Wizards of the Coast announced Secret Lair: Ultimate Edition this morning, a new kind of product in its Secret Lair series containing all five enemy-color fetchlands that will only be available at local game stores starting on May 29, 2020.
Each of the five cards are non-foil and features new art by some of Magic’s most popular artists, depicting the lands on five different planes. Marsh Flats (by Alayna Danner) is set on Lorwyn, Scalding Tarn (Adam Paquette) in the Shiv region of Dominaria, Verdant Catacombs (Sam Burley) on Innistrad, Arid Mesa (John Avon) on Amonkhet, and Misty Rainforest (Seb McKinnon) on Ixalan.
The five enemy fetchlands from Secret Lair: Ultimate Edition
Secret Lair: Ultimate Edition will come as a large commemorative display box and will only be available at local games stores. “Any WPN game store will have the ability to order these,” Wizards said, but “stores will typically receive no more than 10 copies of Ultimate Edition.” There is no MSRP but Wizards expects the set to sell for “a bit more” than the Commander Anthology, which was sold for $165.
Though Ultimate Edition will only be available through local game stores, Wizards also said that these same fetchlands will be available as part of a Secret Lair “superdrop” a week later, similar to how the first seven Secret Lair drops were sold. A bundle that includes of one of each drop in the superdrop will be available for purchase and Wizards will include a random (again, non-foil) fetchland from Secret Lair: Ultimate Edition as a part of each bundle.
UPDATE: The Secret Lair: Summer Superdrop has been revealed.
Ultimate Edition Isn’t Like Previous Secret Lairs
Secret Lair: Ultimate Edition is the 16th product under the Secret Lair brand but it is very different from the previous fifteen products in the Secret Lair Drop Series.
First, it will be available only in local games stores rather than through the online Secret Lair store. Second, Ultimate Edition is not part of the Drop Series and isn’t a “drop.” Instead, it is “an opportunity to combine Secret Lair’s brand of exciting art with cards players want.”
The biggest implication of this is that Secret Lair: Ultimate Edition will not be a print-to-demand product like the Secret Lair drops we’ve seen over the last few months. “[P]rint-to-demand drops, like Year of the Rat and International Women’s Day . . . don’t work cleanly as traditional retail releases . . . for a lot of logistical reasons,” Wizards said. That means that “Ultimate Edition is something of a different product line under the Secret Lair umbrella with the same sensibility but a different distribution model.”
As such, copies of Ultimate Edition “are limited” and “stores will typically receive no more than 10 copies.”
More Fetchlands Are on the Way
2020 is the year of Commander and will feature tons of new Commander products, including Ikoria Lair of Behemoths Commander decks, Zendikar Rising Commander decks, Commander Collection: Green, and a draftable Commander product called Commander Legends.
Wizards knows that fetchlands play an important role in Commander and that they haven’t been reprinted since 2017. To support the format, Wizards revealed that Secret Lair: Ultimate Edition “isn’t the last time you’ll see fetchlands this year.”
“While they will not be entering Standard in 2020,” they continued, “there will be another way to pick up some stylized versions of fetch lands later this year that will also be in your local game store.”
Wizards wouldn’t reveal where the fetchlands would appear or even if they would be the same enemy fetches from Ultimate Edition or the new versions of the five allied fetches—only that they would be “stylized versions” and would be available in local game stores. It is likely that, given they won’t be part of a Standard-legal set, they will be included in the Commander decks accompanying Ikoria Lair of Behemoths and Zendikar Rising or in packs of Commander Legends.
Marsh Flats
Secret Lair: Ultimate Edition Marsh Flats by Alayna Danner, set on Lorwyn.
Scalding Tarn
Secret Lair: Ultimate Edition Scalding Tarn by Adam Paquette, set in the Shiv region of Dominaria.
Verdant Catacombs
Secret Lair: Ultimate Edition Verdant Catacombs by Sam Burley, set on Innistrad.
Arid Mesa
Secret Lair: Ultimate Edition Arid Mesa by John Avon, set on Amonkhet.
Misty Rainforest
Secret Lair: Ultimate Edition Misty Rainforest by Seb McKinnon, set on Ixalan.