Secret Lair: Year of the Rat

[Dusk]

The next Secret Lair set has been revealed: https://magic.wizards.com/en/articles/a ... 2020-01-16
Contents:
1 Foil Alternate-Art Marrow-Gnawer
1 Foil Alternate-Art Pack Rat
1 Foil Alternate-Art Ink-Eyes, Servant of Oni
5 Foil Alternate-Art Rat Colony
1 code for a card sleeve based on the Secret Lair drop Year of the Rat for use in Magic: The Gathering Arena





While a cool idea, the only one of these I want is the new Ink-Eyes

[Proteus]

Oh boy, $40 of cards for $40 plus shipping. Glad they don't give a damn about making things affordable.

[CommanderMaster999]

Should have Ben relentless rats

[Dusk]

Oh boy, $40 of cards for $40 plus shipping. Glad they don't give a damn about making things affordable.

Using TCG Player:
Normal art foil Marrow-Gnawer is about $30
Normal art foil Ink-Eyes is about $8
Normal art foil Pack Rat is about $4
Normal art foil Rat Colony is about $1
Total - $47
The alternate art on these will make them more valuable to some. I'd estimate the overall combined value of these alt-arts to be $55+

[Cardz5000]

plus who knows if this might come with an extra goodie like the last ones.

[RedCheese]

Oh boy, $40 of cards for $40 plus shipping. Glad they don't give a damn about making things affordable.

Using TCG Player:
Normal art foil Marrow-Gnawer is about $30
Normal art foil Ink-Eyes is about $8
Normal art foil Pack Rat is about $4
Normal art foil Rat Colony is about $1
Total - $47
The alternate art on these will make them more valuable to some. I'd estimate the overall combined value of these alt-arts to be $55+

So WOTC is now part of the secondary market

[Proteus]

Oh boy, $40 of cards for $40 plus shipping. Glad they don't give a damn about making things affordable.

Using TCG Player:
Normal art foil Marrow-Gnawer is about $30
Normal art foil Ink-Eyes is about $8
Normal art foil Pack Rat is about $4
Normal art foil Rat Colony is about $1
Total - $47
The alternate art on these will make them more valuable to some. I'd estimate the overall combined value of these alt-arts to be $55+

$43 by my math. Non-foil versions come to about $40 as well.

And I don't care about how much more valuable people will consider these, it doesn't change the fact that even at foil these cost WotC pennies to print. The art commissions cannot cost very much. The prices they're selling these at are ridiculous and it's pretty obvious that not affecting the secondary market prices for the original cards is a factor. They could cut the price of these in half or more and still rake in profit.

[Legend]

Oh boy, $40 of cards for $40 plus shipping. Glad they don't give a damn about making things affordable.

Using TCG Player:
Normal art foil Marrow-Gnawer is about $30
Normal art foil Ink-Eyes is about $8
Normal art foil Pack Rat is about $4
Normal art foil Rat Colony is about $1
Total - $47
The alternate art on these will make them more valuable to some. I'd estimate the overall combined value of these alt-arts to be $55+

So WOTC is now part of the secondary market

They always have been. The creation of formats came first . Then along came the reserve list. Then the decision to keep it after being bought by Hasbro despite having an opportunity to cleanly do away with it at that time (thanks to MaRo). And then the Masters sets. The. Selling directly via AZ. Now these things. Eventually, you'll just go to wizards.scum and order product directly.

[RxPhantom]

Screw this garbage. Support your LGS instead.

[Jace]

The pack rat art is so cute. I love the Kamigawa theme. Not feeling the timing so close to Theros though. Nothing can compete with Theros for me so I'll have to pass on this one for now but may get a pack rat copy for the art eventually

[ilovesaprolings]

Man they must have really made a ton of money with the other ones if the nest wave is already here.
Selling skins instead of quality products is profitable even in mtg, who woul have guessed.

[AvalonAurora]

Given the themes behind the year of the rat, black seems like the wrong color here. I feel like red for the monetary luck and green and/or white for the plentiful harvests. While we might not have non-black suitable rats, some things on theme might have worked, like Temple of Plenty (re-done Chinese style with a rat statue or live rats scurrying around), Bountiful Harvest (piles of grain and some happy looking rats), or maybe Treasure Trove (couldn't find an appropriate red card with some quick gatherer searches that properly indicated luck in wealth that seemed right for the themes involved in the zodiac rat).

Even ignoring color, might have been on theme to go for something like Thriving Rats.

There is also a lack of Zodiac Rat here.

The stuff they pick for these things often seems a little off.

[Serenade]

...none of those cards are playable.

[Dusk]

Oh boy, $40 of cards for $40 plus shipping. Glad they don't give a damn about making things affordable.

Using TCG Player:
Normal art foil Marrow-Gnawer is about $30
Normal art foil Ink-Eyes is about $8
Normal art foil Pack Rat is about $4
Normal art foil Rat Colony is about $1
Total - $47
The alternate art on these will make them more valuable to some. I'd estimate the overall combined value of these alt-arts to be $55+

$43 by my math. Non-foil versions come to about $40 as well.

And I don't care about how much more valuable people will consider these, it doesn't change the fact that even at foil these cost WotC pennies to print. The art commissions cannot cost very much. The prices they're selling these at are ridiculous and it's pretty obvious that not affecting the secondary market prices for the original cards is a factor. They could cut the price of these in half or more and still rake in profit.

My apologies for not making it clear I was adding $5 for Rat Colony, as there are five in the drop. Yes, you are correct in that, one foil of each is $43

[The N82O Molecule]

I have a rat deck. and ill tell you, its very linear. that's it.