Magic: The Gathering Secret Lair Strixhaven Set Hits The Frame

Today we're taking a peek at a pair of Magic: The Gathering Secret Lair drops, the first of which is butting up against the frame with Strixhaven. The second – which you'll see this afternoon – blasts the frame into bits. The Strixhaven set looks like the game element designers dove in to holy magic stained glass windows and tore them asunder, making way for the next level.

This is the newest Secret Lair drop, a Showcase: Strixhaven set of six cards. These cards include art that not only places high-level or otherwise eye-blasting art in Magic cards, but expands upon the way in which card art interacts with the play elements in the game.

In an interview with Polygon this week, Wizards of the Coast senior creative art director Tom Jenkot spoke on the evolution of Magic: The Gathering card art, and the design techniques used to allow the art to breathe and interact with the card's standard format.

"These [techniques] give us an ability to create these gorgeous moments where the frame and the art kind of merge," said Jenkot. "We like to think of it as more of a card treatment than just a frame design. It's the art and the frame coming together."

In this latest drop, Wizards of the Coast feature art from Rovina Cai, Minttu Hynninen, Dominik Mayer, Anato Finnstark, and Justin & Alexis Hernandez. In the imagery in this article you'll find an image of each card as well as an expanded view of each piece of artwork.

The Secret Lair drop will appear in two editions, one standard, one foil. The basic version will cost users approximately $30 USD, while the foil version will cost you around $40. These sets will be available through the Secret Lair page where users can order starting on April 26, 2021.