Summary
MostMagic: The Gatheringcards can be found in packs, one way or another. The exception to this has been a number of special Secret Lair drops which included several mechanically unique cards that have yet to make an appearance in the regular game.
When this happens, these cards become known as Universes Within, and for all intents and purposes, are the exact same card as their Secret Lair counterparts, just with a different name. If you’re wondering what they all are, we have the complete list ready for you.
5Secret Lair Drop Series: Dungeons & Dragons: Honor Among Thieves
One Of The Few Times A Real Person Is On A Card
Celebrating the release of the 2023 Dungeons & Dragons film, Honor Among Thieves. The cards released in the limited-time Secret Lair all have abilities that reflect their roles from the film, making them all a fun collaboration for fans.
The cards all have a little more flavor since they depict the actors likenesses as their characters too, so you really get to see Chris Pine and Michelle Rodriguez pop out of the card.
All these cards were recently revealed to have a special in-store release as Universes Within cards, working them to look like they’d be a part of the Dungeons & Dragons: Adventures in the Forgotten Realms set. All the characters get new names, except for Themberchaud, since he’s already a known creature from Dungeons & Dragons and wasn’t created for the film.
Once a card gets a Universes Within version, they are treated as the same card. In Commander, you can only have one or the other, not both.
4Secret Lair Drop Series: Doctor Who: Regeneration
Double The Regeneration
After the release of the Universes Beyond Doctor Who,fans quickly noticed that a few Doctors were missing. The Fourteenth and Fifteenth Doctors were not included in the main four Commander decks, but that’s fair since the bigeneration of the two Doctors hadn’t quite happened by the time the Universes Beyond was dropping.
This five-card Secret Lair introduces Rose Noble as a companion as well, giving her the signature Doctor’s companion ability to let you partner them up with any of the Doctors. The Secret Lair was vital for fans looking to build a complete Doctor Who deck, as The Fourteenth Doctor is four colors, all of them but black, letting you use all the various Doctors in a single deck while keeping the Doctor Who theme.
The curious thing about this Secret Lair is that it is highly unlikely that The Fourteenth and Fifteenth Doctors, and Rose Noble will ever see a release as a Universes Within edition as they all deal with Doctor cards, and there’s really not a great way to get around the implications of the show this way. The Meep and The Celestial Toymaker have a chance to make their way to a Universes Within printing as they don’t have references to specific Doctor Who concepts.
3Tomb Raider Secret Lair
So Many Treasures Just Ready For The Taking
The classic gaming icon, Lara Croft came to Magic: The Gathering in a special Secret Lair. This Secret Lair drop included just one mechanically unique card, with the rest of them being skinned versions of popular pieces of equipment and other spells. The skinned cards showed scenes from the games and all have names that make them feel unique.
Lara Croft herself hasa neat ability attached to a green, blue, and red card. When she attacks, you get to exile a legendary artifact or land from any graveyard, slapping a discovery counter on it while it is in exile, but only for this turn.
It is a cute mechanic that reflects Lara’s excavation skills and her tendency to explore ancient societies and find the relics they left behind. She also has a raid effect that lets you pump out Treasure tokens, which is another fun mechanic that plays on her raiding skills even more.
2Angels: They’re Just Like Us But Cooler And With Wings Secret Lair
Digital Cards Made Real
While Arden Angel isn’t technically a mechanically unique card, it also isn’t technically a real card in the first place. This Angel was originally found as a digital card from the self-titled Magic: The Gathering Sega Dreamcast game. This game was only released in Japan back in 2001, so it is unlikely that many players even knew about this Angel before the Secret Lair finally printed it as a physical card.
The Dreamcast game has 20 digitally exclusive cards with many of them having randomized mechanics that don’t mesh well with physical cards. Arden Angel happens to work well as it has you pick a random number from one to four in order to trigger its effect, which is easily replicated with a four-sided die.
Arden Angel only has a single physical printing so far in the Secret Lair, but there’s not an insignificant chance that it and some of the other cards could make it to a Universes Within set.
1Secret Lair Drop Series: Marvel Superdrop
Heroes Don’t Quit
The first of a huge crossover Universes Beyond with Marvel Comics, theSecret Lair Drop Series: Marvel Superdropsaw five different drops release, each one based on a different Marvel hero.
The drops all come some number of skinned cards, reprints with new artwork, and a mechanically unique hero. The thing is, there is going to be a tentpole set in Marvel’s Spider-Man releases in 2025. While not confirmed, there is a pretty solid chance these cards could be reprinted as Box Toppers or in Collector Boosters.
