The Summer of 2021 is off to a great start for Magic: The Gathering players thanks to Wizards of the Coast announcing details on their upcoming Secret Lair drops.
The press release covers a lot of ground with its "All-Natural Super Refreshing Superdrop" but there are some genuine and welcome surprises. The first is the aptly named Saturday Morning D&D, which features six cards redone in the art style of the adorably nostalgic 1983 Dungeons and Dragons Saturday morning cartoon. The cards include Commander's Sphere, Whir of Invention, Hero's Downfall, Impact Tremors, Primal Vigor, and Unbreakable Formation. The cards featured will be borderless and available in foil and non-foil variants.
There were then three artist-focused Secret lairs. The first of them focus on Mark Poole who's set contains Birds of Paradise, Counterspell, Howling Mine, and alternate art version of Balance, Brainstorm, and Wasteland. The second showcased the work of award-winning comic artist Fiona Staples and her redesign of Dryad of the Hysian Grove, Metallic Mimic, Sakura-Tribe Elder, Soul-Scar Mage, and Spell Queller. The third features another comic artist Jen Bartel and her interpretation of Archaeomancer, Bloom Tender, Mesa Enchantress, and Meteor Golem. Each of this will be available in non-foil for $29.99 and foil variants for $39.99 each.
Finally, there were two different Secret Lairs featuring guilds from the Ravnica block redone in the original art style of Magic: The Gathering handled by Dan Frazier. Both lairs are titled The Allied Signets and the Enemy Signets, and cover all of the guilds' Signet Artifact cards.
The biggest surprise however is the return of beloved Magic artist Rebecca Guay with her work on the Secret Lair Mothers Day 2021. This is a big deal since Guay has done the artwork for over 160 Magic cards dating back to 1996 until she officially left in 2009. As for the cards themselves, they are four different artistic interpretations of the Mother of Runes, from her and other artists. It's great to see her distinct artwork back in the game, even if it's in this very limited run.
Then there is the confirmation of what Wizards themselves teased a while ago: a Secret Lair all around the Praetorians. Listed under the full name of Phyrexian Praetors: Compleat Edition, it is a reprinting of several Phyrexian cards in advance of their return in the new set of Modern Horizons 2.
The official text from the post says it best, "Celebrate the Praetors' inevitable victory over the rest of the Multiverse with these five terrifyingly awesome reprints. This is each of the original Praetor cards, lovingly restored to the original Phyrexian they were written in when we found them in a pool of viscous black fluid that had begun to seep out of the haunted R&D mini fridge. For good measure, we've placed them in the new legendary Praetor frame that debuted with Kaldheim. It's never too early to suck up to your future monstrous overlords."
If that all seems a bit much, Wizards of the Coast ended the post by stating that these Secret Lairs would be the start of a more eco-friendly approach to production. To quote, "the new packaging we'll be using for all Secret Lair drops, beginning with this superdrop, has been reduced to less than half the original volume, is made from all-recyclable paper (except the plastic card wraps, which we are looking to change in the future), and contains 91% less plastic by volume." This is the start of a concerted effort by WOTC to reduce plastic usage and use more recyclable materials going forward.
All of these Secret Lairs are available as separate purchases or as part of an all-in-one foil, non-foil, and both bundle. Fair warning, these bundles range in price from $199 to $444 respectively. Alternatively, there is also merchandise and playmats for purchase using the new artwork displayed. If you're wanting some of these, head to the official Magic website and start pre-ordering now.
