There’s a lot of basic principles that we harp on when it comes to Magic finance, but one of the most fundamental is buying when a card reaches low and we expect it to rebound over time. That rebound is either because it’s a Commander card that lots of decks want or because there’s an upcoming Commander or release that will want the card. 

I also want to stress that a card isn’t necessarily at its lowest point when supply is at maximum. I preach the wisdom of Dump Week for Secret Lair releases: The week that everyone gets their SLs in the mail, a certain number of folks immediately need to undercut everyone else and sell hard, getting as much as they can in the moment. That’s definitely an occasion for maximizing the bang for your buck, as those sellers get their copies snapped up, prices often rebound, and then logic takes over.

We’re at a point with the Secret Lair Encyclopedia cards where many of them, including Halo Foils, have drifted so far downwards as to be worth buying in on, now that the frenzy has passed and these are still the best versions. So let’s go over them, A to Z, and determine what’s worth buying right now.

For each card, I’m going to list the version that I think is most worth buying. You’re free to disagree, and go after the ones you like best, but I like to look for growth, and if the Halo Foil is mega-times the price of the regular foil, maybe I just want those foils. Or perhaps the nonfoils are woefully underpriced compared to every other version, and that’s where I want to put my cash. If it’s $8 for a regular, $10 for a foil, and $60 for the Halo, I generally like the foil. Much easier to get that to go to $20 than the Halo to go to $120, especially depending on other special versions.

I also want to note that the sealed prices for the Encyclopedia are on the rise, selling for just under $300 on TCGPlayer, and a lot of the cards in the set are on that rise too. Finally, a reminder that we never got actual information for the foil rate or the Halo foil drop rate, but the community has settled on about 1 in 4 for the foils and 1 in 25 for the Halo foils. 

Altar of the Brood – Foils are what looks good here, at 1/6 the price of the Halo foils.

Brain Freeze – $11 foils, $115 Halo. The Cube players are the ones getting copies, and there’s only 9 Halo left. I like grabbing a Halo or two and reselling at $175 in a few months. 

Crop Rotation – The Halo price is pretty stable, and with the other special versions, I like the $85 Halo Foils more than the $13 foils.

Demonic Consultation – Honestly, I don’t want to buy any copies of this. I like some unique art, but this is the cheapest of all. Grab some nonfoils if you want, but it’s had more printings than you think. 

Eerie Ultimatum – Love the card, but I’d rather be in on the SPG version. One of the cheapest Halo foils for a reason. 

Field of the Dead – I recently recorded an episode of MTG Fast Finance and picked these Halo foils, just a great value on a redonk card. 

Gray Merchant of Asphodel – Another podcast pick, there’s more than a few special versions, but this one is worthy or recurring and killing a table.

Hymn to Tourach – I don’t feel a need to move in on this, Commander players don’t use it enough.

Isochron Scepter – Halo Foil and FTV: Relics versions are real close in price. Cheesy art, but both are outclassed by the Eye of Sauron FNM version. Regular foils have a chance to grow nicely here.

Junji, the Midnight Sky – Junji is great, and I like $6 regular foils here. NEO borderless foils are $25+, so that’s a lovely comparison.

Krark-Clan Ironworks – Foils are $15, Halo foils $40. No contest, get me the swirly shinies.

Llanowar Elves – I like the regular foils at $25 or so best, as there’s a lot of special versions around. 

Myrel, Shield of Argive – Halo foils are leading the way at $100, but the regular foils at $25 compare nicely to the original FEAs in the $40 range.

Narset’s Reversal – Regular foils $5, when pack foils are $10 and Halo foils $45. Give me a stack of regular foils.

Ob Nixilis, the Fallen – The ZEN and IMA foils are surprisingly pricey, but really, I don’t want to buy any of these.

Phyrexian Altar – Tough call here. The other borderless foil is about the same $50ish price as the regular foil, with the Halo foil the biggest at $120. (pack foil Invasion at $350+ is something else entirely!) I’d watch the Halo foils, as they have only trended downwards so far. Once it starts going up, that’s when I want to buy.

Questing Beast – Just avoiding.

Retrofitter Foundry – It’s so cheap, and in so few decks. I feel no need to buy copies.

Sol Ring – If you bought in at $100 early, you’ve doubled up. It’s only sold 9 copies in a month, though, so growth will likely slow down from here. Will this grow to $250 faster than the regular foils go from $20 to $40? Hard to say. 

Temple of the False God – This is a bad card. I refuse to buy it or play it. 

Urza’s Saga – Amazingly, the Halo Foils have now passed the textless (lol) Store Championship versions. If I wanted to buy in, I’m leaning towards the countdown foils, even at $100. They are already more expensive than the pack foils, and in Modern, you need your playset to be matching. 

Vesuva – Halo foils all the way, as this is the only special frame and there’s so little demand, but skipping this entirely is just fine. 

Wasteland – No need to go for Halo foils, get the regular foils if you want to spec, but with the glut of special versions, I’d stay away.

Xantcha, Sleeper Agent – Ugh. I opened two kits, and this was my one Halo foil. Stay away.

Yarok, the Desecrated – There was ALREADY a Halo foil of this, plus a serialized! I don’t want to spec on this. 

Zo-Zu the Punisher – Halo foils have bottomed out in price, but why are you buying this?

Alhammarret’s Archive – Love this as a spec, it’s the only special version, looks classy as can be, the low was $6 and it’s been climbing since. Still cheaper than the original frame version, too. 

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.

Yup, this feels about right. Fallout Secret Lair v2 was on January 26. Then there was a surprise drop on February 2, the Prints Charming drop with the variety of pricing models. And for the third Monday in a row, there will be a new Secret Lair drop coming. This is a superdrop, with seven different drops making it up and sadly there’s a basic lands drop, but we’ll get to that in a moment. 

We’ve got seven sets of cards to review, and let’s discuss their popularity, price, and what we can compare them to.

For each Lair, I’ll list the cards, the EDHREC numbers, and the prices of special versions. EDHREC isn’t perfect data, as there’s a big weight towards cards in precons, but it’s the main source we have to work with. 

We also need to stipulate that the nonfoils are $30 and the foils are $40, plus tax depending on your area, and free shipping at $99+. There is a bundle discount I’ll talk about at the end. 

Secret Lair x Dungeons & Dragons®: Strahd’s Descent

Strefan, Maurer Progenitor (6200 EDHREC decks as commander, 9k more as card, EA $3)

Bloodletter of Aclazotz (138k decks, Borderless foil $35)

End the Festivities (64k decks, Double Feature foil $7)

Voldaren Estate (55k decks, SLD foil $3, Double Feature foil $13)

This is one of Wizards’ favorite Secret Lair setups: One very good card and three pretty mid cards. In this case, it’s the Bloodletter and that’s a card that was more expensive but trended downwards over time. This was a very popular card when Demons were the thing to do in Standard, and I imagine that’s the main reason prices have slipped over time. If this Lair doesn’t sell out fast, there will be a chance at very good deals for Bloodletter when Dump Week hits, but I think this is a pretty safe pickup. The other three cards might spike eventually but they are just fun accessories. 

Secret Lair x Dungeons & Dragons®: Whispers in Candlekeep

Counterspell (1.6 million decks, too many specials to list)

Dragonborn Champion (36k decks, EA $10)

Klauth, Unrivaled Ancient (2k as Commander, 55k as card, EA $30)

Miirym, Sentinel Wyrm (25k as Commander, #18 over last 2 years, plus 65k as card, Showcase foil $7)

Now this is a Secret Lair. Mirrym is one of blessed few Dragons who can make a case for being the Commander over The Ur-Dragon (though according to EDHREC, it’s not really close, around 2x as many decks as Miirym) and Klauth is one of the biggest swings you can do. There are many games where I’ve laid Klauth down, attacked for 10+ damage, and played out some big Dragons. The Champion is pretty impressive, but really defines ‘win more’, since if you’re smashing for 5, do you really need more cards? And then randomly we have a Counterspell, which is in all the decks with all the versions. Great Lair, I’ll be maxing this out.

Secret Lair x Dungeons & Dragons®: Shadows Over Baldur’s Gate

Grim Hireling (137k decks, EA $20)

Wild-Magic Sorcerer (81k decks, EA $13)

Xorn (135k decks, Ampersand foil $30, SLD $14)

Prosper, Tome-Bound (12k as Commander, 41k as card, EA $18)

Another favorite theme for SLs is ‘popular Commander plus some strong helpers’ and this is perfectly Prosper. The Tiefling has been one of the biggest movers of prices when he first came out, and this is three decent cards to add. Exile is getting to be more and more popular as a resource zone, and the two Treasure-themed cards are always solid picks.

This is the first foil printing for the Hireling and the Sorcerer, so that makes the shiny Lairs that much more desirable. Excellent value all around, and I want as many of these as I can get. 

Secret Lair x Dungeons & Dragons®: Black Lights & Dark Dungeons

Seasoned Dungeoneer (29k decks, EA $8)

Displacer Kitten (199k decks, FEA $33)

Tortured Existence (79k decks, Stronghold $4)

Sefris of the Hidden Ways (10k as Commander, EA $5)

See above, as this is all about the Kitten, one of the most absurd value engines ever printed. The combos for the kitty are all over the place, the sort of thing you can stumble into accidentally, especially when stuff like Mox Opal/Amber is involved. Much like the Bloodlord above, I’m interested in the single card and the rest are hopefully going to have their time in the sun. Taking the Initiative is popular sometimes in Legacy, but it is not really a Commander thing that gets done. I will buy some of these, but I’ll really be looking for the Kittens on Dump Week. 

Secret Lair x Dungeons & Dragons®: Gale’s Ambition

Gale, Waterdeep Prodigy (5k as Commander, 41k as card, foils are bulk)

Arcane Denial (787k decks, SLD foil $14, FEA $11)

Archmage’s Charm (71k decks, Retro foil $4)

Brainstorm (716k decks, JPN Mystical foil $25, Borderless foils $4-$15)

Personal Tutor (60k decks, Etched foil $14, Borderless foil $4)

I must admit, this feels like a trap. None of these have a combination or popularity and scarce premium version. Brainstorm and Arcane Denial have more than one special version already, so it’s unlikely that price will go wild. The other three cards just don’t have a case for their usefulness. This doesn’t feel like Astarion or Karlach, both in value or in how horny the art is.

I’m planning on a bundle or two, but that’s as far as I’m going to go here. 

Secret Lair x Dungeons & Dragons®: Shadowheart’s Devotion

Shadowheart, Dark Justicar (3k as Commander, 21k as card, foils are bulk)

Beseech the Queen (36k decks, FTV foil $4)

Black Market (166k decks, SLD foil $16)

Victimize (491k decks, SPG foil $45)

Ancient Bronze Dragon (49k decks, Borderless foil $35)

Victimize is the big value card here, I was surprised that this Dragon was so cheap, both in its regular form and its Borderless foil. Then again, I have an Ur-Dragon deck and this particular scaly overlord doesn’t make the cut. Beseech is an interesting card if you believe that eventually hybrid mana changes its Commander rules, and that would make this tutor something that could go in every deck. Would 6 generic mana to tutor be worth it? I imagine most decks would decline that option. 

Still, the sweet versions of Victimize and the Dragon should carry this drop, but I’m not planning to buy more than the bundle copies I get. 

Secret Lair x Dungeons & Dragons®: Lands of the Forgotten Realms

I gotta admit, these lands are as good as it gets. I love the clear frame, the name on the bottom, the gold embossing. The art is phenomenal, I don’t know if it’s from a game or what, but this is the first time in a while that we’ve gotten fantasy theme full art lands. These aren’t Spongebob, or medieval cities, or raised foils with Venom, but just big-time fantasy art done in the perfect style. I’m happy with my bundle copies, but I have a sneaking suspicion that I’m supposed to be stocking up on these. If it’s $40 for 10 foils, then anytime the lands are over $4 you’re ahead, depending on taxes, fees, and shipping. 

There’s no new promo, but apparently the Silver Shroud Costume is still in stock. So every $149 you spend gets you another copy of that. Currently there’s only a handful of presale copies at $30 on TCGPlayer, so those prices ought to fall. 

The Bundle pricing has been revealed, and it’s stingy as can be. All the foils as a bundle gets you $10 off, and the same for all the non-foils. If you get one of everything, it adds up to $25 off. That’s almost the value of a nonfoil set, and while it’s not nothing, it’s also not very much.

I’m not deep on the lore around Gale or Shadowheart, but I’m assured by multiple people I trust that these are big-deal characters, on a level with Astarion and Karlach. Those Lairs really make me hesitate on passing over the Gale and Shadowheart Lairs, which is why I’m fine with some bundles and then just a couple extras. If the FOMO feels real, it might be super real and will itself into an early sellout.

I plan to get a couple max bundles and then add on some more of the foils of the first four on this list. If I had to focus on just one or two, it would be the Dragons and then the Shadows over Baldur’s Gate. The Lairs with a single focus card are worth it at retail, but there should be some decent deals available at Dump Week.

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 got a lot of previews for Marvel Super Heroes this week, and of note is that we’re getting four Commander decks, each one coming in regular and Collector flavors. 

The decks have themes as printed on the box, and while we don’t know any of the contained cards, we made good money off of Elementals and -1/-1 counters as themes, so let’s see what we can figure out ahead of time. That way when the decklists are revealed, we are ready to dive in.

Fantastic Four: Noncreature Spells and Protection Fields

This is going to be hard to figure out in terms of specs, because there’s so many good noncreature spells to cast. The four of them are good, and any can be the focus. I think Mister Fantastic is the strongest, because we love drawing cards and there are a LOT of triggered abilities worth copying twice. He can even target his own ability, if you’d like to draw three cards.

I’m interested in the Human Torch, too, but you’ve got to cast a noncreature spell and then cast him, which is a lot of your mana used up and blessed little for protection. 

It might be that the best route is mana rocks, but we’ll see what this set of commanders leads to. 

Wakanda Forever: Power Up With Artifacts, Reign as the Monarch

T’Challa is clearly telling you to play artifacts and keep playing them, and let’s go over a few things that look possible:

Peregrin Took wants to add some food to your Vibranium. Queen Allenal of Ruadach means that your Vibranium can get you token Soldiers too. Stridehangar Automaton on the field delivers bonus Thopters if that’s more your speed.

The packaging also mentions being the monarch, which is a space that’s been lightly explored, so if it’s only half the theme, we’ll see what kinds of reprints we’ll get for white and green cards. Courts of Garenbring and Ardenvale seem likely to get reprinted, but there’s pretty limited space so they won’t all get a new hit. 

I admit that when I saw the packaging (and before we knew that there would be Collector decks) I ran out and bought stacks of FEA Archon of Coronation and the Scrolls foil Champions of Minas Tirith. Looking back, I wish I’d waited just a little bit longer, because if they are reprinted, these purchases won’t go up much. I feel more confident about the Champions, because LOTR reprints are few and far between, but these might languish forever, depending on the quality of the Monarch-themed commander that comes in the deck. 

Avengers Assemble: Grow your ranks, Equipment and Counters

First of all, you’ve got to look at the heroes in these three colors. Hero is a creature type that hasn’t been used, not since Benalish Hero was errata’d into being a Human Soldier instead of its printed type of Hero. The only other Hero that predates the Spider-Man set is the Unhinged Legend himself, Fraction Jackson. I’m all for memes, and cheap memes at that, but I have trouble imagining that it would be worth the effort of buying these up. 

Changelings would be fun here, and everything that adds bonus counters is on the table. I expect that this is a glorious place to reprint basic copies of Panharmonicon or Roaming Throne for extra triggers, and I’ve lost count of the sweet Equipment bonuses present in RW. My favorites for the Equipment-heavy decks would easily be the ‘affinity for Equipment’ cards Goldwardens’ Gambit and Nahiri, Forged in Fire, but we’ll have to see what Equipment enablers are about to get released.

Doom Prevails: Connive for power, drain life

I want to thank the ProTrader Discord for confirming some of my ideas and giving me others. If you’re not a ProTrader, you’re missing out on some glorious card combos.

Doctor Doom rewards you for discarding lands, either for conniving or for any reason, so my favorite pick here is easily Tectonic Reformation. If you can start chaining the lands into more lands, this combo is immediately reduced to ‘R: Each opponent loses 2 life’ and that is some big game.Trade Routes can do something similar. Decaying Time Loop is also glorious, because you can get a trigger from the retrace and a trigger from the lands you chuck. Land’s Edge is pretty hilarious, giving everyone the ability to Shock players, but only yours comes with bonus life loss for them. Molten Vortex and Seismic Assault do the same thing. Battle of Kaldheim too, but that needs you to attack the Battle for four damage, and I’m not sure if the juice is worth the squeeze there. 

Glint-Horn Buccaneer should see a bump, as we love playing effects that are redundant with Commanders. This also includes Hazoret the Fervent

I have to point out that this is a deck where Mind Over Matter plus some form of “tap: draw a card” means you’ll win, and if you want a backup, Trickster Mage does nearly the same thing.Trade Routes can do something similar. I also like Surly Badgersaur as an engine piece, giving you a Treasure every time you chuck a land. Waste Not and Bone Miser are likely includes in the deck, but if they somehow leave those out, buy them immediately.

All of the Grixis lands with cycling are likely good here too, but there are some awesome cards that ask you to discard cards as part of the cost. Favorites include Dreamscape Artist, Diplomatic Escort, Jaya Ballard, Psychic Frog, Skirge Familiar to add mana, Stronghold Biologist and Machinist to counter creature/noncreature spells, but my two all-stars would be Chamber of Manipulation and Overtaker, turning your land cards into creature-stealing effects for fun and profit.

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.