This coming Monday, July 29th, at 9 am Pacific time, 12 pm Eastern time, and 4 pm GMT, the next Superdrop becomes available. There’s a whole lot to unpack here, and I’m going to go over all of the cards with you and determine what I want to buy and why.
Let’s get to the cards!
One caveat before we dive in: We’ve gotten no hint that there will be a Hatsune Miku drop as yet, and given that there are two big collaborations in this drop, a third would be a lot going on at once. We also don’t know if there’s a bonus card, a reward for spending X dollars, but with how popular the last drop was that didn’t include a bonus, they might have given up on that completely.
The exact dollar amounts for bundle discounts isn’t known yet, but I would be surprised if it went much over 15%, even for the biggest bundles. Wizards understands that they are selling a lot of cards, and the discounts have been slowly shrinking. The line must continue up and to the left!
For each drop, I’m going to look at the EDHREC numbers, as that’s the biggest driver for cards like these. EDHREC is a great database, even if its numbers are a little weighted towards preconstructed decks, and while it’s a small percentage of players overall it remains useful.
MTG x Brain Dead
Brain Dead is an art group that’s done a lot of cool stuff, and they get three sets of cards here. Wurmcoil is only listed in 85k decks online, which feels low for such an iconic creature. Its cheapest version is $11, and there’s both Inventions and Serialized versions released over the years. Sphinx is $23, has a borderless version, and is in 106k decks. Kiki-Jiki is $7, and this would be the first printing that isn’t the traditional frame, though it’s not far off. He’s also got just under 80k decks, including a thousand where he’s the commander. Meteor Golem was in a SL drop in 2021, with Jen Bartel and a badass look in a borderless frame for $6, and is in 97k decks! Again, be wary of that number due to how many precons the Golem has been in, and the Goo is just filler that only the hardest-core coin flipper plays.
Sphinx, Wurmcoil, and Kiki make a decent start for the set of cards, and if the discounts are right, I might buy some of these. It doesn’t sing to me, though, and I’m being a bit more selective with buying sealed drops vs. singles these days.
Brain Dead Lands
All of these were put into one image, making me think that this is the first time they are putting two of each land into one drop. I’d be tempted by ten foil lands for $40, but ultimately I think this is a pass for me. It’s been a couple of drops since we were given lands, and I’d been hoping we were past this. The lands are great art, but there’s just so many choices for great art these days that we need something truly unusual to break through.
Brain Dead Staples
There are staples indeed (none listed at less than 400k decks), and all of these are worthwhile pickups. Four of these cards were in the ‘Through the Wormhole’ drop, and with galaxy foiling plus sweet art. The frames for the Brain Dead cards ought to look pretty cool, with the textured frame, and I’m probably going to buy a couple of this drop.
Showcase: Bloomburrow
These are neat, and I’ve learned not to overlook the power of ‘cute’ when it comes to Magic cards. None of these are cats or dogs, and a lot of the value here is predicated on Tezzeret being only available as a buy-a-box card. Because of that scarcity, he’s a $20 card but that’s going to fall pretty hard. He’s an auto-include in artifact decks that can play him, but those numbers aren’t too huge. I’m going to get singles here, instead of spending $40 or $50 on the set.
Featuring: Andrew MacLean
This is a great set of art, and I remain thankful that Wizards has listened to me as I begged for the art series to be bigger than the regular frame. So here we are, borderless cards from the gloriously beared artist of the Head Lopper series. This is the first special frame for Nirkana (34k), Terastodon (68k) and Arbor Elf (142k). Maelstrom Wanderer has a profile version in Commander Masters, is the number #199 commander all time (5400 as commander, 38k as card) and so this drop will likely have the most expensive versions of all four of these cards.
At $40, I’m not a buyer. I’ll be looking for singles the week this lands, especially on Arbor Elf.
MTG x Monty Python vol 1 and vol 2
I generally avoid swearing here but HOLY SHIT I did not see this coming. This is a phenomenal crossover, headlined by something which will sing to Magic boomers like me. The original pinger (as an aside, to demonstrate how powerful this ability to tap and deal damage to any target is, there’s only two of those creatures legal in Pioneer: Endbringer and Syr Carah) has a whole bit of lore about why Prodigal Sorcerer was nicknamed ‘Tim’, and it was so prevalent that it was used as a verb back in the day.
The bonus cards, according to Reddit (and I believe it, the Monty Python drops are already on sale this weekend at SDCC) are worthwhile, and I 100% believe that this was slated to be a single Lair, but they see how Evil Dead and Princess Bride did, and decided to double their money. Can’t blame them, really.
I will be maxing out on these, and if the limit is 5 per order, I may think of telling friends to order some too. This is going to pay off, and I also expect this to be the Lair that sells out fastest.
I would not be shocked if they went back and gave us a volume 3 or 4, given the quotable moments that didn’t get covered (Grail-shaped beacon! Huge tracts of land! Coconuts as horses! ELDERBERRIES!) because they want to get every dollar out of us and this is the way to do it.
My rankings for the drop overall:
1 and 2) Monty Python
3) Brain Dead Staples
4) Brain Dead Gallery
5) Featuring Andrew MacLean
6) Brain Dead Lands
If they surprise us with big discounts or some awesome bonus card, I might adjust what I buy, but my plan currently is to max out on Monty Python and dabble a little in the Staples. Come chat in the Discord if you want to talk other plans!
Cliff (@WordOfCommander) 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 official substitute teacher of the MTG Fast Finance podcast. If you’re ever at a GP and you see a giant flashing ‘CUBE DRAFT’ sign, go over, say hi, and be ready to draft.