The Gathering’s Garfield Secret Lair Proves We’ve Gone Abroad

October 4th, 2020. A day that many fans of Magic: the Gathering, will live in shame.

This was not the first release of Secret Lair; they had been a thing for almost a year at this point. No, this was the first “Universes Beyond” product to include non-magical characters on a Magic card.

The selection of The Walking Dead was unusual; the show’s popularity would wane after a few poorly rated seasons, but I’m not here to talk about that. I’m here to talk about how we got the shock of Daryl Dixon and Will Byers in the real-life Magic: The Gathering card to the numbness that is the latest Garfield Secret Lair drop, followed quickly by the Standard-legal Marvel set.

We are diving into Universes Beyond, and it seems that there is no end.

How Did We Get Here?

Before we talk about the present and future of Universes Beyond, it is important to understand how we got here. Although yes, The Walking Dead was the first set of Universes Beyond, it was not officially seen until 2021. Stranger Things and Arcane will release that year, but that’s okay, they’re just Secret Lair drops. Also, Arcane are only reissued cards that already exist.

Then comes the Warhammer 40,000 Commander decks. But hey, they’re not part of the Standard. As Mark Rosewater put it in July 2021: “They’re not going to be great sets.” As it turns out, the Warhammer Commander decks were really popular, leading to a full Lord of the Rings set, which included cards straight from Modern, as well as other eternal formats. We’ve seen Orcish Bowmasters completely dominate Modern at times. Even today, Bowmasters is one of the most played creatures in the format, appearing in 15% of decks.

That was good too, a lot is popular, so no one was surprised when the 2025 Final Fantasy set came to Standard. The dam was broken; we went from “zero premier set” for Universes Beyond to half by 2025, and over 50% by 2026. In the words of Wizards of the Coast, cards like Vivi Ornitier “dominated the tournament landscape since Standard rolled around with the release of Edge of Eternities” before it was banned from Standard.

Given the runaway popularity of these sets, anyone with half a brain knew it was only a matter of time before Wizards went back on their word. There was too much money on the table; these things are flying off the shelves, not just into the hands of a “traditional” Magic player who sticks to a structured 60-card format. Kitchen Table and Commander players, however, absolutely love this. Wizards and Hasbro had finally solved the problem of getting most of the magical players out of their local game store: it was Universes Beyond.

Garfield: The Funny Idea That Should Be

Now, to its credit, Garfield Secret Lair does a good job of not taking itself too seriously. For example, the popular phrase “Magic as Richard Garfield intended” refers to the emphasis on spells that are more powerful than the creature-dominated board states we see today.

Enter Secret Lair X Garfield: As Intended, the order of not only Magic: The Gathering creator, Richard Garfield, but the cards that succeeded in the original days of the game. It’s a great, tongue-in-cheek reference that does a good job of showing signs of lightheartedness.

However, some of the drops in Garfield are, well, a bit out there. Talk to the Paw (Orim’s Chant) and Hang In There (Ponder) are cringey; at least I Hate Mondays (Beast Within) is on brand for Garfield. Also, the art style is what you expect from the source material. The same can’t be said, however, for Only Our Thoughts Amuse You, which includes beyond surreal art and a questionable list of cards that I’m not sure people have been asking for reprints.

And yes, before you ask, I’m fully aware of how Garfield fans can get strips, like I’m sorry Jon, but it’s not. This … Well, I don’t know what this is. There’s a lot of power and fun to be had with this Universe Beyond Secret Lairs, despite all the hate. SpongeBob SquarePants Secret Lair is a work of art. The release of Baldur’s Gate 3 does an excellent job of bringing the Universe Beyond theme selection. I don’t know what’s going on here.

We are in the “Anything Goes” category of Global Sites

There’s a big problem with all of these releases of Universes Beyond: no palaces are used.

Avatar: The Last Airbender isn’t my jam (I know, I know), but there’s no denying how popular it was. My local game store had the most successful pre-release ever, and they’re not the only ones. Did we really need a Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles set, though? Especially since not only does it cut the momentum from one of the most requested return sets of all time (Lorwyn), but she never had a chance to breathe since Secrets of Strixhaven was released six-plus weeks later.

I’m not going to pile on the “too many Magic sets” argument, as it’s being peddled by people who are far better writers than I am. However, it becomes clear that Magic is riding a non-stop freight train that will end up in a spectacular crash. By 2026, there will be more regular Universe Beyond sets than In-Universe sets. Don’t expect that to go down, as Maro Rosewater recently said on his blog:

I believe there will be years to come (though not in the near future) where the In-Multiverse sets up multiple Universes Beyond.

What will those sets look like? We’re already going back to Tolkien well with The Hobbit this year, the Universe Beyond world at least makes sense. Edge of Eternities was a space set, so I wouldn’t be surprised to see Star Trek play the same way. However, more than that? What’s the next thing we haven’t done yet? More heroes? Other video game worlds? Does it matter?

As long as Hasbro and Wizards of the Coast continue to make money on Universe Beyond, of course. That is why we are in the “go anything” phase. Everything seems to be working fine, despite what people say on the internet. If so, then why are you standing here? Why not keep pushing the boundaries? Welcome to the modern era in Magic, I guess.