A while back, there was a contest with the Secret Lair website, to give a definitive answer of which is better: dogs or cats. Cats won, and now we get a Secret Lair focused on cats. There were a lot of ways this drop could have gone, with generic cute cats, terrifying jungle predators, or prehistoric sabertooth tigers. Instead, we got a couple of IP from generations ago, and some interesting card choices. Let’s talk about each of the eight drops and what’s worth it.

All of these drops are at $30 for the nonfoils and $40 for the foils. I expect that the shift for all Lairs to start at $40/$50 to happen in the not-too-distant future, but it’s nice that these are relatively cheap for now.

For each drop, I’ve listed the EDHREC number, and the reasonable price for a premium version, discounting stuff like Artist Proofs, 7th edition foils, or serialized cards. Please remember that EDHREC’s inclusion rate is biased towards cards that are in preconstructed decks, from the number of folks who upload a deck with a small handful of changes. It’s good data, but not perfect data, since so many players don’t bother to upload their decks. 

Card	EDHREC Decks	Premium Version Price
Rin and Seri, Inseparable	86,000	$50
Orim’s Chant	43,000	$40
Ponder	415,000	$12
Beast Within	388,000	$5
Sol Ring	1,300,000	Too many

I have issues with the choice of Garfield for Magic cards. It’s true he’s a cat, and that’s the theme, but this is a choice that reads old above all else. The list of famous cats is not a huge one, especially when you account for the popularity of the IP and therefore the price. Could this have been a Hello Kitty drop? Sure, but WotC likely wasn’t willing to pony up for that. Same with Lion King/Disney or Puss in Boots/ Dreamworks sort of thing. We could have gotten some Internet meme cats, I suppose.

Garfield is recognizable, and likely wasn’t too pricey to license, so that’s what we’ve got. The Rin and Seri is the best card price-wise, since the double-sided and the Lisa Frank versions are both in the $50 range, and the card is remarkably popular as a Commander, just outside the top 20 of the last two years. The other four cards will all end up in the $5-$10 range, so this Lair is likely a break-even and slow to gain over time. 

Card	EDHREC Decks	Premium Version Price
Swords to Plowshares	1,020,000	~$150–300
Counterspell	670,000	~$150–300
Dark Ritual	360,000	~$200–500
Earthquake	52,000	~$150–400
Fog	41,000	~$100–250

Top marks for the Richard Garfield meme crossover here, but this is a thoroughly lame drop. I listed the wide range of prices for versions including Alpha, but the inclusion numbers are not good for Fog and Quake, even if these are the first special frames for either of these cards. We’ve got so so many versions of these OG cards that this version just won’t break through. Pass.

Card	EDHREC Decks	Premium Version Price
It That Betrays	115,000	$60
Maddening Cacophony	77,000	$20
Maddening Hex	49,000	$7
Hunter’s Insight	67,000	$1.50
Molten Collapse	24,000	$1

The value is here. The Eldrazi has never had a special frame, though it’s got a Secret Lair version with the full frame. Cacophony should hold at $10+, and the rest are leftovers. If you want to wait and get only the singles in Dump Week, I understand, and if you want to nab the Lairs and get foil full-art copies at $40, I am with you. I’m leaning towards Dump Week, but both are defensible positions.

Card	EDHREC Decks	Premium Version Price
Court of Grace	87,800	$15
Reverent Mantra	3,820	$8
Windborn Muse	71,000	$12
Queen Marchesa	74,000	$25
Ruinous Ultimatum	185,000	$10

I think this is a secretly-strong Lair. The cards are rather mid, but Vanessa Stockard has a big following online and if you like sassy black cats (as a ton of people do), this is your jam. I’m planning on getting a few of these, mainly for the art. I’ve bemoaned before when great art gets mediocre cards, and this is another example of the phenomenon. 

Card	EDHREC Decks	Premium Version Price
Sheltered by Ghosts	28,000	$8
Spirit of the Hearth	9,500	$6
Witch Enchanter	42,000	$5
Wayfarer’s Bauble	485,000	$20
Boseiju, Who Shelters All	63,000	$20

Boseiju looks like it should anchor this drop, but the best comparison is the neon Secret Lair version from 2022, still all over the place under $20. Bauble just got a full-art version at MagicCon Vegas,, and the rest of these are not popular at all. Neat art, but not really cat-focused and so I feel confident this is a pass. 

Card	EDHREC Decks	Premium Version Price
Future Sight	76,000	$25
Time Stretch	73,000	$25
Barrowgoyf	12,000	$15
Throes of Chaos	18,000	$3
Mind’s Eye	132,000	$20

Speaking of properties that read as old, Felix got famous in the pre-sound era of films, then big again in 1958-1961, two seasons on CBS in 1995-1997 and was last seen in a pair of direct-to-video (yes, that’s VHS, that’s how old this character is!) releases, one in 1989 and one in 2004. Suffice to say, if I have issues with the choice of Garfield, then I have a lifetime subscription on order when it comes to using this character on Magic cards.

We just got Time Stretch in a Lair not two months ago, and that nonfoil is still on the SL website. The Mind’s Eye is reprinted in the Marvel Commander decks, and so this Lair has the awful combo of forgotten IP and mediocre cards. I will be buying none of this.

Card	EDHREC Decks	Premium Version Price
Sovereign Okinec Ahau	29,000	$10
Trailblazer’s Boots	220,000	$8
Long Goodbye	8,500	$3
Farseek	1,010,000	$12
Prismatic Vista	355,000	$65

Vista is the clear winner here, and I think the Sovereign is going to be surprising. The rest of these are filler, but this is a surefire way to get a foil borderless Prismatic Vista for less than it would cost to get a pack foil from MH3. I like the art, it’s nicely whimsical and visually unique enough, but if Vista were swapped with just about any other land I would care a whole lot less. I’ll try to get some of these.

Card	EDHREC Decks	Premium Version Price
Fell the Mighty	56,000	$4
Aggravated Assault	186,000	$35
Chaos Warp	730,000	$20
Utopia Sprawl	214,000	$12
Aura Shards	177,000	$25

This drop is pretty much what I’d have expected when you tell me ‘Secret Lair of Cats.’ Art showing cats doing cat things, chaotic and playful. The Aura Shards where it’s stealing the Sol Ring is top notch. Assault is a solid anchor for the Lair, plus the good Shards, and this Lair should do well. I’ll add a few of these to my cart too.

We’ve been given the bundle prices too. The All-Foil is $20 off the regular prices, the All Non-Foil is $15 off, and a one of everything saves you a total of $40. Your percentage of discounts runs about 6%-8%, depending on the bundle, but given the quality of the drops, I’m very leery of the bundles as specs.

I think this drop could have been more successful if they had skipped the Garfield and Felix IP completely, and run with housecats as a theme. Cats of Chaos shows what the theme is capable of, and the card quality is good there too. It’s so frustrating when a Superdrop shows both what was possible and also screws that up badly.

We’ve got one drop that shows a black cat. Give me an orange cat themed lair. Give me some internet memes. Show cats being afraid of pickles, of tinfoil, or of them chasing a laser pointer. The Internet is 28% funny cat videos, and we get Felix the Cat!

I get that Wizards doesn’t want to over-juice Lairs these days, letting art and FOMO do a lot of the heavy lifting, but they have gone distinctly mid in the card choices here, since only two of the cards in the whole Drop (Prismatic Vista and Aggravated Assault) is $20+ in the base version.

Overall, this is a drop with some stuff worth getting and some worth skipping. I want to get the Toby drop, mainly for the Vistas, and I like the art of Purr Majesty a whole lot, plus the Cats of Chaos is super solid, so those are on my agenda. I’m leaning towards going for the It That Betrays as a single during Dump Week, as I feel confident I’ll be able to get some of those near $40, preferably less. I might look for the new Rin and Seri that week too, but otherwise, I don’t feel like I have to hurry and get this drop. Three I want to buy, one more target for Dump Week sounds good.

There is a counter-case to be made here, sometimes a Lair doesn’t sell well, they yank it off the site, and then the ones that got picked up resell for a surprising amount. There’s been less of that lately, so I’m less and less worried about that happening. Especially for a drop like this, which uses Garfield and Felix the Cat! I got suckered into buying Ghostbusters Lairs on personal nostalgia, but that’s not here and I’m not buying in this time.

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.

You may or may not have noticed, but the collectibles market has never been more expensive, at least for the high-end stuff. I’m not a professional at anything but Magic, but I have the opportunity to talk to a lot of folks, and the consensus is that we’re in a time period where Magic and other collectibles are definitely riding high.

There’s a lot of reasons for this, and some immediate effects that we need to be aware of, plus some trends we can get on now. 

The big indicator that started all of this for me was the growth in graded, or ‘slabbed’, Magic cards. This is something Magic players have been resistant to for a while, because we want to play with the cards, not just own them. There’s a large contingent of players who want to put their sweet card in a deck, and aren’t scared of shuffling a deck with cards that are each $500 or more. 

Cube enthusiasts are probably the worst about this, and their only rivals are the Legacy/Vintage players who live for the chance to have a paper tournament and use their all-original decks. 

However, the collectors are starting to take over, or at least spend like it. All sorts of stuff is getting rarer, or more ornate, from Lego sets that need a pallet rack to carry or sports cards with signed jersey pieces. There’s people using small-scale CT scanners to see what’s inside of packs, a giant technological leap over scooting the cards in a Revised pack up to the top and holding down the see-through portion.

Ebay’s sold listings for higher-end cards, especially ones that have been graded, have been ticking up higher and higher too. Ben Bateman recently documented his trade at MagicCon Vegas of more than $100,000 worth of cards for a slabbed, serialized copy of The One Ring’s poster foil. This is an outlier, but one worth looking at because it shows the overall trend. Rare cards in Magic, especially if they are rare AND powerful, can be incredibly expensive. 

Let’s do a thought experiment. You have $40,000 and have to spend it on cards. Do you go for a Mint set of the Power 9 from Unlimited, plus some dual lands, or do you snag Golden Chocobo #41 off of eBay? I never thought I’d say this, but I’d rather have the Chocobo. The Power 9 are iconic for a section of Magic players, and the rarest of the rare still fetch a lot of money, but the collectors are branching into Magic and there’s more growth that could still come. 

Magic collectibles, at least the ones that come in packs and are still game pieces, are either the Headliner sort, where they are mega-rare but we don’t know precisely how rare, or the serialized, where we’re told that it’s a xxx/500, as in the case of Bitterbloom Bearer or Emeritus of Ideation. Serialized is generally going to mean more expensive, when we look at the recent cards, as the xxx/500 cards are three to four times the price of the non-serialized Sothera, the Supervoid or even the Thanos art of The Soul Stone.

Serialized cards in Magic are trending up over the last couple of years, too. A lot of the Multiverse Legends serialized have more than doubled in the past 18-24 months, depending on the popularity of the card as a Commander. Atraxa, Praetors’ Voice was a $600 card when the set came out, and now there’s two copies on TCGPlayer, both at $2000+. I got in on some of the Dragons that are serialized a couple years ago, and they are up 50-500%. 

Not all serialized have grown, though. A whole lot of the lesser-played Multiverse Legends haven’t grown, and there’s a lot of relatively cheap Brothers’ War Retro artifacts you could get. 

The big question, though: What should we buy now, to cash in on this trend? 

I think the best target at the moment is the Thanos Soul Stone. We’re about to get The Mind Stone copies in Marvel Super Heroes, and presumably, four more sets as Thanos completes the Infinity Gauntlet, which thanks to the movies, has been in the zeitgeist since it came out eight years ago. We’ve seen the earlier Mystical Archives go up to match the new ones, we’re neck-deep in assorted Wizard of Barge spikes thanks to the Goblinstorm deck, and I see no reason why the Infinity Stones wouldn’t follow suit.

I know that recommending a card going for $1,000-$1,500 is a big thing, and I haven’t put this pick on the cast. I just think that the completionists among Magic players (of which there are MANY) will want the full set and since the Cosmic foils are six-figure cards, the Thanos versions are the next best thing. You just know that there will be a big bonus for having all six when they print the Gauntlet.

I don’t think we’ll see huge spikes in the regular/regular foil versions of The Soul Stone this summer, but if we’re still doing this in three and a half years, I’ll want to stock up on those.

The other area that holds good growth potential is in the lesser-played serialized from Ravnica Remastered, Brothers’ War Retro, and the Multiverse Legends. More than sixty serialized cards, 500 each, and that meant a lot of serialized entering the market. The issue here is that the serialized cards are visually the same as the non-serialized, which is so lame compared to the Bitterbloom Bearer or the Emeritus. Hopefully Wizards keeps making the serialized cards a special art, too.

My favorite right now is Crypt Ghast serialized, as it’s in a ton of Commander decks but still not way up there, copies available online around $400. If that’s too much, there’s some barrel-scraping you can do, like a Tolsimir Wolfblood under $300, Radha, Coalition Warlord at $250 or a Seal of the Guildpact under $200. We’ve seen other instances where people just want anything from a group of cards but can’t get the best ones and start settling for their price range, and can cause a rising tide to lift all boats. 

Finally, if there’s something you want for personal use, I’d tell you to go ahead and get it. The market is pretty unlikely to get softer for these, so if you can afford it, get it and enjoy it. I can tell you from experience that you’ll look at it with glee and joy. 

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.

The new Mystical Archive is coming, and with it, a whole lot of expectations. The first set, way back in 2021, bottomed out under the pressure of lots of cards being opened, but the new set should be free of a lot of those issues, for two main reasons. First, we’re avoiding the whole ‘etched foil that has the same collector number’ issue from the first MA, and second, there are nonfoil Japanese alternate art and Silver Scroll foils, no traditional foils. Very swingy!

However, with the 65 cards of the Archive, I want to go through and figure out what my targets are. None of them are going to be cheap in Scroll foil, but I do want to build my list and see where I’m going. 

Just as a reminder from last week, here’s the drop rates on Silver Scroll foils:

Generally speaking, there will be not a lot of any particular Silver Scroll foil. Even the uncommons will take 250 Collector Boosters to open a single scroll foil, and it gets more difficult from there. Based on how old Mystical Archive cards are rising, it looks like there’s some completionists at work, collecting one of everything. The new rekindles interest in the old, giving us a chance to profit again.

The English versions, both nonfoil and regular, should settle out over time, trickling downwards then starting to rise again, unless they are mega-popular like Rift or Force.

So I want to look at each of these, and based on the EDHREC usage, decide how much I want to prioritize spending on these cards. I doubt the scrolls will ever be cheap, but some are going to be very pricey indeed based on play pattern, rarity, and the drop rate. I’ve also noted if there’s cute characters or animals on the cards. 

Let’s start with the Mythics:

Akroma’s Will – Printed in Final Fantasy’s bonus sheet, this is an excellent opportunity to get some copies on the cheap. The scrolls version is pretty amazing, as the FIC version is busy and a bit hard to read. 

Armageddon – For the hardcore cubers and completionists only, it’ll never be truly cheap but also never too expensive. 

Winds of Abandon – A card people should play more, the only special version is the cartoony SL version, so this should make some waves. 

Cyclonic Rift – Cat Watch, #1 on EDHREC – Force will be the most expensive card in this list, but the combo of being the #1 EDH card plus having a cat in the art is some unholy alchemy. 

Flusterstorm – Niche, but could be expensive. 

Force of Will – Presales are at $1200+ for the scroll foils, so correction downward seems likely. Whatever they get down to, they will rebound fast. It takes a whole lot of opening to snag one, so don’t wait if you see a copy under $700.

Ad Nauseam – Neat art, but very low demand. Not a priority.

Living End – Same as Ad Nauseam, but with a glimmer of hope for the Modern deck. 

Vampiric Tutor – Demonic Tutor was some incredible art last time, and Vampiric is also breathtaking to behold. I expect a small dip and then this should take off.

Crackle with Power – Set completion only, and should have a price that reflects it.

Jeska’s Will – #3 on EDHREC, this is a staple and one that’s resisted price drops on reprintings in Commander decks. Both MKM and Baldur’s Gate had decks that came with copies of the card, both of which are $40+ now.  This is absolutely the sweetest version, so I fully expect this to be pricey.

Subterranean Tremors – This is a card that should be played more, but a lot of folks hate losing their own artifacts too, so I expect the play pattern to remain sparse. 

Awaken the Woods – Waifu Watch! – This is a card with noteworthy art, but also is bonkers with the new Witherbloom dragon, the combination of which might make it very expensive indeed.

Berserk – The Wolverine version has stayed surprisingly cheap, so I would imagine this one does too, except that the scroll foil will be rare and expensive like all of these mythics.

Triumph of the Hordes – The TMNT version will likely be the cheapest one forever, so these versions being super rare and super gorgeous will help a lot. 

Rares: 

Angel’s Grace – Low EDHREC use means I don’t need to chase these too hard.

Prismatic Ending – This used to be all over the place in Modern, but not so much anymore and these should drift pretty low. 

Reprieve – I’m going to be watching this card. Stunning art, a LOTR reprint, but also a card that got printed in the Spider-man bonus sheet.

Return to the Ranks – Super low usage means I won’t worry about this much. 

Brain Freeze – Wonderful art on all versions, and the scroll foil is likely more expensive than the halo foil from the Encyclopedia kit.

Daze – The art will not be enough to keep this expensive. 

Pongify – Another card people should play more, it’ll remain cheap.

Preordain – Waifu Watch – There’s a lot of versions of this out there, but as we’ve learned, never underestimate cute anime art on Magic cards. If it sneaks down in price, I’ll definitely want to pick up a few.

Culling the Weak – Cat Watch – A card that doesn’t see a lot of play, it’s got the appeal of cat lovers everywhere and this is not a group to be trifled with.

Dismember – Sick, sick art and something that should keep a pretty good price. Folks these days don’t always go for the full playset, but I doubt that will hurt the value too much.

Sheoldred’s Edict – With a beloved/loathed character, this may see a little bump. Very rarely a bad card. 

Smallpox – Cat Watch – This card sees little enough play, but when you add in a cat like this, that might be all it needs to get expensive.

Big Score – A bunch of printings means everything but the scroll foil will be pretty cheap.

Brotherhood’s End – Very low play pattern, very little interest from me.

Empty the Warrens – Some decks love this, but usually Grapeshot does the job directly. I have low expectations here. 

Pyretic Ritual – Not really a big deal of a card, amazing that this is a rare.

Crop Rotation – Waifu Watch – Now this has a lot of potential. Appealing art, good EDHREC numbers, not a lot of printings. I’ll be likely to get a few copies.

Glimpse of Nature – Good enough to be banned, but yet still not expensive.

Shamanic Revelation – A pet card of mine, it’s just outclassed all over the place.

Veil of Summer – Waifu Watch – Another card that’s too good for this world, especially with this art, I think I’ll try to find some underpriced copies early on.

Bring to Light – There’s just enough use for this in Modern that it should avoid the bottom of the barrel, but not by much.

Culling Ritual – Why don’t I play this more? It’s always so good.

Deflecting Palm – When it’s good, it’s divine, but that’s rare enough in Commander. Should be pretty cheap.

Expressive Iteration – It’s hard to argue with the value of the card, two mana for some excellent selection, so I think we’ll see just enough interest to bump the price. 

Fracture – Creepy art is always going to have some appeal, so we’ll see what that translates to in this card. 

Uncommons:

Abrade – Good but not great.

Bitter Triumph – A lot of decks love a discard outlet, and this is the only special version aside from the nonfoil Store Champs.

Bulk Up – There’s a few decks that want to start with this as a combo card, like Tifa Lockhart. 

Burst Lightning – We’ve had special versions over the years, none of them expensive.

Deduce – A useful card, but never pricey.

Disdainful Stroke – This has less use than you’d think in Commander, but this won’t outprice the Cowboy Bebop version that’s out there. 

Duty Beyond Death – Can be useful, but there’s better effects out there. 

Feed the Swarm – We’ve had a couple special versions now, nothing amazing here.

Giant Growth – Dog Watch! – So many versions, but having a good boy on there sure helps.

Helping Hand – Blessed few decks want to spend a card on this effect.

Hop to It – Three mana, three tokens. If you want it, you got it. Gorgeous art on the JPN version. 

Knockout Maneuver – I’m old enough to remember Hunt the Weak!

Locust Spray – Sometimes you want this effect, either the spell or the cycling. 

Monstrous Rage – The good news is, if it gets good again, people will want four. Bad news is it’s still banned in Standard. 

Pick Your Poison – Never a bad card, but people just don’t find room for it in decks. 

Repel Calamity – This is just super outclassed in Commander, sadly. 

Requisition Raid – Fun Spree card, just not popular enough.

Return the Favor – See above!

Royal Treatment – Green has a lot of ways to save a thing. Tamiyo’s Safekeeping is the most popular, this is down the list a ways and should have that price. 

Shared Roots – I was actually feeling pretty good about this but then it popped up in the Secret Lair and now I’m much less enthused. Rampant Growth is a super popular card, the Roots might have legs long term.

Sleight of Hand – Waifu Watch! – There’s a lot of decks that want cheap cantrips, and this version might end up popular.

Spell Pierce – Waifu Watch! – Again, I want to like this but now the sweet art is in the SL printing with English text, and that’s a Dump Week card for me. Remember that even the Invocation version of this is expensive. 

Stargaze – Nope, no interest. 

Stock Up – BIG BIG INTEREST here. Stock Up is a very popular Standard card, and is worth it in Commander too. I don’t know if these will have a chance to get cheap, but I’m in.

Zombify – Exceedingly niche card, plus in the SLD drop. No thanks. 

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.