Starting this coming Monday at 9 AM PST, the next Secret Lair Superdrop goes live. Known as the Equinox Superdrop 2024, there are sure to be a lot of different items available for purchase. Yesterday, we covered two Secret Lair drops focusing on the MTG Fallout crossover. The Vault Boy Fallout Secret Lair in particular offers lucrative value. It may only contain four cards, but those four cards total to roughly $60 in reprint value (most Secret Lair drops go on sale for $29.99).
Today, yet another Secret Lair drop with four cards was previewed. This time, the theme is tarot cards! Each of these four cards represents a distinct suit in the Minor Arcana. For those interested in learning more about the Minor Arcana and what it means in the world of tarot cards, take a look here.
This Secret Lair looks gorgeous, and while it doesn’t quite have the same level of value from a financial perspective as the Fallout Vault Boy Secret Lair, there are some sweet inclusions, nonetheless. Rovina Cai, the artist behind this beautiful Secret Lair, has also designed the artwork for some newer MTG cards like Fading Hope and Void Rend. Let’s take a look at the Rovina Cai Secret Lair in all its glory.
Arcane Signet
We start things off with a mana rock that pairs nicely with Commanders of all shapes and sizes. No matter what color combination you choose to base your deck around, Arcane Signet will help fix your colors and ramp you to your powerful spells. In this case, Arcane Signet is designed to represent a tarot card focused around coins.
For fans of the Commander format, it likely comes as no surprise that Arcane Signet has been reprinted countless times. It has also been featured in multiple other Secret Lairs. As such, the reprint value is minimal, with the cheapest traditional iteration of Arcane Signet sitting at roughly 30 cents according to TCGPlayer market price.
That being said, Arcane Signet is always in high demand. Add on the fact that each Secret Lair variant boasts its own unique artwork and style and it’s not too shocking that all the Secret Lair copies of Arcane Signet have significantly higher price tags. Other non-foil Secret Lair versions of Arcane Signet range from anywhere between $8 and $18, so expect this sweet tarot card iteration to hold some value.
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Sword of the Animist
Next, we have Sword of the Animist, depicting the swords suit of tarot cards. Once again, Sword of the Animist is a rather popular Commander card. If you’re playing Creatures and want to be able to get ahead on mana, Sword of the Animist delivers. It’s especially strong in non-green decks that don’t have access to the same density of ramp elements at their disposal.
Sword of the Animist appeared in Magic Origins but has been reprinted in multiple Commander sets since then. Still, it holds a decently high price tag of roughly $7 in its cheapest traditional form.
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Aether Vial
Aether Vial is a very strong card that, unlike the other cards in this Secret Lair, has seen a great deal of Constructed play over the years. In Modern, many typal decks like Merfolk and Humans have had their time in the spotlight, and Aether Vial is a huge reason why. Not only does Aether Vial allow you to put Creatures in at Instant speed and completely mess up combat for your opponent, but the mana advantage it provides over the course of the game by letting you put in Creatures for free is huge.
Unfortunately, Aether Vial has is not the powerhouse it used to be. It still shows up in Death and Taxes decks in Legacy and Merfolk in Modern, but Aether Vial decks in general have gotten significantly weaker. Elite interactive elements like Orcish Bowmasters and Solitude have made dedicated Creature decks worse in general.
This has contributed in part to Aether Vial tanking in price over the years. Once easily a $30+ card, Aether Vial has a price tag of about $5 in its cheapest form. It represents the cups suit of tarot cards.
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Inalla, Archmage Ritualist
Last but not least, we have Inalla, Archmage Ritualist depicting the wands suit of tarot cards. Inalla is definitely an interesting inclusion alongside three cheap Artifacts, but that doesn’t mean it isn’t a nice card to see get a fancy reprint. This is a great Commander option that rewards you for putting a bunch of Wizards in your deck. Thanks to the Eminence ability, Inalla provides a stream of benefits from in the Command Zone. Given how expensive Commander Creatures can be to cast when they’ve been removed a few times, having Inalla reward you without having to cast it is a huge upside.
Notably, Inalla was printed in Commander 2017 in foil only. This is the only regular-sized version available in paper. Interestingly, it still isn’t very expensive, sitting around $3. This is a huge difference when compared to Edgar Markov from the same set, which has a hefty price tag of nearly $118. Still, getting a new printing with unique art is a big deal.
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Player Reaction
All things considered, this Secret Lair isn’t amazing when it comes to reprint value. All four cards in their cheapest forms total to roughly $15-$16, which is noticeably below the regular $29.99 Secret Lair drop sale price. That being said, as mentioned, awesome art can sometimes drive up the price of Secret Lair cards. Well, it seems like many players love the style of these tarot-themed MTG cards.
Even for players like boxlessthought above that don’t have immediate use for some of these cards, they are captivating enough to consider buying them. It seems that the general consensus is that Rovina Cai did an excellent job creating mesmerizing works of art.
The area (beyond overall reprint value) that players don’t seem fond of, however, is with the font and frame. Some players pointed out that these cards don’t look like real MTG cards and will be quite hard to read from across a table. As such, even if players across the board recognize how cool the artwork is, many believe they aren’t the best for general gameplay. There’s no denying how gorgeous these cards look, though. For fans of Commander, tarot cards, or both, this Secret Lair might be right up your alley.
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