It’s no secret that Universes Beyond hasn’t always had a sterling reputation. When this product line was first conceived in 2020, MTG players were vehemently opposed to this bold new frontier. Unsurprisingly, the initial feedback Wizards received was incredibly negative, leading to a promise to reprint in-universe versions of new cards.
While it took some time, that promise worked rather well. After about six months post Secret Lair release, Universes Within reprints would arrive via The List in a main set. Sadly, this only worked for as long as The List existed, which was scrapped in 2024. Since then, Universes Within cards haven’t had an official home, leading Wizards of the Coast to change tactics.
Sadly, this new approach isn’t perfect. Not only are players receiving fewer Universes Within reprints nowadays, but cards are also being excluded from digital platforms. Given how powerful some of these cards are, this is quickly becoming a major problem.
A Long Overdue Promise
Despite the death of The List, the SLX program surprisingly isn’t entirely extinct. Fairly recently, Wizards of the Coast released Universes Within reprints of the D&D Honor Among Thieves cards. These were available as promo cards for limited-time events that ran in April and May. While availability wasn’t perfect, it was great to see that Universes Within reprints of Secret Lair cards are still possible.
To put it lightly, Wizards has a bit of a backlog to get to when it comes to mechanically unique Secret Lair cards. Tomb Raider, Doctor Who, and the six unique Marvel Universes Beyond drops have all included mechanically unique cards. The oldest of these, Tomb Raider, was first released back in November of 2023.
Sadly, since The List is gone, there’s no promise or guarantee that new SLX cards will be created. Without a new promise, there’s a good chance the Honor Among Thieves cards are the exception rather than the rule. Technically, Wizards did unveil a new Secret Lair reprint plan recently, but it’s not good news.
This year, Wizards has been giving out extra copies of mechanically unique Secret Lairs to Local Game Stores. Notably, these are just non-foil versions of the Secret Lair drop, not reskinned Universes Within reprints. While these extra copies have been useful in mitigating the woeful supply issues, it isn’t a perfect solution.
While major sets like The Lord of the Rings and Final Fantasy have made Universes Beyond more agreeable, some players still despise it. Furthermore, Universes Beyond cards can have tricky legal issues that prevent them from being everywhere. We’re seeing exactly what with this year’s Marvel’s Spider-Man set. Sadly, this issue, in particular, appears to be getting worse before it gets better.
The Digital Divide
Some of the recently released mechanically unique Universes Beyond Secret Lair cards have been incredibly strong. Deadpool, Trading Card, for instance, quickly became a beloved Commander from the moment they were announced. Beyond just being a novel idea, however, Deadpool was also a real contender in cEDH, and he dominates the Duel Commander scene.
Since its release, Deadpool has racked up multiple Duel Commander tournament wins around the world. As Robert Taylor, aka Fireshoes, recently noted on Twitter, this is a major problem since Deadpool isn’t available on Magic Online. The same is true for a lot of mechanically unique Universes Beyond Secret Lair cards.
With the newly announced Sonic the Hedgehog Secret Lair cards on the horizon, it seems this problem will be getting worse before it gets better. Not only is each of the cards an intriguing Commander option, but some seem competitively viable. Many are talking about Shadow the Hedgehog as a potential cEDH staple, but he won’t be coming to MTGO.
Sadly, this means the divide between paper and digital Commander is going to grow a fair bit larger. Unfortunately, this isn’t exactly an easy problem to fix, either. Since these mechanically unique cards are Universes Beyond, they’re tied up in legal issues that may prevent simple reprints. If there wasn’t an issue having these cards on MTGO, chances are Wizards would put them there already.
This means that Universes Within reprints are the only viable option for players. This is bad news for MTG players, since creating these cards isn’t a small amount of work. Technically, it’s just a reskinned reprint, sure, but Wizards would surely want to also print these cards physically. This means any potential reprint needs a home and viable distribution method to be worth considering.
A Long Long Wait
While more Universes Within cards might be the right solution, Wizards doesn’t seem to love it. Previously, Mark Rosewater has emphatically stated that there just isn’t the demand for Universes Within reprints. Rosewater recently doubled down on this stance in a recent post, making future reprints seem incredibly unlikely.
“I know this blog makes it sound like there is an endless stream of players who want Universe Within cards. There isn’t. We did the research. It’s not enough players to sustain a product line.”
Mark Rosewater
Unfortunately, it’s a little difficult to read into this statement, as there are two distinct categories of Universes Beyond cards. Cards from main sets/products like The One Ring don’t desperately need in-universe reprints, even if they would be nice. Mechanically unique cards like Deadpool, however, absolutely need reprints to get them onto MTGO at least.
Thankfully, Wizards can easily reprint both categories of cards under the right circumstances. If there’s another reprint-filled Masters set, for instance, it’d be the perfect place for Universes Within reprints. Sadly, no such set has been announced just yet, but there’s a chance we could get one in 2026.
Unfortunately, since we’re definitely not getting a Universes Within Masters set, a regular one might be our best bet. As mentioned, there’s no current promise or plans to reprint even mechanically unique Secret Lair cards. Worryingly, even cards that do get Universes Within reprints don’t automatically come to MTGO.
Currently, the eight Street Fighter and seven Honor Among Thieves Universes Within reprints are missing from Magic Online. It’s unclear why these cards aren’t playable at the moment, but hopefully that can be rectified soon. After that, we can only hope that more Universes Within reprints actually get made. After all, it’s a real shame some cEDH stars simply aren’t playable at the moment.
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