0:06 Many Magic the Gathering players ask the question, is it worth it to buy the Secret Lair Goblin Storm Commander deck? This latest Secret Lair Commander precon is a mono-red goblins deck with a tempestuous flare, consisting entirely of reprints and featuring several Commander staples with brand new borderless artwork. The aptly named Goblin Storm is an innovative twist on both Goblins and Storm, two classic Commander archetypes we rarely see woven together. As with all Commander precons, Secret Lair or otherwise, this is meant to be a fully playable right out of the box experience. But unlike other Commander precons, this will only be available online on May 18th, which is
0:53 less than a week away. What's more, this Commander deck is actually $50 cheaper than the last Secret Lair Commander deck. Everyone's invited. I never thought I'd see the day when a major product line gets a significant price decrease rather than increase, but you won't see me complaining. Or, you know, maybe you will. It's a critical review. But does the reduction in price also mean a reduction in quality? How much value is contained inside, and is the deck fun to play with? Sure, the concept is exciting, but does it actually work? Or is the pairing of Goblins and Storm too awkward to result in a functional deck? All these questions and more are what's in store, so let's take a look. And remember, while you can't buy Secret
1:38 Lairs at Micro Center, sponsor of this video, you can always buy Magic the Gathering products at or even sometimes below MSRP. Since Micro Center will never mark up a Magic the Gathering product, we don't need gimmicks to promote this sponsor. CAW! CAW! DID SOMEONE mention upgrades and affordable CONSUMER ELECTRONICS? CAW! OH MY GOODNESS, IT'S A talking crow. I'm Micro Professor, and I'm here to crow about all the savings at Micro Center. Would you happen to know Storm Crow? What? You know, not all crows know each other. But Storm Crow does play in my weekend baseball league. So, you do know each other. You got lucky, but you should
2:23 watch your ASSUMPTIONS NEXT TIME. BUT WHAT do crows have to do with baseball, anyway? FORGET ABOUT THE BASEBALL JOKE. BUT YOU KNOW WHAT'S NO JOKE? The absurd savings on this new Ryzen 8 processor. Gee, Prof Crow, you sure know a lot about computers and computer accessories AND RELATED ITEMS. LIKE THIS NEW liquid CPU cooling kit to keep your computer from overbeaking. Or this modular power supply that will keep the nest of a computer tidier than a crow's catch, whether you're building a new gaming rig or a NEW COMMANDER DECK. MICRO CENTER has all the shiny new
3:10 trinkets. Wow, it sounds like Micro Center has many deals that you can crow about. THAT'S REALLY OFFENSIVE. I GUESS YOU COULD SAY at Micro Center, the early bird gets the worm. You shouldn't make JOKES LIKE THAT. QUOTE THE RAVEN, shop at Micro Center. HOW DARE YOU? I'M GETTING YOU CROW CANCELED on Blue Sky. Oh no, I've been crow canceled. And that's not good because crows remember things. Like the good deals at Micro Center. CUT.
3:56 A SECRET LAIR GOBLIN Storm Commander Deck contains one ready-to-play right out of the box 100-card Commander Deck featuring 12 foil borderless cards with new artwork from Wizard of Barge, a popular and very stylistic artist who has done Secret Lair artwork before. While as always, art is subjective, I personally think Wizard of Barge's art style fits very well with the Goblin aesthetic. The deck also contains 22 foil borderless basic mountains featuring new artwork. And of course, the remaining 63 non-foil reprints, three of which also feature brand new artwork. The Secret Lair also contains four foil Goblin tokens with new artwork, 10 non-foil double-sided
4:42 tokens, one Storm Counter helper, and one Zada Hedron Grinder display commander. This of course is a fun addition and not legal for standard play by itself. And of course, one {quote} {unquote} deck box. The total cost for this Secret Lair Commander Deck is $149.99 assuming of course you're able to get a copy from Wizards of the Coast directly. If you're buying from a scalper, which let's be honest, you probably will be, the cost will most likely be $250 to $300. But if this turns out to be a really popular Commander Deck, which it probably will be, then that price might go even higher. As I always say, Urza scalpers. Yeah, we're we're censoring it from now on.
5:27 Urza scalpers. But I want to point out that with Secret Lairs, we really can Urza scalpers because it's a Secret Lair. Now, when card games send products to stores, there is a limited amount of control they have over what happens next. While there are definitely many steps they can take to reduce scalping, it is hard to eliminate it entirely when you're dealing with physical stores. But, that isn't true about Secret Lairs. Wizards of the Coast has a lot more control with this being a digital release. And if they were so inclined, they could take dramatic efforts to outright eliminate scalping of Secret Lairs. In fact, when Secret Lairs first came out, there was no scalping because they were print-to-demand, which is
6:13 something that they could bring back if they really wanted to. But, even if I'm wrong about that, even if they can't bring it back, or let's just say they don't want to, there are more things that they can do behind the scenes to prevent scalping of digitally sold goods such as Secret Lairs. And I really ask, I really encourage Wizards of the Coast to look at what's going on here and see that their priority should be to the real customers who really want to pick up products like this, or let's say the Dan Dan Secret Lair, and not to the scalpers who are looking to buy out everything and then sell it at an inflated price on the secondary market. Wizards of the Coast, you have the power to Urza scalpers. Use it.
6:59 Financial value. If you were to buy all the singles from Goblin Storm individually for their lowest price as of the time of this recording, you would have to spend about $252, about $100 more than the cost of the Secret Lair as a whole. If you eliminated all the bulk, things still wouldn't get that much cheaper as the 36 cards worth a dollar or more in Goblin Storm still cost a total of $232.30. And it's important to note that there are no pre-sale prices here. These are all reprints, so this is the cost of these cards, and I might mention, it's the cost of these cards at their cheapest available price. So, it's not factoring in the special promo cards in the secret lair, the brand new artwork, etc. All in all, there's some seriously
7:46 high value reprints here, and many of the more ubiquitous staples in Commander that appear in the secret lair get that new art from Wizard of Barge. This drop has seven cards that are worth at least $10 and three that cost more than $20. Roaming Throne is the biggest star here, a $47 card as of the time of this video's recording. But, Throne of Eldraine isn't far behind at nearly $35. This is Throne of Eldraine's first ever reprint. There's also the $20 Shinka, the Bloodsoaked Keep from Champions of Kamigawa, a card which gets reprinted only rarely. And just these three cards together are essentially worth 2/3 the cost of this secret lair. But, there's so much more. Looking down the list, we have a reprint of Goblin Lackey with new art, though not borderless, an $18 card
8:34 by itself at the time of recording. Ruby Medallion, the most valuable of the five medallions, is present at $11 at the time of recording, and the $10 Arena of Glory from Modern Horizons 3, a modern staple that's great in Commander, too. We've got new borderless art for Skullclamp and Sol Ring, new borderless art for the legendary trio of Zada, Hedron Grinder, Krenko, Mob Boss, and Pashalik Mons, and new borderless art for legacy staple and vintage cube all-star Broadside Bombadiers. All in all, this deck is jam-packed with value, at least compared to the value we'd expect from a typical precon. But, where does Goblin Storm rank among the other Secret Lair Commander decks in terms of value? Secret Lair Commander decks are distinct among precons put out
9:20 by Wizards of the Coast for retaining their value or even gaining value as time goes on. In fact, if we look at the current value of each of the five Secret Lair Commander decks prior to this one, we will see that Goblin Storm is actually the least valuable of any of them. The cheapest of the previous five decks is from Cute to Brute at $253 in value, while the most expensive is the original and my personal favorite, Gavin Verhey's very own Heads I Win, Tails You Lose, currently sitting at about $311 in value. That means Goblin Storm is a buck less valuable than the previous least expensive Commander deck. Of course, that's not precisely a fair comparison. After all, Everyone's
10:06 Invited, the most recent Commander deck, was sold for $200, a jump up from the $150 its three predecessors held, 20 Ways to Win, Reigning Cats and Dogs, and From Cute to Brute. Though Heads I Win, Tails You Lose is still the undisputed champion when you take Secret Lair cost into account since that original deck cost just $100 to buy when it was in stock. As always, the original outshines the sequels. If you subtract the cost of each Secret Lair deck from its current financial value, then Goblin Storm is only the second worst value of the bunch. Everyone's Invited drops to just $65 in surplus value, while all the others remain over $100 and up. It's also not really fair to write Goblin Storm off as the least valuable of these
10:52 other decks, full stop. It's within $2 of the two bottom decks, From Cute to Brute and Reigning Cats and Dogs. Prices are always fluctuating, and by the time I review another Secret Lair Commander deck on this channel, Goblin Storm could easily reach the middle of the pack. I do still think it is helpful to look at these prices and use it in evaluating financial worth. And along those lines, I feel it's fair to say Goblin Storm is roughly equivalent to the other Secret Lair decks, which had $150 sticker prices, all of which translates to about $100 in surplus value as of the time of this recording. But enough about financial value. This is a product intended to be played with. It's not an evaluation of the deck merely as a stock option. Is it fun enough to pilot? Do Goblins
11:38 and Storm really go together? Let's take a look. The Goblin Storm game plan begins by playing a traditional Goblin Kindred strategy in the early game. Set up cards like Goblin Lackey, Conspicuous Snoop, and Goblin Warchief to pave the way for your mid game threats. Lords like Goblin Chieftain and Rundvelt Hordemaster turn a meek board into a potent one, especially once you get multiple in play. Then, when you've run out of Goblins to cast, it's time to start storming off. Your Storm payoffs are Grapeshot, the damage dealer, Empty the Warrens, the Goblin maker, Haze of Rage, the pump spell, and Spreading Insurrection, the mass threaten effect. All of these are incredibly potent
12:23 spells to drop at the end of a storm turn. But, unlike a more traditional all-in storm deck, storming off with Goblin Storm often won't end the game immediately. It may just grow your own board or shrink your opponent's. In order for your storm turn to be truly lethal, you'll need a few things going for you. The best card to have in play on your storm turn is Skullclamp, as it's very easy way to translate the mana from your rituals into fresh cards to keep storming. If you don't have a Skullclamp, then you'll need a haste granter or a direct damage producer or, ideally, both. Cards like Goblin Warchief, Goblin Chieftain, and Goblin Bushwhacker turn a big Empty the Warrens board sideways. Meanwhile, Impact Tremors, Pashalik Mons, and Goblin Bombardment all translate your tokens into direct damage. Haze of Rage is your
13:09 most lethal of the storm cards, as it's easy to cast multiple times thanks to its buyback clause. Grapeshot can finish off a player who's low on life, but is more often going to be useful for clearing away opposing blockers. Spreading Insurrection can lead to some devastating swings. It gets even better with a Goblin Bombardment in play, allowing you to sacrifice your opponent's creatures after you swing with them and before you have to give them back. The deck is intended for Zada, Hedron Grinder, to be your commander with the goal of making a very wide board and then casting a pump spell on Zada that makes your whole board huge. It makes sense to be aiming for that given the storm elements in the deck, but honestly, I don't know that the deck supports Zada sufficiently to warrant putting them in the command zone. That's because just seven total
13:55 spells in the entire deck work with Zada. As in, are single-target spells that pump your creature, granted abilities, or draw you a card. Saheeli's Art Brew in the deck list notably does not work with Zada as it has two targets. Target creature gets plus two plus zero, but target player draws two cards. There is, however, an eighth card in the list that has a hilarious synergy with Zada. If you cast a large Goblin Negotiation on your own Zada, it'll get copied for all your creatures and deal of excess damage. You'll wind up with all your original creatures dead, but you'll have a horde of Goblin tokens left standing in their place. If Impact Tremors is in play, you've just dealt your opponents a ton of damage. All that being said, I think the best legend to run in the command zone is actually
14:41 Krenko, Mob Boss. Krenko is just such a busted Goblin commander that it's hard to justify putting any of the other legends in this deck in that spot. Krenko does what every Goblin deck wants, put an ever-growing pile of Goblins onto the battlefield. And that's why he's my commander of choice for Goblin Storm. By my evaluation, Goblin Storm is a decent execution of an awesome concept. The deck has some genuine flaws aside from the awkwardly few Zada enablers. There's also very little card draw in general. This means that it is difficult to actually set up a good storm turn without some lucky top decks. And if you draw too many storm cards and not enough Goblin cards, you'll have a hard time doing much of anything at all.
15:27 There are just 25 goblins in the deck plus three spells that make goblins. It won't be uncommon to draw a bunch of pump spells with no creatures to target or to have a conspicuous Snoop in play that never finds any goblins to cast from the top of your library. But when it works, the deck is an absolute blast to play. It It's goblins. The cross archetype synergies of a kindred combo deck like this one are a delight to see in action. And the deck just feels incredibly gobbly as in a goofy hodgepodge of weird little guys who stumble to victory almost on accident. I legitimately feel that as a deck to play with out of the box, all the financial stuff aside, Goblin Storm is the most cohesive and well-executed Secret Lair Commander precon that we've seen since the original Heads I Win,
16:12 Tails You Lose deck. Though it has real structural flaws, flaws that may have been avoidable given the concept, this deck feels more fresh, exciting, and imaginative than any of the recent Secret Lair precons that we've received. And if you get tired of playing with the deck as it is, there's plenty of room to adjust the list or even just disassemble it for its useful parts. Final conclusion, Goblin Storm has roughly the same financial value of other Secret Lair Commander decks in its price range. With multiple high-value reprints including the absurdly expensive Roaming Throne as well as dozens of mid-value staples not just of the goblin or storm archetypes, but of the Commander format as a whole, this deck is a solid buy from a pure value
16:58 perspective. In terms of gameplay, this is a really sweet high bracket two or low bracket three deck that manages to wed two classic yet disparate red archetypes together in the same deck list. Toss in the cartoon art by Wizard of Barge on 12 of the deck's key cards, and you've got yourself a product I will happily give an A 2. Assuming you can purchase it when it goes on sale Monday morning, which let's be honest, you very likely will not be able to. Urza scalpers. I hope very much this video has been of some help to you. Would you like to see me fix your Commander deck? Check out our newest we fix your deck episode here where I go through your decks and your deck submissions and tell you how you can make them better. That video can be
17:43 accessed by clicking the I or just you know, in the description below. Good luck getting this on Monday. Next time on Shuffle Up and Play. I've got a very special deck. This was this was a plot, um, a scheme rather. Our lead director came up to me before shooting and just said, "Prof, just go with it when you see it. Don't start frowning. Just go with it, please." They've been trying to troll me with this for a month now. They've been going on and on about it and I don't know what this deck is. >> Llanowar Elves.
18:29 >> Oh. >> The classic. Sixth Edition. Your turn. >> Oh, Sixth >> Sixth Edition. Oh, okay. >> I'm going to flash in Gandalf. This is a card art. >> that card. That was the one in the Secret Lair where it was like 42 cents worth of cards. >> So, I got loot. Oh, YOU GOT LOOT TOO. >> YEAH. NO, loot times two is six. >> I think I'm starting to hate what you hate. >> Yeah. All of this looks crazy. >> He must have just subscribed to Tolarian Community College. >> I am literally going to shuffle up and >> I'm at five time counters just so you know. >> doesn't misplay. Prof does bad plays. >> It's like the underside of a female pig, DUDE. >> I'M NOT I'M I'm not even mad. This episode is probably never going to air
19:17 this I don't even care. >> How much Magic 30 did you buy? >> want to talk about it. Do I look like I care? >> Just pick a CARD, DUDE. >> SHUT UP. >> LET ME ASK YOU THIS, YOU IDIOT. >> SO MUCH better to Solar Beam Batman. >> This is THE KIND OF >> YOU CAN DO IT. >> WIN THE SHOT. >> SMASH IT. OH. >> OH MY GOD. >> IT'S THE MOST UP CARD I'VE EVER SEEN in my life. I have no idea HOW IT WORKS. >> WHEN CAPTAIN AMERICA throws his mighty >> going to say that. >> Oh, I'm sorry. >> I pass. >> Cut that out. Cut that out. Go ahead. >> I pass. >> No, CUT IT OUT. >> I DON'T CARE ANYMORE.
20:03 >> Go ahead. >> I don't care. >> DO IT. >> IT'S YOUR TURN, six boy. >> I THOUGHT OH.
