New Secret Lair Alert! Is It Worth It To Buy The Fall Super Drop 2023? | Magic: The Gathering

[@TolarianCommunityCollege]

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[@okaminodin4321]

I'd love to, it's a shame that we can't use it here in Spain (or at least they don't give us the option of choosing Spain as our country when registering)

[@CJ_UX]

I'd love to see what "The Last Sliver" card would actually be like!

[@Greg501-]

If it's the "last" then it shouldn't do the Sliver thing of buffing Slivers, but do things alone

[@NFuhrman]

Or it gives a buff based on how many slivers are in your graveyard

[@TeamSprocket]

It mutates all slivers from everywhere onto it, and it and all slivers mutated onto it are exiled if it leaves the field.

[@ich3730]

@@NFuhrman make it a mass-reanimate for slivers, the flavor is perfect. What would the last sliver do? Make sure hes not the last one as fast as possible!

[@darko-hexar]

- Prevents you from casting any other Sliver cards once it hits the battlefield - Gives each of your opponents a 1/1 Sliver token - Has Sliverwalk and buffs itself if your opponent controls a Sliver - Gives a pat on the head of all the Slivers in your graveyard

[@MosesSuppose]

WotC silliness knows no bounds. First they make a sliver precon that’s noticeably missing First Sliver (and others), the price of First Sliver skyrockets, and now how convenient- you can buy a special secret lair First Sliver for only $30. I bet we’ll get drip fed the other expensive slivers/eldrazi/what have you in secret lairs for the rest of the year

[@JStack]

And to think the first secret lair was slivers too. I'm done buying any sliver secret lair product

[@BlueGriffin20]

Yeah, I like that lair art, but would never use the sliver and that’s a good chunk of the value.

[@lordmatz3435]

you wouldnt proxy the first sliver, would you?

[@lordmatz3435]

@@JStack youre soooo close man

[@alexisbell8865]

it crazy.. got my copy for only $5 at LGS back in 2019 and see it go for almost $80 is just sad.......

[@TransformersBoss]

I like how the baseball cards say “The Gatewatch” even though Garruk was never a member and probably wouldn’t want to join

[@ich3730]

"Lorwyn 5" was right there on the table and they decided to name the team something totally unrelated to all of the cards xD

[@adamxue6096]

There's no Gideon, there's no Nissa, for some reason Garruk is there instead, what sort of gatewatch was that???

[@Mushroomhaus0001]

Because the lore for Magic never actually mattered to WotC and only serves as an afterthought to sell cards lol

[@Oxygen1004]

Not to mention they could have done rookie cards with the creature/planeswalker versions of the real 5 instead

[@Hidan22]

That makes it even worse. Worthless trash cards

[@chasehatchett4756]

I really like the Baseball card style design but those planeswalker choices were definitely a swing and a miss.

[@bricelory9534]

I'm nostalgic for the OG Planeswalkers because that is when I quit playing regularly until just recently, but I definitely understand people not enjoying them....by today's standards, they're pretty underwhelming.

[@kyledeckman9128]

I see what you did there

[@malakimphoros2164]

Lorwyn 5 is a good choice for a cycle to print. What would be a better set of 5 to print?

[@TheOmegaSkater]

@@malakimphoros2164 any playable walkers probably... Out of the 5 only Garruk and Baby Jace are decent, but also pretty weak today.

[@cryptorcd9352]

@@malakimphoros2164 Not doing a set of the 5 from the same block. Chandra torch of defiance, liliana of the veil would probably be the 2 to include. Tbh i would care only about chandra since it's the only one I would use.

[@matteorossi1172]

"Oppression is nice!" -The Professor 9/11/2023

[@brisingr0962]

Goddam it I was on my way to do this

[@StarkMaximum]

No! Nooo! He specifically asked you not to!!

[@joueurdudimanche760]

Don’t you love it when they put a budget card into a 30 bucks product I love abrade, but I prefer a deflecting swat for 30 bucks

[@BelfryHex]

I'd prefer to keep the 30 bucks..

[@joueurdudimanche760]

@@BelfryHex very valid argument

[@lokumo13]

Deflecting*

[@TransformersBoss]

Can’t put Deflecting Swat in there, that might damper the price on Commander Masters! That would be a conflict of WOTC interests!

[@joueurdudimanche760]

Not even putting deflecting swat onto the secret lair, just put actual good cards, or at least make it the fifth card like the professor says. It doesn't have to be a grade A product because secret lair should be aesthetic before all and not the "see we made a reprint" token from Wotc. That some secret lair are pricey : fine it's a premium product, but do not try to sell me one good card and three overpriced bulk and make it a very hard to get product . I understand that apparently secret lairs are a mess to do for Wotc, but come on, they have the budget to make it better for everyone and therefore themselves. @@TransformersBoss PS : I like secret lair and would love to have one or more, but each time I end up reconsider it because it's not worth it, I won t play 3 cards of the packet, because bleh bleh bleh. There is a few secret lairs that I would have love to buy (talismans, a few artists serie etc.) but I didn't because they re hard to get for no reason. (I mean, there is reasons, but nothing unfixable)

[@NuminorTheFool]

I can't remember who exactly but I'm sure one of the artists who did a secret lair confirmed that for there are guidelines on what cards they could select for a secret lair. With one of the cards always having to be a low value card.

[@Mushroomhaus0001]

I think it’s fine to have a low value card in there but like… at least make it a playable card? Like why does Feed the Swarm have 1 art aside from LotR? Rancor? There are so many, many cards that are playable that have really old art or could at least use some type of treatment that makes it have some variety. I mean do I really need a super niche 5 cent card that that’s probably first to get cut in that niche deck?

[@greybirdplays9922]

To be honest, with all the value comming from food chain and the first sliver I think that rewind is a fun inclusion as it plays into the notion of "rewinding" cassets

[@MrSeptonic]

That VHS Secret is like a poison to me. The alien cover for First Sliver is a contender for best personal lair art!

[@joshuabarnett88]

I absolutely needed to buy it. The fact that at the time I bought it, the first sliver was the only card I wanted and it was half the price of the individual card made it very easy. Can't wait to get it

[@caeles5212]

wdym, it's obviously the last sliver :3

[@lysander3262]

INJECTED WITH A POISON

[@harrison1735]

It's at least a relief to my wallet that none of the past several waves of Lairs have really appealed to me. I would totally have gotten that Kev Walker set if they had included even a single card I actually wanted.

[@JStack]

Yeah this is like the 4th lair involving an artist I love but not having anything worthwhile. I end up just going to the artist site and donating 5 bucks lol

[@InsomniacsAnonymous36]

I think if they did a basic land of a single color, but offered 100 copies of it for the $30 we’re used to, it would probably be a very good success. It’s still worse value than say a land station, but it would be much easier to justify.

[@calebross8174]

Been saying this since the start, but with 30 land. If they did that, I would probably buy everyone. I love special basic lands.

[@cryptorcd9352]

Tbh if they did single color with 10 lands for $30 it would probably be a success. Even with 5 lands of single color it would be better than 1 of each.

[@pigfish99]

I'll be honest, the Baseball card versions of the planewalkers is an incredibly creative idea, and wouldn't be opposed to seeing more of them. Just wish there was more value in them. imagine if they were printed in old baseball card stock! :O

[@Trogdorbad]

The only one I picked up was the VHS lair - partially because I'm still after the Shark Typhoon from the 30th lair, but also because...I needed a First Sliver. I was specifically gonna pick up the retro etched printing eventually, but the Alien-esque aesthetic they made for this made it a no-brainer since it costs the same and comes with an extra Food Chain for me, plus the useful Rampant Growth. Also I personally like Rewind, so I'll find a home for it once it shows up.

[@mattbender6601]

Professor, I'm Sad that I can't make it to your streams, I'm usually finishing up in the classroom then. But I want to genuinely thank you for making great fun videos I share with my students at lunch when we play. I'm on year three of bringing in middle school students to learn how to play! Thanks so much again to you and your team!!

[@elfaulkner84]

I recall that Wizards anounced an artist series secret lair for Phil and Kaja Foglio that was anounced for 2022 back in 2020. It hasn't seen a release yet. I'm actully looking forward to that because they are my favorite artist from back in the day.

[@jun1orbaitor44]

Agreed, Phil and Seb, those are my 2

[@BeardyLobster]

Can’t actually remember the last time a secret lair got an A

[@Xinhuan02]

Praetors

[@davidthegamer9108]

​@@Xinhuan02I'm so mad at myself for not buying it, now I've got serious regret since I've always wanted to own them

[@tasteoftacos]

Hey Prof! The reason the baseballing was probably chosen was the fact these were the first planeswalkers. This makes these "baseball" cards their rookie cards! A thematic touch I think people are missing out on.

[@Chocolate83Bunny]

Sure but wouldn't that still be true even if it wasn't called the baseballing?

[@heademptyonlybun881]

They used rookie prints but all-star stats for flavor on the back ((in silly ways to convey, but the point matters not the written word)), ignoring the price factor. There’s also no reason they couldn’t have used better versions of their ‘walker cards to match the price.

[@StarkMaximum]

Neat! They still suck ass!

[@phillipfry8141]

oh deng, good call

[@drongobrat6471]

Hey prof, thank you so much for always making product reviews throughout the years!! You've been a major factor for determining whether i buy a product or not for pretty much every release wizards puts out!!

[@RedBairnMedia]

As you say, I think a "Secret Lair: Pre-Release Land Station" would be great - or at least something worth considering. Different themed full art land packs with 10 of each colour (Would they do 50 card packs?). Clearly it'd be swiping the good content out of what's been sorely missed in bundles/fat packs for many, many years.

[@Akalithe]

“Plain, simple Garruk” ❤️ DS9 references

[@dankenstein528]

I assume the reason this one is shorter is specifically so they can toss out several doctor who lairs in October. Pretty sure Gavin confirmed there would be secret lairs for Doctor Who. So I expect one more round this year and then the one after that probably starts in January

[@blakec1924]

Who doesn't love paying full price for basic lands?!?! We should be thankful that WotC showers us with these blessings like mana falling from the heavens.

[@joshuagarth6065]

I feel like the double meaning should get more likes than this got.

[@markbrierley6367]

Just a heads up: Kev Walker chose which cards for which he wanted to create new art. It wasn't WotC's call. That said, a fifth piece would have been nice. Bonus fact: The new flavor text was written by him as well.

[@Mushroomhaus0001]

That’s fine, but Alayna Danner has also said that WotC most definitely had a say in what cards they do art for. If WotC can tell Alayna she can’t do a Sword and Feast and Famine, they can definitely say “these cards are a good choice, but we’d like to replace 1 of them to increase value for customers.” Or like you said, added a 5th card of their choice. And I don’t think Kev Walker would’ve minded at all. It’s part of doing client work like this as a commercial artist.

[@schrottinator]

Would be funny if we just out of spite for the intro of this video, we'll get 12 Secret Lairs every week for the rest of this year.

[@AndrewS-vu4ji]

The only reason. I'm excited for secret lairs anymore is I get to put cooler art proxies into my decks

[@huskysp00n97]

I love seeing stuff like this because it really helps my bad habit of seeing pretty cards and wanting them and then being told you can et them cheaper so you aren't just paying for the art which I will admit though is sick

[@MrKeroro623]

I showed a friend who's been out of magic for a while what a collectors booster box was. He said "that's just a fat pack with less stuff"

[@phillipfry8141]

he's super wrong then.

[@malakimphoros2164]

​@@phillipfry8141And a fatphobe to boot.

[@Kitten_Cacophony]

The baseball secret lair is the first one I'm buying since Praetors. My dad is a massive baseball and MtG fan so this is literally the perfect thing to get him!

[@kanadakid147]

I love the input! I appreciate the explanations of why or why not something is worth it.

[@Slashoom]

That fleshbag marauder art is premium. But like a lot of these sets, jut's not worth it unless its your niche. That seems to be the way of secret lairs now, the value is in the eye of the beholder, not the cards themselves.

[@UnremarkableFleshbag]

Thank you for the smile that you provided me with your ST:DS9 reference amid explaining that otherwise forgettable baseball card Secret Lair, Prof! 😄 Garak was my favorite character from that series.

[@christopherhogan3953]

I can't believe they did the party hard secret lair twice and they didn't put rakdos shred freak in either

[@ecpracticesquad4674]

I've only bought 3 SLs based on art, 2 of which also had some functionality at the time. They were all lands and I got my money back on all but one. The Bob Ross basic land set is framed in my home office, and the other two were snow lands, where the extra lands I didn't want were sold off to cover their costs. I really wish SLs were utilized to reprint format staples and higher priced pieces that were more playable outside of Commander.

[@charlescassels3826]

Nice reference to everyone’s favorite Cardassian tailor!

[@powergamingcentral5792]

Legacy food chain? I played it in vintage with the good old food chain goblin combo deck. Recruiter + ringerleader + foodchain for a nice otk on turn 3 to 4 through hasty goblins. That were fun times.

[@cleo4548]

I love when garruk is in a tolarian video because we get ds9 references

[@internetperson8224]

Bit tough on some of them but I agree wholeheartedly with your statement about the lands. Lower price or more lands. Come on.

[@_z3i]

Food Chain First Sliver is a classic cEDH deck (though it's a bit out of the meta right now) so I assume that is why they are both in the same Secret Lair. That is a deck with The First Sliver that just has a single sliver in it.

[@VampyricDoge14]

That rewind art looks worth proxying, but I also just really like rewind.

[@TheFluffiestZinogre]

Kev Walker's It That Betrays is just a big eldritch puppy, and I'm all for it.

[@Th3UnluckyGam3r]

lmao I objectively made the worst choices this secret lair, but I fucking loved the art so much that I couldn't say no. Magic the Baseballing, Keep Partying, and the Kev Walker series. I shouldn't have spent the money, but these cards just honestly spoke to me. I know for a fact I'll be quad sleeving Godo and creating my first monored commander deck

[@Starman_Dx]

Love the baseball cards, yes I used to have a binders of them, wish it was a better value. The hive mind commands me to add the last sliver to the hive. The hive mind must be obeyed. I obey. Must obey.

[@stitch3627]

I just love the way he qued the alerts with such precision.

[@themagicofmtg]

I never look at the Secret Lairs for the value. It's more do I like the art for the new version and am willing to pay that much money for an alter. That said, I did buy the Angels deck, but I'd been meaning to build Angels for a while and it gave me most of the parts I needed.

[@TheRealTHD]

I will say, the flavor text on the TOMO77 cards goes hard, like these are lines I expect to see in ULTRAKILL.

[@tomaszzaborek4413]

The Professor is getting better at juggling boxes :)

[@RatedRKO269]

For secret lairs, playability is more important than financial value. If I’m gonna spend 30-40 bucks for a lair, I want to use the cards and enjoy seeing the artwork as opposed to letting them sit in my binder and collect dust. The last lair I actually bought was the Dracula one. I actually use all but 1 card so it definitely was worth the cost. Also I really wish I could make your streams. I had downloaded the app and have tried but the time zone difference makes it impossible.

[@monkeybench]

Already bought Party Hard. The artwork is sick

[@piplupz1586]

Lillian Vess was my first planeswalker. She was $12 back then lol

[@Some_Context]

Abrade does see commander play in cEDH pretty often, as it hits (almost) every relevant creature and artifacts. A bit worse now though that the most relevant artifact has indestructible but that's a whole other can of worms.

[@calebnelson4932]

I cant stop myself from buying the gatewatch baseball cards and that new rampant growth card look absolutely amazing

[@NeoSlith]

I'm buying the Baseball Planeswalkers as a collector's piece, I do not plan to run them. I just think they're adorable.

[@YokeDatOneBloke]

The First Sliver is a must for me because I need it for my Sliver Deck but with the VHS theme and the current cost. I think Sliver Queen would of been a better addition.

[@darkrexkigntstone8773]

However, they can't reprint Sliver Queen.

[@glitchgator9767]

​@@darkrexkigntstone8773why can't they reprint sliver queen?

[@darkrexkigntstone8773]

@@glitchgator9767 Reserved list. Any card on it can't be preprinted .

[@notapplicable6985]

​@@darkrexkigntstone8773unless they change it again, which is unlikely

[@PatrickBrophy]

I got the video one solely for The First Sliver as it was the only sliver I was missing for my Commander deck.

[@disneynerdcraig]

Hey Professor! I would love to see your version of a super drop. Maybe you could get three of your fellow comrade to each design their own super drop not necessarily the artwork, but I would love to know which four or five cards you would include either thematically or just because they’re cool as you’re super drop

[@JoeGrzzly]

They couldn't have just said Garruk's origin plane on the card? Is that really going to be some big reveal for later? I can't think of a better place for MtG Lore of characters that have been shunted to the backseats than in random Secret Lairs?

[@21BDP21]

As a baseball fan I was thinking of just getting the baseball secret lair as display pieces

[@litkingbee7476]

Yeah that Chandra was in my mono red goblin deck for fun, but it turned out to be no fun as it didn't shake the board at all

[@greglane334]

That baseball Chandra is kinda badass.

[@hannahvickery4683]

keep in mind for even the pricier reprints, almost every time the cards are reprinted shortly after in a supplemental set so it doesn't even make sense if you want something that's currently expensive

[@komitadjimcduff8853]

Agree with the lands, they for sure should come with 20-30 of each so you can build a deck or two.

[@deathcoreboii]

God im a sucker for that vhs last sliver . Thats a must grab for me lol

[@im_Polyhedrons]

I absolutely love Gary Baseman , His illustrations made the "cranium" series of board games stick out at Starbucks locations everywhere, his cartoon "Teacher's pet" was funny and imaginative, and finding his paintings later on made be appreciate his talent even more. However, I am not paying $30 for 5 land cards, sorry.

[@adambrandvold8599]

no apoligy necessary, even though it was late, I love the focus on quality. I throuoghy enjoyed the video about the angels deck!

[@RedBairnMedia]

I'd happily have some of the baseball card art as actual art, definitely not as game pieces though.

[@homebrewed]

I like the lands and the Baseball Walkers - but yeah probably will pickup singles if I want them - Conflicted still if I want anything from this drop

[@jameswhite3043]

I forgot how much I liked that scarf you wore for the yule log. 😀

[@mindcrime2692]

That's a funky looking Jacetice League.

[@AJSXenigma]

That Fleshbag Marauder is honestly the only card I want from the drop, but that just means I'll end up buying the single for $10 or whatever it ends up selling for later. Overall, feels like drops are just getting worse as time goes on, and as such I'm not buying.

[@NuronAtren]

Angels deck is still available in the UK.

[@JimiMF]

Alway appreciate the practical reviews!

[@randywright7764]

Man I’ve gotta get one of these “last slivers!”

[@gabeskai]

I will never not get at least a chuckle out of these thumbnails and hearing NEW SECRET LAIR ALERT!

[@JakeandJoelareMagic]

The meme thumbnails are strong with this one.

[@danilotorrisi5590]

A “Tolarian community college” secret lair would be awesome

[@rathlord]

Abrade is in 158,000 Commander decks on EDHREC and is an absolutely fantastic card in Commander due to it's versatility, so I'm a bit confused by the commentary on it not being good for Commander- but it is still a 10c card with tons of reprints. Also- again- the Angels deck was up for at least 20 days. I understand you have in the past been unable to turn around videos for these as they sold out near-immediately, but this was NOT the case for the Angels deck and I'm not sure why you keep insinuating it was.

[@chasehatchett4756]

I would say the 5 basics secret layer could be worth it if they’d have the artist sign 1 or more of lands. That’s about the only reasonable way I could see 5 basics be $40

[@greggsplaylist]

Just watched Spice8racks old video on there being to many Magic releases and this was back in 2020. He referenced your video as well and its like Wizards took those videos as a challenge to release more products.

[@Teiran42]

I truly love the unhinged preview images that the secret lair videos have.

[@AceofAidanQuests]

It’s brutal that the Baseball secret lair has no value, as the art is incredibly nostalgic for magic and baseball fans alike

[@maxtyler8993]

I miss when there was a random secret lair drop as a little treat

[@GrimmsDeath]

It's kind of a shame that the stream is at 5pm Central cause I'm just getting off work around then and this Friday in particular is pay day and I was planning on heading to my local game store and buying some new MTG cards. But you have your job and times that you have to do stuff so 100% understand, will try and catch the stream and maybe use the $15 to get me something interesting.

[@tjimicole2677]

9:21 I understood that reference.

[@MrLucky5001]

6:17 what a missed opportunity to put $2G on Food Chain instead of that $3

[@mattieglover2356]

as soon as i saw the death metal cards i thought "wow, these look cool but i'd like to be able to like, READ them." and you immediately made a comment about them being illegible. spot on.

[@tilmandeuschel9771]

You can reanimate creatures with an instant if they say "when is put into graveyard" instead "if would be put in graveyard"

[@lordspaz88]

Why is the First Sliver's Foil price *cheaper* than its Non-foil?!

[@janmelantu7490]

There was a foil-only old border reprint with MH2

[@burgertime6372]

I buy non foil first slivers just to shred them

[@ryanbollinger1759]

God that Tevesh Svat card looks absolutely astounding. It’s officially the coolest card art I’ve ever seen.

[@doggfoodd]

You're awesome professor

[@thrawn8585]

I'm just curious how they know that Kev Walker is the most drawn card. It's not like WoTC is monitoring every single game to count how many cards each person draws.

[@Trujones]

My goodness i want those baseball and VHS cards 😅

[@benjamin8399]

Damn, in Europe you can easily find that noxious revival under 30 bucks

[@thesamuraiman]

Rewind might not be used, but that art is so good

[@paraschauhan1603]

"Oppression is nice" -Brian Lewis, aka the Professor, 9/11/2023, Monday, about 2:30pm when I watched this.

[@BM-rd4ms]

I'll be proxying basics with that art.

[@nanoglitch6693]

Cool, more cards I'll have to keep up on gatherer tabs if they're on the table.. 😐

[@BenjiByt3]

My wallet is glad they haven't made a secret lair I actually want in a while.

[@occasj]

Basically got artist series kev walker for the "cool/good" eldrazi art. The too cartoonish ones/bad looking art I refuse to get. Want to bling out my eldrazi deck with secret lair art that's looks good and cool to me

[@llamasmatter5972]

Ik the shred harder thingamabob is objectively terrible value wise but as a die hard metalhead I love the art style and the selections are commanders I’ve always wanted to brew so it might be the 2nd secret lair I’ve ever picked up