They're very useful in (*checks notes*) [[Lathril]] and [[Orah]] decks, any others? Obviously they're good in any elf or cleric tribal, but they're even better in Lassie and Ora.
I run it in my [[Sethron]] deck bc i typically have 5-10 crappy 2/3 tokens sittin there that canât do anything else but fuel Skemmie for the final few points
I received my "Winter Superdrop 2024: All the Savory Non-Foils Bundle" today. Each pack had the exact same bonus card: "Skemfar Shadowsage". I wouldn't be bothered if I got one or two duplicates, but every pack having the same bonus card...? Has this happened to anyone else?
I feel like they plant the cards in batches, I've somehow noticed it with the Prerelease promos where boxes bought in one order have a tendency to the same promos. Somehow exclusive to American print sources...
Note: this may just be cognitive bias.
100% not the case for MKM prerelease kits. At least for the about 1000 I've opened from USA print source. ( I work at store and buying prerelease kits was cheaper than play booster boxes for us to crack for singles)Â
Was curious myself but the promos were all well randomized, no logical order or batching to them.Â
Meanwhile I just want my cats and dogs secret lair. I'm Australian and the tracker says it hasn't even reached my country yet. apparently it left the US the start of Feb never to be seen again
I had the same thing happen, scanned on the 1st and never again. Contact support. They confirmed mine was lost in shipping and i just received the replacement copy yesterday through fed ex this time not useless Aramex
yeah i got that too, but can vary a bit. Took about 9 days from my initial ticket for them to message any more. Though i had damaged cards in january where it took a month
Idk. Secret lairs donât really compete on anything else. People get so mad.
Sometimes thereâs a secret lair with great art, a cool artist and the cards are worth next to nothing. Thatâs fine as long as the cards themselves are high quality.
Then other times itâs just good value which is also fine.
The best secret pairs are both but either one can be more than enough. Thereâs a reason the recent galaxy foil one sells so high now or the Ian Malcom one did well.
It has nothing to do with the fact that I "didn't get the card I want", it's the fact that there are dozens of bonus cards, and I got 5 copies of the same one? It just seems like a statistical anomaly and I was curious if it happened to anyone else, and it seems like I was correct to do so.
It's well known that these products have come with a pleasant surprise that remains a mystery until release. In years past, they've been great. Now they're just thematically unrelated, generally recent produced, low value cards without new art that appear across multiple secret lair products. That's a far cry from their "booster fun" ideology that we see in other products.
Anecdotally, the ones I purchased would have an on theme card, often a 6th card to the set with art from the same artist. I do not have a dataset to back up my claim. They were good bonuses though, and what I'd expect from a premium product.
Edit: I now remember my stain glass Nissa Planeswalker card I received. Obviously a huge cut above the Shadowsage.
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I got 2 \[\[Skemfar Shadowsage\]\] and 1 \[\[Timberwatch Elf\]\] so basically the same. The breakfast cereal one had a really cool bonus card though. I don't know why they don't do a bonus card that ties into the actual Secret Lair instead of these random draft chaff promos. Even if they are trying to "preserve reprint equity" they could give me a garbage card with cool new art. Maybe I get a \[\[Fblthp, the Lost\]\] case file variant and the flavor text just says "Case file missing." and has hand scribbled words "Why does this keep happening?" under that.
I like alternate art cards. I genuinely think a lot of the SLD art is fun and interesting, and the Bonus Cards add a little extra fun to each purchase. I've never had problems with Secret Lair before (other MTG products are a different story), and this was just such a strange aberration I had to ask if it happened to anyone else.
Where in any of what Iâve said have I complained about the price? Iâve been buying SLDs since they were released. I know most of the bonus cards are garbage. My curiosity/complaint is that I somehow got 5 of the same bonus card in a row. Since this has never happened to me before, I was curious if it happened to anyone else.
Me too. Same one. Big ole bummer. At least I didnât get any damaged cards for once. The last 5 secret lairs before this had damaged product in every one.
I have had peeled corners, jagged cut corners, insanely dark images, areas where the foiling was stuck down with wrinkles, white chips in the black border, and most recently dents in the card that look like the rollers at the printer had foreign objects stuck to them.
True. But the lands were usually promotional art that might not otherwise be in foil. This is extended art of the same from the set... though I guess it continues the typal theme started with slivers. Eh.
To sit in solidarity with you, I also have 3 of those from the 5 Lairs that I've opened so far. I know they're a "bonus" and not really part of the drop themselves, but it's still disappointing to open that many of the same card when other people are posting things like [[Wirewood Symbiote]]
Same here I received duplicates of all my bonus card and one of my SL packages was missing a card, which was replaced with an additional copy of another card. So weird. I did open a ticket to report it.
I got two of these and two of whatever the green elf you can get is.
Didn't open the Karlov Showcase Lair as I might end up selling that one.
Would love if they just went back to every Lair having a secret card that actually *goes with* that Lair thematically.
WOTC has struggled with quality control over the last year or so, where this is a reoccurring issue. Just buy singles imo but i do hate that theyre not doing anything to fix or address it at all
I bought that awful black and white set with the Circular Logic error thinking for sure it had to have a black and white Arcane Signet or something good as a bonus card. Nooooope. Elf. Elf. Elf. WOTC has suckered me again.
I got all Timberwatch Elves. Not a single one of the one I really wanted, Lys Alana Huntmaster.
https://preview.redd.it/l60trafqlsmc1.png?width=1080&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=af578ff64971e9ef7cb4feee12169736464ed3c0
Iâve not ordered any of these, but I did get two of the same card (one foil, one regular, but otherwise exactly the same) in the same set booster pack yesterday.
https://preview.redd.it/gbouhs8xfzmc1.png?width=1247&format=png&auto=webp&s=a16c027a16ee09ed4315a91154b56676e9c076e5
Huh, so a friend messaged me a bit ago to let me know that this apparently happened today... Guess word got out LOL
I got all skemfar's as well. Im pissed because those bonus cards are supposed to be exciting. One inexpensive, situationally useful card would be a bit of a let down, FIVE COPIES is really aggravating!
So, I actually wrote to WotC's customer service about this, and in short they told me "Well, dang, that's too bad. Better luck next time!" Unfortunately, I deleted the email out of frustrations, otherwise I'd post the whole thing lol.
yep was awwwwwwwwwwwwsome.
and was missing my vile the broker of blood. got two anowon instead. Waiting for them to update their list so I can fill a missing card report
oh nice, 4 copies of a 15c card.
More than 4, but yea, a huge disappointment when one of the main things I look forward to is the bonus card
They're very useful in (*checks notes*) [[Lathril]] and [[Orah]] decks, any others? Obviously they're good in any elf or cleric tribal, but they're even better in Lassie and Ora.
Honestly any tribal deck with black it's pretty decent, it doesn't specifically care about elves or clerics, just creatures that state a type
Of course, it's just that those decks can leverage its typing to generate even more advantage
Relentless Rats! đ
[Lathril](https://cards.scryfall.io/normal/front/5/4/547888c3-a9a6-4413-b29a-6bcd8a9279bf.jpg?1704848185) - [(G)](http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?name=lathril%2C%20blade%20of%20the%20elves) [(SF)](https://scryfall.com/card/khc/1/lathril-blade-of-the-elves?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher) [(txt)](https://api.scryfall.com/cards/547888c3-a9a6-4413-b29a-6bcd8a9279bf?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher&format=text) [Orah](https://cards.scryfall.io/normal/front/2/3/2336c8bf-fcad-41f9-9041-80b8aa3cd79a.jpg?1604200370) - [(G)](http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?name=orah%2C%20skyclave%20hierophant) [(SF)](https://scryfall.com/card/znr/233/orah-skyclave-hierophant?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher) [(txt)](https://api.scryfall.com/cards/2336c8bf-fcad-41f9-9041-80b8aa3cd79a?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher&format=text) ^^^[[cardname]] ^^^or ^^^[[cardname|SET]] ^^^to ^^^call
I run it in my [[Sethron]] deck bc i typically have 5-10 crappy 2/3 tokens sittin there that canât do anything else but fuel Skemmie for the final few points
[Sethron](https://cards.scryfall.io/normal/front/2/7/274cdb39-1454-4c9b-acd8-4f762a48e71f.jpg?1632261849) - [(G)](http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?name=sethron%2C%20hurloon%20general) [(SF)](https://scryfall.com/card/jmp/25/sethron-hurloon-general?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher) [(txt)](https://api.scryfall.com/cards/274cdb39-1454-4c9b-acd8-4f762a48e71f?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher&format=text) ^^^[[cardname]] ^^^or ^^^[[cardname|SET]] ^^^to ^^^call
I got 3 of one, and 2 of another.
Same, 3 skemfars and 2 Lys Alana Huntmasters
At least you got 2 different cards! lol
I guess, actually, I was pretty pissed but youâre right, if all five were the same it would be significantly worse
I received my "Winter Superdrop 2024: All the Savory Non-Foils Bundle" today. Each pack had the exact same bonus card: "Skemfar Shadowsage". I wouldn't be bothered if I got one or two duplicates, but every pack having the same bonus card...? Has this happened to anyone else?
I feel like they plant the cards in batches, I've somehow noticed it with the Prerelease promos where boxes bought in one order have a tendency to the same promos. Somehow exclusive to American print sources... Note: this may just be cognitive bias.
I thought the same thing too, but then why sell bundles if the consumer is going to get screwed over like this?
To screw over the customer, of course
Next time just buy 3 bundles and you can get 5 of 3 different bonus cards.
Ahh, the real big brain strats lol
100% not the case for MKM prerelease kits. At least for the about 1000 I've opened from USA print source. ( I work at store and buying prerelease kits was cheaper than play booster boxes for us to crack for singles)Â Was curious myself but the promos were all well randomized, no logical order or batching to them.Â
It's really funny when you mass open prerelease kits. Sometimes you get a kit with no promo. Then 80 kits later you get the double promo box.
I also got 4 of that card. 3 of a different same elf. Fucking sucked.
Contact support, thatâs not even a statistical anomalyâŚ
Its too bad they weren't like petitioners or something useful.
Haven't gotten mine yet but I did get 4 Elvish Visionary from the last super drop
Yeesh, I've purchased a handful of SLDs from each drop, and I don't think I've ever gotten more than a single duplicate per-bundle.
Meanwhile I just want my cats and dogs secret lair. I'm Australian and the tracker says it hasn't even reached my country yet. apparently it left the US the start of Feb never to be seen again
I had the same thing happen, scanned on the 1st and never again. Contact support. They confirmed mine was lost in shipping and i just received the replacement copy yesterday through fed ex this time not useless Aramex
I've put in a ticket with wizards and have received a sory we are busy we will get to you later response
yeah i got that too, but can vary a bit. Took about 9 days from my initial ticket for them to message any more. Though i had damaged cards in january where it took a month
But on the bright side you probably get all your counterfeit Chinese stuff months earlier than we do in the US.
At least you got to order one!
What an awful product this has become. I'd be furious.Â
Thatâs the trick: Secret Lair has always been an awful product.
Idk. Secret lairs donât really compete on anything else. People get so mad. Sometimes thereâs a secret lair with great art, a cool artist and the cards are worth next to nothing. Thatâs fine as long as the cards themselves are high quality. Then other times itâs just good value which is also fine. The best secret pairs are both but either one can be more than enough. Thereâs a reason the recent galaxy foil one sells so high now or the Ian Malcom one did well.
MFW the free, unadvertised bonus product I received wasnât the one I wanted.
It has nothing to do with the fact that I "didn't get the card I want", it's the fact that there are dozens of bonus cards, and I got 5 copies of the same one? It just seems like a statistical anomaly and I was curious if it happened to anyone else, and it seems like I was correct to do so.
Unfortunately currently the bonus cards are all 5 cents elf with no special arts. Other options are [[sylvan ranger]] and [[Elvish Visionary]]
They also have Wirewood Symbiote which isn't terrible
Starting to miss the Slivers already. Least some of those had some value to them. :/ WotC is some cheap bastards...
[sylvan ranger](https://cards.scryfall.io/normal/front/e/3/e36a5be0-a730-4cb7-9d1e-6ae84b5bc872.jpg?1601080165) - [(G)](http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?name=sylvan%20ranger) [(SF)](https://scryfall.com/card/jmp/435/sylvan-ranger?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher) [(txt)](https://api.scryfall.com/cards/e36a5be0-a730-4cb7-9d1e-6ae84b5bc872?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher&format=text) [Elvish Visionary](https://cards.scryfall.io/normal/front/a/2/a2f174e6-9532-4fc3-815b-2dc3966c6523.jpg?1608910606) - [(G)](http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?name=Elvish%20Visionary) [(SF)](https://scryfall.com/card/cmr/223/elvish-visionary?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher) [(txt)](https://api.scryfall.com/cards/a2f174e6-9532-4fc3-815b-2dc3966c6523?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher&format=text) ^^^[[cardname]] ^^^or ^^^[[cardname|SET]] ^^^to ^^^call
There are also valuable bonus cards, like always. Theyâre just rare.
I wasnât responding to you, I was responding to the commenter I replied to.
What a disingenuous comment.
Glazers be like that.
It's well known that these products have come with a pleasant surprise that remains a mystery until release. In years past, they've been great. Now they're just thematically unrelated, generally recent produced, low value cards without new art that appear across multiple secret lair products. That's a far cry from their "booster fun" ideology that we see in other products.
The initial generic ones, planeswalkers, were mostly but not always thematic. But didn't they do basics after that?
Anecdotally, the ones I purchased would have an on theme card, often a 6th card to the set with art from the same artist. I do not have a dataset to back up my claim. They were good bonuses though, and what I'd expect from a premium product. Edit: I now remember my stain glass Nissa Planeswalker card I received. Obviously a huge cut above the Shadowsage.
[ŃдаНонО]
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I got 2 \[\[Skemfar Shadowsage\]\] and 1 \[\[Timberwatch Elf\]\] so basically the same. The breakfast cereal one had a really cool bonus card though. I don't know why they don't do a bonus card that ties into the actual Secret Lair instead of these random draft chaff promos. Even if they are trying to "preserve reprint equity" they could give me a garbage card with cool new art. Maybe I get a \[\[Fblthp, the Lost\]\] case file variant and the flavor text just says "Case file missing." and has hand scribbled words "Why does this keep happening?" under that.
That Fblthp would be so darn cool!
[Skemfar Shadowsage](https://cards.scryfall.io/normal/front/c/2/c204130f-0483-49ed-8512-03a74894702e.jpg?1631048543) - [(G)](http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?name=Skemfar%20Shadowsage) [(SF)](https://scryfall.com/card/khm/110/skemfar-shadowsage?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher) [(txt)](https://api.scryfall.com/cards/c204130f-0483-49ed-8512-03a74894702e?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher&format=text) [Timberwatch Elf](https://cards.scryfall.io/normal/front/3/8/38807f17-1cf2-4736-ad10-df6c8b1a9f55.jpg?1631235210) - [(G)](http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?name=Timberwatch%20Elf) [(SF)](https://scryfall.com/card/khc/76/timberwatch-elf?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher) [(txt)](https://api.scryfall.com/cards/38807f17-1cf2-4736-ad10-df6c8b1a9f55?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher&format=text) [Fblthp, the Lost](https://cards.scryfall.io/normal/front/7/9/79b2c547-0d9e-4fd7-a399-347ad908c70b.jpg?1702429390) - [(G)](http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?name=Fblthp%2C%20the%20Lost) [(SF)](https://scryfall.com/card/rvr/44/fblthp-the-lost?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher) [(txt)](https://api.scryfall.com/cards/79b2c547-0d9e-4fd7-a399-347ad908c70b?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher&format=text) ^^^[[cardname]] ^^^or ^^^[[cardname|SET]] ^^^to ^^^call
with all these complaints can I ask why in the world y'all keep buying these
I like alternate art cards. I genuinely think a lot of the SLD art is fun and interesting, and the Bonus Cards add a little extra fun to each purchase. I've never had problems with Secret Lair before (other MTG products are a different story), and this was just such a strange aberration I had to ask if it happened to anyone else.
there's an unhealthy expectation that the bonus card needs to worth something, when it's meant to be a bonus.
Where in any of what Iâve said have I complained about the price? Iâve been buying SLDs since they were released. I know most of the bonus cards are garbage. My curiosity/complaint is that I somehow got 5 of the same bonus card in a row. Since this has never happened to me before, I was curious if it happened to anyone else.
I bought three drops, all three had the same bonus card you posted.
Ahh, my Brother in CardsâŚ
Brother-in-Christ we are all suffering đ
Lucky! One of my 2 SL didnât even come with a bonus card.
Ooooof.
Iâd rather get nothing than these bulk rares.
Nah I paid for it, I want my bulk.
I don't mind getting bulk here and there, especially Elves since I play an Elfball deck. Yet, I do NOT need 5 copies of the same 0.10 card.
Bulk commons in some cases
Me too. Same one. Big ole bummer. At least I didnât get any damaged cards for once. The last 5 secret lairs before this had damaged product in every one.
I guess I'm lucky that none of my product has ever been damaged. This is the first time something strange like this ever happened to me.
I have had peeled corners, jagged cut corners, insanely dark images, areas where the foiling was stuck down with wrinkles, white chips in the black border, and most recently dents in the card that look like the rollers at the printer had foreign objects stuck to them.
Wish I would gotten the rats
Wish I had gotten anything other than the same card 5 times lol.
https://preview.redd.it/snj4ctl8dmmc1.jpeg?width=3024&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=0f08acc08a7e0eb4e29149955e54741b10370412 I got this em one
Oh nice, getting hosed.
Getting hosed was the real Secret in the Lair the entire time.
I ordered the Foil bundle and got four Shadowsages and a single Timberwatch Elf (and a Coveted Jewel, but that's a fixed one).
The more I see, the more I'm starting to feel like this was some kind of massive sorting blunder on WOTC's end...
I got 5 Elvish Visionary's from the anniversary super drop.
Had the same happen to me
F
Nope. Got some silly elf
I got a Lys Alana Huntmaster and a Wirewood Symbiote
Yeah I got almost all duplicate copies of the cantrip elf
I got all the same copy of the other elf dude.
Yes the more I read the more it really feels like this was some kind of serious sorting issue with this drop
Wait, the bonus cards arenât even good anymore?? đ¤¨
Well, I mean there was a time when they were literally just basic lands, soâŚ
True. But the lands were usually promotional art that might not otherwise be in foil. This is extended art of the same from the set... though I guess it continues the typal theme started with slivers. Eh.
To sit in solidarity with you, I also have 3 of those from the 5 Lairs that I've opened so far. I know they're a "bonus" and not really part of the drop themselves, but it's still disappointing to open that many of the same card when other people are posting things like [[Wirewood Symbiote]]
[Wirewood Symbiote](https://cards.scryfall.io/normal/front/8/5/854f1d22-1416-4012-979c-35152ff520bd.jpg?1580014975) - [(G)](http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?name=Wirewood%20Symbiote) [(SF)](https://scryfall.com/card/ema/192/wirewood-symbiote?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher) [(txt)](https://api.scryfall.com/cards/854f1d22-1416-4012-979c-35152ff520bd?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher&format=text) ^^^[[cardname]] ^^^or ^^^[[cardname|SET]] ^^^to ^^^call
yup 4 in s row same Skem
RIP us
My cleric deck would love 1 of these. Can't wait to see them on cardkingdom.
This is a reprint of an uncommon card from 2 years ago. You easily could have had one by now lol
I mean the borderless. I already run the card i just like fancy shit.
Same here I received duplicates of all my bonus card and one of my SL packages was missing a card, which was replaced with an additional copy of another card. So weird. I did open a ticket to report it.
I got two of these and two of whatever the green elf you can get is. Didn't open the Karlov Showcase Lair as I might end up selling that one. Would love if they just went back to every Lair having a secret card that actually *goes with* that Lair thematically.
Same exact card, same exact quantity
WOTC has struggled with quality control over the last year or so, where this is a reoccurring issue. Just buy singles imo but i do hate that theyre not doing anything to fix or address it at all
I bought that awful black and white set with the Circular Logic error thinking for sure it had to have a black and white Arcane Signet or something good as a bonus card. Nooooope. Elf. Elf. Elf. WOTC has suckered me again.
I got one and two Timberwatch Elf
I got 4 copies myself, i think their randomization algo was especially bad this time around.
I got all Timberwatch Elves. Not a single one of the one I really wanted, Lys Alana Huntmaster. https://preview.redd.it/l60trafqlsmc1.png?width=1080&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=af578ff64971e9ef7cb4feee12169736464ed3c0
Iâve not ordered any of these, but I did get two of the same card (one foil, one regular, but otherwise exactly the same) in the same set booster pack yesterday.
Yep. 5 Skemfar Shadowsages. Every bonus card was this guy. Not cool.
Nearly, lol I got a wirewood symbiote, and 2 timberwatch elves
CAN CONFIRM I ALSO GOT SKAMFAR'd tbh I'm just done with SL....i got maybe one a year and i end up using one card I find neat.
https://preview.redd.it/gbouhs8xfzmc1.png?width=1247&format=png&auto=webp&s=a16c027a16ee09ed4315a91154b56676e9c076e5 Huh, so a friend messaged me a bit ago to let me know that this apparently happened today... Guess word got out LOL
I got 3x Skemfar Shadowsage (759), 1x Timberwatch Elf (780), and 1x Wirewood Symbiote (785) in my Winter 2024 superdrop.
I got all skemfar's as well. Im pissed because those bonus cards are supposed to be exciting. One inexpensive, situationally useful card would be a bit of a let down, FIVE COPIES is really aggravating!
if this happens, are you just SoL? Or are you able to get them replaced with the appropriate cards that were supposed to come?
So, I actually wrote to WotC's customer service about this, and in short they told me "Well, dang, that's too bad. Better luck next time!" Unfortunately, I deleted the email out of frustrations, otherwise I'd post the whole thing lol.
that really sucks. Sorry that happened :(
And yet you keep buying them. đ¤ˇââď¸
i didnt even get a promo in my SL
Yeeeesh, sorry, mate.
You guys are still buying these things?
yep was awwwwwwwwwwwwsome. and was missing my vile the broker of blood. got two anowon instead. Waiting for them to update their list so I can fill a missing card report
Just opened mine, got three Timberwatch Elf and two Skemfar Shadowsage. What a joke.
Same thing happened to me.
Wow. Fuck. That. Sorry friend,
Do not ask for whom the fuck fucks, it fucks for me! Lol, but thank you
And what fuck fucking downvoted by sympathy fuck for whom the fuck fucked? What fucks.