Magic The Gathering’s Secret Lair February Superdop Includes Street Fighter, Synthwave, And Chibi Planeswalkers
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Ryu, Zangief, Blanka, Chun-Li and more join Magic The Gathering in its latest Secret Lair sale.
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Magic The Gathering’s next Secret Lair Superdrop is coming this month, bringing with it the much-anticipated Street Fighter crossover that features eight of Street Fighter 2’s most popular characters turned into legendary creatures.
On top of that, we’re also getting multiple Kamigawa-themed drops, and even Synthwave lands in an artistic first for the game. All in all, there are eight different releases in the February Superdrop, with a total of 42 cards. Like most Secret Lairs, the vast majority of them are reprints with new and exclusive art, but there are a fair few mechanically original cards making their debut here as well.
According to IGN, the Secret Lair will run until March 18. However, an actual date for when it starts has yet to be revealed. With the cards now being revealed, though, it should only be a matter of days. Like all Secret Lairs, this will only be available for a limited amount of time, after which they’ll never be put on sale ever again.
Secret Lair x Street Fighter
The star of this Superdrop is the latest in the Universes Beyond crossover series. To celebrate Street Fighter’s 35th anniversary, it is receiving nine cards. At least eight of these are mechanically unique (although will receive in-Magic-Universe reprints in set boosters later this year), with the last one not being revealed until February 19 at the Capcom Pro Tour final.
There is lots going on with these cards. For example, Dhalsim, Pliable Pacifist is a Selesnya (white/green) Commander who cared a lot about creatures with reach, something we don’t see that often. Meanwhile, Chun-Li, Countless Kicks has the Multikicker mechanic, and uses it to exile instants from your graveyard and cast copies whenever she attacks.
One of the coolest, deepest cuts here is on Ryu, World Warrior. His Hadouken ability requires you to untap Ryu, a mechanic that is very rarely used and was last seen in 2019’s Modern Horizons. The reason Ryu has it is because the untap symbol is identical to the quarter-circle-forward input icon rquired for a hadouken in Street Fighter. It’s a fantastic mix of mechanics and theme, all while bringing back a very powerful untap ability to the game.
The full list of creatures, and their colour identities for Commander, are:
- Zangief, the Red Cyclone (black/red/green)
- Ryu, World Warrior (white/red)
- Ken, Burning Brawler (white/red)
- Guile, Sonic Soldier (white/red/blue)
- E. Honda, Sumo Champion (mono-white)
- Dhalsim, Pliable Pacifist (green/white)
- Chun-Li, Countless Kicks (white/blue)
- Blanka, Ferocious Friend (red/green)
Lil’ Walkers
This Superdrop has a heavy Kamigawa theme, and so borrows a lot of Japanese aesthetics for its cards. Chibi is a massively popular trope of anime and manga that reimagines characters in super-deformed, child-like art styles, and this drop gives us five of Magic’s Planeswalkers in that style.
Tamiyo, The Moon Sage (as a reminder of how she was before her terrible fate in Neon Dynasty), Angrath, the Flame-Chained, Ashiok, Dream Render, Sorin, Grim Nemesis, and Ajani, Mentor of Heroes all get chibified in this drop, with art by Uta Natsume.
It’s an odd selection of Planeswalkers, and none of them are stand-outs among the best Planeswalkers ever printed, but that art style is incredibly hard to resist.
Kamigawa: The Manga: The Cards
As part of Kamigawa: Neon Dynasty’s numerous promotions, an entire manga was produced. Following Kaito Shizuki’s adventures across the plane as he aims to find the Wanderer and fight the Phyrexian Praetor Jin-Gitaxias, it’s a pretty great read. Even better, it’s free.
While it may feel like a bit of a cop-out reusing art from the manga for a Secret Lair, there are some incredible cards here that are staples in numerous formats. Swords to Plowshares and Idyllic Tutor are the big two here, but Solve the Equation, Praetor’s Grasp, and Veil of Summer all also see a lot of play.
Introducing: Kaito Shizuki
Kaito is the brand new Planeswalker who debuts in Kamigawa: Neon Dynasty. A cyborg ninja on a mission to find his friend, the emperor of Kamigawa, he was imbued with a Planeswalker Spark when he encountered the Kami of the Spark, bound to a robotic tanuki suit.
This drop showcases Kaito in various scenes across Kamigawa. All five cards are in his black and blue colour identity, which could make this a cool way to bling out a Kaito Oathbreaker deck. The cards are Brain Freeze, Bribery, Snap, Unmask, and Shadow of Doubt.
Shades Not Included
Kamigawa is a high-tech cyberpunk plane, so we definitely needed a hint of high-tech synthwave in this superdrop. The Shades Not Included drop is a collection of the five basic lands, given the cyberpunk, synthwave-y art treatment by Ben Schnuck.
The really cool thing about this drop is it’s a big first for Magic. It’s the first time an artist who was known in the Magic community for producing proxies (stand-ins for official Magic cards using custom art) has contributed to a Secret Lair. Considering Wizards only begrudgingly accepts proxy artists, it is really exciting to see one make the leap from proxies to official Magic art. Hopefully this is a trend that continues in the future to include more proxy artists.
Special Guest: Yuko Shimizu
Yoko Shimizu is an award-winning Japanese artist with decades of illustration experience, and it really shows in this collection of four creatures rendered in her style.
Hokori, Dust Drinker, Kira, Great Glass-Spinner, Eidolon of the Great Revel, and Elvish Spirit Guide feel like a bit of a grab-bag of creatures, but Hokori is an excellent mono-white Stax Commander. The art is stunning too, with a combination of old Japanese woodblock styles and more modern illustration techniques.
Showcase: Neon Dynasty
It’s tradition for each set to have a Secret Lair to build on its showcase frame. With Kamigawa: Neon Dynasty’s showcase, Wizards has opted to focus on the even rarer Neon Ink art style that was previously only seen on the card Hidetsugu, Devouring Chaos.
Hall of the Bandit Lord, Boseiju, Who Shelters All, Freed from the Real, and Ghostly Prison are all heavily associated with the older Kamigawa sets, and this drop reimagines them in Neon Dynasty’s cyberpunk aesthetic. Like Hidetsugu’s, these cards are meant to appear as if they are actually glowing, thanks to a new printing method introduced specifically for them.
Pictures of the Floating World
One of the coolest new art treatments in Neon Dynasty were the ukiyo-e lands, which turned the basic lands into full-art woodblock paintings.
For this drop, the five Hideaway lands have been given the same treatment. Windbrisk Heights, Shelldock Isle, Howltooth Hollow, Spinerock Knoll and Mosswort Bridge all see a decent amount of play in Commander thanks to their ability to cast cards without paying their mana costs.
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