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Browse > Home / Strategy / Articles / Weekly Update (Dec 01): Secret Lair Revealed

Weekly Update (Dec 01): Secret Lair Revealed



Secret Lair Previews


Wizards reavealed Secret Lair this week, a series of promotional drops featuring alternate-art promotional reprints. They're available for sale directly from Wizards during specific 24-hour windows, starting this Monday December 2. Check out the details on the official Wizards Secret Lair page, or you can see all the cards with the latest market prices at mtgpreviews.com.


Budget Magic: $56 Rakdos Reanimator (Standard, Magic Arena)


Oko is finally gone! Let's jank some opponents out by reanimating hasty Drakuseth, Maw of Flames!Read more


Finance Update w/ Saffron Olive


The Ur-Dragon Cavalier of Gales Nicol Bolas, the Ravager

This week, the biggest finance news is the release of Secret Lair, which starts tomorrow when you can buy all seven drops for $200 and continues for the seven days after when individual drops go up for sale for 24 hours each at $29.99 or $39.99. Based on Card Kingdom's pricing, the set as a whole looks like a solid deal, assuming you're interested in the cards. None of the Secret Lair cards are selling for less than their normal printings, and many are fetching a premium based on their supply and unique art, with Serum (em>Visions</em) being a prime example with the psychedelic Secret Lair versions listed for double the foil FNM Promo printing. At current prices, if you're planning on buying several drops, it's probably best to just buy the entire bundle for $200 (a $30 savings over buying all seven drops individually) and sell or trade the cards you aren't interested in keeping for yourself. If you want just a couple of drops, it's probably better to buy them individually, at least in the short term. Long term, some of the Secret Lair cards have potential to become fairly expensive, assuming they aren't put up for sale again in the future, with Commander-focused drops like Kaleidoscope Killers (featuring Reaper King, The Ur-Dragon, and Sliver Overlord) and OMG KITTIES! (featuring a bunch of Commander-focused Cats including Arahbo, Roar of the World and Mirri, Duelist (em>Weatherlight</em)) likely offering the most potential. 

Meanwhile in Standard we've started to see prices adjust after the latest round of bannings, and the early winners seem to be cards from Jeskai Fires (with Cavalier of Flame, Cavalier of Gales, and Brazen Borrower all up around 20% to 25% on the week). There's yet another Mythic Championship next weekend, which should lay out the course of Standard heading towards the release of Theros: Beyond Death, so more price movement should be expected after the Magic world finds out what the pro community brings to battle. Oh yeah, and Oko, Thief of Crowns jumped another 11% on the week to over $48 after being close to $30 when it was banned a couple of weeks ago. Apparently the card sees so much play in non-Standard formats that being banned in Standard isn't really a big deal financially.

Finally, in Pioneer, the biggest winner of the week was Nicol Bolas, the Ravager, which climbed 30% to $25 on the back of a handful of Grixis midrange and control decks posting results. It might be that the advent of Pioneer means that rotation-based finance will be an important part of collection management again. Nicol Bolas, the Ravager was down to almost $10 at rotation a couple of months ago, but quickly more than doubled in price with just a small amount of Pioneer play. While our next rotation is still far off, holding cards that might see Pioneer play through rotation is probably the correct call and picking up potential pioneer playables at rotational lows is likely a shrewd move. Perhaps more importantly, after two weeks with no changes to the banned and restricted list in the Pioneer format, it seems that most people are expecting some bannings tomorrow, with Smuggler's Copter and Field of the Dead topping the list of likely suspects. 

Much Abrew: Dagger Burn (Pioneer, Magic Online)

Standard Bannings in 2019: Feature or Bug?

Is dropping Lightning Strikes and Boros Charms for Dowsing Dagger and Trespasser's Curse the right way to burn opponents out in Pioneer? Let's find out! Read more

The Magic environment has changed, and it just might be time that we need to start changing out thinking about bannings. Read more


Historic 101: Dimir Specters (Historic, Magic Arena)


Where were you when the Specters sorta took over historic!?Read more

Against the Odds: Orzhov Teysa (Standard, Magic Arena)

Vintage 101: Turkey Day Madness

What are the odds of winning by doubling up our death triggers with Teysa Karlov in Standard? Let's find out! Read more

Joe Dyer gets up to a little holiday mischief with some Vintage! Read more

Fish Five-0: Abzan Wolves (Standard, Magic Arena)

Brewer's Minute: Pioneer Bannings and Watch List 2.0

Woof Woof Woof Woof Awooo (Its a wolf deck) Read more

At last has changed in Pioneer over the past few weeks, which in turn has shaken up the Pioneer banning watch list. What cards might be next to go in the format? Let's discuss! Read more


Commander Clash S7 E11: Kenrith Week! | Kenrith vs. Kenrith vs. Kenrith vs. Kenrith


Each crew member builds their own version of Kenrith, the Returned King! May the best Kenrith win!Read more

Pioneer Peak: Abzan Midrange (Pioneer, Magic Online)

Podcast 252: Secret Lair, Eldraine Standard and Historic Roll Out

Looking for an Abzan Midrange Tokens/Superfriends deck? Well, let's see how this one does! Read more

The crew talks Secret Lair, post-banning Throne of Eldraine Standard and Historic on Magic Arena! Read more


Instant Deck Techs


Each day we'll be posting a short, three minute deck tech featuring some of the coolest decks that come across the site. The most popular deck will be made into videos the following week based on your views, likes and comments in the videos. Here's this week's Instant Deck Techs:



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