On Tuesday, Magic: the Gathering revealed a range of limited edition products to raise funds for Extra Life, a charity that provides support to children in hospitals in the US. Top billing goes to the ‘Rise of the Polygons’ Secret Lair, a set of four classic Magic cards (plus one token) with new art by Brendan Sullivan inspired by the bold pixel art of the sixth console generation.
Extra Life is an initiative of the Children’s Miracle Network, an annual drive where gamers raise funds for children’s hospitals. While the need for charities to support healthcare reflects a failure in social organization – a society that produces billionaires has the resources to pay for universal healthcare, it just hasn’t done so – it’s wonderful that so many nerds work together each year to enrich the lives of children going through the often scary and painful experience of medical treatment.
The Rise of the Polygons Secret Lair will be available at MagicSecretLair.com from November 16 to November 30 at 1 am PT / 4am ET / 9am GMT. It’ll cost $39.99 for a non-foil set, and $49.99 for a foil set. Publisher Wizards of the Coast states that “fifty percent (50%) of the sales price (less third-party transaction fees)” will be donated to Extra Life.
Rise of the Polygons features reprints from old MTG Sets rather than any new or unique cards, but it’s a pretty solid selection. The card list, and market price for the cheapest printing of each card on TCG Player, is as follows:
| Card | Non-foil | Foil |
| Balefire Dragon | $18 | $23 |
| Big Score | $0.52 | $1.99 |
| Young Pyromancer | $0.31 | $0.41 |
| Sword of Truth and Justice | $31 | $38 |
| Elemental Token | Not listed | Not listed |
| Total | $49.83 | $63.40 |
All of the cards are playable in one format or another, and the Balefire Dragon and Sword of Truth and Justice are sufficiently expensive that buying them separately would cost you as much as buying the Secret Lair. If you’re big on early 2000s nostalgia, or want to get some useful game pieces in exchange for donating to children’s hospitals, this is a decent set.
WotC has announced some other items as part of the fundraiser: sets of sleeves and emojis on MTG: Arena, and Dragon Shield Card Sleeves and playmats featuring some cute chibi art by Anthony Garzonna.
If you’re lucky enough to attend MagicCon Atlanta, the Secret Lair and merch will be on sale early, and all proceeds (minus processing fees) will go to Extra Life. There’s an extra in-person promotion as well: while stocks last, you can donate $20 to Extra Life and receive an exclusive Loot pin for the convention’s pin-trading program, or $40 and get a random Collector Booster (to a max of 10 boosties per transaction).
Have you picked up any of the Extra Life Secret Lairs from previous years? They tend to have very whimsical art, reflecting their support for children, and usually have a strong card selection. Let us know in the Wargamer Discord community if you’re running any in your decks.
Source: Wargamer
