Magic: the Gathering has been releasing Secret Lair products for all sorts of occasions, including Year of the Rat and a new International Womens Day Secret Lair product. But the latest in the line is a shoutout to one of the most iconic women in the Magic universe: Thalia.
Secret Lair products are single-day releases, only available on Wizard’s website (for now, at least), that celebrate great cards with unique art and styles never before seen on Magic cards. These ultra-collectible Secret Lair releases have been released about once every month since it began in December, giving players alternate art Theros gods, rats and rat tokens, and even beautiful snow-covered basics.
Magic: the Gathering decided with next month’s theme, it would celebrate Thalia, a mono-white hate bear, in Secret Lair - Thalia: Beyond the Helvault. Each of the four Thalia, Guardian of Thraben has unique art, two created by Johannes Voss and two by Magali Villeneuve.
Thalia has been a popular card in several formats, including Modern and even some of the best mono-white commander decks. Many feel that it’s great to see her celebrated as a fantastic card with such beautiful artwork from two very talented artists. Of all the Secret Lair releases, this is the first that truly celebrates one single Legendary creature from Magic.
But there is a dark side to the Secret Lair products. While Secret Lair products have been called the future of Magic: the Gathering, there are a lot of folks who really hope it is not: Local game stores. While print on-demand products are becoming more and more popular for a variety of different kinds of products, including t-shirts on popular sites like RedBubble, on-demand printed Magic sets are out of the reach of LGSs in a way that no previous product has ever been.
Since most local game stores are small, single-location businesses run by small teams, products that pass by the local stores in favor of direct connection with the buyer put a big dent in the profits of the LGSs. Players need them to be able to participate in Friday Night Magic and other paper events, so online products like MtGO and Arena are hurting them as well. While Wizards is trying to combat this by creating new paper formats like Jumpstart and sending one single copy of the Secret Lair products starting in April to LGSs that have WPN certification, most stores do not have the space or the capital to be able to become a WPN store or buy a bunch of experimental product that may not sell.
While many players are out there are happy to be able to get the old Theros gods as Constellation art, they are also seeing more and more of their LGSs closing down around them, and this is a bad for everyone involved.
Magic: the Gathering Online is available for PC and Magic: the Gathering Arena is available for PC and Mac.
Source: Wizards of the Coast
Image Source: SteveArgyle.com, Wizards of the Coast
