What's Good in the Spring Secret Lair Drop?
A Whole Lot of Something
The Spring Superdrop 2024 has recently been announced and previewed, sparking a wave of mixed opinions. Overall, there appears to be a significant mismatching of themes and cards featured across the individual releases. From what seems like a complete departure in art direction to elements that resemble a poorly executed April Fools' joke, prospective buyers may sense a lack of cohesive direction.
Out of the six individual drops, three adopt similar art styles found in
Furthermore, there appears to be no standout winner among the featured products in terms of value or reprint equity. From my perspective, each of the Secret Lairs in this drop falls short of its potential.
A Glass Half Full
While not particularly well-versed in Vocaloids, I have of course come across the name Hatsune Miku. The Sakura Superstar Secret Lair offers a compact assortment of cards containing reskins and reprints of playable yet not entirely desirable cards. While some players may appreciate this crossover, they may encounter difficulty integrating all the cards into a cohesive deck. The color distribution of the cards in the drop primarily features white/red, followed by green. The cards lean more towards a Commander shell of
Although the aforementioned Commander package of cards provides a nice foundation, the real prize here is
| Miku, the Renowned | ||
| Miku, Lost but Singing | ||
| Harmonize |
Wanted Dead
Akin to the Showcase: March of the Machine from last year, where multiple cards received the Halo foil treatment, the Outlaw Anthology Vol. 1: Rebellious Renegades introduces some intriguing cards into the mix. First up for discussion is
Another card that piques my interest in this drop is
| Tezzeret the Seeker (1619) | ||
| Nicol Bolas, Planeswalker | ||
| Grenzo, Havoc Raiser |
Wanted Alive
In the next Thunder Junction art treatment, we're presented with Outlaw Anthology Vol. 2: Sinister Scoundrels. While this second volume reintroduces more familiar faces through its "what if?" art renditions, it falls short in terms of monetary value. On average, original prints from this volume are priced at approximately $32, compared to about $39 for the previous volume. While some of the included cards certainly merit reprints due to their significance, they lack a compelling monetary incentive for collectors.
For instance,
On the flip side, we have a card that remains popular in both Commander and CEDH circles:
| Karona, False God | ||
| Korvold, Fae-Cursed King | ||
| Vorinclex, Voice of Hunger |
Poker Faces
On a completely different note, there is the Poker Faces Secret Lair. This is one of the more distinct directions in art as well as approaches to cards that we’ve seen in recent years. When examining the price, it falls through the cracks as being very cheap when considering the cards chosen. So it begs the question: what is more important, the art of the card or how high the market price is?
These full-art, nearly textless cards are unique and underline a fun alternative that one could use. While not as oppressive as the
Speaking of cards, for me the standout here is
| Coffin Queen | ||
| Rankle, Master of Pranks | ||
| Professional Face-Breaker |
sAnS mERcY
In stark contrast to how art is often implemented in a Secret Lair, we have sAnS mERcY. This joke release has elicited a collective groan from the community due to its use of a font and less-than-desirable flavor text. There's plenty not to like here, and perhaps a speck of value to be found.
So let's quickly break it down.
Another interesting inclusion is
| tOrMEnt oF hAiLFiRe | ||
| rUiNatIOn | ||
| MOgIs, gOD of sLaUGHter (9994) |
Disappointing Finish
The Spring Superdrop 2024 is one of the weakest offerings of cards that we’ve seen in some time. It's thematically weak, with many products using the same treatment as a previous set, along with a selection of cards that potentially didn't require a reprinting. There will, of course, be players and collectors who are looking to pick these up and will enjoy them. But to the majority of people, this will be a very quick pass, with some trust in future products being lost after seeing sAnS mERcY.
The drops have a very narrow interest base and might be undersold in bundles rather than individually. There may not be many players who are looking to collect both the Hatsune Miku and the Showcase Lairs, for example. With the supply becoming more of an issue in recent months, it may be a consideration to buy a bundle where possible and then scrap the unwanted parts on the market.
Join me again later this month as we cross the Modern Horizon for the third time.
Further Reading:
Matt Grzechnik
Matt Grzechnik started playing Magic with the release of Dragon's Maze. Since then he has tried and experimented with all of the formats before discovering his love for EDH and Pauper. Piloting the same Jund deck for the last 10 years, he now tries to both understand and break Sealed as a format.