Edgin, Larcenous Lutenist | Secret Lair
13, Jan, 25

New Universes Within Reprints Announced With Shocking Availability

It’s no secret that a lot of MTG players utterly hate Universes Beyond. There may be many more players who are excited by crossovers, but those who hate them really detest them. As a result, there’s been a great deal of desire for Universes Within cards and reprints. Unfortunately, for Universes Beyond hating players, these once-promised reprints have had a troubled existence. 

Following the dissolution of The List, Universes Within reprints lost their home, making their future uncertain. Thankfully, Wizards of the Coast has just announced a new initiative to bring these reprints back at long last. Unfortunately, however, this new program also appears to be fraught with immediate issues.

New Universes Within Reprints

Dungeons and Dragons Universes Within Reprints

For starters, Wizards of the Coast has confirmed the latest batch of MTG cards getting Universes Within reprints. 22 months after they were first sold, the Dungeons & Dragons: Honor Among Thieves cards are getting new versions. Considering these cards feature the likeness of real-world actors, it’s safe to say many players have been looking forward to these reprints.

As always, this latest round of Universes Within reprints renames the Secret Lair cards and gives them new art. That doesn’t mean these are new cards, however, as they’re mechanically identical to their old versions. This is rather confusing since the old names of these cards aren’t displayed on these reprints at all. Instead, you need to look to the bottom corner to see what Secret Lair drop it is equal to.

With this in mind, it might be helpful to know exactly who’s who within this latest round of reprints. To help you with exactly that, here are the new and old names of the newly announced Universes Within reprints.

For anyone who really hated having real-world actors’ faces on MTG cards, these reprints will be a welcomed reprieve. Each of the reprints looks fittingly MTG-y each being based around Commander Legends: Battle for Baldur’s Gate’s aesthetic. Technically, this means these cards are still crossovers with Dungeons & Dragons, but don’t go expecting Universes Within reprints of Universes Within reprints.

A Long Time Not Coming

Dungeons and Dragons Universes Within Reprints

As mentioned, these reprints have technically been in the works for 22 months, which is far far too long. Originally, Wizards of the Coast promised Universes Within reprints after just six months, but we’re long past that point. Hopefully, the new initiative will speed up these long delays, but we’ll have to wait and see about that.

While it’s always nice to see new Universes Within reprints, it’s admittedly surprising Wizards has picked these cards. When Wizards first released the Honor Among Thieves Secret Lair, Wizards explicitly didn’t promise any Universes Within variants of these cards. This was confirmed in an interview with Polygon who spoke to WotC’s Senior Creative Director of Franchise Development, Jeremy Jarvis.

Technically, in the interview, Jarvis stated, “Never say never,” but the implication was not to hold out hope. The final word was that “these cards are very specific to these characters and this moment in time,” which seemed very definitive. Clearly, Wizards has now changed its tune, which is good news in the grand scheme of things.

At the very least, these limited-time cards getting more supply is for the betterment of MTG. Currently, these Honor Among Thieves cards are some of the most expensive Secret Lair cards ever printed. Right now, Xenk, Paladin Unbroken is the most expensive of the bunch, selling for $38. Found in a fair few Aura-themed Commander decks, Xenk is genuinely a great card that many players understandably want.

For better or worse, three of the other Honor Among Thieves cards are also rather expensive. Themberchaud currently sells for around the $38 mark, while Doric, Nature’s Warden and Edgin, Larcenous Lutenist go for around $27. From these prices alone, it’s safe to say that these Secret Lair cards sorely needed a reprint.

The Big Problem

Dungeons and Dragons Universes Within Reprints

Unfortunately, while these cards are getting reprinted, they’re not getting the reprints that they deserve. The Honor Among Thieves cards are being given out for participation at special events held at participating local game stores. These events will run from April 25th to May 25th and will be Limited-focused to promise exciting gameplay.

In theory, this seems like a fantastic plan that will encourage players to their LGS’ and potentially boost store revenue. While this seems all well and good on the surface, these events will only be available for a limited time. It’s also unclear how many stores will be able to participate in this promotion, and how available the new reprints will be.

Right now, due to the time scale and nature of these promos, there’s a very real possibility they’ll be exceedingly rare. These cards could be so rare, in fact, that they could easily eclipse the price of the existing Secret Lair cards. This wouldn’t even be the first time this has happened, as Universes Within cards are typically more in demand.

As fun as themed Limited events are, this is not the way to distribute Universes Within reprints. Universes Beyond hatred aside, these are mechanically unique cards that need to be as accessible as possible. Unless Wizards prints an absolute mountain of these new cards, which we doubt, they might be problematically rare.

Thankfully, Wizards of the Coast does have another trick up their sleeves to help solve Universes Beyond supply problems. In the future, Wizards will be selling mechanically unique Secret Lair cards directly to players via WPN stores. Again, this seems like a great idea, but only if the print volume on these cards is high enough. Sadly, there’s no telling whether or not that will happen…

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