It has been a year, nearly to the day, since Wizards of the Coast first revealed their collaboration with the comic behemoth Marvel, and today at New York Comic Con the cover has been pulled back on the first entry of this new multi-year friendship with the upcoming Magic: The Gathering x Marvel Secret Lair drop. Secret Lairs are a small and specially tailored collection of cards with this particular release featuring beloved and classic Marvel heroes that include brand new creature cards for Captain America, Black Panther, Storm, Wolverine, and Iron Man – all of which include the new “Hero” creature type. Each character will have their own Secret Lair as a part of this Super Drop, with each Secret Lair coming with that specific hero, which comes with an accompanying set of five cards, four of which are Marvel reskins of existing cards and one unique token. All Secret Lair drops are $39.99 in non-foil and $49.99 in foil with a limited print run with bundles available for folks who need to have them all! After getting a chance to take a look at these cards, as a longtime Magic fan, it looks like this team-up is already resulting in some spectacular, some may even say amazing, that should play great in any game at your friendly neighborhood Friday Night Magic.
First up we have the first Avenger himself, with “Captain America, First Avenger” (rocking the one red, one white, and one blue mana cost), who utilizes a new “Throw” and “Catch” mechanic that lets players dish out damage by hurling pieces of equipment is equipped on him at his foes, and then freely equip some gear (the same or something else) afterward. While there are an incredibly few equipment cards (that I know of) that have triggering effects when they are unattached or re-attached to a character, it’s hard to argue that this mechanic isn’t perfect for Cap and I can’t wait to throw everything from Crystal Slippers to Bilbo’s Ring at my friends, and how perfect is it that we even got a Mjolnir card earlier this year that we can throw too!
It is appropriate that, much like in the comics – at least more times than not – that “Iron Man, Titan of Innovation” pairs so well with Cap in this drop. Leaning heavily on Tony’s penchant for invention, Iron Man is all about making better and better pieces of gear, or artifacts in this case, by sacrificing one whenever it attacks, to let you search your library for a new one that be slightly more expensive. Tutoring for cards you want in a Magic deck is always a potent tool to have, and having it as a recurring ability makes it all the better. Throw in some graveyard artifact retrieval like a Goblin Welder, Argivian Archeologist or Open the Vaults, and you can get them all back! Considering this card shares color identity with “Captain America, First Avenger” means that they would pair great together in a Commander deck, at least until they start going at one another again.
Black Panther, Wakandan King coming in with a Green and White color identity, takes things in a different direction, opting instead to deal out the +1/+1 counters to the creatures of his kingdom, or deck in this case. T’challa stockpiles these counters on land that you control whenever it or another creature you control enters, and then all at once, using his secondary “Mine Vibramium” ability, can place them on a target creature with the added benefit of gaining life. Having these counters go onto your lands instead of on a creature or some sort of special mine token, certainly offers your stockpile far more protection from different responses your opponents may otherwise have. The prospect of Black Panther alongside Doubling Season, which, in theory, could take advantage of that card’s doubling counter feature twice (once when the counters are first made on the land and next when a counter is placed on the creature) terrifies me.
Behind every gate king is a strong queen, and T’Challa is no different with Storm, Force of Nature bringing the rain – and the pain – in his drop. Storm being a 3 / 4 with flying and vigilance on its own would make it a solid card but the real terror comes with her “Ceaseless Tempest” ability, which makes it so that the next instant or sorcery spell you cast after she hits someone during combat copy it as many times as the number of spells you had already played that turn – this mechanic is appropriately known as “storm” for those unaware. Throw on an Aqueous Form on her to make her unblockable, and hurl some cheap red spells beforehand and you have a recipe for a devastating blow in your second main phase as you put the Storm in “storm”.
For the last of the heroes included in this Secret Lair, we have the angry Canadian himself, Logan, with “Wolverine, Best There Is”. Coming in as a 2/2 for a red, a green, and one, Wolverine is one of those cards that you want to take care of as soon as you can because the longer he stays out, the scarier it becomes. Straight out of the gate, “Unrivaled Lethality” doubles all damage that this card deals (and that can stack with double strike), not just combat damage, making it actually more like a 4/2 for three mana, but thanks to its next ability to easily get more counters when it deals damage to another creature which can quickly make this card a powerhouse. That said, considering it has to be against a creature and not simply target, means you won’t be getting the benefit from hitting players themselves, or opponents can simply choose not to block with one of their creatures and that means no counters, but with spells like “Duel for Dominance” or “Ent’s Fury” that forces Wolverine to attack an opponent’s creature or enchantments like “Fire Whip” can mitigate this restriction pretty easily. And, of course, what would Wolverine be without his healing factor, so of course this card also has Regenerate, which will help you keep those hard-fought-for counters should he get taken out (and avoid that annoying Commander tax, if this card is your Commander).






















Artists such as Bud Cook, Anna Steinbauer, and Pauline Voss, have created stunning new Marvel-inspired artwork for Magic classics such as Storm on the Red-staple “Lightning Bolt” spell, Tony’s chest reactor as this Secret Lair’s “Sol Ring,” and Wolverine in his classic yellow-and-brown costume tearing his way out of a sentinels mouth in “Berserk”. These look to be perfect companions to the new creature cards that I’m sure many people will begin brainstorming ideas on how to make into incredibly fun decks to play; I know I have.
We still know very little about what else will come from this multi-year collaborative endeavor between Wizards and Marvel outside of “collectible products and tentpole sets” promised in the initial reveal last year. Still, if this first offering is anything to go by, I think fans of both Magic and Marvel comics will have much to look forward to.
The Marvel Secret Lair Superdrop goes on sale on November 4 at 9 am PT over at Wizard’s Secret Lair store, with folks able to snag a special “Earth’s Mightiest Emblem” card (a variant of the Commander format staple, “Arcane Signet”) for every $199 they spend, so be sure to tune in, true believers, if you hope to snag yourself a set of these debut first-appearance cards of Marvel and Magic’s collaboration.