Even afterMagic: The Gatheringplayers knew about theFinal Fantasy,Avatar, andSpider-ManUniverses Beyond sets in advance, one more crossover would come speeding out of nowhere faster than anyone could have expected. That honor fittingly goes to theSonic the HedgehogSecret Lair collaboration. As a lifelongSonicfan, seeing the blue blur be brought intoMTGwith such care and beautiful art made me incredibly excited.
I’ll be the first to admit that I got very, very lucky with theSonicMagic: The Gatheringcards. I managed to secure my copy of the foil editions of all three bundles within six minutes of the Superdrop, and I was even included in the orders that got shipped at “Sonic speed.” I have them in-hand, and I’m very glad I braved the queue despite how historically terrible Secret Lair ordering has been. My luck has run a bit short, though, as I own three versions of the Master Emerald Shrine, and none of the Chaos Emerald bonus cards.
The Chaos Emeralds Being the Chase Cards in Magic: The Gathering’s Sonic Secret Lair Just Feels Wrong
When the bonus cards for theSonicSecret Lair were revealed, it made sense at a glance. If anything, I thought it was a little redundant as the Super State’s 7-mana cost felt like a great way to include the Emeralds already. Some other cards hadChaos Emeraldson them in a way that feels like some artists wanted to include all seven for those who missed out on the bonuses, but others didn’t get the memo. Making Angel Island into a Land is a great approach overall, and making the Chaos Emeralds into an artifact inMagic: The Gatheringfeels incredibly right. Now that they’re out, and the Emeralds aren’t the outlier due to their numbers, I feel the complete opposite about it.
The Chaos Emeralds Aren’t This Hard to Find in the Sonic Franchise
It makes sense as to why Wizards of the Coast would make these cards so hard to find. The Chaos Emeralds are mystical gemstones that scatter every time they’re used together. Finding all seven is meant to be an incredible feat, and they’d be just a fairy tale if it wasn’t for Sonic and his friends proving they exist with wide-scale adventures ingames likeSonic Unleashed. Making them rare cards makes sense in theory, but there are seven of them, and they have a habit of showing up when needed. There’s only one Master Emerald, and it’s kept considerably more secret.
The Master Emerald is the neutralizing force of the Chaos Emeralds. It was an important (almost literal) cornerstone in the culture and history of the Echidnas, which is why Knuckles guards it so diligently. The Master Emerald’s history and presence are incredibly important to theAdventuregames. I adoreSonic Adventure,and I was happy to pull the card at first because of its importance to the story, Tikal, and Chaos. EvenProfessor Gerald Robotnik’s writings inSonic X Shadow Generationsshow that while he adored its beauty, he felt it was best left alone. Luckily, Knuckles has made it clear he typically patrols Angel Island for safety while avoiding boredom, so the Master Emerald is kept far away from the public eye, unlike the Chaos Emeralds.
Even in terms of just the games themselves, the Master Emerald only plays a key role (not counting being mentioned or explaining why Knuckles is off his island) in eight of them. The Chaos Emeralds are found and scattered in almost every game, playing all sorts of roles. They’re used inColorsto unlock Super Sonic for fun, and then jump to being integral to the story ingames likeSonic Adventure 2orSonic Frontiers.They add challenge in the special stages in trying to collect all seven, but those challenges don’t cost real-world money.
The Chaos Emeralds Being Chase Cards Doesn’t Do Magic: The Gathering Any Long-Term Favors
I get the fact that one of the reasons the Chaos Emeralds and Master Emerald are in this situation is because the cards they’re reprints of, Lotus Petal and Command Tower respectively, reflect this with their rarities. Making a rare Lotus Petal card irritates the fact that the base card is roughly $35 on the market right now, no matter how you look at it. However, printing more Chaos Emeralds instead of tons of Master Emerald Shrine would feel far better with the rest of thecare given to theSonicSecret Lair set. To me, it feels like one big glaring oversight to not let players get at least one or two Chaos Emeralds, and then be blessed by the Master Emerald Shrine and all of its meaning by pure luck.
More Chaos Emeralds and lessMaster Emerald Shrinewould lead to a far less expensive Command Tower chase reprint by a large margin as well. Right now, obtaining just one Secret Lair Chaos Emerald would run players over $200 USD easy. There’s an argument to be made that this is fitting considering the mythical reputation of the Emeralds themselves, but the idea of paying that much for a cardboard image of one seems like a line that I dare not cross no matter howSonic-obsessed I may be.
While the Chaos Emerald cards are expensive, they’re nowhere near the price ofMTG’s 1 of 1 The One Ring cardfrom the game’sLord of the Ringsset, which was sold to rapper Post Malone for $2.6 million.
This approach heavily mirrors what happened with theTraveling Chocobo cards from theFinal Fantasysets. Those were in booster packs, though, which brought the price down considerably in comparison. There may not be an even rarer variation to chase with the Chaos Emeralds unlike that gold Chocobo, but I don’t feel like they need one considering they were released in a rare Secret Lair Superdrop that has already cost me over a hundred and practically all of my luck to get.
All I wanted was just one Chaos Emerald card. If things were reversed, I’d at least have three right now. Instead, I’ve got three Master Emerald Shrines that I can’t even trade for as they’ve been printed so much that they sell for lower than a dollar. My best hopes are either to snag extra copies of theSonicSecret Lair and take the chance from another fan just like me, bite the bullet these ridiculous prices became, or wait for the cost to go down in the future. No matter what angle you look at this situation from, it’s just no good.
