I often find myself wondering what it is about Secret Lairs that we love so much. I've been looking around online for a decisive way to identify the best ones. Could it be how much reprint value the cards included bring? Is it the art? Is it that the most transcendent styles make the best Secret Lairs? Or is it the It Factor, a notoriety and impact on the community that makes them the best?

MTG Secret Lairs with the Best Cards

I couldn't really find definitive numbers online regarding the best-selling Secret Lairs, but I remember there being several that made waves when they were release. Let's focus on those.

10. Just Add Milk

The Just Add Milk Secret Lair included:

• 1x Borderless Reversible Etali, Primal Storm
• 1x Borderless Reversible Ghalta, Primal Hunger
• 1x Borderless Reversible Ulamog, the Ceaseless Hunger

This Secret Lair came out in the December 2022 Superdrop. It earned its spot on this list for its iconic visual design. You get a cartoonified Ulamog, Etali, and Ghalta with clever designs reminiscent of old-school cereal boxes. They even have cereal box games on the back of the cards. Ghalta has become synonymous with "Stompilicious" because of this Secret Lair.

Most of these cards aren't terribly expensive, so getting this Lair just for the treatment is a pretty steep rate. Additionally, only getting three cards in a Secret Lair is a tough sell for the full rate, but they are iconic.

9. Magic: The Baseballing

Magic: The Baseballing included:

• 1x Ajani Goldmane
• 1x Jace Beleren
• 1x Liliana Vess
• 1x Chandra Nalaar
• 1x Garruk Wildspeaker

This Lair was released as part of the Fall 2023 Superdrop. Like the cereal box designs, these cards had a unique front and back design. On the front side we got iconic Magic Planeswalkers in baseball attire, with a baseball card design. On the back, each had a unique baseball stat-esque layout that listed out the Planeswalker effects. They looked so good, and I personally have a copy of this version Ajani Goldmane.

The sheer number of Planeswalkers you get in this Lair makes up for the price. It also helps that a lot of these cards are still very playable. I think at their base cost, altogether you could get these cards for about $20. The awesome treatment definitely feels worth the extra $10.

8. 30th Anniversary Countdown Kit

The 30th Anniversary Countdown Kit was released in 2023 and included a lot of cards! They said, "Thirty years means a set of 30 individually wrapped cards for 30 days of celebratory opening. But what are the cards, you ask? We've included one card from each year in Magic's history, starting with 1993."

This Lair had Chrome Mox, Necropotence, and Birthing Pod. The value and the art were amazing. Each card's art was unique. It was audacious and very valuable. Of course, that's to be expected for the 30th anniversary of Magic: The Gathering.

7. City Styles

The City Styles Secret Lair included:

• 1x Borderless Sakashima the Impostor
• 1x Borderless Massacre Girl
• 1x Borderless Azusa, Lost but Seeking
• 1x Borderless Teysa Karlov
• 1x Borderless Paradise Mantle

This Lair came out in Winter of 2023 with the Superdrop. Tsubonari, the artist for all these cards, brought a very colorful, anime aesthetic to some of Magic's iconic Legendary Creatures. It really is such a beautiful Secret Lair and the cards all had amazing utility.

Getting both Azusa and Sakashima pays for the price of the Secret Lair. Normally, those cards with no special treatment can run you around 30$. It was worth it to get this Lair just for the cards, but the treatment made it must have.

6. Crocodile Jackson's Monstrous Menagerie

The Crocodile Jackson's Monstrous Menagerie Secret Lair included:

• 1x Borderless Ravenous Chupacabra
• 1x Borderless Managorger Hydra
• 1x Borderless Pathbreaker Ibex
• 1x Borderless Temur Sabertooth
• 1x Borderless Winding Constrictor

This Lair came out for the Secretversary in 2021. Crocodile Jackson has such a unique art style for this Lair. The hard, invisible lines gave the Creatures a geometric look, and the result is beautiful.

Most of the cards in this Secret Lair are very playable and commonplace in decks. They might not be the most expensive, but they are unique. Besides, Pathbreak Ibex is a money card that validates this Lair. I actually play this Ravenous Chupacabra art in my Tivit, Seller of Secret deck since It looks so incredible.

5. Through the Wormhole

The Through the Wormhole Secret Lair came with:

• 1x Arcane Signet
• 1x Lightning Greaves
• 1x Sol Ring
• 1x Thought Vessel
• 1x Command Tower

This Secret Lair was part of the Secretversary in 2023. Dani Pendergast truly out did herself. The colorful, etherealness of space that she depicts is just so incredible. It's the prettiest Arcane Signet and Lightning Greaves I've ever seen.

What's so great about the cards in this Lair is that they're all Commander staples. It's the sort of Secret Lair that has something for any deck. It's very useful in that way. Granted, a lot of these cards are very cheap, so paying $30-40 seems a bit steep.

4. Nuestra Magia EN

The Nuestra Magia EN included:

• 1x Tireless Provisioner as 'La abuela, siempre generosa'
• 1x Sylvan Library as 'La abundancia de Yucahu'
• 1x Ancient Greenwarden as 'Pastor da Selva'
• 1x Expressive Iteration as 'La danza del pueblo'
• 1x Xenagos, God of Revels as 'La Madre Tierra'
• 1x Lightning Greaves as 'Chancla relampago'
• 1x Sol Ring
• 1x Food Token
• 1x Treasure Token

This Secret Lair was released in June of 2025. The National Association of Latino Arts and Cultures (NALAC) was the collaborator for this release. "(NALAC) is the nation's premier nonprofit organization exclusively dedicated to the promotion, advancement, development, and cultivation of the Latino arts field," according to the Secret Lair website.

What I love so much about this Secret Lair is a combination of its sense of humor and insistence on cultural styles. It features a bunch of different artists that embody so many different and unique styles.

I particularly like the La danza del puebldo. It's so colorful and bold. It's hard to tell where the background and people begin and end, and that thought feels so reminiscent of how I relate to my own Caribbean culture.

The value of the cards is pretty good too. It's worth it to buy this Lair just for the cards.

3. Sheldon's Spellbook

The Sheldon's Spellbook included:

• 1x Teferi's Protection
• 1x Eladamri's Vineyard
• 1x Italian-language Greater Good
• 1x Inkshield
• 1x Ruhan of the Fomori as Sheldon, the Commander
• 1x Sol Ring
• 1x Command Tower

This Secret Lair came out in February of 2024. The Secret Lair website mentions, "Secret Lair collaborated with Sheldon Menery, the godfather of the Commander format, to create a drop that would showcase his love of the game and the Magic community. Sheldon had a tremendous positive impact on the game, and this drop honors his many contributions."

Not only is the value for this Secret Lair insane, including both Teferi's Protection and Greater Good, but it was one of the few recent print-to-order Secret Lairs. It raised a lot of money for charity too: somewhere over two million.

And the art? It is impeccable. I particularly love the Teferi's Protection's so much. It's my favorite printing of that card. And the same with the Bene Supremo.

2. Raining Cats and Dogs

The Raining Cats and Dogs Commander deck Secret Lair included:

• 1x Foil Double-Faced Rin and Seri, Inseparable
• 1x Foil Double-Faced Jetmir, Nexus of Revels
• 1x Foil Double-Faced Jinnie Fay, Jetmir's Second
• 1x Foil Double-Faced Anointed Procession
• 1x Foil Double-Faced Sol Ring
• 73x Reprints
• 22x Foil Basic Lands with New Art
• 2x Double-Faced Tokens with New Art
• 11x Reprint Tokens
• 3x Double-Faced Display Cards

This Secret Lair came out in January of 2024. It was a little different because it included a whole Commander deck instead of a few cards. The number of people clamoring for this was insane. It sticks out in my mind because it's how I initially learned about the existence of Secret Lairs. Everyone was dying to get these cards.

It has a strong and cohesive deck of Dogs and Cats that came with a dual-faced Commander. The reversible cat or dog Sol Ring was cute too. It was originally sold for $150 dollars, and It was worth it to get a functioning Commander deck for that price, let alone with all the great art.

1. An Encyclopedia of Magic (tm)

The An Encyclopedia of Magic (tm) Secret Lair came with, "26 individually wrapped Magic: The Gathering cards, one for every letter of the alphabet. Rip them open in order. Rip them open out of order."

This one came out in November of 2025. Its one of my personal favorites because of how bold and beautiful the art is. The Myrel, Shield of Argive is one of my favorite pieces of Magic art ever. The fact that you could pull a foil Urza's Saga or a foil Phyrexian Altar increases the value of this box immensely. It was listed at $200, but the cards inside were totally worth it.

Conclusion

A lot of Secret Lairs have become more valuable with time, but some don't ever increase in value. How valuable a Secret Lair will become is a tough thing to predict. And it's something that you have to ignore. The purpose of Secret Lairs is to flex the boundaries of art for Magic.

If you like the art, you should buy it. Getting new art for a card no one plays is exhilarating. Buy what you like. This list is by no means the end all be all for the best Secret Lairs. There are plenty more out there worth a look.

Until next time, I'm @strixhavendropout on everything.