Surprisingly, Magic: The Gathering’s latest Secret Lair Superdrop goes extremely hard on Jim Henson’s Labyrinth. There’s also some classy art deco lands, some stoner treefolk, and Marvel zombies. An eclectic mix.
Below we’ll explore all seven Lairs in the Corn Maze Superdrop and see which has the best reprint value.
These Lairs are all being sold for $29.99 or $39.99 for the foils, so that’s the baseline we want to see the cards hitting. It’s also worth noting you get a Labyrinth-skinned Maze of Ith if you spend over $200. That’s a $10 card, if you want to factor it in.
Finally, the usual disclaimer applies. I can’t know what the Secret Lair cards will actually sell for on the secondary market, I can only tell you what they’re worth now. But this list will hopefully be some use in showing you what’s a good deal and what is clearly not.
8. Manufactured Grounds by See Machine
- Ancient Den – $1.60 Nonfoil / $18.67 Foil
- Seat of the Synod – $1 Nonfoil / $51.96 Foil
- Vault of Whispers – $4.59 Nonfoil / $12 Foil
- Great Furnace – $2.81 Nonfoil / $50 Foil
- Tree of Tales – $1.16 Nonfoil / $15.16 Foil
- Total – $11.16 Nonfoil / $147.79 Foil
Most land drops are pretty mid, though WotC has at least upped its offering lately and stopped charging $30 for five basics.
Here we have the cycle of artifact lands, though, once banned in Standard for breaking Affinity, and barred from Modern at the very inception of the format. While it’s still a touch annoying that we only get one of each card, these are at least very viable in artifact EDH decks, where you’re only allowed one copy anyway.
While they’re at the bottom of the list when we look at the cheapest non-foils (it doesn’t help that three were recently reprinted in the Edge of Eternities landfall deck) the foil prices give some insight into the true potential here.
That’s because there are very few foil printings of these cards (pretty sure it’s just Vault of Whispers, which is in the Necron precon). The rest were only printed in foil in other Secret Lairs, lending a look at just how expensive an exclusive full art version of an ubiquitous land can truly become.
7. Artist Series: Veronique Meignaud
- Bloodsoaked Champion – $0.42 Nonfoil / $2.24 Foil
- Voldaren Pariah // Abolisher of Bloodlines – $0.59 Nonfoil / $2.27 Foil
- Ashnod’s Altar – $13 Nonfoil / $20 Foil
- Cabal Stronghold – $12.44 Nonfoil / $22.66 Foil
- Total – $26.45 Nonfoil / $47.17 Foil
This Artist Series drop showcases Veronique Meignaud’s work, full of fluidity and vibrant color. This artist’s most famous Magic pieces are probably full art lands, though gamers might also recognize her style from Dishonored.
Anyway, this one sadly falls just short of my $30 minimum. Ashnod’s Altar and Cabal Stronghold are both valuable pick-ups, but if Wizards is only going to give us a measly four cards in a drop, it’s a bit ridiculous for two of them to cost less than $1.
6. Through The Labyrinth
- Timely Ward – $4.16 Nonfoil / $4.16 First Foil printing
- Chronomantic Escape- $2.70 Nonfoil / $11 Foil
- Delayed Blast Fireball – $16 Nonfoil / $12.84 Foil
- Tempt with Discovery – $3.14 Nonfoil / $6.54 Foil
- Leveler – $4.28 Nonfoil / $4.63 Foil
- Thran Temporal Gateway – $0.55 Nonfoil / $1.46 Foil
- Rogue’s Passage – $0.45 Nonfoil / $1.80 Foil
- Total – $31.28 Nonfoil / $42.43 Foil
See? You can do bigger drops, WotC! The card selection for this drop is nearly as terrible as the art is luscious, but with so much included, it’s able to just about push past $30. Notably, this drop gives Timely Ward its first foil, and with that included, the foil value hits $40 as well.
While the cards in this drop are mostly not good, don’t map particularly well onto the Labyrinth flavor, and are pretty hard to read, they are very pretty. We can all be thankful Wizards threw in the burn-y red board wipe card Delayed Blast Fireball, which really salvages this Lair.
5. Marvel: Zombies
Unstoppable Slasher – $4.50 Nonfoil / $5.79 Foil
Zombie Apocalypse – $0.70 Nonfoil / $5.54 Foil
Vogar, Necropolis Tyrant – $15 First Nonfoil / $15 Foil
God-Eternal Bontu – $0.40 Nonfoil / $6.42 Foil
Wilhelt, the Rotcleaver – $9.85 Nonfoil / $12 Foil
Varina, Lich Queen – $3.99 Nonfoil / $3.54 Foil
Total – $34.44 Nonfoil / $48.29 Foil
Vogar, Necropolis Tyrant is the obvious highlight in this batch of creepy Marvel-skinned shamblers. The card was only ever printed in the Game Night box, creating a bizarre situation where it only existed in foil up to now. This is the first regular copy to see print.
Marvel: Zombies follows my favorite trend for Secret Lairs (apart from the return of some form of print-to-demand): all of its cards work well together in the same deck.
You even get a suitable commander with Varina, Lich Queen. Some might find that slightly annoying, since it feels like Varina was only just reprinted as Evil Dead’s Linda. But I dunno, I just really like it when WotC provides everything a player with a particular niche interest needs.
If that’s you, go my child. Spread your wings and build the Marvel zombie deck of your dreams. Although since almost none of the other Marvel cards work with zombies, I’m not sure what you’ll do for the other 94 cards. I guess you’re going to have to get really good at proxying.
Hey, at least there’s Undead Hand Ninja!
4. How It’s Done
Dawn’s Truce – $6.27 Nonfoil / $8.82 Foil
Unbreakable Formation – $0.76 Nonfoil / $1.37 Foil
Freed from the Real – $7.60 Nonfoil / $15 Foil
Swan Song – $11 Nonfoil / $60 Foil
Demonic Counsel – $2.27 Nonfoil / $3.32 Foil
Tempt with Immortality – $1.60 Nonfoil / $1.60 First foil printing
Underworld Breach – $7.48 / $10 Foil
Total – $36.98 Nonfoil / $100.11 Foil
This is the only third-party IP Lair in the superdrop that doesn’t rename any of its cards – a mild point in its favor, methinks. With the KPop Demon Hunters drop, we can see the card quality is steadily rising, too. While there are no absolute knockouts, everything here is at least playable, and there are many singles worth more than $5.
If Dawn’s Truce hadn’t just appeared in a Stardew Valley drop that’s selling very cheaply on the secondary market, the foil value of this drop would be even more impressive.
While I give WotC credit for putting in a bunch of strong staples, it seems a missed opportunity that we didn’t get any creature cards representing the titular demon hunters.
3. Should You Need Us
Jodah, the Unifier – $2.95 Nonfoil / $3.29 Foil
Lu Xun, Scholar General – $0.46 Nonfoil / First Foil printing
Kami of the Crescent Moon – $8.05 Nonfoil / $23 Foil
Kogla, the Titan Ape – $3.26 Nonfoil / $3.30 Foil
Shigeki, Jukai Visionary – $0.36 Nonfoil / $0.56 Foil
Wort, Boggart Auntie – $30 Nonfoil / $162 Foil
Total – $45.08 Nonfoil / $192.15 Foil
The Labyrinth drop featuring the ‘goodies’ has a bunch of reskinned legendary creatures. I guess they could technically all serve under Sarah in a Jodah, the Unifier deck, but it would be pretty terrible. No, you’re probably going to want to split them up.
For non-Labyrinth fans, the decision here is quite an easy one: are you in the market for a copy of Wort? This goblin card, only ever printed in original Lorwyn, is worth the asking price all by itself. If you want one, this is a very good deal indeed.
2. Peace, Love, & Treefolk
Dauntless Dourbark – $4.15 / $6.61
Leaf-Crowned Elder – $7.84 / $21.50
Timber Protector – $23.77 / $43.49
Treefolk Harbinger – $6.50 / $17.00
Doran, the Siege Tower – $8.52 / $11.00
Total – $50.78 Nonfoil / $99.60 Foil
The most eyepopping of the Lairs, I’m going to go out on a limb here and say this art will be divisive. Whether you love it or can take or leaf it, this is a great foundation for a Doran treefolk deck, with tons of card value.
The rarest card, Timber Protector, is literally only good in this niche tribe, but it’s probably the strongest Treefolk card out there, and in dangerously short supply. In fact, this whole lair has been uprooted from Lorwyn block, which helps to explain the relatively high prices.
1. Fear Me, Love Me
Muxus, Goblin Grandee – $12.00 Nonfoil / $110 Foil
Boggart Shenanigans -$3.50 Nonfoil / $34 Foil
Dance with Calamity – $0.35 Nonfoil / $0.35 First Foil printing
Goblin Rabblemaster – $0.73 Nonfoil / $2.02 Foil
Claim the Firstborn – $0.25 Nonfoil / $0.47 Foil
Trinisphere – $40 / $66 Foil
Total – $56.81 Nonfoil / $215.78 Foil
You might have been wondering where the Goblin King was among all these Labyrinth cards, and now you have your answer: he’s got his own six-card drop.
This one features lots of renamed red cards, a mysteriously smooth-crotched Bowie, and… er… the Trinisphere? Okay then. While it doesn’t fit with the rest of this goblin Lair at all, it’s the most valuable card in the entire superdrop, making it the best of the lot, at least from the cold, hard perspective of monetary value.
A sour note to end on, WotC has included a two-card Rebecca Guay scene with the Sarah card from ‘Should You Need Us’, trying to entice you to pick up both drops. Not sure I like that idea very much! Perhaps this is why that other drop had the more expensive goblin card, too.
Overall, I was pleased to see how many of these drops had six or more cards, and (if you ignore the land drop) only one fell beneath the $30 minimum. Not bad!
If you want to pick up anything from the Corn Maze Superdrop, head to WotC’s SL website on October 12, 8 am PT. You can also share your thoughts on the drop with us over on the Wargamer Discord.
Source: Wargamer
