Wizards of the Coast has finally announced when we’ll be seeing the in-universe reprints forMagic: The Gathering’sSecret Lair x The Walking Dead cards.
Almost three years after they were first sold exclusively through Secret Lair, the Walking Dead cards will receive versions stripped of Rick Grimes and company, and given in-Magic-multiverse equivalents in the upcoming set Wilds of Eldraine.
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Revealed at the MagicCon Minneapolis Sneak Preview panel, it was confirmed the five mechanically-unique cards will get reprints in The List, found in 25 percent of Wilds of Eldraine Set boosters. This follows the trend of mechanically unique Universes Beyond crossover Secret Lairs being placed into List slots a few months down the life, after Phyrexia: All Will Be One included theStreet Fighter cards, and Streets of New Capennathe Stranger Things ones.
As has been the case before, these won’t have the same art or names as their original Walking Dead-flavoured counterparts. Instead, they’ll have new names and art set within Magic’s usual multiverse. Despite this, they’ll be treated as the exact same card as far as deckbuilding goes, meaning you’ll only be allowed up to four copies in a deck in Legacy and Vintage, and only one in Commander.
The Walking Dead cards are notable for their power, with Rick, Steadfast Leader in particular being a standout mono-white Human commander. Meanwhile, Negan, the Cold-Blooded is an excellent Sacrifice and Treasure commander, rewarding you whenever an opponent sacrifices one of their own creatures.
First released in October 2020, the Secret Lair x The Walking Dead cards received widespread backlash at the time for being only available for a limited time despite being original, mechanically unique cards. The crossover itself was also highly criticised, months before Wizards would announce the Universes Beyond umbrella brand which the Walking Dead was then retroactively added to.
Despite promises it would happen eventually, it has been an abnormally long wait to see the Walking Dead cards get in-universe reprints. For other crossovers, it has been between six months to a year. By the time Wilds of Eldraine launches on September 18, it will have been 35 months, or almost three years.
Even then, it wasn’t always a given that the Walking Dead cards would ever be bound to the same reprint policy as regular Universes Beyond crossovers. When it was first announced in June 2021 that cards would be reprinted after the Secret Lair had finished, The Walking Dead was explicitly excluded from the policy. It wasn’tuntil October that year, 12 months after the sale had ended, that the policy was then updated to include the cards.
Wilds of Eldraine launches on September 18. The Walking Dead cards will be found in roughly one quarter of Set booster packs, as part of The List. The actual cards, and the rest of The List, will be revealed closer to the launch of the set.
