Bonus Secret Lair cards = Bonus value.
The collectability of MTG 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 and rarities.
What is Secret Lair Bonus Card in MTG?
Market Price: $133.42
Market Price: $95.08
Market Price: $70.70
As mentioned above, each Secret Lair Drop comes with a bonus card. Sometimes, it can be the same card across the same batch of Secret Lairs or could be from a selection of a few cards, each with different pull rates.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 the sub-brand’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 MTG cards from the Secret Lair Drop Series right now.
#10 Abundant Groot (Abundant Growth – Rainbow Foil)
Abundant Growth
Secret Lair Drop Series, Rare
Last month saw the highly anticipated reveals of the Secret Lair x Marvel cards at New York Comic Con, where five Secret Lair Drops were announced which highlighted Marvel’s most iconic superheroes coupled with a selection of desirable reprints. Over the last few weeks, players and hobbyists who managed to snap up these Secret Lair Drops have started to receive these, meaning there’s a new crop of bonus Secret Lair cards to collect.
As the this Secret Lair release is fairly new, here are the bonus cards associated with each drop:
- Secret Lair Marvel’s Captain America – Masterwork of Ingenuity
- Secret Lair Marvel’s Iron Man – Sculpting Steel
- Secret Lair Marvel’s Wolverine – Unnatural Growth
- Secret Lair Marvel’s Storm – Regrowth
- Secret Lair Marvel’s Black Panther – Nature’s Lore
As a result, Abundant Groot (Abundant Growth) is the ultra-rare bonus card from this crop of releases, which also means it’s one of the more valuable Marvel cards you can own right now. While originally printed at Common, Abundant Growth sees a ton of play in Commander and Pauper as it allows the enchanted land to tap for a mana of any color. Flexibility in mana options is ideal as Abundant Growth also draws you a card upon the aura entering play, adding decent value for the reasonable cost of one Green mana.
With Magic: The Gathering | Marvel’s Spider-Man likely releasing in September 2025, the collectibility of Magic will enter a new phase as more casual audiences enter the game for the first time. This has already applied to the recent Secret Lair release, where Wolverine, Best There Is and Captain America, First Avenger seem to be the most popular options for Commander play. It’ll be interesting to see how things shape up with these massive releases next year, and there’s likely more themed-Secret Lair Drops as a result.
#9 Shadowborn Apostle (#685, #684, and #683)
Shadowborn Apostle
Secret Lair Drop Series, Rare
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: $92.93
Market Price: $75.17
Market Price: $109.03
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.
#8 Echo of Eons (Rainbow Foil)
Echo of Eons
Secret Lair Drop Series, Rare
Appearing in the recent Secret Lair Brain Dead: Staples release is Echo of Eons, which comes with some pretty unconventional art for a Magic card. First printed in Modern Horizons, Echo of Eons is a powerful option for any strategy looking to “reset” the game by shuffling their hand and graveyard into their library and draw a fresh seven cards. While giving your opponent the option to draw seven cards may seem suspect, you often pair this with Sheoldred, the Apocalypse, Narset, Parter of Veils, or Hullbreacher to cripple the opponent’s resources while you increase your own.
Market Price: $99.45
Typically, you see Echo of Eons in flavors of Storm and Charbelcher in Legacy and sometimes appearing in lists led by Nekusar, the Mindrazer in Commander. The sorcery is also a popular card in Vintage Cube, as you can commonly pair it with the already-mentioned cards to generate more resources than your opponent. As for the unique Secret Lair printing, this does seem to be the rarer bonus card from the Brain Dead collaboration but prices are beginning to come down as players are cracking their orders. This is one that is probably worth selling into the hype before prices cool down properly.
#7 Persistent Petitioners (#595 and #600)
Persistent Petitioners
Secret Lair Drop Series, Rare
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: $78.09
Market Price: $51.05
Market Price: $182.03
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.
#6 Minsc & Boo, Timeless Heroes (Rainbow Foil)
Minsc & Boo, Timeless Heroes
Secret Lair Drop Series, Mythic
Minsc & Boo, Timeless Heroes are iconic characters within the Dungeons & Dragons universe, where they have both made appearances in Baldur’s Gate II and 3. And since the release of Baldur’s Gate 3, there’s been growing demand for Commander Legends: Battle for Baldur’s Gate cards given the critical acclaim of the video game, so it isn’t much of a surprise to see further Dungeons & Dragons releases from Wizards of the Coast under the Magic: The Gathering banner. What makes the recent crop of Secret Lair Drops so special is this year is the 50th anniversary of Dungeons & Dragons, which meant Wizards went all out with unique treatments and rare cards. With that, here’s the crop of Secret Lair x Dungeons & Dragons releases that feature the ultra-rare Minsc & Boo bonus card.
- Secret Lair x Dungeon & Dragons: Death is in the Eyes of the Beholder I
- Secret Lair x Dungeon & Dragons: Death is in the Eyes of the Beholder II
- Secret Lair x Dungeons & Dragons: Astarion’s Thirst
- Secret Lair x Dungeons & Dragons: Karlach’s Rage
- Secret Lair x Dungeon & Dragons: An Exhibition of Adventure
Market Price: $10.25
Market Price: $52.69
While it seems Druid of Purification, Prosperous Innkeeper, Archivist of Oghma, and Xorn are the more common bonus card you can open in these Secret Lair Drops, Minsc & Boo, Timeless Heroes is the much rarer version that commands a decent amount of value right now. Furthermore, Battle Angels of Tyr is another bonus card from this crop of Secret Lairs, and it is rarer than Druid of Purification but more common than Minsc & Boo. Either way, these Dungeon & Dragons cards are already hit with players given the overlap in audiences, meaning these are becoming high-value collector items.
#5 Elesh Norn, Grand Cenobite (Rainbow Foil)
Elesh Norn, Grand Cenobite
Secret Lair Drop Series, Mythic
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: $361.16
Market Price: $590.83
Market Price: $303.45
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 $200 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
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: $1,028.28
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
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: $20.99
Market Price: $11.23
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
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.