We don’t have a lot of specifics about The Hobbit set yet, and that’s fine, since there’s still all of Marvel Super Heroes to get through. What we do know is enough to do some early preparations, and sometimes, forethought is all that’s needed to make some wonderful profits. 

Let’s go through the categories, then some specific cards. 

Borderless Classic Artist Cards

This set is already off to a great start, with reprints of original LOTR cards coming. We’re told of Tom Bombadil, Sauron, the Dark Lord, and of course, The One Ring. There will be 40 of these cards, and there’s nonfoil plus surge foil in the collector boosters, with traditional foils being in a special one-card Box Topper pack. 

It’s important to note that these are not exclusive to the Box Toppers, as has been the case in the past. The Toppers are merely a bonus, something you get with Play Booster and Collector Booster boxes alike. If the special packs were the only way to get shiny cards, then we’d have some difficulties, but two foil versions means we can be reasonable about this. 

We should expect most of the popular LOTR cards here: Bowmasters, Delighted Halfling, Mithril Coat, etc. I’ll be interested to see if there’s nine more Nazgul for us to collect, but mainly, I want to buy all of these when supply maxes out. Will it take another three years for us to get The Silmarillion and a third printing of these cards? Perhaps, but I surely bought enough Halflings at under $10 to resell at $25 to make me interested in maxing out known staples.

The One Ring having cribbed art, and admitted to it, is not going to affect the price all that much of this new version. It’ll be the cheapest. I expect older versions to go up in price some, since they are, by far, better looking. Even without Frazier having copy-flip-pasted the Ring itself, the background is dull and everything else is better. I’ll absolutely be buying these for later resell, but I’m under no illusions regarding the tiers of demand here. 

Dwarven Language Cards

So far we know about Arcane Signet, and there will be four more. Your guess is as good as mine, Signet would not have been on my list as a card that “captures a moment from The Hobbit, such as this Arcane Signet which depicts the mark carved into the door of Bilbo’s home.”

We will get more of these, but I’m not fixated yet unless there’s a Dwarven Rhystic Study lurking.

Book Cover Cards

This is a lot cooler than the other covers we’ve seen, like the D&D module books and the like. These are legible, and it’s obvious what they are. I personally don’t like cards where they are pre-aged to look like the corners are already jacked up, but that’s just me. We’re only getting ten of these cards, with two of them known already. 

Dragon Hoard Frame Cards

The detail of having the red version missing a scale is top-notch, the sort of thing they do very well in a lot of the Universes Beyond products. (Personal favorite: Shadowfax having the meaning of haste!) 

We’re getting 25 of these cards, with three of them previewed, and this should be the sort of thing that performs well. Important to note that there’s both nonfoil and regular foil of these in Play Boosters, with the Collector Boosters getting the Surge Foil versions. 

Glittering Gold Smaug

They didn’t serialize this card, but they announced that there will be ‘approximately’ 500 copies of this card. On one hand, I am deeply suspicious of this methodology. They were allowed to serialize lots of things three years ago, why not slap a number on here? Further than that, why didn’t we get an approximate number for the super-chase Sothera, the Supervoid, or the Headliner Turtles, or The Mind Stone, and so on?

And on the other hand, I feel like Smeagol looking at the Precious for the first time. I wants it, yes I do, and I’m aware that I’ll have to pay an exorbitant amount to get it. The TMNT Headliners are several grand, but with them publicizing the amount of Glittering Gold Smaug out there, the big collectors will be all over this and copies will not last long in the market. I’m doubtful that any will get sold on TCGPlayer, but we’ll see. My expectation is that this is $4k+ out of the gate and rises from there. I wish I was kidding. 

Individual Cards

Smaug is a fantastic card, one that fits well into a wide range of decks but definitely amazing in those that are Treasure-focused. Imagine Smaug into Goldspan? Boom! I appreciate that he’s four power and hasty and low costed. I’m becoming resigned to not owning the Glittering version with each of these words.

Thorin is a perfect inclusion in every Equipment deck, giving a lot of mana for equipping, plus a big smack to a creature. Don’t forget that he can target himself too, so hopefully one of your equipment grants haste. 

The Arkenstone and My Precious are solid cards that have good Adventure spells, but since the Adventures have colors, it restricts where these cards can go. A lot of decks would love the combo, though. 

Bilbo, Thief in the Night is going to form some interesting combos. Mana reduction for the Commander is good, but from the yard, from exile, from foretell or even from Adventures is remarkably flexible. I don’t know what the endgame is for this card, but it’s got a great first ability and a very useful secondary, so there will indeed be some craziness. 

Cliff (@WordOfCommander at Twitter and BlueSky) has been writing for MTGPrice since 2013, and is an eager Commander player, Draft enthusiast, and Cube fanatic. A high school science teacher by day, he’s also the co-host of the MTG Fast Finance podcast. If you’re ever at an event and you see a giant flashing ‘CUBE DRAFT’ sign, go over, say hi, and be ready to draft.

We’re in the first week for Secrets Of Strixhaven, and prices have yet to settle out. There’s still a lot of product to go on the market, so I’m not ready to buy in on the set yet (mostly) but there are a lot of things I have bought already this year, and I wanted to show you where I’ve put my money. 

Some of these I’ve mentioned on MTG Fast Finance, others have been discussed in the Discord, so perhaps some will sound familiar. I talk about a lot of cards; I don’t always buy in. So let’s discuss what I’ve bought and why! 

Mesmeric Trance    ICE    01/2026    48x @  $1.80

Way back when we learned about some of the Marvel Super Heroes commanders/themes, Doctor Doom, King of Latveria was causing all sorts of spikes. People have gone through a LOT of cards that involve discarding land. (Side note, Tectonic Reformation is way low stock on foils, though it might be in the Commander deck. I also think Artist’s Talent is amazing, but who knows. Take your chances!)

One of the cards that catches my eye if you’re doing a lot of drawing and discarding is Mesmeric Trance, an Ice Age rare that is thirty-one years old at this point, and even more importantly, it is on the Reserved List. We’ve gotten many examples of RL cards that get just a whiff of interest and the prices jump up 5x. Yes, this has a cumulative upkeep cost and that’s awful, but with RL cards, the interest will be enough to goose the price, and I’ll take all the $5+ sales I can get on this card. There’s a lot of awesome discard enablers and payoffs, but blessed few with the potential that this has. 

If you want another RL spec for Dr. Doom, may I suggest Mind Over Matter? This hard has jumped to $120+ at times, has an infinite draw/win combo with Temple Bell, and might be better with the King, depending on what you’re tapping/untapping.

Archon of Coronation (FEA)    CMR    01/2026    31x  @  $2.25

Champions of Minas Tirith (Showcase Foil)    LTC    01/2026    14x @ $3.00

Regal Sliver (FEA)    CMR    02/2026    9x @  $5.00

One of the other Marvel Super Heroes previews was for the box art of the Commander decks. Black Panther has two blurbs on the box: “Power up with Artifacts” and “Reign as the Monarch” in a Green-White deck. We were given T’Challa as a card, at least the artifacts version, but we don’t know about the Monarch side of things. 

So I took a swipe at three separate Monarch-themed cards. Archon is the most likely to be in the deck, since it’s generically named, but it’s also the cheapest at the time. It seems like we’ll get regular nonfoil decks and then the special foil versions, so there might be room for the FEA copies to do well. There isn’t much supply left of these anyway, since Commander Legends was 2022. 

The Champions and the Regal Sliver are much safer bets to not be in the deck, because Slivers are reviled and LOTR cards are hard to print if they reference the specific lore of Tolkien. Reprieve is fine; Minas Tirith is safe until The Hobbit lands later this year. 

There’s four ‘Court of’ cards that are in Green/White, and it seems unlikely that they would reprint all four, but who knows. Keep an eye on when the decklists are released, and pounce right away on the ones that got skipped. 

Yuna, Grand Summoner (Wedding Promo Foil)    FIN-Promo    1/2026    12x @  $37.00

At the end of the year, there was a promo given out for people who played in a Commander Box League for exactly one week. This is a traditional foil version of the card, with Yuna in her wedding dress, just a great piece of art. Originally, I got these from a ProTrader in Europe when the card was going for $75 on TCGPlayer. Folks have been steadily listing and selling their copies in the months since, bringing it down to about the same price that I got mine for when shipping was calculated in. 

I’m still a big believer in the card, as it’s selling several copies a day. Everything Final Fantasy looks so good in the long term, so I’m just keeping this dozen until they rebound and surge back up. It’ll just take a little attention or a bit more time. 

Terrasymbiosis (Borderless foil)    EOE    02/2026    4x @  $18.00

James talked me into this live on the cast, and honestly, I didn’t need much convincing. I really wish I’d bought in when the card was sub $10, but this is a card that’s truly bonkers in the counters-based decks and should be an auto-staple on the level of Hardened Scales/Doubling Season. 

We haven’t gotten the right commander for this since EOE came out, but the next one that does will put this in range of a double-up.

Sunset Sarsaparilla Foil     SLD    03/2026    11x @  $15.00

Academy Manufactor Nonfoil   SLD    02/2026    11x @  $7.50

Silver Shroud Costume Foil    SLD    03/2026    10x @  $10.50

These are recent Dump Week specs thanks to the Fallout lairs. The Costume was the bonus for every $150 spent, and I bought ten more to add to the ones I’d already gotten. Manufactor’s only special version came from the Playdoh drop, and while it looks fun, the SL version with a Handy Helper is so on point that it hurts. Sunset Sarsaparilla ought to hit when The Hobbit lands and we’re likely to get some more amazing Food-themed cards. There’s no shortage of them now, but more is always good. 

Bring to Light (Scroll Foil)    SOA    04/2026    4x @  $15.00

Expressive Iteration (Scroll Foil)    SOA    04/2026    4x @  $16.00

Finally, some very recent pickups I got from Card Kingdom with the last bit of store credit I had left. Both of these are rares, and need 350+ Collector Booster packs to be opened to get one copy. I think there’s going to be more opportunities on the Silver Scroll foils, as they are incredibly gorgeous, but these were just too cheap to pass up. Bring to Light doesn’t really have a special version, but it also sees much less play overall, so it evens out.

Cliff (@WordOfCommander at Twitter and BlueSky) has been writing for MTGPrice since 2013, and is an eager Commander player, Draft enthusiast, and Cube fanatic. A high school science teacher by day, he’s also the co-host of the MTG Fast Finance podcast. If you’re ever at an event and you see a giant flashing ‘CUBE DRAFT’ sign, go over, say hi, and be ready to draft.

I have to admit, this is amusing and irritating to me. By day I’m a high school teacher, so this is a deeply ironic name in late April, because school hasn’t ended! That being said, we had a nice little break since Deadpool 2 and this is a drop with some definite highs and lows. 

So let’s get into the details of the Superdrop, and see where we can add on what value is available. 

As always, I’m using EDHREC data, but remember that the numbers are skewed towards cards that have been in the preconstructed decks. A lot of people upload the decks as-is, or with a certain number of changes, and that puts a much bigger weight on some of those cards. Useful data, but be aware of its limitations. I’ve also listed the approximate price of the priciest version, just to see what these will be competing with. 

Helpfully, we’re still at the $30 nonfoil/$40 rainbow foil price point, but I fully expect Wizards to crank that up to $40/$50 as the base at some point, probably before the end of this year. 

Card	EDHREC Decks	Most Expensive Version
Generous Gift	183,000	~$10–20
Reconnaissance Mission	94,000	~$15–30
Radiate	31,000	~$20–40
Defense of the Heart	114,000	~$120–200
Arcane Signet	1,050,000	~$100–600
Sol Ring	1,300,000	~$70–150

Starting off with a banger of a Lair, the other Ponies cards are huge gainers. The sealed sets of Ponies: the Galloping 1 and 2 are pretty expensive at $300+ on TCGplayer, but that’s a Hasbro Convention exclusive, not a Secret Lair item. (I also love that Rainbow Dash’s mechanic is so close to Start Your Engines!)

We know the Ponies are popular, and we know there’s significant crossover with Magic players. This Sol Ring and Signet should immediately be in the $20 range each, and I won’t be shocked if they climb higher. Collectors will be all over this, and I fully expect to see price bumps on the earlier Ponies cards, even though those are silver-bordered. Having Defense of the Heart as a $20 anchor is a great touch, and this is easily my favorite Lair of the entire drop. I plan to buy as many of these as I can, and this should easily be the first one sold out. 

Thankfully, we’re at a point where the land drops come with two of each land, not just one, but it’s severely irritating that the Plains gets the whole gang and the other lands are piecemeal, zoomed out, or have nothing. It’s inconsistent, and bugs me, and turns me off from the Lair. I’ll be looking to buy the Plains on Dump Week, but otherwise I’m skipping this. 

Card	EDHREC Decks	Most Expensive Version
Abrupt Decay	183,000	~$40–80
Batwing Brume	9,800	~$15–30
Chance for Glory	18,700	~$10–20
Counterflux	41,000	~$15–25
Growth Spiral	147,000	~$5–15

One card for each Strixhaven school, but none of them are very good, rare, or profitable. I’m not really interested in these at retail, though I’ll be tempted when Dump Week rolls around. 

Card	EDHREC Decks	Most Expensive Version
Secret Rendezvous	29,000	~$10–15
Rune-Scarred Demon	108,000	~$25–40
Terror of the Peaks	136,000	~$700-$800
Communal Brewing	6,200	~$5–10
Rogue’s Passage	377,000	~$3–6

This Lair is a fascinating experiment. Dwarf Fortress is a classic game, hitting the nostalgia hard. We know that can be a profitable thing to do, and they even gave us a mega-staple combo card in Terror of the Peaks. Problem is, the art might be the worst ever on a Magic card. (A whole separate article: Worst SL Drops!) This is not just pixelated, but text that is pixelated and doesn’t look like any damn thing. If you haven’t played the game, which part of the art is the dragon? Which are the player characters? Do you even know if either of those are on the card??

We know that sometimes, polarizing art gets popular because it’s so loathed. Magic players love to be oppositional, to run the ugliest for the laughs, but this is a new level of everything. The cheapest version of Terror is around $25, and the question is, what price would I buy these copies at? Definitely nothing like retail for this drop, but during Dump Week I will be tempted at $15, but more than that and I’d rather get a more normal version.

If this sells out, heaven help us. 

Card	EDHREC Decks	Most Expensive Version
Counterbalance	28,000	~$60–90
Gitaxian Probe	175,000	~$40–80
Opt	312,000	~$10–20
Otherworldly Gaze	41,000	~$5–10
Baleful Strix	221,000	~$40–80

Probe and Strix are not the anchors you want, and this Lair has been known for a couple months now. The prices are bananas, since it was given out to just a handful of folks at a convention. That might convince people to buy the lair, since the singles are currently listed for absolutely ridiculous prices on TCGPlayer, but I’m staying far away from this. The cards are used in a lot of decks but they aren’t centerpieces or important, even. 

Card	EDHREC Decks	Most Expensive Version
Rule of Law	89,000	~$20–30
Thought Scour	52,000	~$15–25
Time Stretch	73,000	~$40–80
Stinging Study	82,000	~$10–20
Notion Thief	94,000	~$40–80

Roughly translates to ‘Stories of Kids at a Magical Academy’ but I don’t trust the translation programs. Extremely mid drop, and just nothing I want to prioritize. Time Stretch is a card that can be retargeted, if you run cards that do that sort of thing, but I don’t feel a need to buy this Lair at all. It’ll be tempting at Dump Week, because people do love anime themed cards, but the lack of excitement carries over. 

Card	EDHREC Decks	Most Expensive Version
Lier, Disciple of the Drowned	61,000	~$20–30
Bloodghast	116,000	~$100–150
Storm-Kiln Artist	192,000	~$10-15
Anhelo, the Painter	15,400	~$10–20

Bloodghast was an expensive card before it got printed a few times in a row, including Commander decks in Ixalan and Secrets of Strixhaven, plus the full range of prints it got in Aetherdrift. This is a neat version of Storm-Kiln Artist, but that already has a borderless foil barely into the $15 range. I’ll be delighted to buy the artist at Dump Week lows, hopefully under $5, but otherwise I am not interested at all. 

Card	EDHREC Decks	Most Expensive Version
Duty Beyond Death	38,300	~$5–10
Spell Pierce	126,000	~$300
Zombify	24,000	~$15–25
Abrade	201,000	~$10–15
Shared Roots	7,600	~$5–10

This drop had enormous potential, but they chose five exceedingly mid cards. Abrade has a ton of versions already, as does Spell Pierce, and while Shared Roots has potential, none of the other three see much play. I get that they are giving us English text on the alternate art, but damn, they could have gone a bit farther on which cards they chose. Why would I go for these, when there’s amazing Silver Scroll foils to be had? Or you could have done this for five sweet cards from the original Mystical Archive from five years ago! This Lair might sell out, but I’m doubtful about these cards and I’ll just stay away.

There’s no bonus card listed as yet, but there is bundle pricing. The nonfoil bundle saves you $15, the all-foil bundle saves you $20, and if you go for the one-of-everything, you get a $45 discount. It’s not nothing, getting one and a half nonfoil lairs for free, but when the lairs are this mediocre, It’s not worth it, especially with more Marvel on the horizon and some awesome Silver Scrolls that need buying. 

So my plan for Monday is to maximize the Friendship is Magic drop across multiple accounts, and wait on the rest. Nothing else is worth moving in on, but I want to buy foils and nonfoils alike. In Dump Week, I’ll be looking for super-cheap Terror of the Peaks and Storm-Kiln Artists, and that’s about it. This should be a drop that mostly lingers for a couple of weeks, sad to say.

Cliff (@WordOfCommander at Twitter and BlueSky) has been writing for MTGPrice since 2013, and is an eager Commander player, Draft enthusiast, and Cube fanatic. A high school science teacher by day, he’s also the co-host of the MTG Fast Finance podcast. If you’re ever at an event and you see a giant flashing ‘CUBE DRAFT’ sign, go over, say hi, and be ready to draft.