The Secret Lair Summer Super Drop is Magic: The Gathering’s way of bringing summer vibes to the game. With one Artist Series, four Demos and one Featuring special edition, Magic fans can enjoy this Super Drop.
Whether you’re looking to upgrade some of your favorite Commander games or enjoy collecting unique cards, there’s something for everyone in the Summer Super Drop. Some cards in these drops are worth picking up for value alone, while others can pick up once the drop is gone.
The value of these secret lairs is taken from the TCGplayer market value based on normal, version without foil of last card printing on June 29, 2023 and may change in value over time.
7 More Adventures in Middle-earth – $0.32
The 1978 version of The Lord of the Rings was a massive feat of innovation in animation and storytelling. Director Ralph Bakshi took a unique approach to the creation process in his retelling of the fantasy series, putting in live-action actors and scenes and then redrawing and mapping them in a process called rotoscoping. Bakshi could create stunningly complex real-life scenes and translate them into animation, including scenes involving thousands of characters on screen at once.
Each of the cards chosen for this Lair features artwork taken directly from the films, although the actual cards for this Lair do not reach the usual level of power that these reprints usually have. The cards included are a mix of common and uncommon cards, including Slip On the Ring, Gandalf, Friend of the Shire, Mirror of Galadriel, and Shire Terrace. While the artwork is a wonderful way to honor the historic film and would make a great addition to any Lord of the Rings fan’s collection, it leaves little to be desired.
6 The Stars Look Back – $9.92
One of the most distinct secret lairs seen, The Stars Gaze Back is an elemental-themed drop with beautiful artwork by Yu Maeda. Maeda has been featured in galleries around the world, including Superchief Gallery in Los Angeles and New York, and Fomo Gallery in Taipei, Taiwan.
Every card in this drop is an elemental creature, with each getting an alternate art for the first time. Risen Reef is a constant in any deck that can support it, burning your deck when itself or another Elemental under your control comes into play. The highlight of the set is Omnath, Locus of Rage, a powerful land creature that burns your opponents when your Elemental creatures die.
5 Bad To The Bones – $18.90
Arguably one of the funniest Secret Lair releases since April 1st 2020, the Bad to the Bones collection features a series of illustrations by Ryan Quickfall. This collection of unfortunate and kind of rude skeleton that tries tricks and spoils people’s day.
One of the best parts of Bad to the Bone Secret Lair is the combination of artwork and delicious text. Bottomless Pit features a skeleton that tries to jump over a huge gorge but falls to its doom and the flavor text drags behind the card. Then Tinybones, Trinket Thief features a tiny skeleton riding a Vespa, and even if it’s not a cannon, it’s an amazing image.
Another mysterious lair that tells a story, the Death Is Temporary, Metal Is Forever collection has an eerie monochromatic style with several brutal illustrations depicting the downfall of Syr Konrad of Eldraine.
The first map of the journey shows Syr Konrad cutting down the undead, seemingly shown in Waste Not. But his time in this world is cut short by Nekusar, the Mindrazer, who captures Konrad and binds him to the Wheel of Doom. What happens to Syro Konrad from there is unknown, but if the art for Underworld Dreams is any indication, he’s in for a hell of a time.
3 Artist Series: Ryan Alexander Lee – $24.21
Artist Ryan Alexander Lee first joined the Magic community when he illustrated the Sphinx’s Disciple in Born of the Gods in 2014. Since then, Lee has worked on over 50 Magic cards before finally getting his Artist Series.
Drawing inspiration from classic heavy metal albums, Lee’s cards depict a single hero following the instructions of the gods. The hero’s first fight is against the mind-splitting Nemesis of Reason. Gaea’s Blessing features the sacrifice of a hero carving his own heart out of his chest to give to the dryads, followed by the further sacrifice of their sight on the Prophet of Twilight card. The final challenge the hero faces is against the monstrous Worldspine Wurm.
2 Goblin & Squabblin’ – $32.88
Wizard of Barge and their stunningly whimsical art style return for another Secret Lair. This Goblin themed drop features some of the best Goblins Magic she’s ever seen, perfect for a Commander deck that needs a little more flair.
Goblin Recruiter is a fantastic addition to the Drop, providing the first new card artwork to come from the Visions deck in years. The main draw of this Secret Lair is Muxus, the Goblin Grandee, which grabs all Goblins with a mana value of five or less from the top six cards of your library and puts them directly onto the battlefield.
1 Introducing: The Mountain Goats – $50.00
Ten unique mountains, each a continuation of the story of John Darniell, novelist, actor and musician of The Mountain Goats. The mountains are numbered and take you on a journey over Lorwyn, which is the plane featured in all the artwork. The value of this secret lair is a little hard to estimate since basic lands are worth pennies, but previous secret lairs with basic lands seem to average around five dollars per land. Of course, there are some that are worth more, but they tend to be a bit splashier than other similar lands.
Danielle had full creative control over The Secret Lair, choosing the artists, creating the art direction, and writing the prophecy covering the flavor text of each card. This Secret Lair is also the first time Magic has released an expanded art base land, making it a great collectible for all types of players.