It’s a time of madness, people, as Wizards assaults our wallets for the fourth big drop in a five-week span. Secret Scare was on 10/13, Playstation was on 10/27, then the Encyclopedia boxes dropped on 11/3, and now Avatar has five drops coming on 11/17. Between the problems people encounter on the website, and the powerful drain all this has on our wallets, you can be forgiven for thinking, “I don’t know if I want to buy this right now.”
I’m here to help, with a breakdown of the cards, their usage rates, and what’s worth it at MSRP and what’s worth waiting for Dump Week.
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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 are in an unprecedented era when it comes to spending money on Magic, and next year will be even wilder.
Seven sets planned for 2026, and that’s without the inevitable Secret Lair/Chaos Vault offerings that Wizards gives us. Right now, we’re in the middle of three superdrops within a month of each other: Secret Scare, Playstation, and Avatar: the Last Airbender. Things are wild and they are only going to get worse.
I write about Magic finance, but really, my budget isn’t unlimited. I have to decide what to buy and what not to buy. I’m here to give you my general guide, and give some examples/counterexamples of why I’m following these guidelines. Please note that this is not a comprehensive list of everything that’s done well, but instead is a set of rules that I follow when spending money on Magic cards that I plan to resell.
I also need to note that this doesn’t cover things I buy for myself, personally, or for my decks. I have a very pretty, maximum-foil Dragon deck, and I’ve paid early prices because I had to have that foil right now and I don’t feel bad.
We can’t buy everything and frankly, we shouldn’t. Let’s go over what I am buying, and what I’m staying away from.
Things I do buy:
Reprints that make staples cheap
Dump Week is a wonderful thing that’s happening in Magic finance right now. Basically, there’s a group of people who need to get as much as they can after paying retail for something, even if they end up with a small sliver of profit or even a loss. A great example of this is coming up with Demonic Tutor. Once the Secret Lair version is on TCGPlayer, there will be a short time where you can buy foils and nonfoils of the Kieran Yanner art for much less than they will eventually cost.
The risk here is repeated reprints. I picked up a lot of Aerith’s version of Heroic Intervention, just to see it show up again in Spider-Man AND Avatar. I bought Deadpool’s Blasphemous Act, only to see a new Secret Lair version shortly after. I’m not going to lose money on these long-term, but it’ll take a lot longer thanks to the reprints. Nothing I can do about this, either.
Cards that are good with upcoming Commanders/themes
I made a lot of money on some assorted Assassin specs when ACR was previewed, and I’ve already made good money on some Avatar-related ones like Earth Surge. More Allies are coming, and Earthbending especially offers a whole lot of chances for cards to spike. I’m also in on Corruption of Towashi, as a transform-related card for what’s coming up in Lorwyn Eclipsed.
The key with these specs is to make sure you sell into the hype, because if you wait, interest and prices cool off. A great example of this from my own experience is Widespread Brutality. I bought pack foils for $1, resold them at $5, but later found an extra dozen copies that didn’t stay with the group and are now back to under a buck.
Secret Lairs with proven staples
There’s a lot of money to be made if you can get specific Lairs at retail during the buying frenzy. I hate the queue, and that little walking jerk, but I can’t deny the money I make. I detail this in each of the ‘Are We Buying…’ articles I write before each Lair drops, and here’s the biggest thing to know: You need to sell ASAP.
The easiest way is eBay, but TCG will let some stores presell and there’s a few other presale sites too. The Lairs that sell out have a ton of FOMO and people are willing to pay a lot. Preselling can lock in some profits and give you a turnaround time of nearly zero, which is the best sort of profit by far.
Cards underpriced due to circumstances
Sometimes, cards are cheap due to weird conditions or a lack of awareness. Jumpstart cards can be like this, but Commander bannings have me really really tempted. I’ve picked up a playset of foil borderless Jeweled Lotus not too long ago and I’m just waiting for them to be unbanned. I’m ready for when it does. I recognize how speculative this is, but I feel confident it’ll eventually get unbanned.
What I don’t buy:
These are the categories of cards that I’m no longer buying. I’m not saying they can’t turn a profit, only that they are too likely to lose me money and I’d rather just stay away entirely.
Constructed cards.
Not Standard, Modern, Legacy, nothing. Constructed isn’t moving the needle for the majority of cards, and those few where it does I’m at the mercy of the metagame (looking at you, Quantum Riddler) and hoping I’ll get there. Commander is just more certain, more predictable, and I much prefer to put money there than in the four-of formats. Note that I’m not saying I never spec on cards that are good in Constructed, I’m saying I never buy only because of that. The Spider-Man Ephemerate is a great example. Big in Commander, only special version, and it’s a bonus that it’s good in Modern.
Anything that’s had a Commander deck reprint (It’ll get printed again)
This doesn’t include the new-to-Magic cards, as those can be worth a spec, but generally speaking, if a card’s been in a regular Commander deck, it’ll be there again. It’ll also have a chance to be part of a Surge foil or something like that, which will make other versions tank even farther. I’ve had some bad experiences here, and heaven willing, I’ll be able to avoid that issue again.
Cards with huge amounts of stock already online
James and I often look up the quantity in stock for a card when we evaluate each others’ picks on MTG Fast Finance, and knowing the amount still available is a very useful data point. If there’s a large amount online, I often want to wait and let many of those copies get soaked up by early action before moving in on a card. I don’t want to be the only one with 400 of a card. I’d rather wait till 250-300 of those copies are gone, to show that there is a demand, and then I’ll be happy to buy in, even if the price has gone up.
A card spiking brings people out of the woodwork to sell it, so bake that into your expectations. Copies will materialize when it gets pricey, and keeping your profits can be tricky.
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.
There’s a lot about to happen in Magic, with Avatar and a couple of big Secret Lairs along the way, but there’s also a whole lot on the agenda for 2026 in Magic: the Gathering. There will be seven releases next calendar year, and while they are of varying sizes, we can make some preliminary guesses about what’ll be in those sets and hopefully, figure out some cards to buy ahead of time.
I don’t have any secret bonus information, just lots of experience with Magic as a game and with the players. No shadowy cabal action here, just pure speculation.
Here’s the calendar, released before they announced that Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles was the big deal for March.
So let’s talk about these in order, with what we know, what we think, and what we should consider buying.
To be clear, we don’t know for sure that there’s bonus sheets or Commander decks, and those are ripe sources of reprints. It could absolutely be that many of these picks
Lorwyn Eclipsed
We’ve gotten a few cards from this set, and there’s a few trends we can get from these previews. Transforming back and forth is on at least three mythics, we are getting evoke and hybrid elementals. We know there’s Kithkin, Elves, Merfolk. We also know the themes for the two Commander decks: five-color Elementals and Jund -1/-1 counters.
There’s been a lot of good stuff in the minus counters decks over the years, and you can look at the list for any Hapatra, Vizier of Poisons deck and find some great cards. Two of the biggies are Flourishing Defenses and Blowfly Infestation, those feel like a lock to be reprinted. Crumbling Ashes is a pet card of mine for this theme, but the big card I’ll be watching for here is Contagion Engine. If that’s not in the Commander deck, then the very-hard-to-pull raised foils from OTP could easily jump from the $20-$25 range to $50+.
Five-color Elementals has been good enough to be a Modern deck at times, and I have a hard time picking what could go in the deck or left out. Earlier this year on MTG Fast Finance I picked Horde of Notions in pack foil, bassed on comments they made in Tarkir:Dragonstorm. In that set, there was a Temur Dragons Commander deck that left out Mirrym, because they didn’t want the older card to outshine the new Commanders. I think that philosophy will hold, and we will see two or three new five-color Elementals. This makes Omnath, Locus of All a card I should want to pick up now as well, hoping that they leave it out, but unfortunately, there’s a super sweet buy-a-box version of the card with an enormous amount available online, so no, don’t buy that.
There’s a lot of accessories for Elementals, and lesser-known ones. This is just a short list, and if it’s in the deck might not be a good pick, but that’s the bet you’re making if you buy early: Titania, Nature’s Force, Kaheera, the Orphanguard, Master of Waves, Chandra’s Embercat, Wilderness Elemental, Eyes of the Wisent, and Wand of the Elements. Some of those will get reprinted, some won’t.
One of the cards I mentioned in the ProTrader Discord, having bought a brick, remains an excellent candidate for Commander deck/bonus sheet, but it was cheap to buy a brick: Corruption of Towashi. It’s five mana, yes, but being able to draw cards when you’re transforming things, even just once a turn, would be the sort of thing people really want to add to decks. There’s no special version, so I got a bunch of pack foils and I feel good about it.
Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles
We’ve gotten some previews here too, and we’re getting some +1/+1 counter synergies as well as a lot of support for creatures who are Mutants, Ninjas, and Turtles. There’s already been a few spikes here, and we know the bonus sheet has Doubling Season to start with.
Over the next few months, I fully expect to see all sorts of random Mutant/Ninja/Turtles get spikes, even though we don’t know the formulation for the set yet, how many Commander decks, etc. Some of my favorites here, again with the risk of reprints, would be Ambling Stormshell in Showcase foil, Spider-Ham, Peter Porker, and Jenova, Ancient Calamity.
Secrets of Strixhaven
No cards yet, but would expect Learn/Lesson to be big here. My guess is that we’ll get most of the biggies reprinted in some way, but until we know for sure, I’m hesitant to buy in.
Marvel Super Heroes
Next of the six Stones, interested in creature type hero? James has already mentioned on the cast that you want your Soul Stones now, and he’s exactly right. We’re going to see a lot of folks who want to assemble the stones, and that means you want to have the first one in stock. Diamond Hands, people!
Also if Heroes are a big thing, we might see a big spike in Cid, Timeless Artificer, a card that would be difficult for them to reprint inside a Marvel IP. We’ll have to see.
The Hobbit
Everything from LOTR should be a risk to be reprinted, either in set, reskinned, bonus sheet. A real Smaug card! More Dwarves! My big plan here is to buy all the copies of The One Ring that I can when it gets cheap again.
Reality Fracture
We know Bolas was set loose again, back in Tarkir: Dragonstorm. Stuff is complicated, stories loop back on themselves. Don’t have any idea if this is a Bolas set or what.
Star Trek
Edge of Eternities gave us the model for Stations, Warp, and Spacecraft, and we’ll get all sorts of iconic stuff here. We’re very early but the single best card I’d want to have in such a deck is Inspirit, Flagship Vessel, for its ability to slowly charge up other Spacecraft. Could be reskinned into the Enterprise, so wait and see is the order of the day.
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 just got a Superdrop this week and we’re a week and a half away from the next one, seven Secret Lairs focused on Sony Playstation universes. I like adding in new IP, even if I haven’t played these games, and Secret Lair is the perfect place to do this.
So today, I’ll go over the drops, including the unique cards, and evaluate what I want to buy and what I want to be patient on.
Sony’s had a lot of great exclusives over the years, and here’s a handy chart:
My favorite bit here is Twisted Metal, even though that hasn’t had a game released in 13 years.
We do have a little bit of precedence here, in the Tomb Raider drop from 2023. That lair has climbed to $200 sealed, but that’s the old era of Secret Lairs. This stopped in January 2024 when they switched to a limited-print model. We’ve had plenty of mechanically unique cards in SLs since, including things like Marvel and Deadpool and Sonic, so while I wish that this wasn’t the distribution for such cards, it is what it is.
For each of the drops, I’ll go over the EDHREC numbers and the other special versions, as well as a discussion of how good a Commander it/they would be. This is based purely off of my experience in Commander, I’m just someone who loves playing the format, not a deckbuilding expert.
Secret Lair x The Last of Us Part I
Cabal Ritual (177k decks, MYB2 foil $60) – There are a lot of Commander decks that use this very aggressively to ramp on mana, especially as part of a big combo turn. I wouldn’t expect this foil to be more than $15-$20, but that’s solid value.
Haunted One (27k decks, $40 FEA) – This ought to drop pretty far, since its previous printing was pretty small and the card is fantastic in kindred decks like Zombies.
Secret Lair x The Last of Us Part II
Dictate of Erebos (113k decks, SL foil $31) – The previous SL foil is a fun bit of graphic design, looking very different yet still a Magic card. The original art, zoomed in on a face, is also awesome, and while this is a nice borderless foil, it’ll be available pretty cheap for a while.
Mycoloth (53k decks, SL foil $24) – The other Mycoloth has a lettering/look that some don’t resonate with, but the bigger problem is that this card is all building towards playing a huge creature and hoping it survives a turn. Lots of potential, but hard to utilize.
The four Partner-Survivor commanders synergize nicely into Jund colors, and you can pick any two of them to have fun with. Joel is going to draw you a lot of cards, and Ellie the vengeful has an ability that plays into a whole lot of deckbuilding. It’s easy to imagine a deck built around her that can sacrifice effectively.
Secret Lair x God of War: Greek
World at War (27k decks, pack foil $20)
Rite of Flame (129k decks!, pack foil $70)
Sulfuric Vortex (42k decks, pack foil $40)
Pyrohemia (39k decks, pack foil $55)
I don’t think I’ve seen another SL where there were no special versions previously, but here we are. Rite of Flame surprised me, as I didn’t know there were so many decks hungry for a spell that adds just one bonus mana, but yeah, there’s a lot of decks that want it. Kratos is the reddest red card ever, and if you combine it with something like Peacekeeper (so creatures can’t attack) then you’ve got something truly special.
Secret Lair x God of War: Norse
Teferi’s Ageless Insight (163k decks, SLD foil $13) – Excellent card, and two-sided to boot. This should be the best version from the getgo.
Iroas, God of Victory (70k decks, SLD foil $40) – I’m partial to the constellation Gods, but this is a great presentation for a card that goes right into every attack-based Commander.
As for the father and son, there’s only 13 cards (so far, I’m expecting at least two more in Avatar) that reference experience counters and the only five-color one is Azlask, the other five-color Eldrazi. It’s immediately tempting to me to build that deck, especially as resolving Atreus’s ability will go a long long way. These will be good, but not great.
Secret Lair x Uncharted
Midnight Clock (172k decks, FEA $14)
Whip of Erebos (131k decks, Promo Pack $20)
Chain Reaction (143k decks, pack foil $13)
Passionate Archaeologist (68k decks, FEA $200)
By far my favorite drop on the board, these are three staples and you’re getting upgrades for all the art. Ellie’s Dictate is just a picture of her, but these Clocks and Whips look like important relics and I will be picking up stacks at Dump Week. Those two, plus the Chain, should be very good value indeed over time. Archaeologist was a mythic from a barely-opened set and while these versions won’t be super expensive, they won’t be cheap either.
Nathan is an excellent commander, pushing the ‘stop hitting yourself’ theme out of Sultai and into Grixis. You do have to pay for the spells, but you also get to cast those spells regardless of timing. Can’t get lands into play, though.
Meteor Golem (136k decks, SLD foils $3.50 and $4.50)
Given that this drop is starting at $50 for foils, don’t count on the Blightsteel being the same price. That’s a Megatron art, which is much cooler. This is instantly the best Farseek, and that’s good, but these other two are pretty mediocre.
Aloy is interesting, as we don’t have a lot of artifact creature themes pointed at Simic. The big problem is, she’s not very powerful: she’s five mana to get one discover trigger. That’s just not going to do it in most Commander games.
Secret Lair x Ghost of Tsushima
Path to Exile (1.54 million decks, special versions range from $4 to $17)
Borne Upon A Wind (123k decks, scrolls foil $25)
Ghostly Flicker (165k decks, pack foil $9)
Eiganjo Castle (29k decks, pack foil $95)
Sweet Path, but there’s already a ton of PtE out there. The other cards are pretty good, and Eijango is a land that really isn’t played enough in Commander. I like getting good versions of staples plus a good Commander in a drop like this. Jin Sakai is a neat thing to do, to build around creatures that need to hit the opponent to do anything. The canary in the coal mine here is Summon: Primal Odin, as this plus Jin means someone goes away for good.
Overall, these drops range from excellent to middling, but there’s two big considerations for this whole superdrop.
First, they are all at the higher price point of $40 for nonfoil and $50 for foils. That’s a 25% bump, usually reserved for the charity drops, and the higher starting price means a longer time to get to profitability. Second, we’re in an era where the bots are running wild on these drops. The Kieran Yanner drop sold out in forty minutes last week, immediately taking bundles out of play for everyone and causing a scramble.
Wizards says what they are doing is to take everyone in the queue at 9 am and randomize them, so everyone’s got an equal chance. I’ve seen posts explaining how to game this system, but I’m not tech-savvy enough to know if it’s real or not. I’m presuming the worst, that everything will be bought up quickly.
In the before time, roughly seven months ago, I would have comfortably sat this one out, waiting for Dump Week and not worrying about mechanically unique cards. I wish that Secret Lair was only about reprints, but I’m not in charge. We’re in an era where the FOMO drives a lot of buying behavior, and we also see people reselling immediately to get their cash back. As an example, let’s look at two of the sold-out Spider-Man SL drops are on TCGplayer this week: Villainous Plots and Mana Symbiote lands. The Plots are available in nonfoil for $42 and foil for $51, which is $10 profit over the cost of buying in, but that’s before the tax on buying it, the fees from TCGPlayer, and the actual cost of shipping. I find it hard to believe they making more than pennies here.
Mana Symbiote is a bit better, with the sealed being $90 and the individual lands (two of each) adding up to $120 retail. People are in a hurry to buy but they are also in a mighty hurry to turn it over as fast as possible, even if that means a tiny profit or even a small loss.
I wish I could say that things will be reasonable around this drop, but I’m suspicious. I think the frenzy is on, and while some of the Secret Scare superdrop didn’t sell out, it’ll take a lot of non-selling-out to change behaviors. We’ve seen the Yanner, Iron Maiden, and Jaws drops resell for hefty profits (I’ve done that myself) so I expect the rush will be on despite these cards mostly being mid.
Personally, I’ll try to get a couple copies of Uncharted and Ghost, but if I get taken out by the rush and the queue, I won’t stress. Even right now, there’s opportunities in Dump Week to make a healthy profit. I want you to stay reasonable and thoughtful in a time that isn’t acting in either of those ways.
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.
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