It's been six years since Wizards of the Coast launched its Secret Lair line for Magic: The Gathering.
In that time, Magic players have been treated to complete Commander decks, a potpourri of themed cards, playsets of cards featuring different artists, and more.
As far as how Secret Lair is going now that it's more than a half-decade into its existence, Wizards of the Coast's Senior Product Designer for Secret Lair, Steve Sunu, says things are going fine. And that's largely due to how Secret Lair allows Magic players to put some personality into how they play the collectible card game.
"The ability to come in and customize your deck to help fit your personality and what you love about the game or what you want to express, Secret Lair is a big part of that," he says.
INTERVIEW: WotC's Steve Sunu Talks About Six Years of Secret Lair
One of the key things about Secret Lair, according to Sunu, is its ability to allow Magic players to put a bit of their own personality into their decks.
"Secret Lair gives [players] a chance show people how cool these cards can be to hold in your hand," expresses Sunu. "It's always fun to bring your whole self to the table whether you're playing something like Commander or even a more like Legacy or Modern."
Since launching in 2019, Magic players have seen more and more crazy things enter the CCG via Secret Lair. This includes not just new takes on existing Magic cards such as those done by featured artists, but also though third-party IPs both my means of entirely new cards, such as was the case with the The Walking Dead x Magic: The Gathering Secret Lair, as well as re-skins of existing cards such as those seen in the Spongebob Squarepants Secret Lair drop.
Of course, when it comes to Secret Lair, past success and past releases don't guarantee that players can expect more of the same in the future.
"In terms of certain product lines... just because you don't see them for a while doesn't mean that we decided to stop doing them or that we're going to do them eventually," Sunu explains. "It's that we're being purposeful and really, really wanting to put together something meaningful. And whatever product form that is, we want to make sure is appropriate to the theme, appropriate for what we want to emphasize for gameplay.
He continues, "so just because we've seen it before, not a guarantee you'll see it again, but just because you haven't seen it yet also doesn't mean you're not gonna see it."
As far as what Magic players can expect to see in the very new future, Magic: The Gathering's Secret Lair team has a couple of releases coming up.
One such release is one they're calling the "Secret Scare" superdrop. Releasing on Oct. 13, it features cards inspired by (or literally containing cards from) Steven Spielberg's classic movie Jaws, the NBC sitcom The Office, Furby cards, and more.
Another release, also coming out in October, is the Secret Lair x PlayStation superdrop, which includes cards inspired by a number of popular PlayStation properties including God of War, Horizon: Zero Dawn, and more.
To learn more about Secret Lair and remain abreast of developments with it, check out MagicSecretLair.com.
