Secret Lair is a “sub-brand” of Magic: The Gathering that groups existing cards into small collectible sets with strange themes and wild new art styles.[1][2]
Description
The first Secret Lair series all consisted of alternate art reprints. Wizards of the Coast was trying to work with artists they usually don't: street artists, comic book artists, album cover designers, etc. Alternately, they may use traditional Magic artists working with very non-traditional art briefs. The Secret Lair Series is Wizard of the Coast's first full foray into selling single reprints directly to players.
With the The Walking Dead series, the premise of only reprints was abandoned. Mark Heggen revealed that R&D views Secret Lair platform as a product - testing grounds that platform lets them try things they can't do in normal products. He acknowledged that it had been art up to 2020, but that they had broadened the concept to speak to audiences of different sizes.[3] If they identify a small group that would be thrilled by a specific product, this could cater to them: "like game of Magic the Secret Lair will always try new things and evolve - the first year focused on art which is the low hanging fruit" and "as we have new ideas and want to try new things to make the game joyful for more people, Secret Lair is the place to do that experimentation".
Drop Series
All cards in the print-to-demand Secret Lair Drop Series have a rare or mythic rare shooting star expansion symbol. The tokens have a common expansion symbol. The Secret Lair Drop Series are English only.
The "drops" contains between three and seven cards and/or tokens in a customized collector box, costing either $29.99, $39.99, or $49.99 depending on the drop – some of which use premium foil cards as well. The drops are only for purchase from the Wizards of the Coast webshop secretlair.wizards.com. Each drop usually only lasts for 24 hours (though there are some exceptions). "Superdrops" are multi-day sales including multiple different drops that can be purchased individually or as part of a bundle.[4]
| Drop | Card numbers | Release date | Price (non-foil) | Price (foil) |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Bitterblossom Dreams | 012 - 016 | 2019-12-03 | $29.99 | |
| Eldraine Wonderland | 001 - 005 | 2019-12-04 | $29.99 | |
| Restless in Peace | 006 - 008 | 2019-12-05 | $29.99 | |
| Seeing Visions | 029 - 032 | 2019-12-06 | $29.99 | |
| <explosion sounds> | 017 - 021 | 2019-12-07 | $29.99 | |
| Kaleidoscope Killers | 009 - 011 | 2019-12-08 | $39.99 | |
| OMG KITTIES! | 022 - 028 | 2019-12-09 | $39.99 | |
| Year of the Rat | 033 - 036 | 2020-01-27 | $39.99 | |
| Theros Stargazing, Volume I | 068 - 070 | 2020-02-14 | $39.99 | |
| Theros Stargazing, Volume II | 071 - 073 | 2020-02-14 | $39.99 | |
| Theros Stargazing, Volume III | 074 - 076 | 2020-02-14 | $39.99 | |
| Theros Stargazing, Volume IV | 077 - 079 | 2020-02-14 | $39.99 | |
| Theros Stargazing, Volume V | 080 - 082 | 2020-02-14 | $39.99 | |
| International Women's Day | 051 - 055 | 2020-03-08 | $49.99 | |
| Thalia - Beyond the Helvault | 037 - 040 | 2020-03-12 | $29.99 | |
| April Fools | 060 - 062† | 2020-09-11 | N/A‡ | |
| The Godzilla Lands | 063 - 067 | 2020-05-07 | $29.99 | |
| Full Sleeves: The Tattoo Pack | 041 - 045 | 2020-06-01 | $29.99 | |
| Can You Feel with a Heart of Steel? | 056 - 058 | 2020-06-02 | $39.99 | |
| The Path Not Traveled | 087 - 090 | 2020-06-03 | $39.99 | |
| Mountain, Go | 083 - 086 | 2020-06-04 | $29.99 | |
| Ornithological Studies | 091 - 095 | 2020-06-05 | $29.99 | |
| Prime Slime | 133 - 137 | 2020-08-19 | $29.99 | |
| Every Dog Has Its Day | 096 - 099 | 2020-08-26 | $29.99 | $39.99 |
| Happy Yargle Day! | 110 - 114 | 2020-09-03 | $29.99 | $39.99 |
| Showcase: Zendikar Revisited | 154 - 158 | 2020-09-25 | $29.99 | $39.99 |
| The Walking Dead | 143 - 153 | 2020-10-04 to 2020-10-12 | $49.99 |
^† As of June 22, 2020, card 059 is removed from the set and won't be printed.[5]
^‡ Small numbers of the set were allocated to all WPN locations in September, 2020, to be used at their discretion.[6]
Registered titels
Based on the registration of public domains, the following drops are expected to be announced in the future:.[7]
- Read the Fine Print
- Party Hard, Shred Harder
- Happy Little Gathering
- Artist Series: Seb McKinnon
- Extra Life 2020 (cf. Ponies: The Galloping for Extra Life 2019)
Ultimate Edition
Ultimate Edition is a different product line under the Secret Lair umbrella with the same sensibility but with a different distribution model (through LGS's).[4]
| Set | Card numbers | Release date | Price |
|---|---|---|---|
| Secret Lair: Ultimate Edition | 001 - 005 | 2020-05-29 | $400 |
References
- ↑ Tom Marks (November 25, 2019). "Magic: The Gathering Reveals New Secret Lair Drop Series With Wild Art". Ca.ign.com.
- ↑ Mark Heggen (November 25, 2019). "Revealing Secret Lair". magicthegathering.com. Wizards of the Coast.
- ↑ Weekly MTG - Secret Lair: The Walking Dead (Video). Magic: The Gathering. YouTube (October 2, 2020).
- ↑ a b Wizards of the Coast (March 13, 2020). "Making Fetch Happen—Secret Lair: Ultimate Edition". magicthegathering.com. Wizards of the Coast.
- ↑ MTGSecretLair. Twitter.
- ↑ WPN (September 2, 2020). "Sneak Peek: Zendikar Rising Marketing Kit". Wizards Play Network.
- ↑ Payneswalker (October 3, 2020). "New Drops?". Reddit.