Posted in: Games, Magic: The Gathering, Review, Wizards of the Coast | Tagged: magic, Magic: The Gathering, MTG Secret Lair, Secret Lair

Magic: The Gathering Activates Secretversary 2020 On Cyber Monday

Wizards of the Coast has activated another Magic: The Gathering Secret Lair on Cyber Monday this year, and shoppers can find more limited-time prints in the Secretversary, another release featuring thematic reprints. We're taking a look to offer a value recap but, be forewarned — these sales have about as much to do with Cyber Monday as Secret Lair has to do with Magic's Standard format. We've already covered Bob Ross' Happy Little Gathering featuring lands with artwork by the icon himself. As far as Secret Lair goes, this year rounds off with other sets: one by the artist Seb McKinnon, another that squirrels around, another that's a genuine paper rock collection, and a final set with a few metal answers.

Starting this tour is an Artist Series showcasing McKinnon's work. Featuring 3 great cards — an enchantment, a board clearing sorcery, and a creature that could easily give Agent of Treachery a run for it's stolen money, McKinnon has redesigned the artwork and flavor of these cards to tell a story of their own. The set goes for $29.99 — or $39.99 if shopping for foils. Enchanted Evening and Sower of Temptation are both good cards that could be snagged together for under 5 bucks, but that doesn't apply for Damnation, which ordinarily costs more than $35 in regular art, non-foil variant alone. Also, the flavor text features lyrics from the artists' brother, if you're into that.

Anyone who knows about Marvel's Squirrel-Girl knows that Squirrels are OP. Squirrels did what Scutes do before the first Scute ever scuted, and squirrels even cuter in concept about it. Because of Swarmyard and Squirrel Mob alone, this set in its non-foil, non-premium art value would cost about $60 on a good day, so anyone seeking these cards wouldn't be nuts to think there's tree-mendous value here.

For those who like Commander and find having mana to be a generally good thing in that format, the Box of Rocks drop features some pretty playable cards. From all of these Secret Lair releases, this set is the most flexible for Commander players across colors. However, each these cards does not pack a value wallop today as all of these singles together are grabbable for less than $20 together. This set will likely have the lowest return on market value for a $30 investment.  That is, unless the artwork makes up for a lack of any heavy-hitting base value for the cards behind this set. Judge for yourself.

Finally, rounding out our list is the below metal reprints of some of Magic: The Gathering's finest answers in a release called Party Hard, Shred Harder. Assassin's Trophy and Decimate themselves are in demand cards — with Assassin's Trophy selling for about $10 mint. Together, today's cheapest versions of these cards would still run investors about $30, so it's fair to say that these special-art answers don't blow out their own price tag.

It's also worth noting that, each set does come with a Magic: The Gathering Arena or Magic: The Gathering Online code for cool cosmetics online — although those aren't unique to these sales, as I've managed to snag a few from Daily Deals. For especially gluttonous collectors, Wizards is also offering bundles.  You can buy The Box of Rocks, Bob Ross, Seb McKinnon, and Party Hard, Shred Harder drops all together and "Save" $20—but this won't include the above squirrel hoarding. Alternatively, Wizards is also offering the Foils Forever Bundle which has everything except the Party Hard, Shred Harder package.  And if that's too complicated, for collectors who want it all, and have the cash on hand and nothing better to do with it, there's always "The Bundle Bundle" for $230 as a Secretversary purchase with heaps of everything.

If you happen to be in the market for these particular cards, or if you like playing games around MTG Finance, most of these sets are a fair return on value. But those are significant ifs. The cards themselves are solid in their formats, and due to the limited release of this print, their value is likely to go up over time. But for Commander players specifically, are any of these must-haves? Absolutely not. From a deckbuilding perspective, the price of entry for these releases could cover lots of great singles that would involve your struggling Local Game Store as part of the purchasing equation, too.

And as for how hot is this sale, even Cyber Monday shoppers have the time to decide for themselves — the buy window for this Magic: The Gathering Secret Lair release is open until December 14th.

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