eternia
- Sakashima the Impostor – $15 Nonfoil / $50 Foil
- Kona, Rescue Beastie – $1.05 Nonfoil / $1.75 Foil
- Ertai Resurrected – $0.30 Nonfoil / $0.50 Foil
- Derevi, Empyrial Tactician – $8 Nonfoil / $5.80 Foil
- Samut, Voice of Dissent – $2.20 Nonfoil / $5.75 Foil
- Tetsuo, Imperial Champion – $0.55 Nonfoil / $0.95 Foil
- Total = $27.10 Nonfoil / $64.75 Foil
Starting off with a bunch of side characters, and while I commend Wizards on its reskin choices (which I think actually fit pretty well for once) there’s not a lot of value outside of Sakashima.
Luckily, Sakashima is a $15/$50 card, really rescuing this Lair. If you don’t want the blue card, you should probably skip this one unless you particularly like the characters.
4. Sold Separately
- Fortune, Loyal Steed – $0.30 Nonfoil / $0.40 Foil
- The Gitrog, Ravenous Ride – $4.45 Nonfoil / $7.10 Foil
- Throne of the God-Pharaoh – $7.30 Nonfoil / $12 Foil
- Sword of War and Peace – $11 Nonfoil / $15 Foil
- Command Tower (Double Sided) – $0.30 Nonfoil / $0.35 Foil
- Total = $23.35 Nonfoil / $34.85 Foil
In Sold Separately, we have a couple of underwhelming Thunder Junction mounts (which make for less convincing reskins – Panthor doesn’t look like a frog horror to me) and some decent artifact cards. But the full art Command Tower is a major unknown and worth giving some thought.
It’s an iconic EDH card, but unlike Sol Ring, it doesn’t exactly draw attention when it hits the table, perhaps making a flashy one less exciting. Secret Lair Command Towers really vary in price on the secondary market, but having a full art treatment definitely helps. This particular card also has a fun gimmick. It’s double-sided, with Castle Grayskull on one side and Snake Mountain on the other, so you can pick your allegiance.
On balance, I expect this card to be pretty sought-after, which is why I’m elevating this Lair to fourth place instead of fifth.
3. By The Power Of Grayskull!
- Winota, Joiner of Forces – $2.40 Nonfoil / $7.90 Foil
- Crackle with Power – $7.55 Nonfoil / $11 Foil
- Delina, Wild Mage – $5.65 Nonfoil / $7.50 Foil
- Bruenor Battlehammer – $0.65 Nonfoil / $2.20 Foil
- Konda’s Banner – $11.75 Nonfoil / $61 Foil
- Total = $28 Nonfoil / $89.60 Foil
He-Man helms a very Boros Secret Lair, and I guess the idea here is that you might throw all of these into the same deck… though the synergy isn’t exactly obvious.
The most notable card here is Konda’s Banner, only ever printed in Champions of Kamigawa back in 2004. That’s helped its price tag, despite this being a fairly middling board-buffer, only really useful in a few mono-color tribal decks.
While they made it part of the joke, it’s actually quite annoying that you have to pick up He-Man’s sword and cat ‘separately’.
2. She-Ra, Princess Of Power
- Sisay, Weatherlight Captain – $2.80 Nonfoil / $7.10 Foil
- Silence – $7.80 Nonfoil / $8.20 Foil
- Emiel the Blessed – $14 Nonfoil / $30 Foil
- Hajar, Loyal Bodyguard – $0.80 Nonfoil / $0.80 Foil
- Kutzil, Malamet Exemplar – $2.60 Nonfoil / $3.15 Foil
- Sol Ring – $1.70 Nonfoil / $1.85 Foil
- Total = $29.70 Nonfoil / $51.10 Foil
The value isn’t exactly going up in leaps and bounds, but this is technically worth more than the last Lair. I guess market research must show a lot of overlap between cEDH players and She-Ra lovers, because these are all cards that fans can and do play in competitive Sisay, Weatherlight Captain builds.
This lair is a lot better than the numbers suggest because of that textless, full-art Sol Ring – one of the most talked about cards in this entire superdrop. A good Sol Ring treatment can easily be worth $20-50, and this is the first textless version.
1. Nyah-Ha-Ha!
- Tinybones, the Pickpocket – $6.05 Nonfoil / $6.50 Foil
- Tasha’s Hideous Laughter – $3.60 Nonfoil / $4.75 Foil
- Bottomless Pit – $6.20 Nonfoil / $20.60 Foil
- Necrogen Mists – $11 Nonfoil / $31 Foil
- Breach the Multiverse – $11 Nonfoil / $11 Foil
Total = $37.85 Nonfoil / $73.85 Foil
The Skeletor Secret Lair was surely always going to be the most popular – he’s the star of all the memes! Wizards has given the villain the best drop too, with some suitably fiendish discard cards that all work in a Tinybones deck (except the blue one). The value is pretty spread out here, with most of these cards worth more than $5.
I’m keenest on the cheapest card of the lot though – give me that Skeletor’s Villainous Glee!
Funnily enough two of these cards have already appeared on another skeleton-themed Secret Lair, Bad to the Bones. In fact, that’s the only place you’ll find a foil Bottomless Pit.
That’s yer lot, and it feels like there’s quite a flat curve this time around. There’s nothing outrageous for me to get up in arms about – no dreary drop packed with penny cards. On the other hand, the number one Lair isn’t an absolute steal either.
The ‘The Most Powerful Superdrop In The Multiverse’ Secret Lair will release on September 14, and the pre-queue opens at 8am PT. Unlike the recent Hatsune Miku deck, this one’s not print-to-demand!
Source: Wargamer
