Secret Lair

[bobthefunny]

Working on the formatting, but this is to discuss the newest set of Secret Lairs, and to have a quick reference to the current values.

Overall, it seems that SL has gone back to actually having decent value on the lairs.

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Saturday Morning D&D

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1x Borderless Commander's Sphere 
1x Borderless Hero's Downfall 
1x Borderless Impact Tremors 
1x Borderless Primal Vigor 
1x Borderless Unbreakable Formation 
1x Borderless Whir of Invention 

Decklist

DecklistCMCManaPricesChartsDraw 7

1 Commander's Sphere

1 Hero's Downfall

1 Impact Tremors

1 Primal Vigor

1 Unbreakable Formation

1 Whir of Invention

Approximate Total Cost:

Artist Series: Mark Poole

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1x Alt-Art Balance
1x Birds of Paradise 
1x Alt-Art Brainstorm 
1x Counterspell 
1x Howling Mine 
1x Alt-Art Wasteland 

Decklist

DecklistCMCManaPricesChartsDraw 7

1 Balance

1 Birds of Paradise

1 Brainstorm

1 Counterspell

1 Howling Mine

1 Wasteland

Approximate Total Cost:

Obviously the Waste Land makes this drop, being worth the price of admission alone. But all of these cards are highly iconic, and still relevant and useful (expect balance), and getting some new borders of the old art is quite nice.

Special Guest: Fiona Staples

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1x Borderless Dryad of the Ilysian Grove
1x Borderless Metallic Mimic 
1x Borderless Sakura-Tribe Elder 
1x Borderless Soul-Scar Mage 
1x Borderless Spell Queller

Decklist

DecklistCMCManaPricesChartsDraw 7

1 Dryad of the Ilysian Grove

1 Metallic Mimic

1 Sakura-Tribe Elder

1 Soul-Scar Mage

1 Spell Queller

Approximate Total Cost:

I was surprised at the cost of some of the smaller cards here. This one is a bit rougher, as you need to want multiple cards already to really get your value (or be able to offload them), but number wise it adds up.

Special Guest: Jen Bartel

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1x Borderless Archaeomancer 
1x Borderless Bloom Tender 
1x Borderless Mesa Enchantress 
1x Borderless Meteor Golem 

Decklist

DecklistCMCManaPricesChartsDraw 7

1 Archaeomancer

1 Bloom Tender

1 Mesa Enchantress

1 Meteor Golem

Approximate Total Cost:

I guess if you need a Bloom Tender, you have yourself a deal. I forgot how stupid expensive that thing is.

Phyrexian Praetors: Compleat Edition

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1x Phyrexian Elesh Norn, Grand Cenobite 
1x Phyrexian Jin-Gitaxias, Core Augur 
1x Phyrexian Sheoldred, Whispering One 
1x Phyrexian Urabrask the Hidden 
1x Phyrexian Vorinclex, Voice of Hunger 

Decklist

DecklistCMCManaPricesChartsDraw 7

1 Elesh Norn, Grand Cenobite

1 Jin-Gitaxias, Core Augur

1 Sheoldred, Whispering One

1 Urabrask the Hidden

1 Vorinclex, Voice of Hunger

Approximate Total Cost:

HOLY MOTHER OF NUMBERS! Ignoring real fast that these are all in the Phyrexian script, which will be a huge draw already, did they just put over a HUNDRED dollars of value at 30!? Well, Praetor prices are going to tank, and I am going to hate seeing Vorinclex at every table for the next few months after this ships.

Mother's Day 2021

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4x different Borderless Mother of Runes 

Decklist

DecklistCMCManaPricesChartsDraw 7

4 Mother of Runes

Approximate Total Cost:

Under value - why is Mother's Day the one that gets the stick? Spiffy arts though. I like to see Rebecca Guay back, though the art itself doesn't speak to me as much. I like the message in her piece though. It also clashes a fair bit with the others. She's operating on a different level than the other 3. The other artists were all "Lets draw a magical stately woman!" and Rebecca went, nah, lets paint a Mom shielding her baby from the elements while holding up the world topless in polkadot underwear.

Dan Frazier is Back: The Allied Signets

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1x Old Frame Azorius Signet 
1x Old Frame Dimir Signet 
1x Old Frame Gruul Signet 
1x Old Frame Rakdos Signet 
1x Old Frame Selesnya Signet 

Decklist

DecklistCMCManaPricesChartsDraw 7

1 Azorius Signet

1 Dimir Signet

1 Gruul Signet

1 Rakdos Signet

1 Selesnya Signet

Approximate Total Cost:

Dan Frazier is Back: The Enemy Signets

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1x Old Frame Boros Signet
1x Old Frame Golgari Signet
1x Old Frame Izzet Signet
1x Old Frame Orzhov Signet
1x Old Frame Simic Signet

Decklist

DecklistCMCManaPricesChartsDraw 7

1 Boros Signet

1 Golgari Signet

1 Izzet Signet

1 Orzhov Signet

1 Simic Signet

Approximate Total Cost:

I think we all knew the signets were not going to be the value-oriented piece. I'll admit the art is amazing in this, but given the original cost of signets, I don't see why these had to be 2 lairs.

The gruul signet made me laugh like crazy though.

[Sanity_Eclipse]

Value does seem to be there, overall. Think I'm definitely get Guests: Fiona and Jen, and the Praetors. I'm waffling back and forth on the signets.

The big question is, what is the Secret promo random card pool gonna be this time around? If it's more of the JMP basics I'm gonna be slightly pissed. Still waiting on the previous drop to see what's in them on this front.

[bobthefunny]

I'm def getting the Poole drop. I actually don't have any Waste Lands, surprisingly.

I don't really need any of the other cards, but I do like the Dryad.

I like the signet arts... but I don't know if I like them THAT much.

[TheAmericanSpirit]

60 for 10 signets is a slap in the face, I don't care if it was illustrated by Richard Garfield, Ph.D. himself. The best value is the praetors and they're in a language somewhere between elvish and klingon. If I wanted to constantly pull out my phone for english text, I'd just buy them in a foreign langauge that somebody on earth can read.

I have yet to see a SL that came close to tempting me against my sensibilities and better judgment, and these ain't that, jack. But I also made a habit of buyest the cheapest copy of things back when I was a poor student, so bling/alt art never gets my avarice rolling anyway.

[ConstantMists]

I am in for the Praetors in foil for sure. I think I want the signets as well, so then the question is am I going in for everything in foil. Not sure yet. At least I get the weekend to think about it.

[Sanity_Eclipse]

Signets should have been one drop for all 10, not split. Not sure how I feel yet on the art, and the foil-etched style of foiling.

[EonAon]

I so want the Saturday morning d&d set cause I grew up in that era and remember watching it fondly. (and now I feel old)

Fiona and Jen hit my probably gonna have to get them cause I love the look.
I normally don't DO certain promos but with 30 bucks to get all the Preators and considering the normal cost of said Preators... yes, yes I will buy a secret lair.

I like mother of runes...but not enough for promo art and prices.

Poole and the signets dont interest me. I mean sure wastelands as promo is good but I have birds, Brainstorm has a mystic archive card and will cost way less. I have that howling mine. I loathe balance and counterspell isn't that needed for me since there are two newer art variant's I think a bit more iconic atm. If the secret lair signets was 4x of all the signets in one enemy/ally I would consider it bad but at least more economical than 30/60 bucks just for new art on five/ten cards otherwise this is all about prying money out of folks that compulsively buy promos for bling purposes

[Ruiner]

As a fan of Saga, I feel compelled to get that Fiona Staples set. Hopefully there are some more comic book artist secret lairs in the future.

The Jen Bartel one looks great as well.

[duducrash]

Lowkey want the Praetors one. WOTC dont ship SL here so I'll look into the possibilities but idk if its worth the worth

[vandertroll]

I just wanted to comment that I am astonished that Primal Vigor is such an expensive card! As for the products themselves, I think that WotC is going full speed on confronting big singles retail shops.

[Dunharrow]

I would want the praetors if they were in english. I get that these are cool but I lend my decks to people all the time and it's not fun when they can't read the cards.

[folding_music]

love that Guay Mother of Runes, might grab a single off of cardmarket? really bold art that'll probably be received exacty like that really bold Faithless Looting art and seems like my sorta thing. I've been kinda boycotting these things but I did pick up four of those beautiful Dovescapes so I guess I have no principles whatsoever

[JWK]

Now that they have promised to make proper versions of any mechanically unique SL cards released in the future, making my previous blanket opposition to the Secret Lairs irrelevant, some of these are pretty tempting. The Poole collection is a good value, with Wasteland + BoP being valued at more than the cost of that set. The Fiona Staples set is less a value, and I don't really need any more copies of any of those cards, but I am tempted by the beautiful art. The Jen Bartel art is also beautiful, and Bloom Tender itself pretty much pays for the set, so that one I think I will get. And the Praetors.... holy crap, that's good value. I personally refuse to play either OG Vorinclex or Jin in a commander deck, viewing both as spectacularly unfun cards, but I could use more copies of the other three for decks and I figure I can probably more than get my cost back by trading the two I don't want.