A home run for (bonus) value.
The collectability of Magic: The Gathering is becoming more prominent than ever before, which is something you wouldn’t imagine at the turn of the decade. With the introduction of Collector Boosters with an extensive range of frames and foil treatments, Wizards of the Coast are tapping into the collector market as it’s a lucrative space, as seen with Pokémon over the years.
One of Wizards’ approaches to accommodating the collector space is the Secret Lair Drop Series — a curated set of mostly-reprinted cards featuring unconventional art and design that you don’t see in a typical Magic set release.
Since its debut in 2019, the Secret Lair Drop Series has gone from strength to strength, with Wizards adding exclusive Commander products such as Raining Cats and Dogs to decent success. While snapping up a Secret Lair or two seems reasonable, there’s always a bonus card within these drops that could be worth a decent amount of value. Wizards usually keep the contents of these bonus cards under wraps to offer a better experience when players and collectors open these Secret Lair products. However, knowing how much a Secret Lair Drop Series bonus card is worth can be challenging since the price can vary depending on several factors.
What are Secret Lair Bonus Cards Magic: The Gathering?
Market Price: $28.55
Market Price: $10.56
As mentioned above, each Secret Lair comes with a bonus card. Sometimes, it can be the same card across the same Secret Lair or could be from a selection of a few cards, each with different pull rates. In some cases, you may open the same bonus card across multiple Secret Lairs. For example, if you bought the Happy Little Gathering Secret Lair, you’re guaranteed to open an Evolving Wilds with art from the late Bob Ross. While this printing of Evolving Wilds isn’t hugely valuable, it’s a nice gesture from Wizards to incorporate something as a little extra when buying these premium products.
Given the sheer number of Secret Lair releases since it’s inception in 2019, finding out which bonus cards are worth something can be very challenging. With that, let’s look at some of the most valuable bonus cards from the Secret Lair Drop Series.
#10 Relentless Rats (#757)
Relentless Rats
Secret Lair Drop Series, Rare
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Appearing as a potential bonus card in the more recent Hard-Boiled Thrillers Drop Secret Lair, Relentless Rats returns with a desirable printing for Commander players to collect. As we’ll get into later in this article, there’s a demand for exotic printings of cards that you can run multiple copies of. Much like with Persistent Petitioners and Shadowborn Apostle, these cards that allow you to run as many as you like are popular in Commander because it offers something different. It breaks traditional deckbuilding norms, and Commander players love that design space.
Market Price: $42.60
Market Price: $14.34
Market Price: $102.59
The same is true for Relentless Rats, which now has four unique Secret Lair printings to collect, with the recent #757 printing being the most valuable at the time of publication. Granted, that price may drop slowly over time as more collectors open their recent Secret Lair purchases as the market slowly floods with these printings. But right now, it’s the most valuable printing of Relentless Rats around, with more unique printings likely coming in the future.
#10 Gemhide Sliver (Extended Art)
Gemhide Sliver
Secret Lair Drop Series, Rare
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A popular Sliver that was a valuable hit as a Secret Lair bonus card is Gemhide Sliver, as it plays a pivotal role in any Sliver strategy since it turns all Slivers (even tokens) into mana-generating creatures, allowing you to tap your Slivers for a mana of any color. Playing Slivers in Commander is often mana intensive as you are usually in all five colors, so having creatures such as Gemhide and Manaweft Sliver are must-have inclusions when playing Slivers in Commander, as it allows you to cast your spells with ease. As a result of this necessity, the Extended Art printing of Gemhide Sliver commands decent value.
#9 Generous Patron (Extended Art)
Generous Patron
Secret Lair Drop Series, Rare
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Much like with the Sliver cards discussed earlier, Elves are the next creature type to see the Extended Art treatment as a part of the Secret Lair bonus card range. At the time of publication, there are thirteen Extended Art Elf cards to collect, with more likely coming in the near future. While many Elf cards are reasonably affordable, Generous Patron is the most expensive of this subset of cards by a wide margin. This particular bonus card came from the Burning Revelations Secret Lair, which is an exclusive drop only appearing at MagicCons, with MagicCon: Chicago and Amsterdam being the first events to stock this product. However, there is a possibility the Extended Art Generous Patron could feature in other Secret Lairs in the future.
Market Price: $15.07
First appearing in Battlebond, Generous Patron is a must-have for any Commander strategy that cares about counters, perhaps led by Hapatra, Vizier of Poisons or Volrath, the Shapestealer. Going further, Generous Patron is decent in a Pillow Fort-style / Group Hug Commander build, as you can use the counter generation as a politicking tool while drawing cards for good measure. This Extended Art printing is a first for Generous Patron, which hasn’t seen a genuine reprint since its release in 2018 with Battlebond. It’s worth noting the Burning Revelations Secret Lair will be available to buy at MagicCon: Las Vegas later this year, which could help influence the price of Generous Patron going forward. But right now, it’s one of the more expensive bonus cards from the Secret Lair Drop Series.
#8 Sliver Hive (Extended Art)
Sliver Hive
Secret Lair Drop Series, Rare
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We’ve already discussed the desirability of the Extended Art Sliver cards, and it continues with Sliver Hive as it is the most expensive Extended Art Sliver bonus card from the Secret Lair Drop Series. As mentioned before, playing Slivers is often a mana-greedy affair, so options such as Sliver Hive are a must-have as it means you can cast those mana-demanding Sliver spells with little effort. Plus, you have the upside of creating 1/1 colorless Sliver tokens, which may not seem much, but these tokens receive all the benefits of other Sliver cards you have in play!
Market Price: $67.80
Market Price: $67.79
Market Price: $82.79
Since the release of the Sliver Swarm Precon in Commander Masters (which surprisingly didn’t have a copy of Silver Swarm included), Slivers have become more popular with casual Commander players, with some looking to snap up exotic printings of these must-have Sliver cards. Even before the release of Commander Masters, the Extended Art printing of Sliver Hive has always been a highly valuable card, and one that doesn’t look to dip in price anytime soon.
#7 Shadowborn Apostle (#685, #684, and #683)
Shadowborn Apostle
Secret Lair Drop Series, Rare
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As mentioned earlier, cards that can break traditional deckbuilding norms in Commander are often popular options for casual play. One of these is Shadowborn Apostle, a card that became a massive hit thanks to Josh Lee Kwai’s Athreos, God of Passage Commander build on Game Knights. Since that Game Knights episode, Shadowborn Apostle has seen reasonable demand as you can run so many copies of Shadowborn Apostle in any deck, where Wizards chose the card as one of the many variants you can open in a variety of Secret Lairs as the bonus card.
Market Price: $90.77
Market Price: $74.32
Market Price: $71.33
However, five particular Shadowborn Apostle printings are incredibly valuable. Be sure to keep an eye out if you open Shadowborn Apostle #685, #684, #683, or #681 as your Secret Lair bonus card because these are the most expensive variants right now. There’s also demand for these variants because players want to upgrade their Shadowborn Apostle Commander build with these stunning Secret Lair printings. At the time of publication, there are ten unique Shadowborn Apostle printings to collect, with more variants likely coming soon.
#6 Persistent Petitioners (#595 and #600)
Persistent Petitioners
Secret Lair Drop Series, Rare
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A similar card to Shadowborn Apostle in terms of deckbuilding clause, Persistent Petitioners also sees a flurry of unique Secret Lair printings as the bonus card from a wide range ofdrops. At present, there are eight unique variants of Persistent Petitioners to collect, with #595 being the most valuable printing of the card yet with #600 following not too far behind.
Market Price: $63.71
Market Price: $58.19
Market Price: $195.19
Most of these variants of Persistent Petitioners are extremely uncommon, given the nature of only opening them as bonus cards in these Secret Lairs. While Wizards won’t disclose the pull rates of these bonus cards, you can be sure this Common first printed in Ravnica Allegiance will garner attention from certain players. In particular, those wanting to give their Bruvac the Grandiloquent Mill Commander a unique aesthetical identity. And for sure, there are likely more of these Persistent Petitioners either coming soon or perhaps lurking in unopened Secret Lair products.
#5 Elesh Norn, Grand Cenobite
Elesh Norn, Grand Cenobite
Secret Lair Drop Series, Mythic
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As part of the Poker Faces Secret Lair release is Elesh Norn, Grand Cenobite, who is depicted being on Thunder Junction causing mayhem with the locals. This particular printing is the highly-rare bonus card from the recent Secret Lair Drop, with a more likely case of opening any of the Extended Art Elf cards, such as Fierce Empath or Evolution Sage, which are nowhere near as valuable compared to the Praetor.
Elesh Norn, Grand Cenobite is a powerful card that sees play in Commander as it’s an easy way to turn the tide of battle in your favor. It’s also a fantastic synergy card alongside Kudo, King Among Bears in the singleton format, as you can turn all creatures into 2/2s where Elesh Norn wipes all the opposing threats away effortlessly. While the price of this Secret Lair printing of Elesh Norn has been dropping since it’s reveal, it remains one of the high-value bonus cards you can own right now.
#4 The Magic: The Baseballing Autographed Cards
Market Price: n/a
Market Price: $636.59
Market Price: $310.14
A hyper-rare selection of bonus cards only appearing in the Magic: The Baseballing Secret Lair release is the autographed variant of the Lorwyn Five (Jace Beleren, Chandra Nalaar, Liliana Vess, Ajani Goldmane, and Garruk Wildspeaker), which are becoming massive collector pieces amongst Magic fans. Everyone has a favorite Planeswalker, and having these autographed versions of Baseball cards is a really novel way to celebrate the appreciation of Ajani, Liliana, Chandra, Jace, and Garruk. At the time of writing, Liliana Vess is the most valuable of these autographed cards at roughly $600 on TCGplayer’s marketplace, with Ajani Goldmane coming in at around $110 being the lowest. These bonus cards are extremely rare to open from Magic: The Baseballing, making these some of the most valuable Secret Lair cards you can own right now.
#3 Mana Vault (Rainbow Foil)
Mana Vault
Secret Lair Drop Series, Mythic
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Appearing as an extremely rare bonus card in the Fallout x Secret Lair release, Mana Vault quickly became one of the most expensive Secret Lair cards due to it featuring the iconic Vault Boy in a Borderless and Rainbow Foil treatment. Since its release in March, Universes Beyond: Fallout became a massive hit for Wizards as it tapped into a market that brought newer audiences to Magic. Combined with the critical acclaim of the television series on Amazon Prime, the Collector Boosters and Commander Precons from Universes Beyond: Fallout were popular purchases amongst players and collectors. As a result, it also made the adjacent Fallout x Secret Lair release a must-have for Fallout fans.
Market Price: $1,040.46
While Wizards don’t usually tease what the bonus cards are for a given Secret Lair release, they did tease that Mana Vault would be the rarest and most sought-after bonus card (with Wastes and Codex Shredder being more common) from the following Fallout x Secret Lair drops:
- Vault Boy
- Points of Interest
- S.P.E.C.I.A.L.
And as a result of this information, this artificially created urgency with consumers as there are Fallout fans who want to collect all of the Borderless Vault Boy variants. And unsurprisingly, these Fallout x Secret Lairs sold out within minutes. As for the card, Mana Vault is a Commander staple that allows you to propel on mana with little effort. The card often sees play in Artifact-focused Commander builds, as there are numerous ways to untap Mana Vault (Unwinding Clock, Voltaic Key being a few options) without paying the four colorless mana cost on Mana Vault. Either way, this printing of Mana Vault is a massive value hit from these Fallout x Secret Lairs and has been comfortably selling in the $890-980 range on TCGplayer’s marketplace.
#2 Encore Electromancer (Snapcaster Mage, Rainbow Foil – Hatsune Miku)
Encore Electromancer – Snapcaster Mage (Rainbow Foil)
Secret Lair Drop Series
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The Hatsune Miku printing of Snapcaster Mage is a really interesting one, as it’s one of the ultra-rare bonus cards from the recent Hatsune Miku Secret Lair releases. In collaboration with Crypton Future Media, Wizards are releasing four Hatsune Miku Secret Lairs this year, one representing each of the seasons. We’ve already had Spring and Summer, where the more common bonus card from these Secret Lairs is Elvish Mystic, but a couple of collectors have received the winter-like Snapcaster Mage as one of the bonus cards. As reported on Reddit, there is some confusion on whether this is deliberate since the card in question offers a winter theme, which doesn’t marry the Spring and Summer themes we’ve seen in previous Hatsune Miku Secret Lairs.
Market Price: $12.22
While it’s unclear if this implementation was intentional by Wizards or not, the Hatsune Miku Snapcaster Mage is remarkably rare, and it’s currently commanding a ton of value on the secondary market. Based on TCGplayer Marketplace data, a handful of Rainbow Foil copies have sold in the realm of $1200, with that price potentially rising depending on what’s in the Autumn and Winter Hatsune Miku Secret Lair releases. Non-foil variants of Encore Electromancer exist as well, and these have sold around the $700 mark at the time of publication.
#1 Viscera Seer (Mirrored, Serial Numbered)
Viscera Seer
Secret Lair Drop Series, Common
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Appearing as a significantly rare bonus card in the Phyrexian Praetors: Compleat Edition Secret Lair, this unique printing of Viscera Seer was Wizards’ first foray into serialized cards, which is also the most expensive bonus card from the Secret Lair Drop Series. What made these particular printings of Viscera Seer cards so exciting is that it is reversed, which offers something quirky combined with a serialization out of #100.
Since then, serialized cards have been frequent with most Magic releases, with The Lord of the Rings: Tales of Middle-earth introducing the most sought-after serialized card in The One (of one) Ring, now in the ownership of Post Malone. Even though Viscera Seer is a widely available Common from Magic 2011 that has seen multiple reprints over the years, having a serialized and unique variant offers collectibility while not hurting the price of the more accessible printings of the card. Even though sales data is few and far between on the serialized Viscera Seer due to scarcity, copies are currently on the market between the $2000 and $2800 price range on TCGplayer’s marketplace. However, the number itself will determine the value of the card, meaning numbers #001 and #069 (nice) will accrue higher value due to social media trends.