‘Magic: The Gathering’ Admits They Sh*t The Bed With ‘Monster Hunter’ Secret Lair Drop, Will “Postpone” And “Rework” Capcom Crossover Cards
Between a sadly terrible Marvel’s Spider-Man set and their almost overdosing on Universes Beyond crossover sets it’s been a rough year for Wizards of the Coast’s reputation among Magic: The Gathering players, but the cherry on top might just be the fact that their severe lack of respect for the Monster Hunter series has led them to delaying the Capcom-themed Secret Lair Drop and taking it back to the drawing board.
Originally set to be released in four individual packages, each consisting of five specifically-themed cards, the Monster Hunter Secret Lair Drop was near-immediately met with scrunched faces and raised eyebrows from long-time series fans, as not only did the set’s card art lean a little too generic and fail to capture the unique qualities of their respective subjects, but its various flavor texts were a complete miss, each and every one of them eschewing actual series lore and quotes in favor of the most boring, generic descriptors imaginable.
So bad are these flavor texts that one wonders if the set’s designers made any effort to engage with their assignment’s source material, even if just listening to one of their friends read the Wikipedia page.
Take the for example Gore Magala, Dark Eclipse, which rather than making any mention of the beast’s defensive scattering of “pollen-like scales” or its wings “shroud-like membrane”, simply declares “It descends like a winged shadow, dark, silent, and deadly.”
Or Dual Bladed Hunter, which crosses over into the particularly egregious with its MCU-esque quipping, “Dual Blades? Check. Tigrex Armor? Check. Monster? Let’s hunt.” (“Monster? Let’s hunt?” Seriously?)
And shout out to Bherna Huntmaster, which squeaks out a meek “Gather your party, the quest begins”, itself a line that would feel more at home in Dungeons & Dragons than the Capcom video game series.
Facing massive pushback from Monster Hunter fans – and, if one were to chance a guess, a likely talking to from Capcom themselves – Wizards of the Coast took to the official Magic: The Gathering website on November 26th to announce that, for the first time ever, they would be pulling the release and going “Back to the Drawing Board with Secret Lair x Monster Hunter“.
“Let’s cut to the chase: the Secret Lair x Monster Hunter™ Superdrop we revealed last week fell short of expectations. We heard loud and clear that you were disappointed, and we believe we can do better. So, we’re going to postpone this release and rework this Superdrop entirely.
“Like many of you, we’re big fans of Monster Hunter. It’s why we put this Superdrop together. But in our excitement, we missed the mark on elements like card selection and faithfully integrating the world and mechanics of Monster Hunter. As a result, the overall construction of this Superdrop is not up to the standard you have come to expect.
“Pulling Superdrops back isn’t something we’re going to do very often, but we’re committed to doing better. Capcom is on board for us to take another swing at this Superdrop as well.
“So, we’re going to pull this one back and will share new details and an updated release date in a few months. Keep an eye out for more information in 2026.”
NEXT: ‘Magic: The Gathering’ Hits Insulting Low With ‘Avatar: The Last Airbender’ Source Material Cards
