At the end of May Wizards of the Coast is releasing the Secret Lair Ultimate Edition. This will have five fetch lands (enemy fetches with art from five of their most popular artists.) The art on these fetches is to represent five of the most popular planes, Innistrad, Dominaria, Amonkhet, Ixalan, and Lorwyn). The art is fantastic on all of them. The lands also come with a Collectors Display case.
Now, before I continue I have to point out that Wizards of the Coast removed the MSRP from products they release. So I am basing my prices off of the official website, Star City Games and my LGS (Local Game Store).
When it was originally announced on the Tolarian Academy's YouTube channel I had considered buying it. Unique arts, a Seb McKinnon Ixalan themed land is amazing, at decent price. Initially the price sat between roughly $160-$200 but, in hind sight it was a trap. The icing on the cake was the allure of picking them all up at once as I don't have any of the enemy fetches. Sounds great right? Wrong!
Fast forward two months, Wizards is selling them at $399.99 and Star City Games is selling them for $332.99 for members. Wow, that's a huge difference from what you initially expected to pay. Thank goodness my LGS is honoring the price they quoted to me originally ($325) before the price gouge occurred.
On a card by card basis this is definitely not worth the price tag offered. For all the fetches on Star City it costs roughly $260 for all the fetches. The most expensive being Scalding Tarn and the cheapest being Arid Mesa.
Another thing they had promised was more support for LGS' in the release of this product. On the official website they had stated WPN (Wizards Play Nework) stores would qualify for up to 10 of these and other LGS' could apply and get them as well. I have talked to a few employees at some the LGS' in the city I live in and they ARE getting them, just not in the quantity mentioned on the website. They announced 10 to each LGS and most are getting 3-4. This is kind of major especially with times as tough as they are. This would have put a few extra dollars in pocket of stores that are currently hurting.
The one positive thing I assume is, this is going to be the first of many Secret Lair products that will be available at local game stores. Other good news is that in December when you are able to purchase the secret lair super drops, Wizards has announced that each one will come with a random fetch land. As for me I'm going to buy this for three reasons. It puts moneys in my LGS and hopefully helps keep them afloat. I don't have to hunt all over the place for each of the enemy fetches. Lastly, the art on these is fantastic.
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