At MagicCon: Atlanta back in September, a boatload of new Secret Lairs was revealed. From a product dedicated to the fan-made Dandân format to a variety of different Universes Beyond crossovers, this preview showcased something for everyone. Alongside the products that were shown off in their entirety, Wizards of the Coast also revealed the return of the Countdown Kit Secret Lair.
While we’ve known about the encyclopedia theme of this product for a while, the price and contents have remained mysterious. Thankfully, Wizards just put out an official announcement today that provides a lot of clarity.
An Encyclopedia of Magic
Releasing November 3rd, 2025, the new Secret Lair Countdown Kit dubbed An Encyclopedia of Magic is set to feature 26 cards, each by a different artist. While this isn’t surprising regarding the theme, it does confirm that each letter of the alphabet will only feature one corresponding Magic card.
What is a bit shocking is the price of the Secret Lair, which will go on sale for $199.99. This makes this Secret Lair one of the most expensive products to date, and some players have already begun voicing their frustration. Nonetheless, without knowing all of the cards that will be featured, it’s impossible to know whether this collection will be worth purchasing.
What we do know is that any of these cards could appear in traditional foil or even Halo foil on rare occasions. Despite the exact odds of pulling a Halo foil not being public knowledge yet, there’s a good chance supply for these cards will be super low with these Secret Lairs available in limited quantities only.
Wasteland Reveal
Beyond Wizards’ announcement on their website, they also sent out an email to the MTG community hyping up the Secret Lair. This included the reveal of Wasteland, taking the slot for the letter “W.”
This land, which was initially printed in Tempest, is one of the defining features of the Legacy format. Jamming a cheap threat and then using Wasteland and Daze to keep the opponent off-balance is a strategy that’s still as dominant as ever. Meanwhile, in Commander, pairing this card with land recursion effects and Exploration gives you a seemingly limitless source of land destruction.
The only bad news is that it’s been reprinted many times. Its appearance as a white-bordered uncommon in Mystery Booster 2 helped bring its price tag down to roughly $10, according to TCGplayer. Regardless, the new full art variant looks awesome and adds a decent chunk of reprint value to Secret Lair.
Over the next two weeks, the remaining 22 cards will be revealed and give us a better sense of how valuable this product truly is. The vast contrast in art styles between each design gives this collection a unique feel, and it’ll be cool to see how this trend continues with the rest of the reprints. For now, though, we’ll just have to wait in suspense.
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