Magic: the Gathering's Garfield Secret Lair Proves We've Become Numb to Universes Beyond

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

This wasn't the first Secret Lair release; they had been a thing for nearly a full year by this point. No, this was the first "Universes Beyond" product featuring non-Magic characters on a Magic card.

The choice of The Walking Dead was a little odd; the show's popularity was waning following several poorly rated seasons, but I'm not here to talk about that. I'm here to talk about how we got from the shock of Daryl Dixon and Will Byers on a real-life Magic: the Gathering card to the complete numbness that is the recent Garfield Secret Lair drop, which is quickly followed by a Standard-legal Marvel set.

We're drowning in Universes Beyond, and there seems to be no end in sight.

How Did We Get Here?

Before we talk about the present and future of Universes Beyond, it's important to understand how exactly we got here. While yes, The Walking Dead was the first Universes Beyond set, it wasn't officially recognized until 2021. Stranger Things and Arcane would release that year, but that's okay, they're just Secret Lair drops. Plus, Arcane is exclusively reskinned cards that already exist.

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

That was also very, very popular, so nobody was shocked when 2025's Final Fantasy set was coming to Standard. The dam had broken; we've gone from "zero premier sets" for Universes Beyond to half in 2025, and over 50% in 2026. In the words of Wizards of the Coast, cards like Vivi Ornitier "dominated the tournament scene since Standard rotated with the release of Edge of Eternities" before it was banned in 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 simply far too much money on the table; these things were flying off the shelves, just not in the hands of the "traditional" Magic player who sticks with a 60-card constructed format. Kitchen Table and Commander players, though, absolutely loved this. Wizards and Hasbro had finally solved the problem of getting the unseen majority of Magic players into their Local Game Store: it was Universes Beyond.

Garfield: A Funny Idea That Should Have Been It

Now, to its credit, the Garfield Secret Lair does a good job at not taking itself too seriously. For example, the popular phrase "Magic as Richard Garfield intended" references the emphasis on powerful spells rather than the creature-dominated board states we see today.

Enter the Secret Lair X Garfield: As Intended, an ode to not just Magic: the Gathering's creator, Richard Garfield, but cards that thrived in the game's original days. It's a nice, tongue-in-cheek reference that does a good job showing off the light-hearted sign of things.

However, the other Garfield drops are, well, a little 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. Plus, the art style is what you expect from the source material. The same cannot be said, though, for Our Only Thought Is To Entertain You, which combines beyond surreal artwork with an incredibly questionable lineup of cards that I'm not sure people were ever asking to be reprinted.

And yes, before you ask, I'm fully aware of how surreal Garfield fan strips can get, such as I'm Sorry Jon, but this ain't it. This is...Well, I don't know what this is. There's plenty of potential and fun to be had with these Universe Beyond Secret Lairs, despite all the hate. The SpongeBob SquarePants Secret Lair is a work of art. The Baldur's Gate 3 release does an excellent job of delivering an on-theme Universe Beyond selection. I don't know what's going on here.

We're at the "Anything Goes" Stage for Universes Beyond

There's the biggest problem with all of these Universes Beyond releases: there's no restraint being employed.

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 its most successful pre-release ever, and they weren't the only ones. Did we really need a Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles set, though? Especially since it not only clipped the momentum from one of the most requested return sets of all time (Lorwyn), but never had a chance to breathe as Secrets of Strixhaven released a short six-plus weeks after.

I'm not going to pile onto the discourse of "there are too many Magic sets," as it's been done to death by people who are far better writers than I am. However, it's clear that Magic is riding an unstoppable freight train that will eventually crash in spectacular fashion. In 2026, there will be more Universe Beyond standard sets than In-Universe sets. Don't expect that to slow down, either, as Maro Rosewater recently said on his blog:

I believe there will be future years (although not ones in the near future) where in-Multiverse sets outnumber Universes Beyond sets.

What will those sets look like? We're already going back to the Tolkien well with The Hobbit this year, a Universe Beyond world that at least makes sense. Edge of Eternities was a space set, so I wouldn't be surprised to see Star Trek play out in a similar manner. Beyond that, though? What's next that we haven't done yet? More superheroes? More video game worlds? Does it even matter?

As long as Hasbro and Wizards of the Coast keep making money from Universe Beyond, it honestly doesn't. That's why we're at the "anything goes" stage. Everything seems to be working well, despite what people are saying online. If that's the case, then why stop here? Why not keep pushing the boundary? Welcome to the modern era in Magic, I guess.