Mechanically unique MTG cards appearing in Secret Lair drops have always been a touchy subject. No one has a major problem with wacky Secret Lair treatments for existing game pieces, even if some are very difficult to read. Offering entirely new mechanically unique cards in Secret Lairs, however, has routinely led to problems.
Like it or not, as many players may imagine, offering mechanically unique cards in Secret Lairs also allows them to sell well. These cards are routinely low in supply, demanding high prices on the secondary market. If you need one of these for a Commander deck in the future, chances are the individual card will be worth more than the entire Secret Lair it was a part of.
In the past, Universes Within cards were the solution from Wizards of the Coast to make sure exclusive game pieces became appropriately available. This also allowed players who weren’t a fan of visiting IPs to get a copy of the mechanical card that fits within Magic’s worldbuilding. Unfortunately, with the departure of The List, these cards lost their homes.
Now, Wizards of the Coast introduced a new fix to this problem, but it’s far from perfect. Not only does this experiment mark the departure of Universes Within alternatives, but the ‘boost’ in supply may not help solve the issue.
Secret Lairs Come to Local Game Stores
Considering the IPs that Wizards of the Coast is collaborating with in 2025 it’s a good idea to give in-universe alternatives for players. After all, Spongebob Squarepants is a world away from what we’re used to seeing in MTG.
While having this choice is definitely preferable for players, the main purpose of Universes Within reprints should be to make the mechanically unique cards more accessible. Secret Lair cards aren’t exactly easy to find in comparison to something from a main set in the first place. Making those cards mechanically unique multiplies the demand for those cards. While Wizards of the Coast’s latest solution does make mechanically unique cards a little easier to acquire for interested buyers, it fails to deliver Universes Within variants.
On January 13th Wizards of the Coast announced an initiative to make mechanically unique Universes Beyond cards available at WPN stores for purchase:
“The List is gone, so we’re trying a different approach—letting Wizards Play Networks sell them directly to you.”
Blake Rasmussen
According to Rasmussen, this experimental promotion will take place for future Secret Lairs that have mechanically unique cards in them. Whenever a new Secret Lair is released with a mechanically unique card in it, WPN stores will have non-foil Secret Lairs printings available for purchase.
While any initiative to make mechanically unique Secret Lair cards more accessible to the player is a good one, the supply for such an experiment seems incredibly dubious. Will the added supply make a meaningful dent in the demand for mechanically unique Secret Lair cards, or is this just a sign that Universes Within reprints have been completely abandoned?
The End of Universes Within?
While this promotion shouldn’t have much connection with the fate of Universes Within reprints, there’s a non-zero chance that it may spell disaster. In the article announcing the new program, Rasmussen specifically suggested that this promotion is an exchange for the newly found unavailability of the List. This makes it seem like this slight availability increase is the best players will get.
Even if this isn’t a direct replacement, the effectiveness of this experiment is seriously questionable. This, of course, depends on a few things that we currently know nothing about. Firstly, how many stores will actually run this promotion? WPN stores can be far and few between for some players depending on location. As a result, it might not be easy for players to simply pop down to their LGS to get what they need.
Alongside this major concern, there’s no telling how many Secret Lairs will each WPN store receive. Hopefully, Wizards will print enough to make a meaningful dent in demand, but that seems unlikely. After all, in the announcement post, Rasmussen stated only “a limited quantity” of SLDs will be distributed.
Outside of releasing reprints in premier sets, creating the appropriate availability for mechanically unique cards from Universes Beyond may be exceedingly difficult. Unfortunately, thanks to incredibly long development times, any premier set Universes Beyond reprint may be doomed for a two-year delay. This solution does eliminate that issue, but unless the volume of this test is truly gigantic, it may not pan out in the long run.
On the note of Universes Within, however, it is important to note that some of these are being made available via LGS promotions. Unfortunately, those may make even more expensive variations on already rare cards.
Community Opinion
Unsurprisingly, many MTG players share the same sentiments we’ve already expressed in this article. At the end of the day, it’s hard to believe that a limited supply of extra non-foil Secret Lairs will really move the needle in a meaningful way. Some MTG players, however, have additional concerns that may be even more worrying.
Some MTG players believe that LGS’ will not respect the MSRP of the Secret Lair product. Instead, stores will likely charge secondary market prices for these Secret Lairs.
“Also people are going to whine about their store (that probably makes almost nothing) charging close to TCG low on these things.
It’s what happened with FTV sets when those were a thing.”
fumar
FTV, for reference, refers to From The Vault, a retired MTG product that functioned very similarly to Secret Lairs. These offered a predetermined set of cards for stores to sell. As you may expect, instead of sticking to the intended MSRP of the product, LGS’ asked for something closer to the card’s reprint values, since that is what players were willing to pay. There’s no reason why these Secret Lairs wouldn’t be treated the same.
Sadly, this ruins the entire point of the promotion from the player’s perspective. It’s not difficult to access mechanically unique Secret Lair cards for an increased price; it’s difficult to access them for their MSRP. Legions of scalpers will be more than willing to sell you in-demand Secret Lairs for twice the price. This is unquestionably better than turning to a scalper since you’ll be supporting your LGS, but prices likely won’t be too far apart from one another.
“FTV was an absolute shitshow back in the day.
Stores near me were pricing FTV at 2x MSRP at minimum.”
Snow_source
Ultimately, players basically agree that this isn’t going to solve much of the issue. If anything, this just allows players to support their LGS by purchasing Secret Lair product from them instead of Wizards of the Coast. Availability is likely not going to be impacted much, and the extra product is likely not going to be very affordable. So, is this even a solution at all?
