Ever since the Secret Lair product line first started back in 2019, MTG has gotten a lot more colorful. Bringing the bold and brilliant designs of artists to life, this sub-brand has made stunning art significantly more accessible. Whether you’re after baseball cards, movie posters, or skeletons aplenty, Secret Lair has you covered.
Unsurprisingly, within the smorgasbord of Secret Lair drops, cuteness is typically one of the most popular styles. Whether it’s adorable cats and dogs, children’s drawings, or miniaturized Planeswalkers, it’s all undoubtedly beloved. If you fall into the camp of cuteness-loving MTG players, you’re in luck!
Later this week, Hasbro will be releasing an adorable new chibi MTG Planeswalker Secret Lair drop; Li’l’est Walkers. Curiously, however, many MTG players aren’t exactly enticed by this time around.
Li’l’est Walkers Secret Lair Teased
As if MagicCon: Las Vegas wasn’t enough to look forward to, this week, Hasbro is also putting on PulseCon 2023. Loaded with reveals from across Hasbro’s product catalog, this event certainly has a lot in store. There are even going to be a few things for MTG players, despite it hardly being the focus of PulseCon.
Leaving the set-based reveals to Wizards in Las Vegas, PulseCon instead offers a unique Secret Lair drop. Occurring for the third year in a row, this Secret Lair typically offers some of the cutest cards around. Unsurprisingly, given that past precedent, Hasbro’s PulseCon 2023 is no different in that regard.
Earlier this week, on Twitter, Hasbro teased their latest PulseCon Secret Lair. Continuing in apostrophe-ridden tradition, Li’l’est Walkers is this year’s exclusive MTG Secret Lair. Unfortunately, so far, we don’t know which cards are going to be included in this PulseCon exclusive drop.
That being said, however, from the teaser, it appears that Daretti could be one of the Planeswalkers getting the chibi treatment. If this is the case, it’s likely we’d see them as the Commander viable Daretti, Scrap Savant. Alternatively, it would be equally nice to see a reprint of the currently $17 Daretti, Ingenious Iconoclast.
Ultimately, with only the teaser image above to go off at the moment, it’s unclear who else might be included in the drop. With 280 remaining Planeswalker cards to chibi-ify, it’s rather hard to make any form of accurate prediction. Saying that, however, Jace has yet to be given the chibi treatment, so that’s one option at least.
Not All Sunshine and Rainbows
While the next batch of chibi Planeswalkers is sure to be cute, there is one problem for many players. Rather than being sold via traditional means, Hasbro is in charge of selling and distributing the Li’l’est Walkers MTG cards.
Considering Hasbro is one of the largest toy empires in the world, you may think this is an almost irrelevant problem. In the past, however, distributing PulseCon Secret Lair cards has proven surprisingly troublesome. So much so, in fact, that many MTG players are now being put off from purchasing.
Previously, the Li’l’er Walkers drop from PulseCon 2022 was extensively delayed for many MTG players. Left waiting for months and months, several players feared they could be left waiting for over a year. As baffling as that may sound, that has happened before with the Heads I Win, Tails You Lose Commander deck.
Thankfully, the Li’l’er Walkers drop wasn’t quite that bad, as players were only left waiting until April. While technically shorter than feared, this seven-month delay has still left doubts in the minds of many MTG players.
“Well, as someone who collects the chibi walkers I am happy to see more of them. But I’m not so thrilled to see it being released as a PulseCon exclusive again…” u/CoCoCortas
u/CoCoCortas
“I wish I could complete the set of Chibi walkers, but after the last pulse secret lair, I will not purchase through them again. The experience was awful.” u/mertag770
u/mertag770
“Not ordering anything from the Hasbro site ever again, received 0 orders from there while every other secret lair I got without a hitch. Hopefully, these are available through the regular secret lair site in the EU.” u/Express-Cartoonist66
u/Express-Cartoonist66
As if this caution wasn’t enough of a warning, Mertag770 also pointed out the state of the reviews on the HasbroPulse website. Sitting at two and a half stars for the non-foil version, the reviews are filled with players lamenting the delivery time. For many players, this wait was a dealbreaker, however, others still loved the cards they eventually received.
Ultimately, while there have been plenty of horror stories in the past, it’s unknown how Li’l’est Walkers will fare when it comes time to ship. In theory, everything could go perfectly smoothly, however, there’s sadly no guarantee of that.
Secret Lairs Galore
Even if you’ve been turned away by past shipping woes, worry not, as there are plenty of other Secret Lairs to admire. Most recently announced is the new Extra Life SLD which contains brand new My Little Pony Crossover cards. Uniquely, these Universes Beyond cards aren’t eternal legal, however, they still look absolutely fantastic.
If that new drop isn’t enough to entice you, John Avon also has a new Secret Lair coming up. Featuring an amazing reprint of Emrakul, the Promised End, this drop launches on October 2nd. This is also the date when Fall Superdrop 2023 ends. So, if you’re interested in any of those drops, make sure you pick them up in time!
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