Elden Ring Nightreign’s latest patch is good news for madness fans, and should save you from auto-death after boss fight revives

Elden Ring Nightreign. It’s gotten another patch, and while not as beefy as you might like, it’s a box of bug fixes that you should know about. Especially if you’ve ever been fighting a Nightlord, gone down, been revived, and then immediately flopped back down dead.

Also, there’s a single balancing tweak which goes one step beyond to encourage the use of madness-infused weapons that I’m sure would look good with your baggy trousers.

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Walmart+ Members Get Early Access to Preorder Pokémon TCG’s Upcoming Expansions Black Bolt & White Flare

While frequent sell-outs and scalping are still regular problems in the Pokémon TCG Community, Walmart is seemingly trying to find a way around by making early access to the White Flare & Black Bolt sets only available by having a paid Walmart+ membership.

Preorders for a variety of the usual TCG products for White Flare and Black Bolt, including Elite Trainer Boxes, Poster Collection Boxes, and Booster Bundles, will go live on June 18 at 9 PM ET. For the first three, however, only paid Walmart+ members will be able to place preorders while stocks last.

Then, if any are left, non-Walmart+ shoppers are able to buy from the set themselves. While the Walmart+ hub page does state there’s a 30-day trial available, each early-access item’s product page, like the $60 Black Bolt Trainer Box, does state that only paid members are eligible to purchase preorders during those early hours.

Standard Walmart+ memberships are available for $12.95 per month, or $98 annually, which equates to $8.17 per month instead. While it is a pain that you have to subscribe to a service just for a better guarantee you’ll get a preorder in, Walmart+ does have added benefits too, including free delivery without minimums, a free Paramount+ membership, savings on fuel and Burger King, free tire repair, free pharmacy delivery, and more.

If you’re a student or college graduate, then you’re in luck, because you can get a membership at 50% off, $6.49 a month, or $49 for a year, with all of the same benefits as a standard subscription. As part of the verification process, previous student emails should qualify you.

The annoying part of the Walmart+ subscription process, if you want to buy early access items right away, is that you’re only given the initial option to claim the 30-day trial. However, you can get around this by starting your free trial, cancelling it, and resubscribing for paid access.

If you’re also a previous member of Walmart+, we’ve seen reports of users getting a limited-time offer that you can rejoin for just $1, making getting early pre-order access to White Flare and Black Bolt, with all of those other bonuses a great steal.

Our Black Bolt & White Flare preorder guide for Pokemon TCG players also notes that the sets have been popping up at other retailers like Amazon and Best Buy as well. Stock won’t always be available, but it’s a good page to bookmark for when you want to click through to each product page quickly on the fly.

Ben Williams – IGN freelance contributor with over 10 years of experience covering gaming, tech, film, TV, and anime. Follow him on Twitter/X @BenLevelTen.

After shuttering Shadow of Mordor and MultiVersus studios, Warner Bros. Games confirm rearrangement into four bits

Warner Bros. Games have enacted some corporate-mandated chair-rejigging after shuttering three studios earlier this year. The company are now divided into four divisions that’ll be focusing on the four game series they want to do stuff with.

As reported by Variety, these four bits will focus on making games about Game of Thrones, Mortal Kombat, the DC Universe, and the wizard that I’m not going to bother naming.

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Donkey Kong Bananza Switch 2 Box Art Shows Pauline In All Her Glory

Excellent bait and switch.

We all knew this was coming following a cheeky little leak some weeks back, but Nintendo has nw showcased the final box art for Donkey Kong Bananza, and it looks incredible.

Showcasing Pauline in all her glory, we’d go so far as to say that this box art might go down as an all-timer. It’s simply beautiful: the striking pose from DK and Pauline; the bits of rock flying everywhere; the constrast between the colourful action and the black background… Gorgeous.

Read the full article on nintendolife.com

Digging Deeper: The Inspirations Behind Still Wakes the Deep: Siren’s Rest

SWTD DLC Hero Image

Digging Deeper: The Inspirations Behind Still Wakes the Deep: Siren’s Rest

Summary

  • Still Wakes the Deep: Siren’s Rest arrives today for Xbox Series X|S and Xbox on PC.
  • The DLC expansion is set 11 years after the original game, with a new main character.
  • Learn about the new inspirations behind this haunting new story.

Back in 2023, we shared some of the inspirations behind our narrative horror Still Wakes the Deep, which inspired its themes and structure, both in its grounded ’70s setting and its more fantastical horror elements. We took inspiration from a wide variety of sources, from classic horror films like The Thing and Annihilation to more unusual sources like Kes and Rosemary’s Baby.

For our new story expansion, Siren’s Rest, we wanted to explore the Beira D oil rig in a whole new setting, which comes with its own set of inspirations. Set in 1986, 11 years after the events of the original game, you’ll play as saturation diver Mhairi, who sets off on a journey beneath the North Sea to discover what happened on the Beira D. The ocean is a rich vein for exploring all kinds of tales, and these are just a few things that helped us craft this new story:

Thalassophobia

The fear of deep water is the origin of the entire psychological palette of Siren’s Rest. And for any players who haven’t felt this… we hope that Siren’s Rest will give them a chance to get a taste of this phobia.

We trawled through hundreds of articles of people experiencing this condition, people creating art about it, portraying it in a variety of thrilling and sensual ways. One thing that struck us: many thalassophobic photographs juxtapose a human with some yawning abyss or some looming form. The feeling you have isn’t just that this is a scary setting – rather, you feel a sense of enveloping dread for the person. Whoever that person is in that photograph, no matter how nonchalant they appear… you feel that they are in way over their heads (literally). They are facing their doom. That sense of overconfidence against the unknowable depths is something we wanted to capture in the game.

Even just an image like this we found on Reddit of an oceanic abyss gets the creative juices flowing. Also, did you know that a thick mysterious cloud called a brine pool can form in the bottom of the sea that creates these strange images? We wanted to hold that tension, between beauty and dread, at the heart of every visual design choice.

‘Last Breath’ (2018) and Saturation Diving

Saturation diving – named for the technique used to extend how long a diver can remain underwater – is an extraordinary profession. Dangerous, meticulous, weirdly poetic – everything deserving art to be made about it. It’s as dangerous as an astronaut going on a spacewalk… but far darker and far less well known. You are under tremendous pressure, literally, that messes with your mental state. You see things. You hear things. And all you are is a tiny flickering flame amid the everdark. This tension, loneliness, and thrill  are all portrayed beautifully in the documentary ‘Last Breath’.

And for a more day-to-day explanation, just check out this Reddit AMA that was done a few years ago. Understanding what it means to live and work under such extreme conditions helped ground our narrative in real human stakes, even as the story veers into the surreal.

‘Blue Planet II –The Deep’

This episode of ‘Blue Planet II’ served as a powerful entry point for us into the mystery and otherworldliness of the ocean’s most unreachable places. Nature’s own level design and art design is off the charts! The strange colours, mysterious beings. Our wonderful Earth with its impossible underwater geographies provided us with a visual vocabulary for portraying the bottom of the sea not as some strange spectacle, but with this all-consuming silent awe…

Dante’s ‘Inferno’

As clear a metaphor as it gets, right? Dante’s descent through Hell, in gripping 14th Century poetic language, of increasing delusion as one moves further into tender darkness – influenced how we approached the structure of Siren’s Rest.

“Love, which quickly arrests the gentle heart,
Seized him with my beautiful form
That was taken from me, in a manner which still grieves me.”

‘The Descent’ (2005)

This film is two decades old and still stands up incredibly well. It’s a Dante’s ‘Inferno’ story brought up to the modern-day. Definitely not for the faint-hearted, for sure! Its classic structure and masterful rhythm of making tense progress in unfamiliar, claustrophobic physical spaces is a huge inspiration.

Submerged corridors, the pitch-black crevices of the story’s setting, technical, sophisticated characters whose psyches are run ragged, the mix of terror and hope and dread – it’s all there.

‘The Lighthouse’ (2019)

A recent dark masterclass in isolation, yearning, and the mind tricks that these feelings can conjure up. The film portrays two men (played by Robert Pattinson and Willem Dafoe) unravelling under the weight of routine, myths, and their own strange company. Those parallel the emotional current running beneath Siren’s Rest – a deep, almost delirious human longing – for connection, for redemption, for closure…

A central relationship between two characters who are equally isolated, equally alone with their thoughts and expectations – that stuck with us. The surreal juxtaposition between the raw, unforgiving environment, the arcane chores needed for survival, and the distantly warm conjuring of lost memories… we certainly hoped to capture that.

The Unexplained Ocean Sound, “Julia”

Sometimes even just a sonic phenomena can serve as an inspiration. A low-frequency sound, recorded by NOAA on March 1st 1999 and dubbed “Julia”, remains unexplained. The sound was loud enough to be detected across the Pacific Ocean and lasted for about two minutes and 43 seconds. An absolute treasure trove of strange explanations exists, spanning from giant sea creatures to aliens, naturally.

Julia’s inclusion in our early discussions around Siren’s Rest served as a symbol of the unknown – the uncanny idea that something might be out there, massive or silent, beyond our comprehension…

Màiri Mhòr nan Òran

The Hebridean poet Màiri Mhòr nan Òran shares a name with our protagonist, and her work comprises much of the emotional tone of Siren’s Rest. Her verses, rooted in exile, land, and longing, speak to the cultural and personal ruptures at the heart of this new story. They anchor the narrative in a Scottish identity that feels both deeply local and profoundly mythic – a legacy we feel incredibly privileged to portray.

The Still Wakes the Deep: Siren’s Rest DLC expansion arrives today for Xbox Series X|S and Xbox on PC.

The post Digging Deeper: The Inspirations Behind Still Wakes the Deep: Siren’s Rest appeared first on Xbox Wire.

Cultural lessons for Ghost of Yōtei

As we established in our previous article, visiting Japan was an important part of creating the world of Ghost of Yōtei.

The Sucker Punch reference gathering team from left to right: Nate Fox, Ryuhei Katami, Jason Connell, Ian Ryan, Joanna Wang, Rob Davis.

Sucker Punch is an American company and we are well aware that we don’t naturally come equipped with the cultural knowledge to bring feudal Japan to life. To do that, we need a lot of help. Thankfully we are also part of PlayStation, for Ghost of Tsushima we were fortunate enough to receive steady feedback from our colleagues in Tokyo. As you might have guessed, the same is true for Ghost of Yōtei. Only this time we’ve broadened our roster of advisers.

When setting a game in Hokkaido we knew a crucial element was doing our best to represent Ainu culture in a respectful way. Thankfully we’d connected with an Ainu cultural adviser before setting out on our reference gathering trip and she was nice enough to introduce us to her family. The group of us traveled up a nearby mountain and got to know each other while foraging for vegetables. It was great, all of us from Sucker Punch stopped taking pictures and got our hands dirty. We started really looking at the plants beneath our feet. It was a lovely way to make new friends and start our journey in learning about Ainu culture. That night we resolved to put foraging into our new game, we wanted players to be able to share the experience we were lucky enough to have experienced.

Yukiko Kaizawa leads the Sucker Punch team foraging for vegetables.

Yukiko Kaizawa shows Joanna Wang and myself how to sort the vegetables in preparation for turning them into lunch.

We also had the opportunity to explore the displays in the Nibutani Ainu Museum while talking with our adviser. This really helped us get a sense for sorts of objects we’d see in the game and how they were used.

Nibutani Ainu Museum.

Exploring the Oshima Peninsula also gave us a terrific look into the lives of the Matsuamae clan who were there in strength during the time period our game takes place. It was interesting to see the proliferation of cherry trees on the peninsula, brought there from Honshu, yet uncommon in the rest of the island. That really told the story of how sparsely settled Hokkaido was in 1603 by the Wajin people. We’ve tried to mimic that quality in the game, leaning into areas of wilderness between homesteads.  Of course down on the Oshima Peninsula clan Matsumae were very present, bringing with them a feeling of Honshu.

Clan Matsumae’s castle.

Our producer, Ryuhei Katami, took us all around Honshu to educate us on Edo culture. Here are some photos we took.

My favorite stop was the impressive Nikko Toshogu Shrine. While there we obtained a blessing for the game from the enshrined deity, Tokugawa Ieyasu.  The Omamori and Ema we received sit proudly in our studio on a high shelf facing south. They’re a constant reminder of the time we spent on the research trip. While our version of Hokkaido is fictional, the feeling of authenticity we strive to create has roots in those real world experiences.

Sucker Punch’s office

For anyone reading this, thinking that they might want to visit Hokkaido, my advice to you is: do it. Japan is a place so many of us go in our imaginations, to actually be there is a dream come true.

Donkey Kong Bananza Confirms Super Mario Odyssey’s Pauline Is Your New Sidekick — and DK Can Now Transform Into a Zebra or Flying Ostrich

Nintendo has revealed new gameplay details of Donkey Kong Bananza in today’s Nintendo Direct, which has also confirmed that Super Mario Odyssey’s Pauline will be your sidekick character in the game.

This younger version of Pauline was previously leaked by Nintendo, then quickly scrubbed from the internet. Exactly how this all fits into the wider Kong storyline, though, remains to be seen.

Here, Pauline can use her singing talents to transform DK into several new forms — a charging zebra, or a flying ostrich that can drop egg bombs. Pauline can also be controlled by a second player, turning Bananza into a co-op experience where Pauline’s vocals become explosive blasts, helping DK with his destruction.

Using GameShare, this co-op offering can be played on multiple Switch consoles — including Switch 1 — without your co-op partner needing a copy of the game themselves.

Other new gameplay features confirmed today included the ability to skate around on ripped up pieces of the environment, and even stick them together to form new structures such as bridges.

Eagle-eyed viewers will likely have spotted returning characters Cranky Kong and Rambi the Rhino, but did you also spot Diddy Kong and Dixie Kong? You can see them here, in this image below:

Nintendo itself has separately confirmed the return of Diddy and Dixie, seen here as opponents in Bananza’s racing mini-game:

Speaking of other familiar elements, today’s Nintendo Direct also confirmed a fresh version of the iconic DK Rap from Donkey Kong 64 would feature in Bananza. (Here’s hoping composer Grant Kirkhope is credited for this version, after previously complaining he had been left out of the Super Mario Movie credits.)

And speaking of credits, today’s Nintendo Direct offered no further clues to the exact Nintendo development team behind Donkey Kong Bananza. Fans had previously speculated that it is the work of the company’s talented Super Mario Odyssey team. Whether Pauline’s reappearance here is another clue remains to be seen.

“Bananza is on track to be one of the most gorgeous Nintendo games I’ve seen,” IGN wrote in our Donkey Kong Bananza hands-on preview. “It really does take advantage of Switch 2’s hardware – the environments are beautiful and DK’s animations are wonderfully expressive, and I left feeling like the next generation of first-party Nintendo games had truly arrived.”

Donkey Kong Bananza launches July 17, exclusively for Nintendo Switch 2.

Developing…

Tom Phillips is IGN’s News Editor. You can reach Tom at tom_phillips@ign.com or find him on Bluesky @tomphillipseg.bsky.social

Pokémon Go Details Summer City Events Featuring a Big Red Truck its Driving Round Europe

Pokémon Go will continue its summer events plan by driving a big red truck around seven cities in Europe, beginning in the UK next month.

Manchester will host the tour’s first stop, before subsequent visits to London, Paris, Valencia, Berlin, Den Haag in the Netherlands and finally Cologne, just in time for Gamescom.

Players who make the trip to a host city will get an array of bonuses around the truck location, including Phanphy, Venipede and Wooloo spawns with boosted Shiny rates, plus raids for a costumed summer Pikachu with the possibility of a Location Background. Timed Research, meanwhile, will offer up a Varoom — the engine-like Pokémon. Plus, of course, you get to look at the big red Pokémon Go truck.

Across the host city, other bonuses will be activated — including 3-hour lures and up to 5 Special Trades per day. Nationwide, meanwhile, Timed Research advertising the upcoming arrival of the Road Trip will award the same summer costumed Pikachu.

Earlier this week, Pokémon Go announced an unprecedented $20 event pass featuring the game’s first Golden Bottle Cap item — something that will allow players to increase a Pokémon’s stats until they are a rare 100%. Ahead of the item’s introduction, fans expressed concern the feature could see the game straying into pay-to-win territory, something director Michael Steranka discussed at length in our exclusive interview.

Separately, IGN also chatted with Steranka about this year’s biggest change — that Pokémon Go is now owned by Monopoly Go! maker Scopely, a company backed by the Saudi-founded Savvy Games. How will the change impact the game? IGN put that question to Steranka as well.

Tom Phillips is IGN’s News Editor. You can reach Tom at tom_phillips@ign.com or find him on Bluesky @tomphillipseg.bsky.social

MindsEye developers Build A Rocket Boy deny using bots to promote their game about bots going bad

If, like me, you ended up keeping a bit of an eye on MindsEye once its release popped into view like a weird mind portal, you might remember one of the execs behind it causing a fuss with some Discord comments alleging bots were being used to bad mouth the game.

Well, in a twist that’d be strange for other games, but feels pretty par the course for this one, developer Build A Rocket Boy’s now denied that it’s been using bots to say nice things about MindsEye. This wasn’t totally out of the blue. Some folks had spotted some posts about the game with suspiciously similar wording.

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MTG Secret Lair: Full Release Schedule for 2025, and What You Can Still Buy

Magic: The Gathering keeps churning out set after set, and 2025 is no different. From mainline sets like Aetherdrift and Tarkir: Dragonstorm, to remasters like Innistrad, and Universes Beyond Final Fantasy, it’s a stacked year—and that’s just the first half of it.

With so much to look forward to, the company has still planned a whole host of Secret Lair card drops throughout the year, and it’s getting pretty tricky to stay on top of everything coming as a result.

Secret Lair 2025’s Popular Drops – At a Glance

New: Secret Lair x Final Fantasy (Out Now)

Magic: The Gathering x Final Fantasy has finally launched, and while there are boosters, Commander decks, and even a new Starter Kit to pick up (if you can find it in stock), collectors will perhaps be most interested in the new Secret Lair x Final Fantasy drops.

It’s been a busy year for Wizards of the Coast’s limited-time mini-sets, and while the company sold out of all three Final Fantasy drops in record time (leaving many disappointed), you can still get them via third-party sellers… if you’re willing to pay the inflated costs, that is.

Before we start, it’s worth pointing out that you won’t find Secret Lair drops at the same price as you’d find them directly from Wizards of the Coast (standard $30 nonfoil, $40 rainbow foil), with most being listed anywhere between $80-$150 or above.

This is a huge markup, so if you’re looking to buy, be sure you’re 100% informed of what you’re paying for. You can buy them from eBay, but we’ve always found TCGPlayer, while still eBay-owned, to be the most secure and trustworthy way to nab Secret Lair drops post-release.

There are a trio of Final Fantasy Secret Lair sets, Weapons, Grimoire, and Game Over, each offering unique art and names for Magic: The Gathering cards. Everything is available in standard and foil, alongside the Japanese variants as well.

Here’s how you can grab each, what’s included, and all the key info you need to help you decide whether you still want these to add to your collection via third party seller listings selling at a premium.

  • Secret Lair x Final Fantasy: Game Over (Jun 9) – 5 cards
    • Spira’s Punishment (Day of Judgement)
    • Absorb into Time (Temporal Extortion)
    • Merciless Poisoning (Toxic Deluge)
    • Unseat the Usurper (Praetor’s Grasp)
    • Meteorfall (Star of Extinction)
  • Secret Lair x Final Fantasy: Grimoire (Jun 9) – 5 cards
    • Yuna’s Holy Magic (Prismatic Ending)
    • Hope’s Aero Magic (Cyclonic Rift)
    • Noctis’ Death Magic (Damn)
    • Vivi’s Thunder Magic (Lightning Bolt)
    • Aerith’s Curage Magic (Heroic Intervention)
  • Secret Lair x Final Fantasy: Weapons (Jun 9) – 5 cards
    • Yuna’s Sending Staff (Staff of the Storyteller)
    • Clive’s Invictus Blade (Blade of Selves)
    • Cloud’s Buster Sword (Umezawa’s Jitte)
    • Gaia’s Dark Hammer (Colossus Hammer)
    • Tidus’s Brotherhood Sword (Sword of Truth and Justice)

Where You Can Still Buy Secret Lair Drops

With each Secret Lair drop being particularly limited in its availability, your best bet is naturally to look on the secondhand market.

While some can be found at Amazon and other generalist stores, these don’t have the same level of quality assurance as specialist retailers like TCGPlayer, Card Kingdom, Magic Madhouse, and others.

So what’s been popular in 2025 besides Final Fantasy? As things stand, the most notable heavy-hitters from this year so far include Deadpool, Spongebob, and our furry friends. Here’s where you can still buy the sets at market price.

There’s also a good chance you may need to buy cards individually, rather than in predetermined Secret Lair sets, so consider picking them up piecemeal if the opportunity presents itself.

If you’re lucky enough to have a local game store that’s offering a large collection of Magic: The Gathering singles, it’s worth taking a look—you might end up finding a Secret Lair card lurking in a binder or loose in a box somewhere (perish the thought!).

Secret Lair Release Schedule for 2025

We’ve got the full list below for every Secret Lair drop already released in 2025, alongside the best places to buy each set, or even the individual cards. Let’s dig in.

Animar and Friends – February 3

This five-card set includes art from Jack Teagle for Mulldrifter, All Will Be One, Benevolent Hydra, Forgotten Ancient and Animar, Soul of Elements.

Artist Series: Jesper Ejsing – February 10

This Secret Lair drop includes four cards with artwork from Danish illustrator Jesper Ejsing, including Sun Titan, Deflecting Swat, Llanowar Elves and Breeches, Eager Pillager.

Lorwyn Lightboxes – February 10

Still available from Wizards at the time of writing, Lorwyn Lightboxes are stylised versions of Ancient Ampitheater, Auntie’s Hovel, Gilt-Leaf Palace, Secluded Glen and Wanderwine Hub.

City Styles 2: Dressed to Kill – February 10

Giving an urban theme to Karmic Guide, Ninja of the Deep Hours, Captain Sisay, Selvala, Explorer Returned and Veyran, Voice of Duality, this Secret Lair is long gone.

Arcade Racers – February 10

With gorgeous pixel art, arcade theming, these versions of Big Score, Final Fortune, Heat Shimmer, Roiling Vortex, and Wheel of Misfortune are eye-catching and still in stock.

Aether Drifters – February 10

Aping the design of Hot Wheels packaging, these Aether Drifters include reversible cards for six vehicles including Mechtitan Core and Smuggler’s Copter.

Featuring: Mitsuhiro Arita – February 10

This collection offers four Magic The Gathering cards from longtime Pokemon illustrator Mitsuhiro Arita. Murktide Regent, Lightning Bolt, Shorikai Genesis Machine and Light-Paws, Emperor’s Voice look incredible.

Cats vs Dogs – March 17

This double drop pits canines against felines. Both include Escape to the Wilds, Titanic Ultimatum, Rip Apart, Arcane Signet and Basilisk Collar, but with art to signify your chosen species.

Spongebob: Squarepants – March 24

With Spongebob and pals taking cardboard forms, collectors can grab 7 individual pieces, including Plankton, Mr. Krabs, Squidward, and, of course, Patrick Star and Spongebob SquarePants himself as part of the Legends of Bikini Bottom set.

There’s also a Lands bundle for the Nickelodeon favorite, and a meme-focused set of spells, too.

Twisted Toons – March 24

A little Spongebob-adjacent, these full-art, Toon-inspired cards give us Cuphead vibes.

Tragic Romance – March 24

Following a ‘Romantasy’ theme, these cards include Skithiryx, the Blight Dragon, Master of Cruelties, Angel of Despair and Kaalia of the Vast.

They Grow Up So Fast – March 24

This Dragon-centric drop has five cards, each with two versions of Dragonlords like Atarka and Dromoka. Both versions are the same card, but with a young and mature version of each dragon.

Pick’em and Stick’em – March 24

This intriguing set is still in stock, and offers cards and accompanying stickers for players to customise them with. Clever Impersonator, Hedron Crab, Pitiless Plunderer, a Treasure Token and Thalia, Heretic Cathar are included.

Garden Buds – March 24

Billed as the last remnants of an Ashaya, Soul of the Wild Commander deck that was lost to time, these seed-style cards include Harrow, Elvish Reclaimer, World Shaper and Horn of Greed with art from Jordan Crane.

Oishi! Tokens – March 26

Inspired by Japanese food packaging, this set includes four Food Tokens, and is sold out.

Secret Lair x Marvel’s Deadpool – April 1

The Merc with a Mouth’s Secret Lair has sold out, but it’s well worth a look if you can find it on the secondhand market. Fourth Wall-breaking versions of Deadly Rollick, Saw in Half, Blasphemous Act and Vandalblast are here, as well as Deadpool, Trading Card.

Adventures of the Little Witch – April 22

This adorable set has Secret Rendezvous, Serenity, Esika’s Chariot and Realms Uncharted, all with Heikala’s inimitable artwork and use of color.

VROOOOOMMMMMM – April 28

Toru Terada lends his incredible art to Lava Dart, Monastery Swiftspear, Soul-Scar Mage, Underworld Breach, and Mishra’s Bauble. Still available, too.

Everything Is On Fire – April 28

This set is all about bringing the heat, with spicy new art for Chain Lightning, Dragon’s Rage Channeller, Lava Spike, Rift Bolt and Skewer the Critics.

Featuring: Jay Howell – April 28

Jay Howell’s Secret Lab set includes cartoonish versions of Marchesa, the Black Rose, Uncivil Unrest, Treasonous Ogre, Priest of Forgotten Gods and Agent of Treachery, all from the guy who designed the cast of Bob’s Burgers.

Secret Lair X KEXP: Where the Music Matters – April 28

This set of Land cards includes two of each basic land type for a total of 10 in the set, and is inspired by the independent radio station KEXP.

Secret Lair X KEXP: You Are Not Alone – April 28

Another KEXP collab, this one has a series of colorful card varients that lean into a “group-hug” deck theme. Cultural Exchange, Folio of Fancies, Concordant Crossroads, Rites of Flourishing and Font of Mythos are included.

Everyone’s Invited! – May 12

This double rainbow foil Secret Lair drop is still available (for $200, we might add) and includes Shapeshifters, Dryads, Elementals, Faeries, Slivers, Cats and more. Ten foil cards, four foil tokens, one foil display card and 90 reprints.

Slay the Day – May 19

The latest set at the time of writing includes Marwyn, the Nurturer as well as Liesa, Shroud of Dusk, Oloro, Ageless Ascetic, and Slythis, Harvest’s Hand.

Final Fantasy – June 9

What is Secret Lair?

Secret Lair is a limited-time drop of cards that are usually offered as bundles for a day or two at the most before they sell out.

They’ve had some wild theming in the past, but with Magic: The Gathering channelling its inner Fortnite, the crossovers are becoming more and more frequent (in fact, Fortnite has had its own Secret Lair set because, of course, it has).

The cards have new artwork, but are based on existing cards in terms of gameplay functionality, so you can expect to use them in competitive play, so long as the original card is still in the standard rotation.

As of the debut of Final Fantasy’s Universes Beyond set, that list of Standard rotation sets runs until Brother’s War.

Lloyd Coombes is Gaming Editor @ Daily Star. He’s a big fan of Magic: The Gathering and other collectible card games, much to his wife’s dismay. He’s also a tech, gaming, and fitness freelancer seen at Polygon, Eurogamer, Macworld, TechRadar, Tom’s Guide, IGN, and more.