Barely greater than every week after saying the Magic: The Gathering x Monster Hunter Secret Lair Superdrop, Wizards of the Coast has formally hit the brakes on the unique crossover assortment scheduled to drop on Dec. 1.
In a brand new announcement made Wednesday, Wizards confirmed it could delay the Superdrop to 2026 for a full rework and stated extra info would come early subsequent 12 months.
“In our pleasure, we missed the mark on parts like card choice and faithfully integrating the world and mechanics of Monster Hunter,” a information publish reads. “In consequence, the general development of this Superdrop is less than the usual you’ve gotten come to anticipate.”
Superdrops have stirred up loads of controversies prior to now — lengthy queue occasions, delivery or manufacturing delays, and backlash over mechanically distinctive playing cards — however that is unprecedented. Wizards has by no means delayed a Superdrop as a direct response to fan backlash earlier than.
Regardless of Monster Hunter seeming like the right match for a Magic crossover, even The Workplace Secret Lair delivered far better leisure worth and outright worth. Within the days following the reveal, numerous Magic-related subreddits exploded with chatter criticizing the cardboard selection particularly. “It is on the listing of most requested [Universes Beyond] properties, and that is the steaming pile they drop?” one Reddit person wrote on a thread calling the Monster Hunter Secret Lair the “worst drop of the 12 months.”
Secret Lair playing cards are nearly at all times reprints of present playing cards, and on this case, a lot of these chosen have been low-value. These unfamiliar with Monster Hunter (like myself), would possibly take a look at most of the huge monsters within the Superdrop and see solely that: a bunch of massive lizards that value quite a lot of mana and do a couple of overly advanced issues mechanically. None of it’s notably that attention-grabbing. Most of the unique playing cards they’re based mostly on do not see quite a lot of mainstream use as a result of there are much better playing cards on the market. So have been any person to buy the Superdrop, they’d basically get overpriced variations of middling playing cards in all probability higher left in a binder moderately than headlining a deck.
Maybe worse, a lot of these playing cards did not actually match the vibe of Monster Hunter or resonate all that nicely with the supply materials. Why wasn’t Monster Hunter’s Gore Magala, a dragon that brings blight, represented with the mechanics from the Skithiryx, the Blight Dragon card? As an alternative, it is a demon with flying and trample that may search your library in case you sacrifice 2 life and one other creature.
“This was speculated to be simple,” wrote one Reddit person named ferretlike final week. “Why does Zinogre play with graveyard? Why does Brachydios care about on the spot pace?” Zinogre is a big horned wolf supercharged with lightning, a component normally related to purple mana. As an alternative, its Superdrop card is a black-green that picks up +1/+1 counters at any time when an opponent’s everlasting is put right into a graveyard. Brachydios is a brawny wyvern with slimy fists, but the green-blue-red card copies Instants so as to add +1/+1 counters.
Main followers of each Magic and Monster Hunter have been undoubtedly wanting ahead to this Superdrop, but the reveal proved underwhelming to say the least.
ferretlike additionally requested the massive questions: “The place is the gear? The place are the cats? And why is there no Poogie?”
Monster Hunter is so beloved for the wild weapon design and myriad of choices gamers can discover — however additionally they love these cute little Calico cat companions too. Quite than a Superdrop bloated with large clunky creatures that do not resonate with the supply materials precisely and a few middling spells, a better number of card varieties would make for a extra correct illustration of the franchise.
Count on extra updates in 2026 for no matter this rework seems to be like.
